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August 21, 2008
Broken Rainbow claims that gay service users experience homophobia and transphobia
This entrepreneur has devoted his life to helping the less fortunate.
K LEONG
Among the first batch of social workers getting paid sabbatical leave (from left to right): Samuel Ng, 43, Raymond Chow, 44, and Jessica Chan, 34.
Even at the age of 19, Naivedya Agarwal is helping those without limbs get a new lease on life
View image: Map of US drug abuse
S Raymer
Lonely vigil: Constrained by an unfamiliar language and the violence of New York’s immigrant neighbourhoods, Tara Singh sits in the window of his son’s home in Queens. A retired sergeant major of the Indian Army, Singh spends his days escorting his grandchildren to a nearby private school run by the Roman Catholic Church — a school the family of Punjabi Sikh immigrants finds superior to local public schools — and watching satellite television news from India.
iStockphoto | D Talson
A new study of the aboriginal children -- from two communities which do not have words or gestures for numbers -- found that they were able to copy and perform number-related tasks.
The transition house where Chris Salmon works gives poverty-stricken a break from labor of selling newspapers and shoe shines on the street.
Centre and Greens would like to have KELA, and not local authorities, pay basic sum
August 20, 2008
S Hayes
Range of services … Adam Reynolds is benefiting from Mission Australia's Michael Project.
M Jabbi & C Keysers
Still frame illustrating the movies of disgusted facial expressions used in the study.
Well done: Jang Huei sharing in the joy of Chua who obtained his degree in Social Science majoring in Social Work.
Susan Chandler, associate professor of social work, would like to see Nickel and Dimed considered required reading for all students. Chandler developed a social work course based on the book. She challenged student teams to recreate, as a classroom exercise, the experience of surviving on minimum wage without public assistance. In four years, not a single team succeeded.
View image: Adolescent prescription drug misuse
k greenaway / Victoria & Albert Museum / London/Art Resource, NY
Growing up in today’s England is far from the idyll depicted in this nineteenth-century lithograph.
Kenneth Wilson, from Dunbar, East Lothian, preyed on the boys from the age of five and six after "teaching" them how to perform sex acts.
Drivers have to inform the DVLA about some medical conditions
August 19, 2008
To gauge the possible impact antidepressants might have on driving performance, the research team asked 60 people to "drive" a computerized version of a car in a program that mimicked real-world conditions. Approximately half of the participants were taking at least one type of antidepressant, while the other half was taking no medication (other than oral contraceptives in certain instances). Those on antidepressants were screened for current levels of depression and were subsequently categorized as experiencing either low or high depression at the time of the driving test.
Spc. Carl B. McCoy, 23, killed himself July 11, following a long custody battle, drinking problems and a suspected case of post-traumatic stress disorder.
"When used correctly, backpacks are the most efficient way to carry a load and distribute the weight among some of the body's strongest muscles," Eric Wall, director of the orthopedic surgery division at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said in a center news release. However, improper use of backpacks can cause injuries that require medical treatment. For example, backpack-related injuries send almost 6,000 students to emergency departments each year, according to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report released in 2002.
FAMILY PHOTO
Long Island, N.Y., teenager Natalie Ciappa was a recovering heroin addict, but she had a relapse at a party and died from an overdose. The drug problem also has cropped up in Dallas suburbs.
E SCHLEGEL | DMN
Evan Kitchens, 12, was prescribed several drugs while in state care. The autistic boy's mom says his condition worsened. He's back home in Bandera.
YLE
A growing number of school children are lonely, says the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. The finding is based on calls made by children and young people to the League's helpline.
J Pszenica | NY Times
TOGETHERNESS Jordan DeLaCruz, center, with his sister, Kyanna, 8, and brother, Jaylen, 6.
The general assembly and policy forum of Eurochild, a network aimed at promoting the welfare and rights of children and young people in Europe, tackled mainly poverty and social exclusion.
August 18, 2008
City of Toronto Archives, Series 372, Sub Series 32, Item 749.
Dr. Hastings, M.O.H., in his office (January 13, 1925).
A Baldridge
Chester Reese II from Charlotte, N.C., ate a ham sandwich at the Hope Center, which announced this week that it is running short on food supplies.
Established in November 1943 during the Second World War, the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was responsible for providing relief and medical services in liberated areas of Europe, the Middle East and Asia and also for the repatriation of displaced persons.
J Roberts | The Globe & Mail
Bill Mollard, the new President of the Union Gospel Mission speaks with Bruce Curtiss before going on his first tour with the Union Gospel Mobile Mission rescue van on August 12, 2008. The Union Gospel Mobile Mission is unique in that it services people living in isolated pockets of Vancouver, unlike many organizations who focus on the downtown eastside.
Beech Bluff resident William Smith, who turned 90 in June, grew up in the Great Depression as a sharecropper's son.
