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This paper marks the 50th anniversary of the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), exploring its historical development. Leveraging archival CSWE materials, it chronicles pivotal events from 1954 leading to the MFP’s inception in 1973 and its early research fellowship cohorts through 1978. This historical analysis examines the advocacy, challenges, and milestones within the CSWE and broader social movements that promoted diversity and inclusion in social work education. The MFP specifically addressed the underrepresentation of minorities by developing culturally attuned researchers and practitioners. This reflective examination enriches the social work historical record and underscores the MFP’s transformative impact in creating a profession that effectively reflects and serves our racially and ethnically diverse society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History, the major storehouse of information, informs us about the important relationship between people and society and increases our understanding of basic societal values and institutional arrangements. A recent New York Times op-ed described "The Dangerous Decline of the Historical Profession." Likewise for historical content in social work education, exacerbated by the 1970s' rise of neoliberalism and the profession's long marginalization of historical research and teaching. The Social Welfare History Group renews its call to bring historical content back into social work education and to correct its deep-seated race, class, gender, and colonizing distortions. To ensure that all social work courses include history, we can revive the value historical knowledge; prepare a cadre of historical researchers and instructors; financially support emerging scholars and develop a pipeline of history-informed faculty to teach the next generation of social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Fathers contribute to child and family well-being across several domains, and home visiting (HV) programs are an important potential service platform from which to engage fathers and families. To develop insights for improving efforts to engage fathers and mothers in home visiting together, we describe and compare assessment and engagement strategies used by home visitors trained in Dads Matter-HV versus those who were not. Method: This study examines qualitative data collected from 26 home visitors (13 from the intervention group and 13 from the control group) from five agencies in Chicago, IL, who participated in a randomized controlled trial of Dads Matter-HV, an intervention designed to increase fathers' engagement in standard HV programs. Results: As expected, home visitors using Dads Matter-HV described using father-focused assessment and engagement strategies more often than home visitors who were not trained in the intervention. They were also more likely to identify mother-focused assessment and engagement strategies. Conclusions: Home visitors trained in Dads Matter-HV reported more specific assessment and engagement practices with both fathers and mothers. Possible improvements for father assessment and engagement practices in home visiting are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: African American youth in urban centers often reside in poorly resourced communities and face structural disadvantage, which can result in higher rates of poor behavioral health factors such as mental health problems, juvenile justice system involvement, substance use, risky sex and lower school engagement. While parental monitoring has been shown to be protective with regards to these risk factors, less understood are the effects of parental warmth in conjunction with monitoring. Objective: This study examined whether parental monitoring and warmth had a main or mediated relationship to behavioral health factors among low income African American youth. Method: African American youth (n = 638) completed self-administered questionnaires on parenting factors (i.e., monitoring and warmth), mental health, juvenile justice system involvement, substance use, school engagement, and sexual risk behaviors. Results: Participants reported higher mean parental monitoring versus warmth. Parental monitoring was correlated with lower substance use, delinquency, unsafe sex and higher school engagement. Higher parental warmth in contrast was uniquely correlated with better youth mental health but also higher rates of alcohol, cigarette and marijuana use. Conclusions: Monitoring their youth at high levels appears to be a common and effective strategy by parents in poorly resourced communities and was associated with lower behavioral health risks. By contrast, parental warmth had both positive and negative associations with behavioral health, suggesting that more research is needed to clarify the circumstances within which parental warmth may be protective or not.

Long-lasting, supportive relationships (what we call "enduring relationships") are important for youths' transition to adulthood, but these relationships are often ruptured for young people in foster care. We investigate how common enduring relationships are among youth making the transition out of care and whether having an enduring relationship improves their outcomes in early adulthood. Our sample includes 608 youths in California foster care (n = 608) participating in the longitudinal CalYOUTH Study. We find that 48 percent of youth have an enduring relationship. Rates are particularly low for Black and Native American/Alaskan Native youth. Most enduring relationships have characteristics of strong ties—most are with family members and peers who provide multiple types of social support. Having an enduring relationship is found to have real, material consequences, reducing risks of food insecurity, economic hardships, and homelessness. This study amplifies the call for child welfare policy and practice to prioritize relational permanence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extended foster care (EFC) is an important policy that supports human capital attainment for foster youth transitioning to adult independence. Previous studies have examined youth- and policy-level factors' influence on EFC participation and human capital outcomes (e.g., education, employment). Still, few studies have examined contextual factors (e.g., county characteristics). We explore how local contexts, or county-level attributes, influence youths' EFC participation and human capital outcomes (i.e., postsecondary education enrollment and earnings). We analyze two datasets from California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study: survey data with rich youth-level information (n = 529) and state child welfare administrative data with a larger sample size (n = 2392). After controlling for a wide range of youth characteristics and adjusting between-county variations, regression results find that several county characteristics predict youths' EFC participation and human capital outcomes at age 21, such as political atmosphere and worker's satisfaction with cross-system collaboration. We conclude with a discussion of implications for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim/Purpose The overarching purpose of this paper was to examine how a collaborative working group of doctoral students from different institutions evolved into a community of practice and developmental network. Specifically, the aim of this study was to examine this group's progression from working group to support group, a process that occurred through academic support, social support, professional networking, professional development, and skill development. Background Although doctoral cohorts are often formed within the same school, some informal groups may develop among students in the same discipline from different schools. The authors explored how the formation of a working group, through attendance at an annual academic conference, enhanced their doctoral education and expanded their network through social and academic support. Methodology The participant-researchers in this study used collaborative autoethnography to collectively examine their participation in this group formed outside of their respective schools of social work. Having worked together for over a