Beyond cultural competence: what child protection managers need to know and do

This article addresses issues for child protection managers, such as hiring, program design, service evaluation, and policy development. It presents three frameworks for levels of organizational change: cultural sensitivity, which modifies existing services to better meet the needs of target populations; self-reflective cultural sensitivity, which calls for managers to be aware of personal and organizational cultural values; and cultural solidarity, which acknowledges that organizational power is vested in managers, which can oppress clients.     

Institutional abuse of older adults: what we know, what we need to know

Although Canadian policies support "aging in place," there still will be a number of older adults who will require institutional care in the future. Most research on elder abuse, however, has focused on domestic abuse and has paid less attention to institutional abuse. The purpose of this article is to comprehensively review current research to identify gaps in knowledge and methodological issues in the study of institutional abuse. Overall, 49 studies in English and 20 studies in French were reviewed, and 11 key-informant interviews were conducted with methodological experts. Methodological challenges are addressed in light of the review and interviews.     

It's not who you know,it's how you know them: Who exchanges what with whom?

Reciprocity – doing for others if they have done for you – is a key way people mobilize resources to deal with daily life and seize opportunities. In principle, reciprocity (the Golden Rule) is a universal norm. In practice, it is variable. Personal networks rarely operate as solidarities and as such, people cannot count on all the members of their networks to provide help all the time. Rather, social support comes uncertainly from a variety of ties in networks. This paper uses survey research to understand the variable and contingent nature of reciprocity and inquires about the kinds of resources exchanged between people. We investigate the extent to which interpersonal ties, network characteristics, and people's personal characteristics (e.g., gender) affect the nature of reciprocal relationships. The evidence is extraordinarily clear on one subject – giving support is strongly associated with getting it. Analyses show that getting support from network members is the key to East Yorkers reciprocating – usually in kind but sometimes with other forms of support.     

The legal rights of LGBT youth in state custody: what child welfare and juvenile justice professionals need to know

Youth in state custody, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, have federal and state constitutional and statutory rights. These rights guarantee a young person safety in their placement as well as freedom from deprivation of their liberty interest. Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth have these rights violated on a regular basis. Many cases in both the child welfare and juvenile justice contexts have resulted in extensive and time-consuming consent decrees as well as sizable damages awards. Knowledge of a youth's legal rights can help providers avoid legal liability while creating a safer and healthier environment for LGBT youth. This article provides a general overview of the successful federal legal claims that youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems have made, discussion of the rights generated as a result, particle application of these rights to the experiences of LGBT youth with hypothetical scenarios, a focus on specific rights that emanate from certain state laws, and a focus on specific concerns of transgender youth.     

Boundaries & adolescents in residental teatment settings: what clinicians need to know

Working with adolescents in psychiatric treatment settings poses unique challenges related to boundaries. Staff are typically from a range of disciplines, and some are from nonregulated professions. Three potential boundary-crossing areas are touching, gift giving, and self-disclosure. To enhance quality of care, staff needs an orientation aimed at boundary education, including the concepts of transference and countertransference; an atmosphere of safety to discuss their observations of themselves and others; to be willing to provide feedback; and a sound knowledge base of adolescent growth and development.     

The need to know caregiver perspectives toward using smart home technology

This article reviews the literature on adults with serious mental illness, their caregivers, and smart home technology. The article provides compelling evidence for social workers to undertake research aimed at investigating caregivers' perceptions toward using smart home technology for care of adult family members or friends with a serious mental illness. Empirical support for using smart home technologies with adults with serious mental illness is provided, and recommendations for future social work research are offered.     

Lessons learned from children who have experienced homelessness: what services need to know

Children who accompany their parents or guardians during a period of homelessness make up 37% (more than one in three) of all people accessing the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) services. This paper describes an Australian qualitative study that explored the experiences of children who accompanied their families during periods of homelessness. It focuses particularly on what children and young people say they want from the services that they come in contact with; particularly specialised homelessness services such as housing support services and refuges. Key themes that emerged from the research include: the need for services to engage with children as individuals in their own right, to listen to and acknowledge their stories, to have services that meet their individual needs, to act and respond when children feel unsafe and for workers who can provide support to children to talk to parents about what is going on. Children and young people wanted workers to know that they felt their parents were doing their best to keep them safe. They focused on what their parents could do and did do rather than what they were not able to provide. They called on the human service system to do the same.     

Affirmative action after the Supreme Court's 1988-1989 term: what employers need to know

Three recent Supreme Court decisions have aroused fears about the future of a key weapon against employment discrimination: the affirmative action plan. The author reviews these cases and pronounces affirmative action alive and well--but warns that thoughtful planning is required to ward off challenges by nonminority groups claiming adverse impact.     

Informal care substitution: what we don't know can hurt us

Empirical studies focusing on the relationship between formal and informal home care do little to quell the fears of policymakers that expanded access to public home care services will result in the withdrawal of informal support. A close examination of the studies designed to measure the withdrawal of informal support justifies this skepticism. Concerns about the withdrawal of informal care may hinder the introduction of more extensive home care benefits. Researchers have come some distance in trying to address this policy question. The conflicting nature of empirical findings, thus far, demonstrates that the answer depends heavily on how the question is framed, how home care is measured and over what time frame, and what sorts of analytic approaches are used to model the relationship between formal and informal community-based care. This article discusses these issues in greater detail and suggests strategies to address these problems in future research.     