A Henderson | NY Times
Campers gathering for soccer. Ms. King, right, aims to lose 50 pounds at the camp.
RC Falco
A photograph of a dying child waiting for help at a refugee camp in sub-Saharan Africa.
K CHARLET-RAMAGE, C KERLAN, L GLAIS & C KERLAN INRA-ENSA
Necrotic ringspots on a potato tuber (cultivar Nicola) due to Potato virus Y infection.
August 15, 2008
Prof. Moore
Prof. Mills-Dick
Skidmore is one of 20 colleges and universities throughout the United States to receive a grant from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) to support hands-on opportunities with older adults for students likely to enter direct practice.
P LACHINE | NEWSART
While poverty is on the increase, legal aid is not. In fact, University of Toronto Faculty of Law professor Michael Trebilcock notes that the percentage of people who qualify for legal assistance is dropping, which means that large numbers of Ontarians are trying to navigate a complex legal system without lawyers.
W Dockery
Parents who suffer through the death of a child never get over their loss, as David Lindsay-Abaire's "Rabbit Hole" makes plain at Olney Theatre Center. This 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning play is suffused with sadness, but its argumentative characters ensure there are sparks of life amidst all the ruminations about an early death.
"Overweight children have already been exposed to salty, sweet foods and learned to like them," said study author Debra Haire-Joshu, a professor of social work. "To keep a child from becoming overweight, parents need to expose them early to a variety of healthy foods and offer the foods many times," she added in a release.
For Yoko Kato, PhD, a professor in Japan, the spike in the number of cases of child abuse and neglect in her country inspired her to action. The research scientist had read about interventions for families at risk for child abuse and neglect that the University of Maryland School of Social Work implemented through its Family Connections program and she wanted to see the program firsthand.
A Dixon
A special home Celebrating Kokomish Gamik - Pikwakanagan Child and Family Services supervisor Hilda Tennisco, right, hugs foster parent Heather Green during the grand opening Tuesday of Kokomish Gamik (Grandmother's House), a First Nation's foster home at Pikwakanagan.
Students who started university in the UK last year can expect to owe more than £17,500 by the time they leave, according to an annual poll on debt.
D McPhee
The Ribble Valley: one of the areas in England with the lowest level of recorded crime.
Professor Hunter said that governments since the 1970s, including the present Labour government, had "tinkered around the edges" of the rising problem of obesity. He said it was possible that the disease it caused could overwhelm the NHS, with some predicting a doubling of the number of people with type II diabetes by 2025.
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Literature
August 21, 2008
In order to measure the outcomes and the impact that housing support services have for service users, in 2006 the then Scottish Executive commissioned research to review existing models to assess outcomes. This review recommended that the distance travelled model developed by City of Edinburgh Council would be suitable for application more widely. After some refinement it was decided to pilot the Supporting People (Housing Support) Outcomes Framework and to evaluate that pilot. The evaluation was undertaken by Craigforth.
We count the number of uninsured children at 8.7 million for 2006, the latest figure available from the Census Bureau. This applies to children under age 18. There were slightly more than 9 million uninsured children under age 19 in 2006. Other analysts, also using Census data, estimate more than 9 million children are without coverage. Regardless of the counting method used, the United States has far too many uninsured children and action is required soon at the federal and state levels to help them gain health coverage.
Today, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to disproportionately impact African American men and women across the United States. Although African American communities make up less
than 13 percent of the U.S. population, African Americans accounted for nearly 50 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed in 2006. African American women comprise only 12 percent of the female population in the United States, yet they accounted for 64 percent of women
living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2006, as illustrated in Table 1. The rate of AIDS diagnosis for African American women was 20 times the rate of White women by the end of 2006.
As the number of Americans without health insurance continues to grow, and, year after year, the cost of health care rises faster than workers’ wages, elected officials are taking a renewed interest in changing the nation’s health care system. However, discussions of health reform typically focus on the roles that state and federal governments play in financing coverage, frequently leaving out the stakeholders on the very front lines of the issue—cities and their leaders.
The use of contraception varies widely around the world, both in terms of total use and the types of methods used. In many countries, women and couples rely largely on one or two contraceptive methods, because of government policies, the way that national family planning programs have evolved, and cultural or social preferences . . . Understanding why people prefer some contraceptive methods over others can be useful for strengthening family planning programs. Having a broad range of methods available is a key element of the quality of family planning services and raises the overall level of contraceptive use. Family planning programs ideally should offer choices of methods for all stages of people’s reproductive lives, so that they can have the number of children they want, when they want them.
Statistics on Private Fostering arrangements in England: Year ending 31 March 2008 and include data from England. The SFR covers figures on children cared for and accommodated in private fostering arrangements. The latest statistics report the year ending 31 March 2008 and update those previously released on 8 November 2007.
