Child Welfare Involved Caregiver Perceptions of Family Support in Child Mental Health Treatment

Families involved in the child welfare system have disproportionately high rates of child mental health difficulties coupled with co-occurring stressors which impede access to child mental health treatment and therapeutic benefits. Peer support providers, an emerging workforce within child-serving settings, show particular promise at facilitating access to services, particularly for individuals with stigmatizing conditions. However, the perceived benefits of utilizing peer support providers from the perspective of child welfare-involved families is unknown. The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe peer support provided services and their perceived benefits within the Multiple Family Group (MFG) service delivery model, a clinician- and peer-led mental health intervention for children with behavioral problems and their families. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 predominantly Black and Hispanic adult (ages 26-57) child welfare-involved female caregivers who participated in MFG. Results: The most common benefits reported by caregivers were emotional support, instrumental support, and instructional support from clinician and peer facilitator teams. Caregivers reported they felt more comfortable with peers than clinicians when discussing parenting strategies. Conclusion: Peer support providers offer multiple and varied supports to caregivers. Implications of this study and future research directions are presented

Students' perceptions of international social work: A comparative study in the USA, UK, and Georgia

The field of social work worldwide has been increasingly influenced by globalization, migration, and other conditions that require professionals to be responsive and knowledgeable in addressing them. This collaborative project examined students’ perceptions of international social work at three universities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Georgia. Students’ responses indicated an overall strong interest and widespread agreement that there is a link between local and global social issues. The findings suggest that social work education needs to be globalized and tailored to students’ needs, which will help them identify social work strongly as part of a profession and affect change across the globe

Students' perceptions of international social work: A comparative study in the USA, UK, and Georgia

The field of social work worldwide has been increasingly influenced by globalization, migration, and other conditions that require professionals to be responsive and knowledgeable in addressing them. This collaborative project examined students’ perceptions of international social work at three universities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Georgia. Students’ responses indicated an overall strong interest and widespread agreement that there is a link between local and global social issues. The findings suggest that social work education needs to be globalized and tailored to students’ needs, which will help them identify social work strongly as part of a profession and affect change across the globe

Parent advocacy & support in child protection: conceputalizations of inclusive approaches with birth parents

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Childhood Abuse, Substance Abuse, Social Support, Psychological Functioning: Study of Low-Income Women in Recovery

The detrimental effects of childhood physical, sexual, or emotional abuse on psychological functioning in adulthood have been reported in numerous studies. Negative outcomes include dissociation, depression, and difficulties in interpersonal relationships. (Gauthier, Stollak, Messe, & Aronoff, 1996; Sanders & Becker-Lausen, 1995). Stein, Leslie, and Nyamathi (2002), in a study of women homeless in shelters, found that childhood abuse directly predicted later depression and low self-esteem. Not surprisingly, post-traumatic stress Copyright University of Houston, 2006 6 disorder (PTSD) has been described as a highly co-morbid disorder, and is likely to co-occur with depression and anxiety disorders, alcohol abuse, smoking, and drug abuse (Perkonigg & Wittchen, 1999)

Parent Peer Advocacy, Mentoring and Support: Exploring the evidence-base and future possibilities for embedding experiential knowledge in child protection

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Parent peer advocacy, mentoring, and support in child protection: a scoping review of programs and services

Child maltreatment has long been recognized as one of the most pernicious social problems in countries around the world. Given its scale and scope, finding effective ways to address child maltreatment is essential from both practical and moral perspectives (Berrick & Altobelli, 2018). The social policies states adopt to protect children from harm and promote their well-being vary greatly, reflecting historical, social, cultural, and political contexts. Responses to child maltreatment in countries in Europe and North America have been broadly conceptualized as being “child protection” or “family service” in orientation, although over time, changes and areas of convergence have been noted (Gilbert, 1997; Gilbert et al., 2011).The United States, the United Kingdom, and other developed anglophone countries, such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, tend to have legalistic and adversarial child protection (CP) systems that focus on individualized notions of risk and parental pathology with little attention to social harms (Featherstone et al., 2018; Parton, 2022). During the past several decades, there have been appeals to reform CP systems, particularly in these countries, where it has become increasingly evident that punitive interventions disproportionately impact families living in poverty and communities of color (Bywaters & the Child Welfare Inequalities Team, 2020; Detlaff et al., 2020; Hyslop, 2022; Lonne et al., 2019).Increasing parental engagement has developed in response to these calls for change (Haworth et al., 2023). Although parental engagement with services is considered an essential component of effective and ethical interventions (Gladstone et al., 2014), empirical research points to the difficulty of engaging parents in CP interventions and reveals parents’ negative experiences of them (Gibson, 2019; Merrit, 2021). Indeed, innovative practices that promote meaningful participation to address experiences of unjust and unequal treatment of parents affected by the CP system are receiving increasing attention (Featherstone et al., 2021). Parent peer advocacy, mentoring, and support programs are examples of the inclusive practices gaining international attention, and early evaluations demonstrate positive outcomes. These terms, often used interchangeably, refer to initiatives that involve parents with lived experience of the CP system working to promote the participation and rights of other families involved in the system through individual case-level advocacy within organizations and wider CP policy and practice forums (Tobis et al., 2020).However, little is known about what shared characteristics exist across these programs and what variations may exist in service delivery or impact. This scoping review of 25 years of empirical literature on parent peer advocacy, mentoring, and support programs aims to develop a systematic mapping of existing models and practices as context for program benefits and outcome achievement.</p