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The Mass Incarceration Trauma (MIT) framework is a conceptual model for understanding the role of trauma in the lives of individuals who experience incarceration in the United States. This population faces poverty, violence, and discrimination across the life span. The MIT framework is guided by an ecological systems perspective, a foundational theoretical approach in social work that recognizes that effective assessment and intervention require an understanding of the complex contexts in which individuals live. The MIT framework presents the cumulative trauma exposures commonly faced by this population before, during, and after incarceration at the individual, social, environmental, and historical levels. Because traumatic stress undermines health and daily functioning, it is essential that interventions for this population address both the ongoing risk for trauma exposure and the consequences of multiple, repeated past exposures across ecological systems. It is to be hoped that a new and fundamental focus on the poverty, contexts of violence, and lifetime disadvantages experienced by those who cycle through prisons in the United States might reframe the question of how our society should prevent and respond to crime as well as respond to those swept into the criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the authors discuss the importance of the temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) program in providing support to low-income families with children in the U.S. The program replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). Other topics include the adverse effects of systemic racism on American society and how TANF is providing funds to social services of states.

Public libraries in the United States have begun to partner with social work to address the psychosocial needs observed in patrons that are beyond the training and education of most library staff. This is a new area of inquiry with limited research available. Of the few published studies, the majority focus on staff perceptions of patrons' needs and surveys of patrons experiencing homelessness about their use of public libraries. The present study is the first to examine and compare staff perception of patrons' needs, patrons' self-expressed needs, and the actual use of social work services by patrons within one library system. Comparisons are explored between actual service usage alongside the perception of patrons' needs as originally reported by both staff and patron groups. Implications for library-based social work practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoliberal political reasoning is remaking the state's democratic character and its governing rules to reflect those of the market. The most prominent legislative example, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, dictates work requirements, time limits, and monitoring and sanctioning of clients. Through such policies, the primary aims of government assistance changed from aiding needy citizens to transforming individuals into paid workers, regardless of continued poverty or care obligations. Although scholarship of related policy and governance tools has grown, less study has centered on understanding the historic events and ways in which race-based, gendered, and poverty narratives facilitated adoption of such austere policies. This article compares circumstances of African American and White mothers in the United States from the Revolutionary War to the postwelfare era. It describes what neoliberalism is, discusses the role of ideological discourses in policy and governance, presents the history and historical racialized portrayals of White and African American motherhood during this period, and analyzes the differential impact of ideological discourses using a lens of intersectionality. The conclusion discusses how discriminatory discourses subvert a democratic ethos for all and suggests ways for social workers to contest the impacts of neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide neoliberal policies are transforming the landscape of social work. Studies have shown that these policies increased social workers' caseloads, regulated welfare expenditures, impaired public services' capabilities to attend to the needs of growing demand, transformed social services delivery by implanting new public management methods, and often also worsened working conditions and deteriorated the professional status of social workers. Moreover, these policies have raised both poverty and inequality levels and left their negative marks on social work education, by prioritizing academic disciplines more attuned with the needs of neoliberal regimes. This article seeks to encourage schools of social work, social workers in the social services, and people living in poverty to challenge the harmful impact of this context by engaging in meaningful alliances focused on the fight against poverty and social exclusion. This article presents a long-term partnership project between a school of social work, local public social services, and groups of active clients, to tackle the issue of poverty in Israel. The article describes the project, introduces the theoretical and methodological principles, analyzes achievements and challenges, and finally discusses the potential contribution of such partnerships for the future of the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern technology threatens to dramatically alter the U.S. labor economy, but the crumbling social safety net may be insufficient for affected workers. Some advocates propose to address these converging problems through universal basic income (UBI). Authors conducted a preliminary review of social work perspectives on the topic of UBI. They found very little relevant literature, especially among American scholars. Existent social work literature frames UBI as an alternative to the neoliberal welfare state and mass unemployment. Social workers also contribute a critical social justice orientation to UBI scholarship in other disciplines. Grounded in the NASW Code of Ethics , authors argue that it is imperative for American social workers to seriously consider UBI as an answer to growing inequality and the unique expertise that social workers offer as allies of marginalized populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores state registries of people substantiated for child maltreatment. It is reported that these registries disproportionately impact women of color (black and Latinx) and can impact employment for years after allegations are made. The article notes the protective role of these registries for children as well as their collateral consequences for those placed on them.