Afraid to care; unable to care: A critical ethnography within a long-term care home

This paper describes the findings of a critical ethnographic research study conducted in an urban long-term care home. While our intention was to learn more about the culture of care, specifically as it relates to mental health care provision, the participants in the study consistently spoke with us about (what we have labeled as) a culture of compliance. In a context where new long-term care legislation is being implemented along with new, standardized resident assessment instruments, gaining a deeper understanding of the (un)intended consequences of government's efforts to ensure a high quality of care is of paramount importance. This research demonstrates how policy-driven structural mechanisms can (re)produce conditions that result in frontline staff being afraid and unable to care, and thus contributes to a better understanding of the lived experience of frontline long-term care staff who find that their caregiving responsibilities are displaced by caregiving accountabilities.     

It's good to know that you got somebody that's not going anywhere: Attitudes and beliefs of older youth in foster care about child welfare-based natural mentoring

This exploratory study is the first to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of older adolescents in foster care toward the implementation of a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention designed to promote enduring, growth-fostering relationships between youth at risk of emancipation and caring, supportive nonparental adults from within the youth's existing social network. Six focus groups were conducted with 17 older youth in foster care attending a specialized charter high school for young people in out-of-home care in a large, urban city in the Northeast United States. Focus group data were transcribed and analyzed using a conventional content analysis approach. The following significant themes emerged related to natural mentoring for older foster youth emancipating from care: (1) need for permanent relationships with caring adults, (2) youth conceptions of natural mentoring, (3) unique challenges related to natural mentoring for youth in foster care, (4) role of a natural mentoring intervention in child welfare, and (5) challenges for implementing a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention. Overall, our findings suggest that these young people are cautiously optimistic about the potential of a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention to promote their social and emotional wellbeing. Future studies are needed to better understand the experiences of older foster youth with an actual natural mentoring intervention, including challenges, opportunities, and outcomes.     

If you do not know who knows what: Advice seeking under changing conditions of uncertainty after an acquisition

In this study we develop a model to explain the dynamics of advice seeking after an acquisition. We build on a theory of advice seeking that draws from prospect theory and expectancy theory. We theorize that immediately after an acquisition there is uncertainty about who knows what, but over time individuals become more aware of the expertise within the organization and they change their advice networks based upon this increased awareness. Our model examines four micro-processes of advice seeking: reciprocity, preferential attachment, transitivity, and legacy-firm tie preferences. To test our hypotheses we use post-acquisition data over four time periods in a recruitment consulting firm. Our longitudinal analysis uses a stochastic actor-orientated model and our results indicate that immediately after the acquisition individuals have a tendency to seek advice based upon reciprocity and preferential attachment. However, over time these tendencies diminish. Surprisingly, transitivity does not play a significant role, which suggests that other micro-processes such as reciprocity are dominant. In addition, individuals in the acquired firm have a tendency to make more ties and there is a preference for same firm ties in both legacy firms, with the tendency being higher in the acquired firm. Our findings add to theories on the process of advice seeking under conditions of uncertainty, on knowledge transfer processes in mergers and acquisitions, and the knowledge based view of the firm.     

Child welfare services and delinquency: the need to know more

This article describes the need for a better understanding of the moderating effects of child welfare services on delinquency. Although juvenile delinquency is a commonly studied issue, researchers have paid little attention to the degree to which child welfare services may be associated with changes in subsequent delinquency rates. Emerging evidence suggests that for certain groups of maltreated children, such as children of color and females, certain child welfare services are associated with variations in risk of delinquent outcomes. The article discusses key methodological, theoretical, and policy implications that help guide further research in this area.     

ADHD in juvenile offenders: treatment issues nurses need to know

1. When working with juvenile offenders with ADHD, advanced practice nurses should consider prescribing stimulant medication in conjunction with other psychosocial interventions to achieve maximum treatment success. 2. Nurses working with young people with ADHD in the justice system must carefully coordinate care among all health care providers and juvenile justice personnel, including attorneys, probation/parole officers, and court assessment personnel. 3. Advocating for the individual needs of clients and their families is critical; often, this includes advocating for care that is not only evidence based, but also culturally competent.     

How addiction happens, how change happens, and what social workers need to know to be effective facilitators of change

During the last two decades, neuroscience research has proliferated examining brain mechanisms that explain why some people are compelled to pursue drugs and alcohol. The findings suggest that addiction is independent of pleasure, and that drug seeking can be triggered outside of conscious awareness (Berridge, Robinson, & Aldridge, 2009; Goldstein et al., 2009; Kalivas, Volkow, & Seamans, 2005). The observations and conclusions from this research can be used to advantage in treating addiction. The use of social psychological principles, in the context of motivational interviewing, offers a platform for taking advantage of these new insights. After a brief sketch of the latest understanding of the physiological forces operating in addiction, the author examines those ways to interact with substance dependent clients that promote change without provoking resistance in this article. Action plans are later described that can supplant automatic, addiction-induced behaviors (Gollwitzer, Fujita, & Oettingen, 2004). Mechanisms such as building coping skills are discussed, that help in maintaining new behaviors. Some of these mechanisms are efficacious because they bolster the brain's self-regulatory capacity (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice, 2007; Littrell, 2010). Thus, for every step in the change process, from resistance to change maintenance, validated guidelines for altering the outcome from addiction will be provided.     

Using the Americans with Disabilities Act to the advantage of persons with severe and persistent mental illness: what rehabilitation counselors need to know

This article explains central constructs and definitions underlying the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and discusses their implications for persons with severe and persistent mental illness, as well as for rehabilitation counselors working with this population. Focus is placed upon Title I of the ADA, which prohibits discrimination in employment. The article provides a brief review of legislative history relevant to the integration of people with mental illness into public life. It proceeds with a discussion of definitions under Title I of the ADA. Considerations in applying the ADA to assist persons with severe and persistent mental illness in employment are addressed throughout and are discussed in detail in the final section of the article.