Barbara Pine

Protecting children by preserving their families

Abstract The growing emphasis in the field of child welfare in the United States on preserving families has resulted in renewed attention to the reunification of children in out-of-home placement with their families. Yet this form of family preservation is viewed by some as competing with the governments responsibility to protect children. It is true, of course, that in particular cases these two responsibilities are incompatible, and the childs safety and protection become paramount. However, at the philosophical and policy levels family preservation and child protection are complementary rather than competing values. In essence, the best way to protect children is to preserve as much of their families as possible.

Supporting and enhancing the adoption of children with developmental disabilities

Abstract In the past fifteen to twenty years, social work practice in adoption has seen encouraging new developments in the placement of children formerly considered hard to place, even unadoptable. Emphasizing the right of every child to a permanent family, new practice approaches recruit families for children who are older, members of sibling groups, and those with a wide range of physical and mental disabilities (Churchill, Carlson & Nybell, 1979; Unger, Dwarshuis & Johnson, 1977). There is now ample evidence that what is called special needs adoption is a viable placement option, particularly for children with disabilities (Glidden, 1989, 1991; Marx, 1990; Rosenthal & Groze, 1992; Sinclair, 1985).

Sharing the Baton, Not Passing It: Collaboration between Public and Private Child Welfare Agencies to Reunify Families

ABSTRACT Increasingly, public sector child welfare agencies are contracting with private agencies for the provision of specialized services to clients while maintaining oversight and case management responsibilities. At the same time, funders, both private and public, are demanding that service providers partner and collaborate with one another. In this article, we present results from a study of a unique partnership between two state child welfare agencies and a private child welfare agency aimed at reunifying families whose children have been removed and placed in foster care. Data was obtained from 41 key informants using a questionnaire and a structured interview. Findings support earlier studies of collaboration, and indicate the strengths of this partnership and factors that facilitated and hindered it. The results have implications for agencies that both contract for and provide a range of child welfare services as well as other interagency relationships.

Social work practice with families and children

About the AuthorsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsPart 1: Knowledge Base 1. Understanding Vulnerable Families and Their Children2. Risks and Vulnerabilities3. Supporting Families and Their Children4. Ethical Issues in Workign with Vulnerable FamiliesPart 2: Practice Base 5. Engagement, Assessment, Case Planning, and Goal Setting6. Family-Centered Intervention7. Social Network Intervention8. School-Based InterventionPart 3: Looking to the Future 9. Evaluation of Practice and Service Delivery10. Future Challenges and OpportunitiesAppendix 1. Tools and Instruments to Support PracticeAppendix 2. National Child Welfare Resource CentersAppendix 3. Other Resource Centers and Information SourcesAppendix 4. Electronic Resources on Family and Childrens ServicesAppendix 5. Electronic Resources on Childrens Special Needs and ExceptionalitiesAppendix 6. Electronic Resources on Schools and Childrens EducationAppendix 7. Electronic Resources on Health of Children and AdultsAppendix 8. Electronic Resources on System Reform and Advocacy for Children and FamiliesAppendix 9. Electronic Resources on Mentoring and Support GroupsAppendix 10. Informational and Training Materials on Alcohol and Substance AbuseReferencesIndex

Developing Strong Helping Alliances in Family Reunification

The development of positive working relationships with clients has been a hallmark of the social work profession since its inception. More recently there has been a resurgence of interest in both measuring the dimensions of the working relationships and the processes through which these relationships are formed. This article reports findings on working relationships from a comprehensive evaluation of a family reunification program that used multiple approaches to study these relationships. These overlapping findings are discussed in the context of program elements that fostered engagement and the maintenance of positive working relationships between clients and staff.

Incorporating Content on Family Reunification into the Social Work Curriculum

Family reunification is the system of policies, programs, and services designed to reunite children and adolescents in out-of-home care with their families of origin. This growing practice area in child welfare has received much recent attention in both the professional literature and popular media. Learning about family reunification and the practice and policy issues surrounding it is important if social work education is to reflect the new and changing knowledge base of the profession. Following an overview of family reunification, this article discusses suggestions, guidelines, and implications for integrating content on this timely topic throughout the social work curriculum.

Protecting children and supporting families: An essay review

Abstract In Britain, The Children Act 1989 has been lauded as landmark legislation which shifted the focus of child welfare from protecting children to preserving families, and made previous childrens law more child-centered, flexible and easier to understand. This essay reviews three volumes published after the passage of the Act: The Art and Science of Child Care , co-edited by Matthew Colton, Walter Hellincks, Pol Ghesquiere and Margaret Williams, and Staying Together and Children in Need , both by Matthew Colton, Charlotte Drury and Margaret Williams. The central premise of the first volume is that research-based knowledge and the experience of practitioners are both required for the creation of a unified and coherent social policy. The second two books report on key provisions of the Act. Children in Need is written primarily for academics; the intended audience for Staying Together is social work practitioners and students.