Child welfare workers’ constructions and causal explanations of poverty

Studying the perceptions of the causes of poverty is warranted because individual perceptions shape behavior toward poor people and actions related to poverty. Prior studies relying heavily on survey methodology fail to capture deeper and fuller meanings participants apply to poverty. This study explores how child welfare workers understand poverty by examining their definitions of, and what they see as causal explanations of, poverty. Individual interviews were conducted with 30 child welfare workers throughout a Midwestern state. Analysis indicated that workers all defined poverty as ‘not getting basic needs met,’ corresponding to the underlying assumptions of absolute poverty measures. Workers simultaneously augmented these definitions using other poverty constructions, namely the federal guidelines and more complex views – conceptually in line with relative poverty measures – that account for factors outside income or consumption. Workers’ causal explanations of poverty were multifaceted. Causal explanations included structural/systemic, individual, family/generational, and luck, with the first three being most prominent. These findings have implications for practice and training in the child welfare system as it relates to poverty.     

Community welfare organisations in Australia: Activism or industry?

This paper reports on an investigation of the work undertaken by community groups in Australia. Specifically, it highlights the role of community welfare organisations in socio-political contexts undergoing change. Different operating rationalities, corresponding to shifting political and economic imperatives, are examined. An overview of the development of the community welfare sector since 1970 reveals tendencies towards bifurcation and convergence as strategic responses to different socio-political conjunctures. Analysis of the contemporary preoccupation with the rationale of the market indicates a rehearsal of the bifurcation tendencies that characterised the sector in the 1970s. Yet shifts in the organisational relations between the state and the community welfare sector and the appearance of new strategic responses to the operating logics of the market also suggest that it is time for the development of different discursive frameworks in which to think about work in the community welfare sector.     

‘In a bind’: Foster mothers' experiences with welfare reform

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 has diminished government support to single mothers and further limits the options for full-time parenting, placing priority on work participation and reduction of welfare caseloads. Based upon interviews with 100 low-income foster mothers who are also Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, this study examines their experiences with these policies while they balance multiple responsibilities as caregivers for abused and neglected children from the child welfare system. The implications of TANF policies for foster mothers and policy alternatives that support diverse family structures are also discussed.     

Is vicarious trauma the culprit? A study of child welfare professionals

This article reports on a qualitative, multicase study of child welfare professionals who discussed the changes they experienced because of the work they do. It was concluded that vicarious trauma was the cause. This study was grounded in the constructive self-development theory, a developmental and interpersonal theory with a trauma focus that explains the impact of trauma on an individual's psychological development, identity, and adaptation.     

Juvenile justice sentencing: Do gender and child welfare involvement matter?

For young people who come into contact with the juvenile justice system, how they are sentenced following an arrest may profoundly influence the course of their development and adjustment as adults. Much of the research to date has focused on racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice sentencing policies and practices, and less is known about sentencing disparities based on other youth characteristics. Using Los Angeles County administrative data, this study investigates the effects of gender and child welfare statuses on sentencing for young people who are arrested for the first time (N = 5061). Results indicate that both young men and women are sentenced more harshly dependent upon the disposition, such that girls were more likely to be sentenced to group homes compared to boys, but boys were more likely to be sentenced to correctional facilities compared to girls. Child welfare-involved youth with a recent placement history are prone to more punitive sentences compared to their non-child welfare counterparts. Further, child welfare young women were not more likely to be sentenced to a harsher disposition compared to child welfare young men or non-child welfare young women. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

An emergent cosmopolitan paradigm? Asylum,welfare and human rights1

This paper addresses the recognition in cosmopolitan debate of a possible disjuncture between the normative ideal of cosmopolitanism and its realization in practice. Taking as its focus the potential conflict between human rights commitments and national concern about immigration control, it reflects on a series of legal challenges to UK government attempts to withdraw support from asylum seekers who do not claim on entry into the country. Set in the context of socio‐legal theory, these cases are analysed for signs of a ‘national’ or ‘cosmopolitan’ paradigm in judicial interpretation, and considered as a possible instance of reflexive judgment, espoused as a feature of cosmopolitanism.     

Use of evidence-based interventions in child welfare: Do attitudes matter?

