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An anonymous Web-based survey was used to gather the perceptions and experiences from 114 faculty members teaching in 16 social work programs in the California State University system about the effect of severe budget cuts on their educational activities. Most respondents reported they worked on their furlough days and maintained the same or larger workload that they had before the furlough. Larger workloads, diminished feelings of personal accomplishment, and stressful interactions with students were associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Implications of these findings are discussed.

In uncertain economic times, universities have taken steps to address financial problems by including the use of business models. In 2009, the California State University (CSU) system implemented furloughs of a 10% pay reduction and 18 days removed from the academic calendar. Faculty in 16 CSU schools of social work participated in a Web-based survey ("N"?=?118) regarding the effect of the furlough along with their intent to leave the CSU system. Results found that minority faculty reported higher financial strain. The regression of significant variables on intent to leave found that feelings acknowledgment and financial strain predicted 36% of the variance. Loss of CSU social work faculty is likely to affect the quality of education. Implications for retention are discussed.

This study examines factors that contributed to successful outcomes (graduated high school, remained in school, went to a lower level of care, or reunified with parents) for the first 246 residents of a residential education placement. Residential education placements' primary purpose is to provide an educational program rather than mental health treatment. Data were gathered from official records and from intake interview data. Overall about 69 percent of youths had a successful outcome. About two-thirds of study participants had graduated or were still attending school at the end of the study. Youths most likely to be successful were those who were age-grade appropriate on admission and were African American.

Three years of outcome data for foster youth (n = 106) discharged from a one-of-kind residential education service are presented. Findings were that 50% of respondents attended college at some point. Youth reported having 2 or 3 jobs a year with at least one bout of unemployment. Most of the non-college bound youth reported working in low-wage unskilled jobs that did not appear to be career oriented. Almost 75% of former residents had at least one connection to the adult world through school, work, or marriage one year after discharge. This rate had climbed to 96% at the 36-month interview. Respondents were reporting much lower rates of criminal justice involvement, homelessness, and victimization than found in other studies of discharged foster youth.

This study examined differences in two residential care giving models (houseparent vs. child care worker) in providing continuity of care for youth in residential placement, and the effect that a care giving model had on selected program outcomes. Data for this research were collected in a residential facility that used both models. Youth with house parents had higher levels of continuity with caregivers than those with child care workers. Continuity of care, regardless of the caretaker, demonstrated more effect on the reduction of behavioral problems than type of caregiver. Changes in caretakers were also associated with more behavioral problems. (Contains 5 tables.)

Explored the impact of caregiver alcohol and other drugs (AOD) use on child protective services (CPS) case substantiation: cases with indications of AOD use were more likely to be substantiated than those without. Compared CPS-involved and non- involved women in AOD treatment; increasing numbers of children and younger maternal ages are risk factors for CPS involvement among AOD-using women. (JPB)

Examines high school students' (N=500) values and attitudes toward work and employment. Assesses participants' status on two mental health measures and discusses the practical implications of the findings. Students with low confidence in finding work had more mental health problems than students with high confidence. (MKA)

Identifies reasons (institutional racism, poverty, cultural differences, professional bias) for the overrepresentation of minority group children and poor children in the child protective system. Analyzes issues of race and class in child welfare. Discusses implications for social work practice and policy. Contains 60 references. (Author/SAS)

Contends that full employment is elusive and unreachable policy. Discusses premises that support belief in full employment, arguing that these premises are largely mythical and result in unreachable policy. Sees this as damaging to social work clients because it results in inattention to alternative solutions to unemployment. Describes some alternative solutions. (Author/NB)

The authors examine the use of a program to motivate teenagers on public assistance to attend and complete high school. Topics include use of social contracts, education and job training requirements, and welfare dependency.

Research indicates that Title IVE-trained social workers have a higher degree of child welfare knowledge and confidence in their abilities, but do not have a significantly higher level of job satisfaction than other workers. IVE-trained workers also experienced greater retention rates, with 89% still employed during the 1994-97 study period.

A typology of adaptations to unemployment was constructed using data from a 15-week longitudinal investigation of the experiences of 153 unemployed people. The typology was split between low-stress and high-stress adaptation. Counseling implications are discussed for those in the high-stress adaptation groups. (Author/TE)

This study examines factors that contributed to successful outcomes (graduated high school, remained in school, went to a lower level of care, or reunified with parents) for the first 246 residents of a residential education placement. Residential education placements' primary purpose is to provide an educational program rather than mental health treatment. Data were gathered from official records and from intake interview data. Overall about 69 percent of youths had a successful outcome. About two-thirds of study participants had graduated or were still attending school at the end of the study. Youths most likely to be successful were those who were age-grade appropriate on admission and were African American. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sample consisted of all families (747) who were invited to receive a Family Unity Meeting from a Public Child Welfare Agency in a large urban county. Data was derived from the review of agency ease files. The design was a retrospective ease review with an embedded prospective study. This study describes factors that distinguish between CPS clients who accept an invitation to participate in a Family Unity Meeting (FUM) and those clients who decline to participate. The meeting process is described, and logistic regression is used to identify variables that predicted successful outcomes FUM meetings. Families with reunification as a goal were the most likely cases to agree to participate followed by Voluntary and Permanency Planning eases. Cases with severe neglect were the least likely group to participate in a meeting process. Approximately mime people attended an average meeting. Maternal relatives were more likely to attend than paternal relatives. Empirical evidence was found to support the notion that FUM expands the notion of family. Only 38% of children were placed with a parent after a meeting. but 82% of children were placed with a family member. Children were not placed with either the parent or family if the social worker had placement as a goal before the meeting, cases will: permanency plans were also less likely to be placed with the family. Social workers were more likely to agree with a placement with relatives if the had a concern about parental drug abuse. Having a maternal aunt in attendance at the meeting was predictive of having a child placed with family. Social workers and families stated concerns print to the meeting diverged. Families were inure concerned with economic and financial issues than were the social workers. Social workers were more concerned with child protective service issues (type of abuse, placement issues, etc.) and the behavior of the parent (substance abuse, mental health, etc.) than was the family. Paying attention to family issues such as finances may be a necessary precursor to families focusing on more complex matters like substance abuse or parenting practices. Placement outcomes were consistent with workers' goals stated before till? meeting. If a social worker said they wanted to place a child with the family before the meeting, that placement was most likely tile outcome of the meeting. Social workers may be guiding the decisions of the family. If this interpretation is correct then it raises questions about who makes decisions at the meeting. An alternative conclusion is that the social workers are good diagnosticians who know prior to the meeting if placement is necessary, and know what decisions the family will make. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the model used in the Family Unity Meeting program of the San Diego County of Health and Human Services Agency, Children's Services in California. Priorities of the early evaluation on the program; Components of the San Diego State University Project; Details on the Rutgers University Project; Conclusion.

According to estimates from a national survey, 1.9 million women are raped or physically assaulted by a partner annually in the United States (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). Patterns suggest that 50% of women will be victims of domestic violence at some point in their lives (Corsilles, 1994). Thirty-one to 42% of all female homicides are the result of domestic violence (Corsilles, 1994; Gross, 1997). Despite these and other published data, exact counts of the extent of domestic violence are difficult to determine as victims are often reluctant to file a report due to a complex set of factors including fear, hope that the partner will change, lack of options, financial concerns, cultural factors, or pressure from others in their social network. The most common diagnosis by mental health professionals for battered women is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Crowell & Burgess, 1996). However, the typical treatment strategies for battered women are not those developed for PTSD. A study commissioned by the California State University Faculty Fellows Program in cooperation with the California Governor's Office supports this mismatch of treatment for battered women experiencing PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minority group and poor children are overrepresented in the child welfare system. Interpretations of the reasons for this overrepresentation are entangled by issues of race and class. This paper attempts to disentangle those relationships by analyzing the relationship between race and class in child welfare. The reasons for minority overrepresentation in the child protective system are identified. The implications for overrepresentation for practice and policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A typology of adaptations to unemployment was constructed using data taken from a 15-week longitudinal investigation of the experiences of 153 unemployed people. The typology was split between low-stress and high-stress adaptations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]