August 20, 2008
People with anxiety disorders feel extremely fearful and unsure. Most people feel anxious about something for a short time now and again, but people with anxiety disorders feel this way most of the time. Their fears and worries make it hard for them to do everyday tasks. About 18% of American adults have anxiety disorders. Children also may have them. Treatment is available for people with anxiety disorders. Researchers are also looking for new treatments that will help relieve symptoms. This booklet is about one kind of anxiety disorder called panic disorder. For information about other kinds of anxiety disorders, please see the end of this booklet.
The shortage of diverse, bilingual and culturally competent mental health personnel able to staff California’s community mental health services is widely recognized. This policy brief provides an overview of findings from focus groups and key informant interviews with California social work educators, managers, practitioners and students. Key themes emerging from the data in the areas of recruitment and retention of a culturally diverse mental health workforce are reviewed and recommendations for strategies for improvements in these areas are highlighted.
Many children and youth in the child welfare system and those at risk of abuse and neglect have a variety of physical, mental, social, emotional, educational, and developmental needs. Child welfare professionals have worked with their counterparts in other agencies for years to piece together the services available for these children and youth and their families. Systems of care is a service delivery approach that builds partnerships to create a broad, integrated process for meeting families' multiple needs. This approach is based on the principles of interagency collaboration; individualized, strengths-based care practices; cultural competence; community-based services; accountability; and full participation of families and youth at all levels of the system. A centralized focus of systems of care is building the infrastructure needed to result in positive outcomes for children, youth, and families.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 created the Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) service as a safeguard for people without the capacity to make certain important decisions. The Act also introduced a legal duty on NHS and social care staff to refer eligible people to the IMCA service. The IMCA service started on 1st April 2007 and this is the report on its first year’s work.
Low-wage jobs can be unstable, leaving families struggling to cope with employment gaps and financial emergencies that can strike without warning. About four in five low-income families are "asset poor," lacking enough liquid savings to live for three months at the federal poverty level without earnings. In this essay, McKernan and Ratcliffe suggest a cluster of policies that would improve financial markets and savings opportunities for low-income families across the life cycle.
When Traditional Asset Building Is Not Enough by Jessica Gordon Nembhard
Comment on “Enabling Families to Weather Emergencies and Develop" by Edward N. Wolff
There is a considerable body of existing research which examines the characteristics that are
associated with young people’s involvement in anti-social and other problem behaviours. These
characteristics are often referred to as ‘risk factors’. There is a corresponding and growing body of research which provides evidence of characteristics which can counteract these risk factors; these are commonly referred to as ‘protective’ or ‘resilience’ factors. The two chapters in this volume present the findings of two studies carried out on a sample from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a prospective birth cohort study, at two key ages – 8½ and 10½ years.
Disabled people and others have long argued that it does not make sense to spend money on services which limit people’s choices and their opportunities to live ordinary lives. The alternative, personalisation, aims to support people to make choices and to be included. It goes under many different names, including ‘independent living’, ‘person-centred support’ and ‘self-directed support’. They are all based on the same principle: if disabled people are to participate and contribute as equal citizens they must have choice and control over the support they need to go about their daily lives. This is a matter of social justice. It is an issue therefore which is fundamental to the kind of society we are, and the kind of society we want to be.
August 19, 2008
Summary: This paper attempts to quantify the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on social capital with cross-country data. Using data from the World Values Survey, the authors estimate reduced-form regressions of the main determinants of social capital controlling for HIV prevalence, institutional quality, social distance, and economic indicators. The results obtained indicate that HIV prevalence affects social capital negatively. The empirical estimates suggest that a one standard deviation increase in HIV prevalence will lead to a decline of at least 1 percent in trust, controlling for other determinants of social capital. Moving from a country with a relatively low level of HIV prevalence, such as Estonia, to a country with a relatively high level, such as Uganda, there is a more than 11 percent point decline in social capital. These results are robust in a number of dimensions and highlight the empirical importance of an additional mechanism through which HIV/AIDS hinders the development process.
This research draws on original material gathered from six UK sites with different experiences of migration and post-industrial transformations, and comprising different populations of long-term residents and new immigrants. Between them, they illustrate various contexts of social cohesion in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Disability and Health in the United States, 2001–2005 examines health-related differences between disabled and nondisabled noninstitutionalized adults aged 18 years and over using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The basic actions difficulty measure of disability used in this report identifies noninstitutionalized adults with respondent-reported difficulties in movement or sensory, emotional, or cognitive functioning that is associated with some health problem. The complex activity limitation measure of disability identifies noninstitutionalized adults with respondent-reported limitations in self-care tasks (activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL)) work limitations, or limitations or restrictions in the ability to participate fully in social activities.