Women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) are often portrayed as helpless victims. Yet many women who experience IPV implement strategies to help them survive the abuse. This qualitative study sought to explore the survivor strategies used by low-income black women who experience IPV. Authors used a semistructured interview guide to survey 26 survivors who reported being in an IPV relationship in the past two years. Thematic analysis revealed three types of survivor strategies used by low-income black women: (1) internal (use of religion and becoming self-reliant), (2) interpersonal (leave the abuser or fight back), and (3) external (reliance on informal, formal, or both kinds of sources of support). This article informs social work practitioners of the strategies used by low-income black women in surviving IPV so that practitioners can develop interventions that support these strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lack of financial capability--financial opportunities and abilities--and poverty are highly interlinked. Over 65 percent of people in India are excluded from any financial services. This article explores income-poor Indians' experiences with financial capability through a qualitative study. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from 658 individuals, through focus groups (n = 566) and face-to-face interviews (n = 92). Findings show that 97 percent of respondents had the opportunity to earn an income, and 55 percent earned through financial inclusion programs, but 87 percent of respondents earned less than U.S. $2 a day. Although almost all saved and needed to borrow, 46 percent were eligible for formal savings and only 23 percent for formal loans. Financial abilities or knowledge and skills related to income, savings, and loans were higher among the few who had a stable income or had medium and high income in relation to those who had unstable and low income. Respondents experienced many challenges with their financial capabilities, including borrowing to save, fearing formal loans, and lacking clarity about loan and interest rate; banks miscalculating interest rates; and political parties influencing access to loans. Implications for social policy and social work practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws on the theoretical framework of financial capability in investigating whether financial access (that is, availability of financial products and services) and financial knowledge (that is, understanding of basic financial concepts) can influence the risk of material hardship. Authors examine the possibility of direct associations as well as of indirect ones in which financial management (that is, individual financial behaviors) serves as a mediator. The probability sample of mothers with young children born in Oklahoma during 2007 (N = 2,529) was selected from Oklahoma birth certificates. Results from structural equation modeling analyses show that financial access is positively associated with financial management (p < 0.001) but that financial knowledge is not; both financial access (p < 0.001) and financial management (p < 0.001) are negatively correlated with material hardship. Similar results are obtained from analyses with a subsample of low-income mothers. Findings suggest that financial capability, particularly the financial access component, is critical for improving financial management and reducing the risk of material hardship among mothers with young children, including low-income mothers. Efforts to promote financial capability offer social workers an important strategy for improving their clients' economic well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lower-income millennials make important financial decisions that may affect their future financial well-being. With limited resources, this population is at risk for acquiring too much debt or being unprepared for a financial emergency that can send them further into poverty and constrain their ability to leverage resources for future economic mobility. A financial capability approach, an intervention that combines financial education with financial inclusion through the use of a savings account, may correlate with millennials' healthy financial behaviors. This study used data from the 2012 National Financial Capability Study to examine the relationship between financial capability and the financial behaviors of lower-income millennials between the ages of 18 and 34 years (N = 2,578). Compared with those lower-income millennials who were financially excluded, those who were financially capable were also 171 percent more likely to afford an unexpected expense, 182 percent more likely to save for emergencies, and 34 percent less likely to carry too much debt, relating to their greater overall financial satisfaction. The findings of this study indicate that interventions that develop lower-income millennials' financial capability may be effective for promoting healthy financial behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers are leaders in the substance abuse services field and may often work in substance use disorder (SUD) education, prevention, assessment, treatment, or resource coordination and case management roles. As the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (2010) drives changes in the fields of health and behavioral health, social workers have an opportunity to lead structural changes at the micro and macro levels that will have a positive impact on low-income clients with SUDs. In this article, authors examine the current state of SUDs and health care access, the impact of the ACA on the field, and implications for social work practice and education. Social workers should seek specialized education and credentialing in SUD services, know how to help clients apply for health care coverage, and advocate for integrated substance abuse treatment and health care programs and an expansion of Medicaid in their local communities. Social workers are well positioned to be a voice for clients to ensure that the current structural changes result in a better, integrated system of care that is able to respond to the needs of low-income clients with SUDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes an empowerment approach for working with diverse women who experience poverty, trauma, and multiple structural oppressions. The approach is the result of 20 years of experience developing, implementing, and evaluating this practice in a metropolitan community, and is grounded in women's empowerment theory and relationalcultural theory. The interventions combine social work's clinical interventions with community organizing strategies to promote personal and collective empowerment, supporting the “personal is political” tenet of feminist practice. The interventions, including nonclinical interviews, story circles, and leadership and advocacy education and training, can guide practitioners in providing services and programs that create a space for women to make changes in their personal lives and in their community. Program outcomes report successful changes for women in improving symptoms, increasing self-efficacy, and engaging in community advocacy. Women who participated also reported an increased sense of power, balancing commonality and difference among women, and a sense of hope for their future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-sufficiency (SS) is an important social welfare policy goal in the United States, yet little is known about the process that leads to SS. To address this gap in the literature, this study examined the relationship between spirituality, hope, and SS among a sample of low-income job seekers (N = 116). It was hypothesized that spirituality would be related to hope, and that hope, in turn, would be related to SS. Using survey data from two workforce development agencies, this hypothesis was confirmed--hope fully mediated the relationship between spirituality and SS. Of the two factors through which hope is commonly operationalized--agency and pathways--supplemental analysis suggested that spirituality only affects SS through the agency channel. To help foster hope in direct practice settings, it is suggested that social workers might employ spiritually modified cognitive-behavioral therapy protocols. Macrostructural interventions that block the pathway component of hope are also suggested to help reverse exclusion from labor market entry. As such, hope needs to be addressed comprehensively--intrapsychically and macrostructurally--to effect bottom-up change for SS. Engendering hope may assist clients overcome some of the many challenges they encounter on the journey to SS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the authors discuss the role that social workers can play in helping to end food insecurity in the U.S. and ensuring that needy families gain access to food stamps and food related programs and services. They are critical of initiatives and legislation which have reduced access to food stamps in the U.S. and are supportive of having social workers advocate for food related federal programs and support rights based organizations which address hunger and food insecurity.

Payday loans refer to small-dollar, high-interest, short-term loans usually extended to lower-income consumers. Despite much research to the contrary, the payday loan industry asserts that it primarily serves middle-class Americans. This article discusses the authors' investigation of the industry's claim, by analyzing data from a U.S. bankruptcy court serving a Southern district. Results of the multivariate binary logistic regression analysis showed that, controlling for various sociodemographic and economic variables, two middle-class indicators—homeownership and annual income at or greater than the median income—are associated with a decreased likelihood of using payday loans. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the results for social work practice and advocacy in regard to financial capability, particularly asset development, income maintenance, and payday loan regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

School social workers and other school personnel can find meeting the educational and social needs of immigrant children a challenge, particularly if these children are also experiencing poverty and other educational barriers, including limited English language proficiency. Quality after-school programming has been associated with a variety of positive effects such as increased educational attainment and positive social and emotional development and could, therefore, prove significant in the lives of immigrant children. Yet, immigrant children participate less. The purpose of this article is to discuss ways in which school social workers can increase enrollment in after-school programming among immigrant children, six to 12 years of age, by becoming both advocates for children and families and leaders in developing and maintaining these services. School social workers are poised to play a number of roles related to practice, administration, research, and policy. Because this particular age group of children begins to look beyond the family for guidance and support, middle childhood is an opportune time for school social workers to work toward involving children in positive after-school experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research indicates that female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) are at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other negative mental health outcomes. Low-income women of color experience IPV at disproportionately high rates and may need a comprehensive array of resources to recover from victimization. Although cognitive–behavioral therapy, a psychotherapeutic approach, has been established as the most effective treatment for PTSD in some populations, psychotherapy may not be sufficient for this population of survivors. This article reviews the relevant research and literature on treatment approaches for victims of IPV and provides an overview of studies investigating more holistic intervention approaches that feature components such as social support groups and advocacy, in addition to psychotherapy. Relying on conservation of resources theory, which posits a relationship between resources and psychological stress, and a relationship-oriented ecological framework, this article presents a model of a comprehensive intervention for disadvantaged minority victims of IPV that can help address issues related to PTSD and empower survivors to access necessary resources. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Farmworkers experience pervasive economic insecurity in part because of the seasonal nature of agricultural work and limited employment protections. Yet little is known about the adequacy of the social safety net in responding to farmworker needs. Using data from the 2005-2009 National Agricultural Workers Survey (N = 10,469), the current study analyzed predictors of social welfare participation among Latinos, who represent approximately 80 percent of all farmworkers. Nearly 95 percent are immigrants, although almost half of them have lived in the United States for more than 10 years. Descriptive analyses showed that, even among farmworker households whose income fell below the poverty line or that were headed by legally documented individuals, social services use was very low. Logistic regression analyses revealed that degree of social integration influenced social welfare participation, controlling for education, poverty status, family composition, and employment characteristics. Latino farmworkers who were recent immigrants (that is, in the United States for less than five years) had significantly lower odds of access to social insurance and public assistance programs relative to their U.S.-born counterparts. Low self-reported English ability significantly decreased access to most social insurance programs but not public assistance receipt. The findings indicate the need for social workers to engage in outreach efforts and policy advocacy to improve farmworkers access to social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-income communities in the United States have faced a history of financial marginalization and exploitation, most evident today in the proliferation of predatory financial services, such as payday lending and check-cashing services. Ameliorating the negative effects of predatory lending has become increasingly important on the agenda of community development efforts and the field of social work. Through the use of case studies, this article describes three specific strategies that communities use to increase financial inclusion and buffer against the deleterious effects of predatory lending: inclusion, community-based alternatives, and community advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using social justice as the conceptual foundation, the authors present the structural barriers to socially just intercountry adoptions (ICAs) that can exploit and oppress vulnerable children and families participating in ICAs. They argue that such practices threaten the integrity of social work practice in that arena and the survival of ICA as a placement option. Government structures, disparity of power between countries and families on both sides, perceptions regarding poverty, cultural incompetence, misconceptions about orphans and orphanages, lack of knowledge about the impact of institution-based care, and the profit motive are driving forces behind the growing shadow of unethical ICAs. The U.S. social work community has a large role and responsibility in addressing these concerns as the United States receives the most children adopted through ICAs of all receiving countries. In addition to the centrality of social justice as a core value of the profession, the responsibility to carry out ethical and socially just ICA has recently increased as a matter of law, under the implementation legislation to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. While acknowledging that these issues are complex, authors provide suggestions for corrective policy and practice measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development that was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. The attendees presented methods for redefining economic growth as inclusive and how the sustainable economy can provide jobs. These methods will guide sustainable development for the next 10 years.

This article presents findings of an empirical study of the involvement of social workers in the policy formulation process. Despite support for policy practice, there has been limited empirical study of social workers' involvement in policy practice, which leaves us with little systematic knowledge of social workers' role in the policy formulation process. This study expands the knowledge of social workers' role in this process by identifying their inputs into Israeli legislative committees. Based on a content analysis of the minutes of 85 parliamentary committee meetings held during the 15th and 16th Knesset sessions (1999 to 2006), the study reveals five main inputs: placing matters on the agenda, providing information, providing explanations, expressing opinions and making suggestions, and commenting on the manner of the discussion, and 23 subinputs. These inputs underscore three main functions that social workers perform, or may perform, with respect to policy: challenging policy, facilitating policy, and enriching policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epigenesis is the biochemical process through which some genes are expressed and others remain silent, and it reinforces and explains the powerful impact that the environment has on human development. Epigenetic effects occur not only through diet, chemical exposure, and high levels of environmental stress, but also through chronic poverty and racism. Epigenesis provides a mandate for social workers to intervene at the policy level, both for today's children and for those in future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a review of welfare reform evaluation studies, summarizing research that has generated a consensus among mainstream policy analysts that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) has had few effects beyond caseload reductions and increases in employment. Given that supporters and opponents alike expected the law to have profound consequences, the article considers two ways to explain this surprising outcome, showing that (1) quantitative policy analysis has been ill equipped to capture the PRWORA's effects and (2) expectations were nonetheless wrong because they failed to appreciate how thoroughly Aid to Families with Dependent Children had already been eroded in the decades prior to its reform. Welfare reform was not the beginning of a process of policy change; it was the end of one. In response to these findings, the article describes how a more critical perspective on reform matters for social work researchers, advocates, and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although some research suggests that the relationship between Child Protective Services workers and their clients may influence client outcomes, little is known about the function of the relationship between welfare or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families caseworkers and their clients. Building on previous research, the authors use 1999 survey data from the Welfare, Children, and Families Project--a probability sample of 853 low-income women with children living in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, Texas--to examine the association between perceived welfare caseworker support and psychological distress. Results revealed that women who perceive their welfare caseworker to be interested, caring, and helpful also tend to exhibit lower levels of psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The passage of welfare reform shifted significant authority for welfare provision from the federal government to state and local governments. Proponents of devolution point to drastic caseload declines as evidence that state-run programs are decreasing dependency among families. However, welfare rolls in many states have remained stagnant or decreased since the start of the recession in late 2007. The uneven responsiveness of the welfare system to growing economic needs prompts the question of whether the safety net is functioning as intended. This article evaluates the literature on the state and local implementation of welfare to assess whether devolution has yielded the positive outcomes promised by proponents. Findings suggest that, under welfare reform, state and local governments are enacting diverse programs and do not appear to be limiting welfare provision in new ways to avoid becoming "welfare magnets." However, the type of program they adopt is systematically related to the racial and ethnic composition of the caseloads and the local political climate, leading to a fragmentary system in which some states and localities are more responsive than others. Social workers can help poor families in critical need of assistance by voicing these concerns at the local, state, and national levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the authors discuss the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. They are supportive of the convention and of amendments which have been proposed for the convention and which could lead to the rights of children across the globe being recognized and protected. They are critical of the United States' unwillingness to support the amendments.

Although substantial numbers of women seeking Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) report domestic violence, few receive mandated services through the Family Violence Option (FVO). This study used transcripts of interviews between welfare caseworkers and their clients to identify and classify the responses made by workers to client disclosures of abuse and to assess the match or mismatch of these responses with FVO policy requirements. Only 22 of 782 client interviews involved the disclosure of abuse to the welfare caseworker. A typology of worker responses was created, from least to most engaged. This typology shows that only half of those who disclosed abuse received assistance from the welfare worker, despite policy mandates that clients receive information on TANF waivers and community resources. This study suggests that problems with implementation of the FVO reflect a systemic reluctance to address issues of violence with women rather than problems of individual workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Native Hawaiians constitute 401,000 or 0.1 percent of the total U.S. population, with approximately 60 percent residing in the state of Hawai'i. In Hawai'i, Native Hawaiian elders (nā kūpuna) face a number of social and health disparities when compared with their non-Native Hawaiian counterparts: higher rates of poverty, greater disability rates, higher rates of specific life-threatening diseases, shorter life expectancies, and lower utilization rates of some services. Integrating life course literature and resiliency theory, the authors propose a