Making Social Work Work: Improving social work for vulnerable families and children without parental care around the world: A literature review

This literature review calls for families and children in developing countries to be supported in ways that are appropriate to the conditions, culture and resources available rather than through approaches to social work that are common in the west. Children living without, or at risk of losing, parental care have wide and varied needs, this paper highlights the need for more thorough assessments of appropriate approaches, functions and support needs for social workers, and suggests elements of an assessment tool to explore these issues. This paper is the first part of a longer process for developing such an assessment tool, and plans are underway to further develop and test the tool in 2012.- See more at: http://www.everychild.org.uk/resources/reports-policies/making-social-work-work#sthash.4EF6qnzc.dpu

From Novelty to Expectation: Recommendations to Develop a System of Campus Support for Foster Youth

As longtime funders of efforts to promote educational opportunity for current and former foster youth, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation (WSJF) and Stuart Foundation have been in the forefront of efforts to replicate successful models of campus support programs for former foster youth at public institutions of higher education in the Bay Area and Northern California. This paper was commissioned to help the funders determine what additional investments could be made to help additional campuses implement support programs and to move the field toward a "tipping point" where temporary philanthropic support for a relatively small number of demonstration programs begins to be replaced by on-going public support for the widespread replication of CSPs throughout the state's public institutions of higher education. This paper examines the challenges and barriers faced by campuses that seek to replicate campus support programs for foster youth, determine what campuses need for effective replication, and the most useful ways in which support could be delivered. In also includes a potential design for a campus support program initiative and makes recommendations for the type of intermediary needed to manage the initiative

Landscapes of Helping: Kindliness in Neighbourhoods and Communities

Increasing geographical mobility, economic change and the rise of an individualist culture in the UK have contributed to the loosening of close ties in communities. Communities need to evolve, to reconnect, so that people cultivate the ‘background hum’ of sociability that has been associated with neighbourliness. This ‘background hum’ is characterised by people’s awareness of each other, by a respect for each other’s privacy and by a readiness to take action if help is needed. In this research we define kindliness as ‘neighbourliness enacted’ and describe the process of reconnection within communities as the ‘reinvention of sociality’. Hebden Bridge’s relative success in melding traditional and more contemporary forms of sociality helps to identify some broader lessons about fostering kindliness in neighbourhoods and communities

Welfare dependency and the logic of mutual obligation

No abstract available

A scoping review to establish the relationship of community to the lives of looked after children and young people

Friendship networks and relationships with communities are important parts of the lives of looked after children and young people (LACYP). Much of legislation, policy, practice and research focuses on „the care experience‟ itself, as distinct from young people‟s everyday lives and their connectivity with wider environments. Considerable lack of understanding remains about what being „in care‟ means. This often results in prejudice and stigma. Groups set up specifically for LACYP offer opportunities to develop networks and relationships with adults and young people, and to raise awarenesses. Transitions may happen early and be experienced frequently by LACYP, however, they can offer new opportunities and positive relationships with different people. Meaningful participation in communities such as schools is an important factor in developing stability in relationships. Concepts of participation and empowerment form part of an ecological framework which locates the community context as central to building resilience for LACYP. What constitutes community cohesion and connectedness for LACYP requires a fine balance between the interests of protection and participation. Successful interconnectedness is a matter of shared concern for all. The key challenge remains that of identifying how stable community relationships for LACYP may be strengthened and supported to dynamic mutual benefit. These documents are outputs from the same project: 1) an end of project discussion paper; 2) an extended version of the discussion paper; and 3) four short guides for practice and polic

'A light in a very dark place' : The role of a voluntary organisation providing support for those affected by encephalitis

Voluntary organisations are seen as contributing to the ‘democratisation’ of health and social care. Little, however, is written about their role and this paper, by focusing on the work of The Encephalitis Society, provides insights into the challenges facing voluntary organisations as they manage twin roles as service providers and advocates, of people with neurological disorders. Two studies are presented: a review conducted by the Society, focusing on patient’s experiences of neurological services; and an external evaluation of the Society’s current provision. The first, based on a postal survey of its members affected by encephalitis (n = 339), illustrates the Society’s advocacy role. The survey provided support for the Association of British Neurologists’ recommendation for nationally agreed standards of care. The second study, a postal survey of recent contacts (n = 76) and in-depth telephone interviews (n = 22), illustrates the Society’s value role as a service provider and supports its role in helping rehabilitate affected individuals and their families. These studies provided the Society with information for policy and service development. Importantly, providing the basis of informed action and partnership with stakeholders and informing the organisation’s sense of purpose, in the changing context of welfare provision in the UK

Research review: young people leaving care

This paper reviews the international research on young people leaving care. Set in the context of a social exclusion framework, it explores young people's accelerated and compressed transitions to adulthood, and discusses the development and classification of leaving care services in responding to their needs. It then considers the evidence from outcome studies and argues that adopting a resilience framework suggests that young people leaving care may fall into three groups: young people 'moving on', 'survivors' and 'victims'. In concluding, it argues that these three pathways are associated with the quality of care young people receive, their transitions from care and the support they receive after care

Family at the Center

To better understand how family engagement supports school readiness in Los Angeles County, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the LA Partnership for Early Childhood Investment convened an advisory group of early childhood leaders and stakeholders to provide advice and explore opportunities to strengthen parent engagement. This report summarizes key insights and recommendations that emerged through these discussions and additional research about parent engagement programs and practices

Potentialities and constraints in the relation between social innovation and public policies: some lessons from South America

Social innovation (SI) can offer alternative forms of organization and novel solutions to complex problems faced by contemporary societies. As governments face increasing pressures from mounting societal challenges, it is assumed that SI can provide bottom-up solutions in ways that can create transformative change. However, the dialectic relation between bottom-up initiatives and government can be difficult and sometimes contradictory. Even more, assumptions about the diminishing powers of government can be misleading and overstress the role of SI. Based on the study of the recent South American experience, we have departed from this assumption, seeking to understand what the role of public policies as initiators or supporters of SI could be. We analyzed two top-down initiatives promoted by public policies that ultimately fostered SI in Argentina, the subsistence agriculture “Pro-Huerta” program and the policies of the National Technology and Social Innovation Program, and one complementary case study of a bottom-up SI experience in Brazil, the One Million Cisterns Program, which was later inserted into public policies. Together, these cases have allowed us to understand the potentialities and limitations of SI and the kind of dialectic relations they established with public policies. In particular, we have considered how public policies can foster and support SI.Fil: Gordon, Ariel. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Economía y Administracion; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Becerra, Lucas Dardo. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Centro de Estudios e Investigación. Instituto de Estudios Sobre la Ciencia y Tecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Fressoli, Juan Mariano. Centro de Investigaciones para la Transformación; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin