news January 2008 archives
January 31, 2008
Peter Edwards had to sell his home to help care for his wife
World | M Steege
A panhandler stands beside the road at the entrance to Wal-Mart last year. Panhandling has become prevalent in the Bay Area in recent years.
Shakeel Ahmed (centre)
Illustration | Dyson
'EVEN though I am homeless, I am still a useful member of society and not some no-hoper; I have many skills to offer." This appeal to government comes from Barbara, a homeless woman living in Melbourne.
AAP | M Tsikas)
Social researchers say addiction to gambling is one of the root causes of homelessness and that Kevin Rudd needs to address it.
Elderly and disabled people in England are increasingly being denied social services, a report says. The Commission for Social Care Inspection said councils were tightening their criteria which determines who is eligible for care.
M Levison | Star Tribune
Alicia Snyder, Jane George
By her own account, Alicia Snyder was a little "bleep" when she was younger.
Electrical stimulation of areas deep within the brain could improve memory, early research suggests. The brain's limbic system was stimulated.
Emma Howie felt ostracised by other prison officers
January 30, 2008
E Mulholland | PA
The prime minister, Gordon Brown (left), and the work and pensions secretary, James Purnell, at a meeting on welfare reform.
iStockphoto | G Martin
"Inactivity may diminish life expectancy not only by predisposing to aging-related diseases but also because it may influence the aging process itself," researchers report in the January 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
When people talk about “hooking up,” they’re referring to a subculture with a complex set of rules and expectations. Not surprisingly, most of what they know about student “hookup” culture comes from alarmist news reports of “risky sex” and movies like American Pie 3, not serious scholarship.
Photo | PA
Victoria Climbié and her aunt Marie Therese Kouao.
Styal prison in Cheshire, one of only 17 women's jails in England.
Measures to help lift black people out of poverty have had limited success
January 29, 2008
Organizations that come to the aid of victims say domestic violence is by far the most common factor in Vermont homicides.
Severe winter weather is causing travel chaos in China as tens of millions of people try to return home for the country's main holiday, Lunar New Year. Temporary shelters have been arranged at Guangzhou station.
26th Annual National Conference on ‘Challenges for social work education and practice, in the changing social scenario’ which was held at Roshni Nilaya, School of Social Work
R Gonzalez | AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Counselor Jeannie Tomanetz is part of the Austin-Travis County team that helps victims of family violence through crisis situations.
The average British family is now spending £456 a week, according to the Annual Report on the Expenditure and Food Survey.
A SAWYER | Yakima Herald-Republic
Lorraine Edmo, deputy director for Tribal Affairs, Office on Violence against Women, listens as Eleanor Davis and Marlene White talk about alcohol and drug problems on the Yakama reservation at Thursday's meeting in White Swan.
"There's got to be a reason behind it... there's got to be something that can be done to help these boys" Beverley Jenkins on her son, Leigh, pictured
January 28, 2008
Shelters are like prisons for beggars
M Lanter
Students listen to Terry (standing), who is homeless, read stories of the experiences of other homeless people at an event hosted by the community collabARTive in McMillan Café . . . The community collabARTive is a group which empowers the homeless through visual arts and creative writing.
Indiana University School of Social Work Dean Michael Patchner has been appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels to lead a year-long investigation into why there is a disproportionate number of minorities in the juvenile justice, child welfare, mental health and educational services. The Commission on Disproportionality in Youth Services will launch January 28.
J Craven
Katie Ortlip, left, a medical social worker with Asante Hospice, and Kris Earl, a hospice nurse, sit with Ruby Smith during a visit to her Phoenix home. Ortlip and Earl are helping Amber Shields, center, Smith’s granddaughter, care for Smith in her last days.
Chris Potenza.
These law enforcement professionals are supposed to help caseworkers be better investigators.
Sun | G Fawcett
Dr. David R. Fowler (right), chief state medical examiner, discusses buprenorphine before a House committee.
Martin worked as a fiber artist during the '80s and '90s until she got bored with it and became interested in glass art. Then she pursued yet another career, in social work. She earned a bachelor's degree in social work from the University of Toledo in 2001 and began work on her graduate degree at the University of Michigan.