model that provides a context from which to analyze and understand social and health disparities found among older Native Hawaiians. The authors introduce a historical timeline that identifies key cultural and historical markers in the lives of nā kūpuna and then link this timeline to health and social-health delivery strategies. This model offers a rationale for the development and implementation of culturally based solutions for nā kūpuna and underscores the need for social workers to intervene at the micro, meso, and macro levels to affect the well-being for this and other ethnic populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty and its etiology have been major subjects of concern for the social work profession throughout its history. This study focused on four causal attributions for poverty: social-structural, motivational, psychological, and fatalistic. More specifically, it examined the differences between social workers' and service users' perceptions of the causes of poverty. Participants were 401 service users and 410 social workers located in a variety of human services agencies in central Israel. Findings showed that although social workers and service users expressed similar levels of agreement with regard to motivational and psychological attributions, service users attributed more importance to social-structural causes and to fatalistic causes compared with social workers. Attributions of poverty were associated with economic status among the service users but not among the social workers. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trends in social welfare policy and programs place increasing expectations on families to provide members with various forms of material and socioemotional support. The historic ability of kin networks of many African Americans to provide such support has been compromised by long-term community and family poverty. The potential mismatch between the expectations of social welfare systems for kin support and the actual functional capacities of kin networks places African Americans living in poverty at great risk of chronic poverty and its long-term multiple consequences. This article reviews historical and contemporary research on the structure and function of African American kin networks. On the basis of evidence of functional decline, the authors argue that social workers must re-examine the a priori assumption of viable kin networks as a reliable source of resilience among African Americans living in poverty. Social workers must focus assessment at all levels of practice on a variety of aspects of kin networks to make accurate judgments about not only the availability of resources, but also the perceived costs and benefits of participation in exchange for resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women disadvantaged by poverty, as well as racial or ethnic minority status, are more likely to experience depression than the rest of the U.S. population. At the same time, they are less likely to seek or remain in treatment for depression in traditional mental health settings. This article explores a therapeutic, psychosocial engagement strategy developed to address the barriers to treatment engagement and the application of this strategy to a special population--women of color and white women who are depressed and living on low incomes. The conceptual foundations of this intervention--ethnographic and motivational interviewing--as well as its key techniques and structure are reviewed. Finally, a case example description and promising pilot data demonstrate the usefulness of this strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young children with disabilities are significantly more likely to live in poverty than their peers without disabilities. Exposure to poverty creates additional risk of adverse outcomes for these vulnerable children. In this article, the following key circumstances contributing to this increased risk of impoverishment are analyzed: elevated costs of raising children with disabilities, low levels of public income transfer benefits, difficulty balancing parental employment and caregiving responsibilities, unavailable or high-cost child care, and inadequate leave time to permit parents to meet their children's episodic care needs. The implications of these issues for social work practice and advocacy needs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antipoverty initiatives strive to improve distressed communities by producing outputs, such as housing, new businesses, and enhanced social services, and by building the capacity of communities to address their own problems. Although crucial for addressing the social and cultural factors contributing to community problems and for the sustainability of initiatives, capacity building is frequently set aside once implementation of initiatives begins. This article explores the funding realities, implementation demands, and power dynamics between stakeholders that result in output production being favored over capacity building. Examples from past and ongoing initiatives illustrate points and drive recommendations to help future initiatives maintain a balance between producing outputs and building capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, changed the philosophical ground and rules and regulations that apply to low-income families with children who seek federal income support. TANF recipients have less flexibility in charting their life courses than AFDC recipients had. This article presents the findings of a study that investigated how TANF leavers, in comparison with AFDC leavers, fared economically after they left the cash assistance rolls. The major finding is that the income status of AFDC leavers increased considerably, but that of TANF leavers declined. The authors argue that TANF leavers fared less well economically because their decisions about whether to work, to engage in work-related activities, and to leave cash assistance rolls were under stricter control. The data sources for this study were the 1993 and 1996 Survey of Income and Program Participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports findings from a cross-national comparative study that examined the commonalities and differences in professional ideology among social work graduates in 10 countries by studying their attitudes toward poverty and the goals of social work. The major finding is the substantial similarity in the students' professional ideology despite the different contexts of their professional socialization process. Students in all the countries attributed poverty to structural causes and supported the extension of state social welfare as a way of dealing with poverty. They expressed a large degree of support for individual well-being and