Suchergebnisse

As social workers are increasingly collaborating with the criminal justice system through diversion programs to create and provide alternative approaches to working with legal offenders, practitioners and researchers must consider evaluating such projects. While there exist numerous prostitution diversion programs for both sex workers and clients of commercial sex workers, often referred to as 'John Schools', throughout the USA and Canada, there have been no published evaluations, until now, of any of the programs for commercial sex workers. This article presents the research methods and discussions concerning some of the study findings of a qualitative evaluation of Salt Lake City's Prostitution Diversion Project (PDP). This article explores the usefulness of the PDP by discussing the program's objectives, its strengths and limitations as perceived by the stakeholders. The author discusses how the various stakeholders perceived and experienced the PDP. Discussions in this article pay particular attention to the stakeholders' experiences of working with and across significant theoretical and practical differences.

This article discusses some findings of a qualitative evaluation of Salt Lake City's Prostitution Diversion Project (conducted in 2003-2004) to expose some of the challenges and opportunities of mixed-theory projects. The findings focus specifically on project stakeholders' recommendations for improving the program. Many of these recommendations are related to the tensions that manifested between the two major stakeholders: Criminal Justice Services and the Harm Reduction Project. The unlikely relationship between these stakeholders is what distinguished the Salt Lake City project from other prostitution-diversion programs in the United States and Canada.

• Summary: Motivational interviewing was proposed as an alternative model to direct persuasion for facilitating behavior change. Social work behavior change interventions have traditionally focused on increasing skills and reducing barriers. More recent recommendations tend to encourage practitioners to explore a broad range of issues, including but not limited to skills and barriers. The article defines and explains motivational interviewing by presenting its essential spirit and techniques, and provides a brief case example within a domestic violence context.• Findings: This article proposes motivational interviewing as an intervention appropriate for social work practice concerned with behavior change by arguing that motivational interviewing is an exciting intervention model for numerous social work settings due to its consistency with core social work values, ethics, resources, and evidence-based practice.• Applications: Social workers may strive to practice and test motivational interviewing in addictions settings, as well as within other critical social work arenas including but not limited to health, domestic violence, batterer treatment, gambling, HIV/AIDS prevention, dual disorders, eating disorders, and child welfare.

Social work practice with women who exchange sex for material goods dates back to the beginnings of the social work profession in the settlements, benevolent societies, and charity organizations. This article presents the theoretical frameworks, methods and findings of a qualitative, participatory inquiry with six adult female sex workers in Seattle, Washington. The study participants worked as street workers, dancers, and escort workers. The findings discuss how and why the women entered the sex industry, how they talk about and define what they do (with a significant focus on emotional labor) from their perspective, the intersections of race and class in their work experiences, and agency as it applies to their personal and professional lives. The article concludes with recommendations for social work practice from the study participants.

Mandatory reporting of child abuse is a part of the civil legal system that can activate a policy cascade disproportionately criminalizing racialized and marginalized communities. While social work scholarship has explored ways to increase provider compliance with mandatory reporting laws, there is a dearth of research focused on how social work education guides future providers towards the praxis of mandatory reporting discourses. This article presents findings from a content analysis of social work textbook excerpts focused on mandatory reporting of child abuse in the U.S. We found that textbooks affirm social work's loyalty to the State by approaching mandatory reporting through a deontological lens and systematically reinforcing risk management practices. Although some texts offer a nod to mandatory reporting as facilitating ethical dilemmas, none offer guidance for how to navigate competing social work commitments, and none actually treat mandatory reporting as an ethical dilemma. We argue that social work education should equip future practitioners to: a) have a nuanced understanding of mandatory reporting laws and requirements; b) contextualize mandatory reporting within broader discourses of criminalization, professionalization, and neoliberalism; and c) ground future practices in macro social work ethics.

AbstractYoung people in statutory care and protection interact with social workers, who hold potential to provide a supportive adult role in their lives. Many however, run away at an early age and end up on the street trading sex for money or other favours. There is potential to improve outcomes for young people in care if the relationship between young people and their social workers is better addressed. This paper uses data from a qualitative study of 14 young people who traded sex and who had experienced interactions with social workers. A thematic analysis identified three themes: the rigidity of social work practice; contesting the family situation; and resisting the at‐risk label. We argue that to have any impact on outcomes for young people in care, social workers need to prioritise relationship‐building above the need to conform to organizational protocols and guidelines. Such guidelines assist the social worker in assessing whether family situations pose high risk for a young person, but the "at‐risk" label is contested by young people, which results in a lack of trust and a barrier to relationship building.

Social work practice with sex workers in New Zealand occurs within a context of decriminalization since the passing of the Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) in 2003. This article presents the findings of a qualitative study focused on social workers' perceptions of sex work/ers, the PRA, and its influence on practice with individuals in the sex industry. The findings suggest that social workers hold nuanced perspectives on sex work. While decriminalization creates opportunities that support social work practice with sex workers, challenges to antioppressive, critical social work remain, even within the context of decriminalization.

This article details an autoethnography project of our odysseys into the pedagogy of unlearning racism. Our know ledge creation process forced us to re-envision both our locations in, and pedagogy of, anti-racism work, with particular attention to the challenges and dangers of teaching about, to, and from White privilege within social work. In the end, we are both troubled and invigorated by what we experienced, witnessed, and supported. By asking people of color to share their personal narratives of racism in the presence of Whites, teachers, facilitators, and diversity trainers stand to continue privileging Whiteness where Whites benefit and learn at the expense of people of color.

This manuscript responds to recent directives in Texas that would define the facilitation or provision of gender-affirming medical treatment for minors as "child abuse." Specifically, we focus on the use of these directives to widen the scope of mandatory reporting laws. We briefly discuss the politics of mandatory reporting and the strategic appropriation of feminist, anti-violence narratives. We then critically analyze social work resistance to the Attorney General's opinion through a lens of exceptionalism. Finally, we discuss abolition feminism as a guidepost for critically questioning our field's allegiance to mandatory reporting as an ethical and evidence-based practice.