Foster parenting: A developmental model

This paper proposes a developmental framework for foster parents and outlines four distinct growth stages. Such a framework can be of value to program administrators who are required to assess foster parent development during the crucial matching process. To draw a distinction between each developmental stage, specific instrumental tasks and indicators are outlined.     

Not Such an 'Ordinary' Relationship: the role of women support staff in relation to men with learning disabilities who have difficult sexual behaviour

This paper brings together some preliminary data on the management of men with learning disabilities who have unacceptable/abusive sexual behaviour patterns with a small pilot study which specifically explores the roles of women support workers in relation to difficult sexual behaviour. A specific focus on the behaviour of men with learning disabilities is justified because of consistent evidence that it is men, rather than women, service users who challenge services in this way. The studies explore with staff the boundaries of what is considered acceptable sexual behaviour and how breaches of these are responded to within services. One issue which we have chosen to highlight is the frequent exposure of women staff to the men's sexual behaviour, sometimes precipitated by the unusual relationship that exists between the two parties, and exacerbated by the lack of clear management guidance within the gendered hierarchies found in service agencies.     

AN ESTIMATE OF THE RENT GENERATED BY A PREMIUM COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER

The National Collegiate Athletic Association limits the payments athletes can receive for their services. Colleges are effectively monosony employers so players will not be paid their marginal revenue product. Therefore, colleges capture an economic rent from players. This paper measures these rents by estimating the marginal revenue product of a top college football player. The empirical results suggest that a premium college player generates over $500,000 in annual revenues for his team.     

Central Scotland's joint police and social work initiative in child abuse: an evaluation

SUMMARY. The previous article in this issue described the joint police and social work initiative in Central Region for the investigation of child abuse allegations from the point of view of a social work manager. This paper sets out the main findings of an independent evaluative study of the same scheme, focusing on its impact on the way investigations were handled, the aspiration to make procedures more child-centred, and the development in practice of the concept of co-ordination. The study, described more fully in Brown and Fuller (1991), was carried out by the Social Work Research Centre, University of Stirling, and funded by the Social Work Services Group of the Scottish Office.     

I Was Born (In a Hospital Bed) - when I was 31 years old

'I Was Born (In a Hospital Bed) - when I was 31 years old', is on one level an analysis of a personal experience and reaction to growing up with a disability. It is also a look at a process of integrating one person's awakening to the positive role a disability might play in someone's life with a common history of other individuals with disabilities and with the evolution of the disability rights movement in the US from the 1970s to the twenty-first century. The article is based on a speech delivered to a five-state disability rights conference in the early 1990s.     

Early School Leaving among Immigrants in Toronto Secondary Schools

Les données du Conseil scolaire du district de Toronto sont utilisées pour déterminer quelles sont les répercussions de vivre sous le seuil de faible revenu (SFR) sur le décrochage à l'école secondaire, en tenant compte du statut de la génération d'immigrants ainsi que d'une diversité de facteurs de risques (par exemple, le pays d'origine, l'âge à l'entrée de l'école secondaire, la réussite scolaire). Les résultats ont indiqué que la mesure SFR du voisinage constituait un prédicteur significatif du décrochage scolaire, indépendamment du statut d'immigrant. L'explication du taux de décrochage des immigrants à partir du facteur de la génération n'a obtenu que peu de soutien. La région d'origine s'est avérée un prédicteur marquant du décrochage où l'on constatait des différences entre les groupes d'immigrants et entre les étudiants immigrants et les étudiants originaires du pays. While education statistics confirm that there is little difference in the dropout rates of native‐born and immigrant youth, analyses of Toronto District School Board (TDSB) data have revealed significant variation in school persistence within immigrant groups. Among newcomer youth, the decision to leave school early has been reported to be strongly influenced by socioeconomic status as well as such factors as country of origin, age at arrival, generational status, family structure, and academic performance. While living in low‐income conditions is thought to place both foreign‐ and Canadian‐born youth at risk of poor school performance and early school withdrawal, their substantially higher incidence of poverty suggests that today's immigrant youth are likely to face greater obstacles to academic success that may in turn have detrimental, long‐term consequences. This paper uses TDSB data to investigate the extent to which living below the low‐income cutoff affects the likelihood of dropping out of secondary school, while taking into account generational status as well as a variety risk factors, noted above. Policy implications are discussed.     

AN ALTERNATIVE TO MANAGED CARE: A GUILD MODEL FOR THE INDEPENDENT PRACTICE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

As health care is reconfigured by HMOs and managed care organizations, family therapists often have to decide whether or not to cooperate with the new power structures and their ways of doing things. The chief concern of many therapists is the ehtical bind created when the managed care orgranization demands breaches of confidentiality or makes decisions about the course of treatment that may not, in the therapist's opinion, be in the best interest of the family. Associations of independent, nonmanaged care psychotherapists are springing up in response to these dilemmas. This paper describes the philosophical evolution and organizational development of one such association.