Child maltreatment and foster care

In “Child Maltreatment and Foster Care,” Richard J. Gelles, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, reports what is known about the incidence of child maltreatment and foster care placement rates since welfare reform. He relies on four major sources of data: Current Trends in Child Abuse Reporting and Fatalities: Results of the 1998 Annual Fifty State Survey, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), the National Incidence Survey of Reported and Recognized Child Maltreatment (NIS), and the Voluntary Cooperative Information System (VCIS).     

Young Moroccan-Dutch: Thinking in Dutch,Feeling Moroccan

Abstract

We examined to what extent Moroccan-Dutch (N?=?25) between 15 and 32 years of age are oriented towards the Dutch and Moroccan community when describing their identities. We used the Twenty Statements Test (developed by Kuhn and McPartland (1954). See, M. H. Kuhn and T. S. McPartland, “An Empirical Investigation of Self-attitudes”, American Sociological Review, Vol. 19, No. 1, 1954, p. 69. In this study, participants were asked to complete the sentence with ‘I am..’ 20 times to assess how they described themselves.) and in-depth interviews to understand their challenges on the acculturation path since many face disadvantage and exclusion in the Dutch community. Moroccan-Dutch were, compared to the reference groups of mainstream Dutch (N?=?20) and Moroccans (N?=?25), more proud of their ethnic identity and attached to Islam. Though their Dutch language was dominant, they felt more Moroccan. They praised the Dutch openness, but suffered from negative stereotyping. Their participation in the Dutch community was low. To enhance their position, social professionals working with Moroccan-Dutch could draw on the rich ethnic and faith traditions of this group to encourage their deeper engagement with the Dutch society.     

Effect of child protective services system factors on child maltreatment rereporting

This study examined how child protective services (CPS) systems respond to initial and subsequent reports in the context of child maltreatment rereporting and to what extent CPS system factors are associated with the risk of rereporting after controlling for abuse type and child and family factors. This study followed 67,243 families who were reported to the CPS agencies in seven counties in Florida for child abuse and neglect over a period of 5.4 years and found that 14,218 families had one or more child maltreatment rereports. Key findings include that CPS system factors were significantly different from initial report to subsequent reports. Five CPS system factors, reporting source, contact by CPS workers, investigative level at intake, postinvestigation services, and duration ofCPS involvement were significantly associated with the risk of child maltreatment rereporting. Multivariate analyses found that CPS system factors were substantially different for three categories ofrereporting, unsubstantiated rereports, substantiated rereports, and recurrence reports. Interpretations and implications for practice are discussed.     

Building stronger weak ties among a diverse pool of emergent nonprofit leaders of color

This article explores theoretical underpinnings of social capital and strong and weak ties as they relate to relationships within, between, and among six cohorts of promising nonprofit leaders of color in a northwestern U.S. city. Using mixed methods, including network analyses, it considers the impact and potential of a university‐community collaboration to deliver a program to promising emergent leaders nominated for their talent and commitment to the work of their community‐based organizations, often in competition for limited resources. The article considers the program's implicit effect on relationships and reveals intersector connections among alumni. Findings show substantial alumni movement among organizations, increasing the potential for collaboration and mentoring relationships. We conclude with recommendations for programs seeking long‐term impact and discuss a series of unanticipated findings and the questions they engender, many critical as communities and organizations become more diverse and social needs do not diminish.     

The Role of the Economic Sector in the Provision of Care to Trusting Clients

With implications for senior care as well as child care, this article compares for‐profit and nonprofit dependent‐care facilities in areas of service that are not readily visible to consumers. Findings gleaned from the child‐care industry indicate that nonprofit facilities provide a higher quality of service on professionally identified variables than do their for‐profit counterparts. For‐profit directors were more likely to implement cost efficiencies that were not immediately apparent to clients. Despite this, significantly more of the for‐profits were displeased with their financial situation than were their nonprofit counterparts. The study suggests that professional background and training of directors exercises an influence on management satisfaction and decisions, independent of sector.     

Youth and Religion: The Gameboy Generation Goes to “Church”

Using the secularization theory and the Marxistnotion of religion as masking class conscienceone would expect the importance of religion andreligious involvement today to wane and belimited to lower class members. To challenge thisexpectation, using a representative nationaltelephone survey of 2004 youth (ages 11–18) andtheir parents, we attempt to answer thefollowing two questions: How religious areteenagers, and what may explain variation inreligious perception and involvement amongteens. Findings suggest that religion remainsperceived as very important by most teenagersand parents report that about two-thirds ofteenagers attended a place of worship at leastmonthly and that two out of five attended asocial group sponsored by a religiousorganization. These findings do not support thesecularization theory. As expected, parentalattendance of religious worship, teen's age,and teen's ethnicity and gender weresignificantly associated with three variablesof religious behavior and attendance. Incontrast to the Marxist notion of religion,measures of socio-economic status indicatethat, in the contemporary United States,religious participation, but not beliefs, islargely the domain of the middle-upper classes.