year, meeting monthly through video calls, on a discrete project, the participant-researchers embarked on this collaborative authoethnography as they discovered their transformation from working group to support group. This group of five participant-researchers examined their own feelings about their participation in the group and the consequent benefits of belonging to such a group. Contribution This study makes an important contribution to the doctoral education literature about how doctoral students from different schools can form informal groups that serve as a key source of intra-disciplinary networking, resources, opportunities, and support. This contribution helps to further the research on what kinds of supports doctoral students need in order to remain in their programs and graduate. Findings We found that a working group of doctoral students from different schools of social work can develop into a community that can be used for social, academic, and networking support. We discovered that relationships with peers across schools provided a supportive environment that was distinct from those formed within our schools. Joining together to achieve a common research goal encouraged members to extend content-specific support. In addition, this group found that members had the opportunity to compare experiences at their respective doctoral programs, which enhanced peer support. Recommendations for Practitioners Special interest groups at national conferences should encourage doctoral students at different schools to form communities of practice or similar groups. This group formation may lead to opportunities for doctoral students to work on a common project (e.g., website, publication) and serve as a source of social and academic support. Recommendations for Researchers More research is needed on whether this relationship among doctoral students within the same discipline at different schools is equally helpful among students in different disciplines. Additional research is also needed on whether communities formed during doctoral studies can promote future collaboration as students become professors or researchers. Impact on Society The present study's model is applicable for use in academic settings where doctoral students convene for conferences relating to research, teaching, and practice. This model can facilitate the formation of inter-university working groups among students with similar research interests, career trajectories, and life responsibilities. Such groups can enrich peer support, promote collaboration, and enhance professional development. Future Research More research is needed on whether this kind of social support group amongst doctoral students can be sustained as the students transition into academic careers. Additional research is also needed on whether these types of informal groups work across research focus or whether it works best when students have the same research focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious involvement has long been argued to have protective effects for negative behavioral health outcomes for vulnerable youth. This study builds on the existing resilience literature and need for more studies that examine protective factors associated with behavioral health. A sample of 638 low-income African American adolescents in Chicago to examine within group variations of the influence of religious involvement on delinquency, school engagement, substance use and sexual risk behaviors, and whether such relationships differ by gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Logistic regression findings documented that greater religious involvement was protective with regards to lower rates of delinquency, drug use, risky sexual behaviors and higher rates of school engagement, and that gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status varied for several of these relationships. Overall findings are discussed with regards to future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the early psychological research on Black fathers and families employed a deficit lens, pathologizing Black fathers as absent and uninvolved contributors to their children’s development. As a response, several Black psychologists articulated the need to move away from deficitbased approaches and employ strengths-based and adaptive frameworks to examine the social experiences of Black fathers and their contributions to child development. This transformative work was not only central to advancing research on Black fathers but also a cornerstone in the broader fathering literature. Though the list of foundational architects of Black fatherhood scholarship spans disciplines, we center this article around the contributions of eight Black psychologists—Drs. Phillip Bowman, Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, Anderson J. Franklin, Nancy Boyd-Franklin, Vivian Gadsden, Harriette Pipes McAdoo, John L. McAdoo, and Melvin Wilson. Their collective works and scientific contributions provided a critical lens and articulated a vision for research on Black fathers. In highlighting their contributions, we focus on six thematic areas: (a) conceptual and theoretical advancements, (b) research methods and designs that centered Black fathers, (c) description and contextualization, (d) children’s development and well-being, (e) theory to practice and intervention, and (f) scientific cross-pollination and collaborative ethos. Last, we review and highlight research branches and extensions of these foundational roots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For 50 years, the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) has supported social workers in serving diverse communities at risk of mental health issues and substance misuse, training over 1,000 masters and doctoral-level fellows, and preparing them for meaningful community engagement. Through testimonios, we explore the career paths, collaborations, and community involvement of five doctoral-level MFP alums working at a large public R1 university in the Southwest. Reflecting as MFP alums and diverse faculty of color, our testimonios bear witness to MFP’s influence on our antiracist, antioppressive, and decolonial work, our mentorship and recruitment of graduate students of color, and our efforts to build a diverse student pipeline to address mental health and substance misuse within marginalized racial and ethnic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition-age youth with foster care involvement (TAY) face significant risks for food insecurity and other hardships in early adulthood. Using representative survey data of youth transitioning out of foster care in California, we examine the prevalence and predictors of food insecurity. We find that about 30% of study participants were food insecure at ages 19, 21, and 23. We also identify multiple risk and protective factors associated with being food insecure, such as TAY’s sexual identity and receipt of public benefits. The results of our study offer life-stage-specific recommendations for policy and practice to address food insecurity among TAY. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extended foster care (EFC) is an important policy that supports human capital attainment for foster youth transitioning to adult independence. Previous studies have examined youth- and policy-level factors' influence on EFC participation and human capital outcomes (e.g., education, employment). Still, few studies have examined contextual factors (e.g., county characteristics). We explore how local contexts, or county-level attributes, influence youths' EFC participation and human capital outcomes (i.e., postsecondary education enrollment and earnings). We analyze two datasets from California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study: survey data with rich youth-level information ( n = 529) and state child welfare administrative data with a larger sample size ( n = 2392). After controlling for a wide range of youth characteristics and adjusting between-county variations, regression results find that several county characteristics predict youths' EFC participation and human capital outcomes at age 21, such as political atmosphere and worker's satisfaction with cross-system collaboration. We conclude with a discussion of implications for research and practice.