social justice as major goals of social work. Differences were also identified. The similarities and differences reflect the interplay of centrifugal and centripetal forces that fashion the characteristics of global social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article documents the prevalence and national profile of American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, based on data from the American Community Survey/Census 2000 Supplementary Survey. In 2000 there were estimated to be nearly 53,000 AI/AN grandparent caregivers age 45 and older in the United States. Almost half of the caregiving grandparents had been raising a grandchild for five years or longer. The findings reveal a portrait of grandparents committed to raising their grandchildren despite the fact that many were living in extreme poverty, with ill health, and with limited resources and services. One-third of grandparent caregivers were living below the poverty line, and only one-quarter of these were receiving public assistance. Even when compared with their non-caregiving AI/AN peers, grandparents raising grandchildren were disproportionately female, poor, living with a functional disability, and living in overcrowded conditions. Implications for social work practice are presented and recommendations for policy and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People who leave welfare commonly return, and this phenomenon has become more pressing in the time-limited TANF program. Fostering stable TANF exits may be particularly difficult in poor inner-city areas because of job shortages and neighborhood deterioration. Perspectives of TANF leavers from five focus groups in Chicago about problems leading to welfare returns are presented. Participants indicated that low wages and unstable jobs were most often responsible for TANF returns. Obtaining health care and child care and inconsistent performance of TANF caseworkers were stressed as contributing factors. Participants also focused on strengths helpful in sustaining exits from TANF, particularly psychological benefits associated with working and informal supports received from family members and friends. The implications of recipient-identified problems and strengths are discussed, including balancing "work first" employment policies with substantive educational and job development policies. Strategies for improving the performance of TANF case planning are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined early research findings concerning the well-being of people who leave Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs and then applies these findings in the development of TANF-related advocacy strategies. Based on secondary data analysis of TANF leaver studies from 12 states with large TANF caseloads, the authors focus on the employment and earnings experiences of leavers; TANF recidivism and its relationship to job stability; and the use of support services. State studies typically have found employment levels among leavers in the 55 percent to 65 percent range, but average earnings fall below the poverty level. Although those who remain employed can expect earnings growth, job instability is a significant problem and contributes to TANF recidivism rates of 21 percent to 35 percent within the first year. Available support services such as Medicaid, food stamps, and child care subsidies are underused, often because leavers do not understand that they are eligible. Recommended advocacy strategies include policy interventions to improve the economic well-being of low-income working people, as well as administrative and direct practice strategies to improve the implementation of existing policies. The authors argue that attention to such advocacy efforts is both critical and opportune for social work, given the profession's historical mission, impending federal TANF reauthorization, and unspent TANF allocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information from a study of people receiving food assistance services from food pantries and soup kitchens in Virginia. The data indicate that significant numbers of individuals and families--many of whom are employed--are seeking food assistance. Many of these individuals also have been homeless, victims of domestic violence, unable to pay their utility bills, or have lost their public benefits. A critical issue raised by the findings is the low rate of participation in the food stamp program. Fewer than 40 percent of the respondents were receiving food stamps. Although the food stamp program is intended to help households buy a nutritionally adequate diet, there is growing concern that a large segment of low-income Americans are slipping through this safety net. The article concludes with suggestions for social work interventions to address issues of food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General assistance (GA) has served as an income support program of last resort for people not eligible for other programs. Because each state has complete discretion to design its program, the GA services model parallels Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in its reliance on decentralized government decision making. Thus, GA programs can provide lessons about services variability and common program features that have arisen in a decentralized income support system. This study examined the characteristics of state GA programs across several program dimensions-eligibility criteria, work requirements, time limits, administrative arrangements, and caseloads. The authors show that GA programs have changed from 1989 to 1998. Although most states retained GA programs in some form, caseloads declined as a result of tightening eligibility requirements for people considered employable. This casts doubt on the viability of GA as a safety net program for economically vulnerable people, including those who do not qualify for or exceed time limits under TANF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the federal earned income tax credit (EITC) has become the largest antipoverty program in the United States. For the 2002 tax year, working families with children can receive as much as $4,140 in EITC benefits. Although families may arrange to receive benefits throughout the year (through their paychecks), most receive a lump sum after filing federal income taxes. Research suggests that many families use the credit to purchase big-ticket items, to move, to pay for educational expenses, or to set aside savings. Thus, the credit may promote long-term household development as well as help families with basic expenses. Research also suggests that EITC encourages work among single-parent families, an outcome that is consistent with one goal of welfare reform. Social workers can be