The Need for Participative Interventions in Child Protection: Perspectives from Nuevo León State

without ensuring the former, the latter will remain a partial and counter-productive work practice

Service Users as Collaborators in Social Work Practice, Research, and Education

The idea that social work needs to be concerned with thinking and acting in a more collaborative way with the people in need is common around the world. At the international level, codes of ethics and social work principles inspire practitioners, researchers, and educators in bridging the gap between themselves and people in trouble, commonly known as service users. Beyond a common agreement around such principle, to realize collaborative relationships in practice is a challenge that requires prudence, coherence, and methodology. The Relational social work method supports the practical development of participation, collaboration, and reciprocity. Through concepts and examples, this article aims to describe how service users can assume the role of collaborators in social practice, research, and education

Preparing students for social work practice in contemporary societies: insights from a transnational research network

This paper arises from a transnational research network investigating social work education. University based social work programmes from four European countries (Ireland, Italy, Norway, and the U.K.) shared a similar concern: how educators can support students to prepare for social work practice. The relationship between social work education and practice is not straightforward; the partnership between educators and practitioners in helping social work students to flourish in practice remains a complex and, at times, controversial issue. Furthermore, it is not enough to help students learn the mechanics of day to day tasks, it is also important to motivate them in becoming social workers stimulated by principles of human rights and social justice. With this in mind, each educator conducted a local study using qualitative and/or quantitative methods to explore what influences the development of such practitioners. Analysis from the studies indicate three key issues for social work education in Europe: developing strategies to help students in preventing and overcoming ‘practice shock’; the promotion of coherence as a way to bring into focus the complexity of the interrelationships between theory and practice; the active engagement of students and practice teachers in the evaluation and development of contemporary social work education models

Neural stem cell transplantation in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis: an open-label, phase 1 study

Innovative pro-regenerative treatment strategies for progressive multiple sclerosis (PMS), combining neuroprotection and immunomodulation, represent an unmet need. Neural precursor cells (NPCs) transplanted in animal models of multiple sclerosis have shown preclinical efficacy by promoting neuroprotection and remyelination by releasing molecules sustaining trophic support and neural plasticity. Here we present the results of STEMS, a prospective, therapeutic exploratory, non-randomized, open-label, single-dose-finding phase 1 clinical trial (NCT03269071, EudraCT 2016-002020-86), performed at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy, evaluating the feasibility, safety and tolerability of intrathecally transplanted human fetal NPCs (hfNPCs) in 12 patients with PMS (with evidence of disease progression, Expanded Disability Status Scale >= 6.5, age 18-55 years, disease duration 2-20 years, without any alternative approved therapy). The safety primary outcome was reached, with no severe adverse reactions related to hfNPCs at 2-year follow-up, clearly demonstrating that hfNPC therapy in PMS is feasible, safe and tolerable. Exploratory secondary analyses showed a lower rate of brain atrophy in patients receiving the highest dosage of hfNPCs and increased cerebrospinal fluid levels of anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective molecules. Although preliminary, these results support the rationale and value of future clinical studies with the highest dose of hfNPCs in a larger cohort of patients

CHILD PROTECTION SOCIAL WORKERS IN LOMBARDIA. A quantitative analysis about opinions and activities

Il lavoro di ricerca è dedicato ai Servizi di Child Protection della regione Lombardia. Il disegno del lavoro è peculiare, composto da due parti che sorreggono l’obiettivo generale che si articola su due livelli di analisi complementari fra loro. L’intento è stato descrivere e analizzare la realtà dei servizi di tutela minorile della Regione in ordine a due dimensioni: le forme di gestione e la pratica operativa. Per la prima, è stata effettuata una ricognizione sulle forme di gestione relative al Servizio tutela minori di ciascun Comune lombardo: questa operazione ha da un lato costituito un risultato importante in sé andando a colmare un vuoto di materiale disponibile a livello ufficiale, e dall’altro è stato propedeutico all’indagine operativa che ha costituito la seconda parte del progetto. Nella seconda parte della ricerca, l’indagine ha riguardato l’attività degli assistenti sociali incardinati dentro le rispettive organizzazioni, con riferimento ad opinioni e comportamenti. L’idea di coinvolgere la popolazione degli assistenti sociali lombardi in un’indagine quantitativa (il tasso di risposta ha superato il 70%) nasce in risposta a quesiti che nei sistemi di tutela minorile risultano pendenti, la cui esplorazione, fino ad oggi parziale, potrebbe risultare utile alla programmazione dei Servizi, alla formazione degli operatori, alle scelte di politica sociale. Un valore aggiunto alla ricerca è rappresentato dall’ideazione di strumenti di rilevazione costruiti ad hocThe purpose of the research is to gain data about the Child Protection system in an Italian Region (Lombardia). The work developed in two parts: one concerned the organizational form and the other the work practice of the practitioners. In Lombardia there are a wide type of Child Protection organizations: the institutional mission is the same but the modalities to seek it are numerous, for example in association with other towns, through a new institution, or sovereignty The official documentation about this theme is lacking: in this project has been realized a complete reconnaissance of the organizational forms with the assistance of the data collected through a survey administered to 200 managers. The second part of the research aimed to represent the work practices of the fieldwork. Involving the 70% of the practitioners committed in the Child Protection work in this Region, the survey realized underlines the opinions (about the workload, the competences and the abilities, the level of stress,..) and the activities done during a work week. To collect the data (analyzed with a statistical program), the research tools are ideated especially

