Rowena Fong

Child human trafficking victims: Challenges for the child welfare system

Since the passing of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in 2000 and its reauthorization by President George Bush in 2008, federal, state and community efforts in identifying and providing services for victims of human trafficking have significantly improved. However, most of the research and resources for trafficking victims have been directed towards adults rather than children. Researchers agree that there is a growing number of sexually exploited and trafficked children in the United States yet few programs emphasize the unique experiences and special needs of this population. This article examines commercial sexual exploitation of children; differentiates the needs and problems between child prostitution and victims of human trafficking; reviews and critiques current treatment practices; and summarizes challenges and successes in working with child victims of human trafficking, offering practice and policy recommendations.

Grand Challenges for Social Work

This invited article introduces the concept of grand challenges—ambitious yet achievable goals for society that mobilize the profession, capture the public’s imagination, and require innovation and breakthroughs in science and practice to achieve (Kalil, 2012). We call for broad and deep participation of social work scientists and practitioners in the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative, which will be coordinated by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.

Assessing the Responsiveness of Health Services to Ethnic Minorities of Color

Ethnic minorities of color are disadvantaged on most indicators of health and wellness, yet, health services have not been adequately responsive to this groups needs. This paper explores the improvement of health services for this population by discussing common critieria for the assessment of responsiveness: availability, accessibility, and acceptability. Illustrative examples drawn from different ethnic minority groups will be utilized in the discussion of assessment criteria and ideas for cultural responsiveness highlighted.

Pathways to Self-Sufficiency: Successful Entrepreneurship for Refugees

ABSTRACT This study examined the successes and challenges of refugee entrepreneurs by interviewing 50 refugees, service providers, and technical assistance providers. Qualitative data analyses revealed that successes and challenges occurred both at the individual and family levels as well as at the community and agency levels. The findings underscore the need to acknowledge the importance of the personal characteristics of the individual entrepreneurs, to deal with the competing factors revolved around family commitments, to encourage agencies to provide sufficient literacy and financial training, and to have community collaborations for capacity-building.

Marital and Familial Strengths and Needs: Refugees Speak Out

This study describes the marriage and family relationships of refugees as they transition through resettlement. Through in-depth interviews with 31 refugees representing 12 countries, participants describe their lives and experiences in their own “voices.” The findings reflect two broad themes that either support or impede self-sufficiency: (1) the internal or intimate dynamics of refugee lives, and (2) external and systems dynamics. Qualitative data analysis procedures yield findings that illuminated strengths of refugees, the challenges that they face, and suggestions for informative and responsive policy and program changes based on this knowledge.

Identifying Grand Challenges Facing Social Work in the Next Decade: Maximizing Social Policy Engagement

ABSTRACT In 2012, the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare launched an initiative to identify “ambitious yet achievable goals for society” that can guide the direction of social work in the next decade and help build concerted efforts to confront emerging social problems. We describe the development of the Grand Challenges for Social Work Initiative, including a model for achieving far-reaching impact on deeply significant problems, and outline strategies for maximizing policy involvement in this endeavor through social work education, community engagement, legislative advocacy, and national initiative involvement. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Policy Conference 2.0 held in Austin, Texas on May 29–31, 2014.

Preparing Professional Degree Students to Tackle Grand Challenges: A Framework for Aligning Social Work Curricula

The Grand Challenges for Social Work Initiative (GCSWI) reflects the power and potential of social work to accelerate social innovations and resolve major social problems. The complexity of these societal problems mandates profession-wide entrepreneurial readiness to engage in transdisciplinary, interprofessional, and translational collaborations. The GCSWI galvanizes shifts in undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, and early career supports to equip social work graduates at all levels to design, test, disseminate, and sustain innovative solutions. This paper describes the relevance of the GCSWI to professional education and suggests the collective-impact model as a heuristic for professional preparation to collaborate in grand challenge contexts. This paper also describes the pedagogical thinking underlying a T-shaped professional and the logic behind translational and innovation meta-competencies as pipeline connections across grand challenges, disciplinary partners, and stakeholder involvement. In addition, the paper illustrates meta-competencies preparation for practice that infuses an innovation mindset and skill readiness consonant with a collective-impact framework, and it illustrates application of meta-competencies within the Grand Challenge to Achieve Equal Opportunity and Justice.

Post-Adoption Support Groups: Strategies for Addressing Marital Issues

Married couples who adopt older children from foster care, especially children with special needs, can often face unique marital stressors. This article explores strategies for strengthening marriages using a sample of adoptive couples who participated in marriage enrichment events sponsored by an innovative state and federally funded Healthy Marriage Initiative project. The authors found that participation in marriage enrichment events aimed at building support networks among adoptive couples can be valuable in helping couples to bolster their relationships and find needed support from couples with similar experiences. Implications and suggestions for the continued development of marriage enrichment services with adoptive couples are given.

A Comparison of Foster Care Reentry After Adoption in Two Large U.S. States

Purpose: This study examines foster care reentry after adoption, in Illinois and New Jersey. The provision of services and supports to adoptive families have garnered recent attention due to concern about the long-term stability of adoptive homes. Method: This study used administrative data to examine the pre-adoption characteristics associated with post-adoption foster care reentry. Children were tracked longitudinally, using administrative data, for five to fifteen years (depending on their date of adoption), or the age of majority. Results: Results indicated that most (95%) children did not reenter foster care after adoption. Findings from survival models suggested key covariates that may help to identify children most at risk for post-adoption reentry: child race, age at adoption, number of placement moves in foster care, and time spent in foster care prior to adoption. Conclusion: Study findings may help identify families most at-risk for post-adoption difficulties in order to develop preventative adoption service.

Implementation science and prevention in action: Application in a post-permanency world

This article describes how implementation science and intervention research guided the process of selecting and implementing an evidence-informed intervention (Tuning in to Teens; TINT). TINT was provided as a selective prevention effort offered to families with youth aged 10 to 13 years old, with characteristics that suggest an elevated risk for post-permanency discontinuity. Usability testing findings: Contact was made with 54% of families, and 12% participated in the intervention. Multivariate results found no statistically significant differences between families who responded to outreach efforts and those who did not; families who participated in TINT and those who did not. IMPLICATIONS Large public child welfare systems wanting to implement evidence-informed interventions can follow the steps detailed in this paper for selecting, adapting and implementing an intervention. Further, providers that seek to offer post adoption and guardianship services, a growing service need, may gain some insights into activities that promote service usage with this population.