involved in outreach efforts that help low-income workers claim EITC benefits and inform them about advance-payment options. Social workers can also support efforts to increase EITC benefits for larger families and link tax refunds to saving programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What proportion of the American population uses a social safety net program during the course of adulthood? To address this question, we constructed a series of life tables using 30 years of longitudinal data. Our results indicate that two-thirds of Americans between the ages of 20 and 65 will at some point reside in a household that receives benefits from a means-tested welfare program (food stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, or other cash welfare). Such assistance is often in the form of in-kind programs, such as food stamps or Medicaid. The findings also indicate that the use of welfare tends to take place over fairly short intervals of time. For example, although 65 percent of Americans will use welfare by age 65, only 15.9 percent will do so for five or more consecutive years. However, once the use of welfare occurs, it is quite likely to occur again at some point during adulthood. Our results suggest that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the use of the United States social safety net is a mainstream experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare reform policies assume that recipients will increase work efforts if they are offered improved income and support services incentives. Yet, based on personal interviews with 60 welfare recipients, this study found that recipients often do not understand the incentives provided. This results both from a lack of knowledge about existing incentives and from confusion about eligibility rules and benefit calculations. Such knowledge deficits do not appear to be the result of lack of interest in working, but rather stem from the complexity of incentives. To improve recipient responsiveness and well-being, work incentives need to be simplified and strategies developed for better dissemination of information to recipients. Caseworkers must play a vital role in such efforts, because they often are the key to ensuring that recipients gain access to available benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the process of developing an empowerment approach in a comprehensive child development program that defined its mission as empowerment of families living in poverty. This description is derived from a seven-year organizational ethnographic research project that included data from participant observation, agency documents, individual interviews of staff and family participants, and focus group interviews with staff. Findings concerning empowerment are presented in two areas: (1) resolution of contrasts and dichotomies related to the nature of services, understanding staff roles, and working with the federal government; and (2) lessons learned for program effectiveness. Implications for empowerment-oriented social work practice and policy are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although social work practice typically is concerned with physical conditions and experiences such as poverty, addiction, and violence, relatively little attention has been given to the body in professional literature. Emphasizing both physical and sociocultural dimensions of the body, this article argues for an invigorated, more complex understanding of the body in social work theory, practice, and research. Drawing from scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and social work, a framework involving three dimensions of the body is proposed for integration with accepted ecological practice models. The nature and implications of three primary dimensions of the body for multiple domains of social work practice are explored, citing examples from narratives of mothers living with HIV disease: (1) the experiencing body, focused on the physicality of daily life; (2) the body of power, focused on the physicality of oppression and marginality, typically based on race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, physical appearance, and illness; and (3) the client body, reflecting the bodily experiences of those identified as clients who participate in relationships with social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bronfenbrenner's process-person-context-time model is used to examine theories that explain the adverse effects of economic deprivation on children's socioemotional development. In his model, each of five structures of the ecological environment--microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems, and chronosystems--is subsumed within the next higher level. Theories of the effects of poverty on proximal processes in the microsystem of the family have the most research support, but processes in other microsystems such as the peer group and school and in other levels of the ecological environment may also explain the relation between economic deprivation and children's socioemotional functioning. Social work practice and policy implications are drawn from the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teng and Pittman's model of "work-family fit" served as a theoretical base for exploring the experiences of families moving from welfare to work. Responding to open-ended telephone interview questions, 30 recently hired welfare recipients described factors that were needed for them to make a smooth transition into work, be successful at their jobs, and balance work and family. The individuals appeared to experience greater success when their own needs and the needs of their families were being met and when they were able to meet the demands of work, leading to greater work-family fit. Support from the workplace and other community sources, as well as participants' personal attributes contributed to this work-family fit. Specific strategies based on these findings are offered for employers, social workers, and community organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past two decades, most states have allowed welfare benefit levels to erode with inflation. Very little attention has been paid by academics and policy makers to the potential effects of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 on welfare benefit levels. This article provides a number of explanations for likely reductions in states' welfare benefit levels. Consequences of reducing welfare benefit levels are examined. The article shows how small changes in benefit levels can alter profoundly eligibility for welfare. Social workers need to advocate for increases in welfare benefit levels which, at the very least, keep up with inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]