Policy & Practice articles from June 2000

Policy & Practice archives from June 2000

Letter from the Executive Director.
June 1, 2000... William Waldman Those of us who have practiced for many years in the field of public human services understand the fragmented and labor intensive system of services that has evolved. We know the problems encountered by the families and...

Inside Story.
June 1, 2000... Sybil-Walker Barnes If we were to look back over the past 20 years, we'd see a I revolution in the field of social work. I can recall a television news story about a report on stress in the workplace that aired sometime in the early 1980s....

Letters to the Editor.
June 1, 2000... Final Ruling for ASFA and Kinship Care When I wrote "In the Interest of Children: Rethinking Federal and State Policies Affecting Kinship Care" (March 2000), I had not foreseen how the final rule implementing the 1997 Adoption and Safe...

Guest House.
June 1, 2000... Kay Caulkins is a training manager with Deloitte Consulting in Rancho Cordova, California. She has worked as a training professional in a variety of the firm's projects in California and Oregon. She joined the firm after 13 years of public...

Charitable Choice The End of Churches as We Know Them?
June 1, 2000... For nearly four years, religious groups throughout the country have been receiving government funding to provide employment, training, child care, housing, food, and transportation services to welfare recipients. In 1996, drafters of the...

MINNESOTA Moving from Welfare to Work.
June 1, 2000... One of the greatest barriers facing families as they move toward self-sufficiency is transportation. In east-central Minnesota, there is little, if any, public transportation. In the more remote areas of the region, it is not uncommon to travel...

Day Care Funds Unused; Moms Say They Weren't Told.
June 1, 2000... San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco officials have returned more than $6 million in day care funds to the federal government, saying some mothers trying to get off welfare showed little interest in subsidized child care. But while city...

System Making Parents Pay Up.
June 1, 2000... The News Journal In one month, state officials located nearly 4,500 parents--nearly three times the number the Division of Child Support Enforcement averages in one month--who were behind in their child support payments. Officials credit...

Benefits Can Be Denied to Noncitizens.
June 1, 2000... Chicago Tribune U.S. Supreme Court justices, without comment, denied an appeal by the city of Chicago and advocates for the poor of a provision in the 1996 welfare reform act that abolished food stamps and disability benefits for indigents...

City Is Sued over Asthma Care for Children in Shelter System.
June 1, 2000... New York Times A federal lawsuit on behalf of homeless children suffering from asthma was filed against New York city and state, alleging that both state and local governments have failed to give essential medical treatment to indigent...

Drug Concern Raised.
June 1, 2000... Statesman Journal Some doctors in Oregon, which leads the nation in morphine prescriptions, worry a criminal investigation into the possible overdose deaths of four terminally ill nursing home residents could discourage use of the drug to...

District Cracks Down on Medicaid Fraud by Providers.
June 1, 2000... Washington Post District officials, agreeing that 17 years without a Medicaid antifraud unit is enough, have assembled a team of specialists to prosecute health care providers who abuse the $842 million health insurance plan for the city's...

Changing Personnel Practices to SUPPORT.
June 1, 2000... Health and Human Service Reform It has become increasingly clear: health and human service leaders must become human resource activists to solve their staffing problems and improve their programs. Left alone, personnel managers rarely...

A CONVERSATION.
June 1, 2000... In 1965, Medicare debuted as the centerpiece of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. Since its inception, Medicare has helped countless seniors pay for health care. Yet, 35 years later, some consider Medicare to be outdated when compared...

RECOVERY: An Act of Work.
June 1, 2000... The roads to work and recovery are multiple. They are difficult, can be bumpy, are often circuitous and lonely, and almost always have been isolated from each other. We are challenged to expand our thinking and change our systems to join these...

Case Studies--Five Innovations [2].
June 1, 2000... Illinois - Substance Abuse Training Program for TANF Workers "Assisting the Client--Putting the Assessment Pieces Together" is the Illinois Department of Human Services' (DHS) initiative which used internal staff to train DHS workers to...

Making a Difference in Juvenile Justice.
June 1, 2000... Youth who enter the juvenile justice system pose a challenge to all who work with and for them. The stakes are high. If the youth's behavior is not reformed as a result of the consequences of being in the juvenile justice system, the likelihood...

CLINICAL WORK AND SOCIAL ACTION: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH.
June 1, 2000... Clinical Work and Social Action: An Integrative Approach develops a paradigm for social work and human services practice that integrates clinical work and social action. Social workers, clinicians, activists, and educators will explore ways to...

Transracial Adoption and Foster Care: Practice Issues for Professionals.
June 1, 2000... Addresses the question, How do we as professionals help children and families make transracial adoptions and foster placements work? The author also describes specific ways practitioners can work with transracial families to ensure that...

A Social History of the Asylum: Mental Illness and Its Treatment in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century.
June 1, 2000... Examines changing definitions and treatment methods for insanity during a little studied period in the United States. It analyzes the people and the conditions coming to asylums and their treatment course in mental hospitals and chronic...

Our Do'ers Profile.
June 1, 2000... In "Our Do'ers Profile," we highlight some of the hard-working and talented individuals in the public human services field. This issue features the chair of the National Council of Local Human Service Administrators, Thomas Hogan of Raleigh,...

Improving the Odds: Increasing the Effectiveness of Publicly Funded Training.
June 1, 2000... Reviews the impacts of alternative training strategies for target groups of interest--disadvantaged youth, disadvantaged adults, welfare recipients, and dislocated workers--and suggests how to improve the effectiveness of government-sponsored...