A small‐scale qualitative scoping study into the experiences of looked after children and care leavers who are parents in Wales

This paper presents the findings of a scoping study into looked after children and care leavers who are parents in Wales. Eight parents engaged in a qualitative interview. Thirty‐one pregnancies were discussed during the interviews: 16 live births, two ongoing pregnancies, one stillbirth, one termination and 11 miscarriages. At the point of interview, two parents continued to care for their children, but six had experienced the permanent removal of their child/ren as a result of social services intervention. Twelve of the 16 children discussed in the interviews were ‘looked after’ or adopted. Despite its small‐scale nature, the study highlights important considerations before, during and after participants became parents. Broadly categorized, these relate to the influence of parents' childhood experiences on their capacity to be parents, the availability and adequacy of support during parenting and the ensuing impact of parenting ‘success’ or ‘failure’. For parents who had experienced the loss of a child, some were resigned to having no further children, some continued to hope for a family in the future, while others had experienced cycles of repeated pregnancies and compulsory removals. The findings are considered in the context of related literature and suggest that increased attention is required in this under‐researched but highly emotive area.     

Empowering Chinese Cancer Patients: Taking Culture into Account

Many Chinese cancer patients encounter a high degree of anxiety, but lack the vocabulary to express themselves emotionally. This is an attempt to develop a culturally sensitive psycho-social intervention for Chinese cancer patients in Hong Kong. A seven-phase model of emotional responses to cancer was developed from interviews with patients and focus group discussions with professionals. Based on an understanding of the local culture and what works best for the patients, the intervention focus was on empowering cancer patients to take charge of their health, their mood and their own lives. The framework of intervention with detailed intervention theories and skills are proposed.     

The stars hang down over the great emptiness of the level plain,and the moon bobs on the running waters of the Great River: thirty years of New Era research on the essay

新时期以来的散文研究已走过了30年的历程。由于种种原因,散文研究一直受到 轻视和责难。本文从作家作品研究、专题性研究、散文史建设和散文理论建构诸方 面,对30年来散文研究进行了全面系统的梳理和评析,并追寻散文研究长期被冷落的 原因。文章认为21世纪的散文研究要走向深入和阔大,必须从三方面用力：其一是要 建立现代意识的散文批评视野;其二是“化西方”与“中国化”;其三是思维方式与 研究方法的改变。这三方面不但是认识和解决当代散文问题的重要维度,而且对散文 研究具有方法论的意义。

关键词: 新时期?散文研究?现代视野?理论建构

New Era research on the essay and other occasional writing already has a history of thirty years. For various reasons, however, such research has consistently been slighted and condemned. This article offers a systematic and comprehensive review and analysis of the last thirty years of research in this field in terms of writers and their works, research on special topics, and the construction of the history and theory of this genre, and explores the reasons why it has been slighted for so long. To deepen and broaden this research in the new century, we must exert ourselves in three areas: first, we must adopt a modern vision of criticism of the essay; second, we must “digest Western theories” and “Sinicize essay writing and research”; and third, we must change our research methods and way of thinking. These three points not only offer an important dimension for understanding and solving contemporary issues relating to the essay, but also have methodological significance for research.     

Commitment of Private and Public Agency Workers to Child Welfare: How Long Do They Plan to Stay?

ABSTRACT

Method: Child welfare professionals completing training to work in foster care were asked about reasons for taking their child welfare position, commitment to their agencies, and commitment to child welfare. Analyses compared responses from new public agency foster care workers (N = 100), public agency workers making lateral transfers to foster care (N = 64), and new private foster care workers (N = 105).

Results: Private agency foster care workers were less committed to their agencies and to child welfare and more likely to have taken the position because it was the only one available.

Conclusions: The practice by public child welfare of outsourcing foster care services to private agencies needs to be evaluated. This practice may not benefit children in care and may create organizational problems for agencies.     

