Grandparent and Kinship Foster Care: Implications of Licensing and Payment Policies

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine the different licensing and payment policies in the United States for kinship foster care and assess the potential impact of licensing policies on the likelihood that grandparents or other kin will become licensed as formal kinship foster care providers. With this information, discussion is presented that outlines possible barriers to formalized foster kinship care placement and identifies the need for changes in public policy that could lead to increased program access for kinship foster caregivers.     

Caregiver's Spirituality and Its Influence on Maintaining the Elderly and Disabled in a Home Environment

ABSTRACT

This study examined the role that faith-based organizations play for caregivers in maintaining the elderly and disabled in their homes. The study explored if persons who use religious beliefs and practices cope with caregiver stress better than those who do not use religious beliefs and practices. The study also explored the role of religious coping as a factor affecting decisions to institutionalize, and the role that faith-based practices and organizations play in helping caregivers maintain the elderly and disabled in their homes.     

Hardiness,Successful Aging,and HIV: Implications for Social Work

ABSTRACT

With dramatic developments in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, life expectancy is increasing, resulting in more middle-aged and older adults living with this disease. Little is known about the problems, and especially the strengths, of those living and aging with HIV. Hardiness is used in the gerontological literature to describe and explain how people age successfully, despite traumatic life events and chronic diseases. Similarly, the concept of hardiness may be used to guide clinicians, researchers, and clients on how to age successfully with HIV. This article provides a review of hardiness in aging and HIV, and emphasizes its importance in facilitating successful aging with this disease. Conceptual and methodological concerns in studying hardiness and successful aging are addressed. Potential interventions and clinical implications for social work are posited for augmenting qualities of hardiness in people aging with HIV.     

In the Best Interest of the (Adult) Child: Ideas About Kinship Care of Older Adults

This article uses a qualitative, ethnographic approach to examine the experiences of older adults and their kin, as the older adult engages in relocation. Studies looking at caregiving by kin for older adults highlight burdens for the adult child. This study offers a life course perspective on kinship care, analyzing older adults’ decisions to move. It was found that many older adults are strongly influenced by the desire to not be solely cared for by their kin, as well as to select housing near their existing social network, which might exclude kin. In conclusion, policy implications are discussed.     

Cancer in the Family: Review of the Psychosocial Perspectives of Patients and Family Members

As advances in cancer care have led to more treatment options and longer survival for cancer patients, a focus on quality of life for patients and their families has gained importance. This review provides a discussion of stress and coping theory, documents the relevance of this topic area for social work practice, and illuminates the results of a literature review by emphasizing the perspective from which research was collected within the family system. Recognizing the impact of cancer on the lives of patients, their partners, children, and the family as a whole is an essential factor in providing appropriate and adequate psychosocial services to families facing cancer.     

Preface

Being raised by a single mother is one factor that has been suggested as contributing to the plight of African American males. Yet few studies have focused specifically on African American single mothers' experiences with raising sons. This qualitative study explored the following questions: (1) What are the experiences of African American single mothers in the raising of their sons? (2) What coping strategies do African American single mothers use in the raising of their sons? Two rounds of unstructured open-ended interviews were conducted with 11 African American single mothers of at least one son. Implications for family therapy based on the interviews are presented.     

Building Community Capacity to Advocate for Policy Change: An Outcome Evaluation of the Neighborhoods Working in Partnership Project in Detroit

This article presents results of the outcome evaluation of Neighborhoods Working in Partnership (NWP), a community-based participatory research project of the Detroit Community–Academic Urban Research Center, designed to enhance policy advocacy skills through training and support, thereby increasing community capacity, engagement, and empowerment of Detroit residents to change policies. Focus groups and conversational interviews were conducted with NWP participants. Results indicate that the workshop empowered participants and enhanced dimensions of community capacity. Participants reported engaging in policy advocacy activities and various policy successes. Participants identified challenges and facilitating factors to their policy campaigns. Recommendations for similar trainings are provided.     

When Public Tragedies Happen: Community Practice Approaches in Grief,Loss, and Recovery

Although an expansive literature exists on individual experiences after a catastrophic event, there is less attention to how the community as a social structure experiences a significant tragedy. These public tragedies create disruptions across multiple domains of community functioning. Using the Community Capacity Model (Hart, 1999) as a framework for assessment, outcomes of a public tragedy are described. Additionally, community practice approaches are identified for the three phases that communities subsequently experience: crisis, processing of the event, and adaptation.