Abstracts from Volume 35, Number 4
(December, 2008)
ESTABLISHING A BASIS FOR MULTI-SYSTEM
COLLABORATION: SYSTEMIC TEAM DEVELOPMENT
Rosalyn M. Bertram
Reports of child sexual abuse require police, child protective services,
forensic and medical evaluators, prosecutors, family court and
treatment providers to negotiate complementary, overlapping roles
with children and families. Administrators from these agencies in
Kansas City, Missouri clarified this multi-system response by applying
a theory-based model for team development previously studied
in direct practice with families. This article presents that model
and an exploratory case study of this effort. Findings suggest the
model’s efficacy for resolving inter-agency conflict and may contribute
to constructing logic models in multi-system collaboration.
AFRICAN AMERICAN GRANDMOTHERS PROVIDING
EXTENSIVE CARE TO THEIR GRANDCHILDREN:
SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH
DETERMINANTS OF LIFE SATISFACTION
Dorothy Smith-Ruiz
The article explores the relationships between grandmothers’ socioeconomic
and health characteristics in relation to life satisfaction.
Reasons for caregiving, assumption of the caregiver role, and grandmothers’
attitudes and experiences in custodial caregiving were discussed
qualitatively from data gathered in detailed interviews of a
convenience sample of 99 custodial African American grandmothers
caring for one or more grandchildren younger than 18 in North
Carolina. Most grandmothers in this sample reported mixed feelings
toward custodial caregiving, both as a burden as well as a blessing.
They also reported a weak support system and relied on their faith
more than family and friends to continue in their caregiving roles.
POLICY MANDATED COLLABORATION
Jan Ivery
This exploratory study examined the collaborative strategy used
by Tri Cities Partnership (TCP) to facilitate the collaborative process
required by the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) to receive Continuum of Care funding.
The study examined partner perceptions of TCP’s leadership,
organizational structure, benefits and drawbacks of participation,
and relationships with partners. A follow-up survey and key informant
interviews explored themes related to organizational affiliation with TCP,
benefits and drawbacks of participation, relationships
with partners, challenges impacting the ability of TCP
to facilitate collaboration and strategies for involving key stakeholders.
The study also identified factors that motivate and limit
organizational involvement in community partnerships formed
in response to policy and funding mandates for collaboration.
RETHINKING SOCIAL WORK’S ROLE IN PUBLIC
ASSISTANCE
Julie Cooper Altman and Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg
This article presents an argument for revisiting social work’s relationship
to public assistance in the wake of 10 years of welfare
reform. Three case studies drawn from a mixed-method study of
the quality of life of former TANF recipients illustrate the range,
depth and complexity of the needs of persons while they are on
the welfare rolls, transitioning off and living without cash relief.
The article briefly traces the history of social work’s commitment
to and provision of social services for this population and
argues that it may be time to revisit the profession’s role in public
assistance. In light of history and a review of welfare “leaver”
studies and the authors’ research, the article suggests interventions
that could improve service to the poor, both on and off
cash relief. The role of social work in advocating for changes in
welfare policy, program and practice contexts is also discussed.
RACIAL/ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN RELIGIOUS
CONGREGATION-BASED SOCIAL SERVICE DELIVERY
EFFORTS
R. Khari Brown
The current study utilizes Swidler’s (1986) cultural toolkit theory
to explain racial/ethnic differences in American religious congregations’
provision of social service programs. This study suggests
that black Americans’ reliance upon structural tools to assess poverty
contributes to their congregations being more heavily involved
than majority white congregations in the provision of social services
that attempt to make a longer-term impact on community life
(i.e. academic tutoring and job training). In contrast, white Americans’
greater reliance upon individualistic tools to understand
poverty arguably contributes to their congregations being more
heavily involved in the provision of programs that have a shorter-
term impact on community life (i.e. food, thrift, and shelter).
While majority Latino congregations are less likely than are black
congregations to provide longer-term impacting programs only,
majority Asian congregations tend to be less heavily involved in
the provision of both longer and shorter term impacting programs.
A BOILING POT OF ANIMOSITY OR AN ALLIANCE OFKINDRED SPIRITS? EXPLORING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN NATIVE
AMERICANS AND AFRICAN AMERICANS
Hilary N. Weaver
The relationship between indigenous people and people of African
heritage in the United States is a long and complex one. An examination
of historical and contemporary connections between
indigenous persons and African Americans not only clarifies complex
and frequently overlooked parts of American history but sets
the stage for examining future possibilities. It is useful for helping
professionals to understand these relationships since this history
may serve as the basis for positive connections or animosities
between clients and professionals. This article begins with a
discussion of selected historical intersections between these populations
that highlight the complex and varied nature of contacts
between these groups. Examples of contemporary interactions
illustrate the ongoing, multidimensional nature of connections
between Native Americans and African Americans. Implications
for the helping professions are drawn from the material presented.
“I’M GLAD YOU ASKED”: HOMELESS CLIENTS
WITH SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS EVALUATE THEIR
RESIDENTIAL CARE
Katherine Tyson McCrea and Lesa Spravka
Homeless clients with severe mental illness can offer considerable
insight about their residential care, but there are significant methodological
challenges in eliciting their service evaluations:
maximizing participation, facilitating self-expression,
and preserving clients’ natural meanings. This study addresses
those challenges and presents qualitative data residential care
staff obtained from 210 clients. While clients prioritized meeting
their subsistence needs, they emphasized attaining inner
well-being and mutually respectful relationships, and that
group services needed to reduce confrontational interactions in
order to be helpful. For after-care services, clients sought sustained
relationships with staff grounded in client initiative, combining
respect for their autonomy with psychosocial support.
BOOK REVIEWS
Gangs in the Global City: Alternatives to Traditional Criminology. John M. Hagedorn, Editor.
Reviewed by Matthew T. Theriot.
Saving Children from a Life of Crime: Early Risk Factors and Effective Interventions.
David P. Farrington and Brandon C.Welsh.
Reviewed by Stephanie Cosner Berzin.
Why Welfare States Persist: The Importance of Public Opinion in Democracies.
Clem Brooks and Jeff Manza.
Reviewed by Allan Brawley.
Survival of the Knitted: Immigrant Social Networks in a Stratified World.
Vilna Francine Bashi.
Reviewed by Qingwen Xu.
The Lost Promise of Civil Rights. Risa L. Goluboff.
Reviewed by Wilma Peebles-Wilkins.
Citizen Lobbyists: Local Efforts to Influence Public Policy.
Brian Adams. Reviewed by Michael Woodford.
Wives without Husbands: Marriage, Desertion and Welfare
in New York, 1900-1935. Anna R. Igra.
Reviewed by Laura Curran.
BOOK NOTES
Contested Lands: Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus and
Sri Lanka. Sumantra Bose.
Revitalising Communities in a Globalising World.
Lena Dominelli, Editor.
Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy: Right versus Left.
Gardenia Harris, Bernard Ivan Tamas, and Nancy S. Lind
Racial Diversity and Social Capital: Equality and Community in America.
Rodney E. Hero.
Social Security in Ireland, 1939-1952: The Limits to Solidarity.
Sophia Carey.
Opting Out? Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home. Pamela Stone.
The Politics, Economics, and Culture of Mexican-US
Migration: Both Sides of the Border. Edward Ashbee, Helene
Balsev Clausen, and Carl Pedersen, Editors.
INDEX OF VOLUME XXXV, ISSUES 1-4