La metodología relacional de la red. Perspectiva y principios básicos

The article presents the relational paradigm in the social work, starting from the concept of relational welfare, showing first methodological dimensions and later elements useful for the practice. The relational paradigm is innovative and no-conventional focused on the idea that the welfare, in complicated situation for individual, families and communities, arises from the relational resources, from the associate action of person with positive intentions. The relational methodology is based on the concepts of empowerment of humane abilities, reciprocity and mutuality as motor to develop welfare and social capital, relational resources as ingredients of the care. The relational paradigm speaks about coping network, defined as a dynamic network of persons sharing a common finality to social finalities or to improve a life situation. At the end of the article a part is dedicated to the child protection work focusing this delicate field on the ideas proposed by the relational paradigm.Este artículo presenta el paradigma relacional de la red en el trabajo social, partiendo del concepto de bienestar relacional, mostrando primero dimensiones metodológicas y posteriormente aportando elementos operativos útiles en la práctica. Se trata de un paradigma innovador y no-convencional centrado sobre la idea que el bienestar —también en situación de malestar de individuos, familias o comunidades— emerge a partir de las relaciones sociales o, mejor, de la acción asociada de personas bien intencionadas. La metodología relacional de la red se funda sobre los conceptos de empoderamiento y fortalecimiento de las habilidades humanas, de reciprocidad y mutualidad como motores para desarrollar bienestar y capital social, de recursos relacionales como ingredientes esenciales del trabajo social. En el paradigma relacional se habla de red de enfrentamiento, la cual es definida como una red dinámica de personas que comparten una finalidad común de mejoramiento de vida o finalidades sociales. Al final del artículo se dedica una parte al trabajo con familias y menores: se enfoca este delicado ámbito de intervención en las ideas propuestas por el paradigma relacional

Occupational social work: the Italian experience

The chapter presents the italian experience about occupational social work, with refer to historical evolutions and actual challenges

Lavoro sociale in Messico

L'articolo offre una panoramica sul lavoro sociale in Messico, con particolare riferimento al funzionamento dei Servizi per la tutela minorile.Il materiale presentato \ue8 frutto di un periodo di ricerca sul campo trascorso dall'autrice nella citt\ue0 di Monterre

Le forme di gestione dei servizi tutela minori in Lombardia: un'indagine alla luce dei processi isomorfici

E\u2019 noto che i Servizi di tutela minorile rappresentano organizzazioni complesse di welfare chiamate ad attuare mandati densi di responsabilit\ue0 istituzionali, sociali, etiche ed umane, e che spesso sono caratterizzate da stili organizzativi frammentati e disomogenei. L\u2019ordinamento vigente ammette l\u2019esistenza di forme di gestione plurime attraverso cui gli enti locali possono discrezionalmente organizzare i Servizi di welfare. Pur all\u2019interno di un quadro formale comune, la questione delle forme di gestione dei Servizi \ue8 legata a fattori politici, amministrativi e culturali dei vari territori che appaiono alla ricerca di assetti organizzativi che armonizzino la molteplicit\ue0 degli interessi in gioco. Nello specifico del contesto lombardo, il processo con cui le organizzazioni di servizio sociale, a partire dal ritiro delle deleghe alle Aziende sanitarie locali avvenuto nel 2004, hanno scelto la forma di gestione al fine di espletare le funzioni di tutela minorile \ue8 avanzato in maniera diversificata: in alcuni casi si \ue8 mantenuta la gestione in economia, in altri si \ue8 ricorso a forme di collaborazione associata e/o ad alleanze estese ai soggetti del terzo settore. Nel presente contributo verranno esposti i risultati di un\u2019indagine quantitativa compiuta con l\u2019obiettivo di rappresentare quanti e quali forme di gestione coesistono tra le organizzazioni di Child Protection lombarde, con riferimento al concetto di isomorfismo istituzionale (Powell e Di Maggio,1991). Oltre ad una ricognizione sull\u2019universo degli enti locali lombardi, le rilevazioni svolte hanno permesso di evidenziare l\u2019esistenza di peculiari forme di gestione che al presente non sono categorizzate in letteratura ma che mostrano aspetti interessanti di ibridazione e commistione tra diversi profili gestionali