Family Well-Being Between Work,Care and Welfare Politics

Summary

This article examines how policy-relevant aspects such as gender equality, work load and relationship qualities affect family well-being. The analysis aims at identifying the constellation of factors that can explain family life satisfaction using data drawn from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Despite the fact that Norwegian welfare policies have a strong emphasis on supporting gender equality and mothers'employment, the study finds a gendered pattern in parents'work and family lives. Family well-being is shown to be influenced by family internal factors, such as time pressure, the quality of close relations, and level of conflict. This in turn provides input for national policy-making.     

Professional development opportunities as retention incentives in child welfare

This study examined the career paths of 415 Title IV-E MSW graduates in one state retrospectively over 180 months post-graduation to discover factors that could be important in affecting retention in public child welfare agencies. The Title IV-E educational program is designed to be a retention strategy at the same time as it is a professionalization strategy. We surmised that perceived organizational support (POS) contributes to retention by acknowledging the workers' needs for career development support. The median survival time for these child welfare social workers was 43 months for the first job and 168 months for the entire child welfare career. The initial analysis showed steep drops in retention occurred at 24–36 months post-graduation, approximately at the end of the Title IV-E work obligation. Upon further examination, Kaplan–Meier tests showed organizational factors relevant to workers' professional career development predicted retention. Having access to continuing education and agency-supported case-focused supervision for licensure were correlated with retention at the 24–36 month post-graduation mark. At 72 months post-graduation, promotion to supervisor was a significant factor found to encourage retention. Being a field instructor for MSW students and being promoted to a managerial position were not significantly related to retention.     

Transitioning youth: Policies and outcomes

The primary policies and outcome studies regarding youth transitioning from foster care and young adults who have aged out of foster care over the past quarter of a century are reviewed. Although several policies have increased services and funding for this population, overall, their outcomes have not significantly improved. In terms of educational achievement, employment, and well-being, many continue to fare poorly in young adulthood. Further policies and practice improvements may need to be implemented. The population of youth transitioning has far outpaced the funding available, state and program eligibility requirements may be eliminating the most vulnerable from services, in many states there is an inadequate provision of basic needs such as housing and healthcare, the expectations of self-sufficiency for this population now exceed societal norms, and the restrictions and placement instability associated with many older adolescents in care may be in contrast to their developmental needs. In order to more fully address the needs of youth transitioning from foster care, child welfare policies and practices may need to focus more attention on the relational and social development of youth while in foster care. Furthermore, during young adulthood, policies and practices may need to provide greater safety nets and resources to this population.     

Cost analysis of the strengthening families program in reducing time to family reunification among substance-affected families

Decision makers typically face uncertainty in determining whether the outcomes of promising child welfare interventions justify the investment. Despite repeated calls for cost analysis in child welfare, original studies that evaluate the costs and effects of child welfare programs have been limited. Moreover, no cost analyses have focused on family reunification programs that address the needs of substance-affected families. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the costs and effects of a federally funded implementation of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP), a 14-week family training curriculum, on time to reunification with a substance-involved child welfare population. Based on event history analysis, we find the typical child participating in SFP spends 190 fewer days in out of home care when compared to a propensity score matched comparison group of children in out-of home care receiving treatment as usual. Re-entry rates between the two groups were not significantly different at follow-up. At an average out-of-home care rate of $86 per child per day in this state, SFP saves approximately $16,340 per participating child in out-of-home care costs. From a cost–benefit perspective, every $1 invested in SFP yields an average savings of $9.83 in this Midwestern demonstration.     

Employment mobility or turnover? An analysis of child welfare and protection employee retention

This article challenges the commonly held assumption that there is a high level of occupational turnover of social workers in all child protection and welfare agencies. By analysing occupational mobility patterns (turnover, retention and attrition) in five child protection social work teams, the article demonstrates how occupational mobility is a complex phenomenon and needs to be understood within wider shifts in employment patterns and the gendering of professions. In this paper we argue that it is important to distinguish between employee turnover and employee mobility, and that an examination of the posts taken up after leaving, at least in Ireland, may provide a different perspective on the narrative of high turnover of workers in this sector. Within the five teams, it is estimated that there was a turnover rate of 8 percent in 2006 and 11 percent in 2010, with 72 percent of child protection workers in post at the end of 2005 being retained and still in post at the end of 2010. While this should not lead to complacency, or a failure to recognise and respond to the stressful nature of child protection, it does raise questions for employers about how they might plan for occupational mobility within a stable workforce made up of largely women, aged between 25 and 35, frequently newly-qualified, who are often the main carers for children and adults outside the workplace.     

Beyond insiders and outsiders: welfare and immigration reforms in 1960s US

Despite the civil rights dialogue used by the gay community, many ‘gay’ organizations and members of the ‘gay’ community continue to exclude men of color from leadership positions and ‘gay’ establishments, thus continuing to add to the notion that ‘gay’ equals ‘white’. Likewise, gay men of color experience homophobia within their racial and ethnic communities. In this paper, I discuss both the subtle and the blatant forms of racial exclusion practised in the ‘gay’ community as well as the homophobia found in racial and ethnic communities to examine how such practices affect gay men of color, particularly their self-esteem and their emotional well-being.     

Technology Could Be Harmful Rather Than Beneficial: An Empirical Investigation of Caseworkers’ Perceptions Using a Knowledge Management Framework

ABSTRACT. The reasons for the ineffectiveness of some technology-mediated initiatives in human service organizations are not well understood. This study conceptualized a knowledge management system with the following features: a process orientation that focuses on how caseworkers integrate knowledge into decision making and a sociotechnical system perspective. A mediation research model was developed and was tested empirically using structural equation modeling with a sample of 4,554 caseworkers. Results supported the mediation effect of knowledge integration (KI) as an important factor in organizational effectiveness (OE). The technological domain had a small positive effect on KI and a direct negative effect on OE. The sociocultural and interorganizational domains appeared to be better predictors of KI and OE. Future recommendations include adopting a systematic approach in coordinating knowledge management practices based on a caseworker's KI ability.     

Native Hawaiian Families Systemic Disparities in Hawaii's Child Welfare System

This study examined systemic and individual factors that contribute to the disproportionality of Native Hawaiian families in the child welfare system using data from the 2004–2005 Hawaii State Child Welfare Services (N = 1267). Native Hawaiians were found to be more likely to reenter the system and less likely to be re-united with their families even when the type of abuse was less serious. This distinction was identifiable in interaction terms in multivariate analysis. The paper concludes that the child welfare system in Hawaii needs to continue to explore methods to reduce these disparities.     

Response Agreement Rates Between Child Welfare–Involved Youth and Their Caregivers

ABSTRACT

Data were collected from 40 youth and 37 caregivers, which represented 57 distinct youth and 20 youth–caregiver dyads to measure the level of agreement between youth self-report and their caregivers on a variety of topics. Topics included: the youth's past placements, service use and needs, experiences in the child welfare system, and the youth's emotional problems and social behaviors. Results indicated high agreement between youth and caregiver proxy related to placement history, service use, the restrictiveness of the current environment, and community safety; results indicated low levels of agreement for youth emotional difficulties and prosocial behaviors. Qualitative data were used to further identify some of the differences noted. Overall, the findings support prior research that shows higher agreement within youth–caregiver dyads for objective measures as opposed to subjective and private ones. Implications for future research are discussed, and methodological challenges related to this study are identified.     

Beyond Welfare Regimes: From Empirical Typology to Conceptual Ideal types

The welfare regime concept introduced by Gøsta Esping‐Andersen in 1990 is still widely used in comparative political research, although it has been challenged extensively both on empirical and analytical grounds. Besides the fact that many empirical welfare states seem to be hybrid cases of the established welfare regime categories, the argument that welfare regimes exist not only at the country level but also at the local level and at the level of particular welfare programmes has recently gained momentum in the academic literature. In this article, it is argued that the welfare regime concept should be stripped of its historical‐geographical connotations and turned into an ideal‐typical approach. To this end, a three‐dimensional model is proposed here that allows for analyzing the attributes of welfare states, welfare regions and welfare programmes on three analytical dimensions: welfare culture, welfare institutions and socio‐structural effects.