Implementation of evidence-based programs in child welfare has progressed slowly, with the majority of services in child welfare settings lacking empirical evidence for effectiveness. In other settings, research has identified providers' attitudes about evidence-based practices (EBPs) as a potential barrier to adoption of EBPs. As little research has focused on the role of attitudes in influencing use after training in an EBP in child welfare, the potential for attitudes to impede implementation efforts in child welfare is unclear. This study addressed this question in a sample of 55 caseworkers and therapists randomly assigned to enhanced support to use an EBP following training or a training-only condition. Information on providers' use of the intervention after training and their attitudes about EBPs were measured for up to five time points. Results indicate that attitudes did not predict providers' use of the EBP, and attitudes did not change overall or in the enhanced condition that provided greater exposure to the intervention. Providers perceived of requirements to use a practice as more influential in their use than their openness to EBPs. However, those who were more open to EBPs were more likely to participate in implementation support after the training, suggesting that openness facilitates participation in activities that support use of a new intervention.     

Professionals without a profession? Redesigning case management in Dutch local welfare agencies

This article explores the new roles of frontline workers in Dutch local welfare agencies against the background of recent active welfare state reforms, with a specific focus on frontline workers involved in activating social assistance recipients. The results presented in the article come from case studies in four local welfare agencies. The article investigates how active welfare state reforms have influenced the room for discretion of frontline workers, how discretion is managed in local welfare agencies, and how frontline workers cope with discretion. The article argues that the discretion of activation by frontline workers has increased significantly. The research results show a clear though not unambiguous shift from a bureaucratic towards a more professional treatment of frontline workers, combined with attempts to introduce a more performance oriented style of management. However, given the low level of institutionalisation of the profession of activation work, activation frontline workers still seem to be professionals without a profession. This not only makes activation work a rather individual project, it also entails risks for clients for whom activation services may become unpredictable and lacking in transparency.     

How do economic downturns affect welfare leavers? A comparison of two cohorts

Early welfare reform research showed high rates of employment for TANF leavers. However, work-focused welfare may not be effective during an economic downturn. We investigate the employment of Wisconsin TANF leavers, contrasting outcomes among early leavers (1998) with those who left during the 2001 recession. We use data from administrative records on about 6000 welfare leavers, tracking quarterly employment for 3 years after they left benefits. Separate panel data analyses of those exiting in two different time periods show that individual leavers are less likely to be employed when their local unemployment rate is high in the later cohort; no relationship is found for the early cohort. In a panel analysis in which the cohorts are combined, we find that leavers in the later cohort, who experienced the recession early in their post-welfare career, are less likely to be employed, a result that holds controlling for observed and unobserved characteristics. These findings raise questions about how well single-parent families and their children will fare during difficult economic times now that welfare reform has such a strong emphasis on work.     

Relationships between work–life balance and job-related factors among child welfare workers

This study examined the relationships between work–life balance and several job-related factors among 573 public child welfare workers in a northeastern state in the United States of America. It explored job-related correlates of work–life balance and the possible mediating role of work–life balance between these factors and job satisfaction. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the job-related factors organizational support, job value, work time, and income were significantly associated with work–life balance among child welfare workers. It also confirmed that work–life balance partially mediated the associations of organizational support and job value with job satisfaction. Implications for child welfare research, policy, and practice are proposed based on the empirical findings.     

“Like a marriage”: Partnering with peer mentors in child welfare

A growing number of child welfare programs have incorporated peer mentors – individuals in long-term recovery from substance use disorders – into their service delivery models. Whereas existing literature suggests the collaboration between peer mentors and child protective service workers brings both opportunities and challenges, few studies have described these experiences from the perspectives of mentors, caseworkers, and supervisors. Understanding how these team members experience partnership is critical for the further evaluation and development of mentor models in child welfare. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of mentors, caseworkers, and supervisors working through an integrated team model in Kentucky. A qualitative approach was used, combining a phenomenological lens with constructivist grounded theory analysis techniques. Our results indicate that successful partnerships between mentors, caseworkers, and supervisors involve four processes: sharing a common vision, developing working relationships, learning with open-mindedness, and identifying the benefits of partnership. These findings have implications for practitioners in a variety of child welfare settings, particularly those interested in developing and training teams for peer mentor integration.     