Exploring Moderating Effects of Violent Conflict on Household Welfare in a Resource-Constrained Environment: The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

This study examines correlates of household welfare in three countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, using data from the 2004 wave of the Afrobarometer survey. We also assess the role violent conflict might play in influencing this relationship. This subject has become especially relevant today in sub-Saharan Africa, given the growing disfranchisement of vulnerable individuals and households and increased incidents of violent conflict. Insight into the relationship between violent conflict and household welfare may be an important step in understanding why many sub-Saharan African countries have difficulties in stimulating economic growth and welfare. The study sample includes 3,525 respondents. Study findings provide partial support for the hypothesized relationship. Specifically, poverty reduction initiatives and informal assistance are associated with reduced hardship, while violent conflict is related to an increase in hardship. We also note that certain individual and household characteristics are linked to hardship. Practice and policy implications are suggested.     

Paternal and Household Characteristics Associated With Child Neglect and Child Protective Services Involvement

ABSTRACT

This study examined the association of paternal and household characteristics with household-level measures of child neglect and Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement, measured when the index child was 5 years of age. Secondary analyses of the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study were conducted using a subsample of 1,089 residential, biological fathers. Logistic regression models indicated that paternal depression was associated with greater than doubled odds of child neglect and CPS involvement. Paternal alcohol use and parenting stress were associated with approximately 50% increased odds for child neglect, and a scale measuring 13 caregiving tasks to reflect positive father involvement with the child was also associated with less risk for child neglect. However, paternal alcohol use, parenting stress, and positive involvement with the child were not associated with CPS involvement. An implication of this study is that paternal psychosocial functioning is important to consider in conjunction with sociodemographic factors when examining maltreatment risk in two-parent families.     

Building professional competence – the new focus of social work education in Taiwan

This article aims at introducing social work education in Taiwan with the emphasis of required field work practicum in the programmes. The first section is an introduction with numbers and facts, using the passage of the Professional Social Worker Act in 1997 as the watershed to look at the pace and direction of social work education developments in Taiwan; the second section is a summary of a social work professional competence study in Taiwan to analyse the differences between school faculty and field supervisors in comprehending students' core competence; thirdly is to illustrate the response from education programme of enhancing scheme of social work field practicum, using the case of the National Taiwan University, followed by a conclusion.

本文旨在介紹台灣社會工作教育及在课程中尤為著重的必修科目 – 社會工作實習。 文章的第一部分是附有統計數字及事实的简介, 利用1997年通過的社會工作者專业法案作為分水嶺, 以分析台灣社會工作教育的發展步伐及方向; 第二部份是台灣社會工作專業能力的研究總結, 以分析學院及前線社会工作督導在理解學生的核心能力上, 有何差別; 第三部份主要引用台灣大學为例子, 說明在教育课程如何作出回应, 改善社会工作实习的课程, 最後是论文的结论。     

Childhood origins and adult destinations: The impact of childhood living conditions on coexisting disadvantages in adulthood

The aim of this study was to analyse linkages between childhood living conditions and coexisting disadvantages in adulthood. Analyses were based on the Stockholm Birth Cohort, consisting of more than 14,000 individuals born in 1953, followed up until 2007. Based on education, labour market outcomes, economic poverty and health, four outcome profiles with varying levels of disadvantage were identified by means of latent class analysis. Coexisting disadvantages were present in approximately one‐fifth of the individuals. Low educational attainment, social welfare recipiency and mental health problems simultaneously occurred in two of the profiles, suggesting that these dimensions are highly interconnected. Results from multinomial regression analysis showed that individuals who had experienced disadvantaged childhood conditions had particularly high risks of ending up in these two outcome profiles, with or without the presence of unemployment. Key Practitioner Message: ● Four outcome profiles with varying combinations of adult disadvantage are identified; ● Coexisting disadvantages are present in approximately one‐fifth of the individuals; ● Those experiencing adverse childhood conditions have higher risks of coexisting disadvantages, with or without the presence of unemployment.