January 25, 2008
Two British girls were sent to an orphanage for 30 hours and strip searched after their mother became ill during a holiday in the US.
SF
Thousands of children are in care in Switzerland.
Verdingkinder, "discarded children", were mostly the orphaned children of unmarried or divorced mothers and poor families. Farmers received a maintenance fee from local authorities to provide food and shelter for the children. But many children were malnourished and overworked. Some were beaten or even sexually abused by their host families.
Two British girls have been jailed for a year after trying to smuggle cocaine from Ghana to the UK.
Social worker Greg Versen (left) hosts special guests Austin Shifflett and Bob Driver (right) in the studio for his Blues Valley show on WMRA.
National Art Exhibitions by the Mentally Ill
"September" Acrylic & Ink on Canvas 13"x24" By Lucia Ballester.
CT KOJIMA
People have left dolls and balloons at the Miller Street pedestrian H-1 overpass location where a toddler was thrown to his death.
M Kryger | Star
Indianapolis police are investigating the death of a child at a home where a new dispatching program identified the family as having a history with the Department of Child Services, according to an IMPD spokesman.
Everyone is agreed that obesity is one of the greatest challenges facing the country. Nearly a quarter of adults are obese after rates rose by 50% in the last decade.
January 24, 2008
ST PHOTO | T SUAN ANN
About 180 destitute persons are committed to welfare homes annually. They are usually beggars or vagrants referred to MCYS.
"Those who have nothing are looting those who have a little bit more"
iStockphoto | A Wiechmann
High five! If people feel lonely, they are more likely to describe a pet as having humanlike mental states.
DOPE ON DOPE: Ketamines have replaced ecstasy and heroin as Chennai's newest drug to get high on.
Some 21% of men and 11% of women had drunk on at least five of the seven days before the survey of about 16,500 households was carried out. Alcohol consumption in 2006 was higher in England (13.7 units a week), than in Wales (13.5) and Scotland (11.6).
Poverty and war are harming advances in infant mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, a new Unicef report on global child health has said.
Children under 10 were accused of theft, house-breaking and assault. Parents are being urged to take better control after figures revealed children as young as four were involved in house-breaking and petty assault.
Labour MP Paul Flynn has attacked housing charity Shelter Cymru because he says it is ignoring the progress made in tackling housing problems.
Dundee University has been awarded £500,000 for the study
January 23, 2008
TIMESFILE
CARE homes in Glasgow earmarked for closure:
- West Drumry House
- North Burnbank, Ferguson Anderson House, Rannoch House (above), Balornock elderly home, Springburn home, Fulton Lodge, Eskdale, Loancroft House
- East Carmichael House, Peter McEachran House
- South Windlaw House, Crossmyloof, Merrylee Lodge, Davislea, Forfar Avenue.
Timothy O'Clair suffered from psychological problems for years, but his parents' insurance would not cover psychiatric treatment.
ES Ownes | Hattiesburg American
Kate Northrop, MSW has a simple and classic style.
KYODO PHOTO
Tsuneo Nakajima
"It is exceptional to serve as dean for 16 years at any university and especially to serve with such distinction at one of the largest schools of social work in the country," said VCU President Eugene P. Trani. "Under Dr. Baskind's leadership, the VCU School of Social Work has maintained national rankings for academics and its faculty scholarship."
R TARVER | Inquirer
Jordan Burnham welcomes a visit from Allison Colatriano, a close friend from Upper Merion High. Jordan, a popular athlete, had called her the night he plummeted from his apartment window. His survival and progress have astonished everyone.
A Mohin | NY Times
Ericka Johnson and her son, Erick, 7, got help from the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service, and have housing approval.
D Kenon | Indianapolis Star
Brandon Higgins, left, 17, of Indianapolis, and his father Roy Higgins, care for their horse Walk It Out at the Indiana State Fair Grounds. Brandon was adopted in 2002.
The council hopes to cut the overspend by about £1.2m
January 22, 2008
S Senne | AP
Veteran of the Afghan and Iraq wars Peter Mohan, right, hugs Vietnam veteran Robert Whitfield, of Haydenville, Mass., left, in a hallway at a veterans homeless shelter, in Leeds, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007. Whitfield is a Veterans Administration employee.