Overlooking the most vulnerable: the child welfare research agenda 2005–2010

Literature highlighting both the archaeology (chronology) of child welfare developments or genealogy (insight into the discourses shaping such developments) is rare. Even less available are investigations into the research agenda regarding child welfare. This paper attempts to provide a snapshot of the priorities for child welfare researchers as represented in the international literature from 2005 to 2010 and the discourses inherent within these. The qualitative study suggests that issues regarding the identification and responses to child abuse dominate, these concerns being framed individualistically and tending to ignore sociopolitical realities. Such a construction of the research agenda potentially marginalizes systemic factors and limits the relevance of the research agenda in contexts where poverty, community violence (including war) and migration (forced and voluntary) are in the foreground. The lived realities facing the majority of the world's children are thus overlooked. The research agenda must be expanded to address the context of the most vulnerable children and to promote child welfare alternatives that speak to their experiences.     

Parental views of in-home services: what predicts satisfaction with child welfare workers?

Evidence on client satisfaction deserves consideration in the design of child welfare policies, programs, and practices. Data in this study come from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Clients receiving in-home services reported moderate levels of satisfaction with their child welfare workers. Caregiver reports of having less than two child welfare workers, having more recent contact, and receiving timely, responsive services were associated with higher perceived quality of relationships with child welfare workers. The child welfare workers' reports of cooperativeness by the caregiver were also associated with higher caregiver-reported relationship quality.     

Reaping the benefits of sickness? Long-term illness and the experience of welfare claims

This article documents the experience of people with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) in claiming sickness-related benefits in the United Kingdom. Based on responses to an enquiry on an email noticeboard, it focuses on the work and stress involved in making a claim; the felt stigma of being a claimant; and the strong desire to return to paid employment. The paper also notes the lack of documentation of the experience of making claims for, and of living as, a claimant of these benefits, and argues for the importance of research in this area, especially given that tightened criteria are currently generating even greater anxiety and risk of impoverishment.     

Presenting welfare reform: poverty porn,telling sad stories or achieving change?

Much is written about the suffering resulting from welfare reform and other cuts for disabled people and others on the receiving end. Usually this is seen as a ‘good thing’. But is it as simple as that? It may not be the same as so-called television poverty porn, but what is the point of constantly recycling welfare reform’s effects? Judging from last May’s general election, doing this does not seem to have had a significant effect on public politics/attitudes. So perhaps we need to look at it more carefully. When might discussion of welfare reform be helpful and when unhelpful? Is not the real task to develop alternatives, rather than hope as the Fabians did, that if we show how awful things are, ‘then something will have to be done’?     

The social welfare impact of privatisation in sub‐Saharan Africa: A discussion

Against the background of rising levels of anxiety around the state of the social fabric in South African society, this paper explores the disjuncture between the post-apartheid state’s policy discourse on social cohesion and the local discourses of South African residents in 24 focus groups held in townships around the country, which reveal significant levels of social fragmentation and intense contestation regarding the new regime of rights. The paper argues that the state’s policy discourse on social cohesion is part of an attempt to manage a complex social environment in terms of a project of developmental nation-state building that seeks to constitute the social domain as a normative realm of imagined homogeneity in which citizenship is premised on constitutional values. I argue that while the state’s concern with the ‘social’ relates to the critical question of solidarity in modern democracies, this has led, in the South African context, to the constitution of the social domain as a site of pathology, divorced from the broader political and economic relations of power in which this ‘pathology’ is embedded. At issue in this interaction between state and local discourses on the question of solidarity are the terms of membership in the political community. Who will and will not be part of the ‘new’ nation?     

Managerialism in social welfare: Proposals for a humanitarian alternative–an australian perspective

In Australia, New Zealand, and Europe over the past twenty years, control over social work has been nurtured by deregulatory economic policies and by alleged efficient management. A particular form of management practice, called managerialism, has involved doing more with less and treating public-sector agencies as though they were no different from private for-profit corporations. This practice has incurred huge social costs in terms of cutbacks in services, scapegoating of vulnerable people, lowering of staff morale, and contributing to stress-related illness. A humanitarian alternative to managerialism requires a social work practice in which relationships are characterized by openness and humour, by a workplace culture which is free of fear, and values are agreed in consultation with the users of services. This alternative ideology and practice promotes the treatment of people as citizens rather than clients or consumers.