Suchergebnisse

State child support enforcement agencies facilitate the legal establishment of paternity for children born outside of marriage and enforce the payment of child support by noncustodial parents. They are directed to move cash resources from a nonresident parent to the home of his/her child. Ideally, this income transfer provides financial support for children and security for custodial families. This article describes how the agency is challenged in the fulfillment of this responsibility by the adversarial nature of its own process and by the intractable poverty and unemployment (among other barriers to economic security) of a significant portion of its caseload.

When the British government abolished slavery in the Caribbean and compensated the slave-owners, some of the beneficiaries and/or their children and grandchildren went to Australia to make a new life and if possible a new fortune. This essay traces the history of one such family, the Shiells of Montserrat, alongside two other contemporaneous histories – that of Yorkshire radical and convict, John Burkinshaw, and his family, into which one of the Shiells married, and that of the several Indigenous communities these families encountered. Through the experiences of these disparate and intersecting family groups, we can gain insight into both the lived experience and the wider imperial context of the expansion of Australian settler colonialism.

Research investigating associations between immigration policies and practices and indicators of mental health among Latina/o immigrant families has identified a number of risk factors for this population, such as family separation. The role of protective factors tied to the mental health of Latina/o immigrants, however, often has been neglected. This study explored internal and external sources of resilience that may protect Latina/o immigrant families against the potentially negative effects of restrictive immigration policies and practices on psychological well-being. Six focus groups (N = 50) were conducted with Latina/o immigrant parents of varying residency statuses (i.e., undocumented, permanent residents, Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries, and U.S. citizens). Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Three themes were identified: Social Support, Faith, and Civic Commitment and Action. Across groups, Latina/o parents referenced family, peer, and community support, as well as their spiritual faith and involvement in advocacy efforts as coping mechanisms. Overall, results suggest that Latina/o immigrant parents of varying residency statuses rely on both internal and external sources of resilience to protect themselves and their families when navigating restrictive immigration policies and practices. This research is particularly timely in light of the increasingly restrictive nature of immigration policies in the U.S. and the growing literature on the influence these may have on immigrant wellbeing. Intervention efforts should build upon existing strengths, such as providing opportunities for Latina/o immigrant families to participate in political activism.

This study examines closely in what ways six families of children with disabilities considered themselves insiders and in what ways and context they perceived themselves as outsiders with regards to disability humor. In-depth interviews, participant observation, and selective cartoon analysis were used to collect data. The data were analyzed qualitatively with the help of the constant comparative method. In terms of the findings, different phases through which disability humor passes (Haller & Ralph, 2003) were identified among families from this study. If the disability was the one that they as a family encountered in their familial circles, they were able to move past protest humor toward a humor of equality. That is, they achieved regular lives via their displays of familial humor interactions and thus "demystified the disability experience" (Haller & Ralph, 2003, p. 5) for themselves and other families, as the audience. Within this framework, children with disabilities had not only the right to participate in familial discourse on humor but also an equal status in humor appreciation and production. However, if the disability humor was about a disability other than the one they were personally acquainted, they largely perceived such humor with "sympathetic and lamentable attitudes" (Baum, 1998, p. 3), indicating that they still remained steadfast in their "ableist" conceptions of disability and, thus maintained a "politically correct" orientation toward other disabilities and humor.

AbstractIn this article, we examine the impact of inconsistent laws and possible judicial bias on children's opportunities to experience interaction and support from all parents, when those same parents separate/divorce. The Family Resolutions Specialty Court (FRSC) in Massachusetts provides a model through which procedures support all parents and minimize bias by engaging parental involvement collaboratively. Using exploratory data collected and analyzed from separated/divorced same sex and heterosexual parenting plans developed by families in FRSC (N = 50; 86% heterosexual, 14% same sex), we examine children's living arrangements regarding daytime parenting time and the number of overnights with the non‐primary parent, as well as the consistency of parenting schedules. Results identified a tendency among same sex parents to establish parenting plans that were more equal between partners and consistent across weeks. This small study adds to the emerging literature exploring coparenting among same sex parents post‐separation/divorce by contextualizing this preliminary finding and setting the stage for more rigorous analysis of differences in parenting plans and coparenting post separation/divorce between heteronormative and queer families.

The Partnerships for Families project is a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), an evidence-based treatment (EBT) for families who are at risk of or have histories of child physical abuse. Across 10 agencies whose programs were supported by referrals from the mental health or child welfare system, individual providers were randomized to receive AF-CBT training ( n = 90) in a 6-month learning community or treatment as usual (TAU; n = 92) which provided trainings per agency routine. We recruited families served by providers in the AF-CBT ( n = 122) and TAU ( n = 73) conditions and collected multiple outcomes at up to four time points (0, 6, 12, and 18 months). Using univariate tests and growth curve models, the analyses revealed that AF-CBT (vs. TAU) showed improvements in both service systems (e.g., abuse risk, family dysfunction) or one service system (e.g., threats of force, child to parent minor assault), with some outcomes showing no improvement (e.g., parental anger). These findings are discussed in relation to AF-CBT, service system, provider, and family characteristics, and training/dissemination methods that affect the delivery of an EBT for this population in community settings.