This study reviews the policy and practice of Islamic social welfare efforts in Indonesia. Findings from this study suggest that Indonesian Islamic welfare policies are ambivalent. The ambivalent character is due, in part, to the need of the government to maintain the status of Indonesia as a secular state, while at the same time, to accommodate Muslim aspirations to practice Islamic social welfare. Some Islamic welfare organizations have succeeded in combining Islamic social welfare programs with a modern social development perspective that is relevant to large national development programs. Dompet Dhuafa Republika's (DD) experience of collecting Islamic welfare funds and developing social welfare programs reveals significant potentials of Islamic welfare efforts to contribute to statutory social welfare services. These findings have shown that there is a promising prospect for Indonesia to further augment a pluralistic social welfare system.

This study focuses on the implementation of national intervention programs for street children in the province of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. A two-fold research methodology was employed, a combination of analyzing the pertinent documentation relating to policy and intervention programs along with interviews of key informants from government offices and non-governmental institutions. The current programs fail to address the root causes of the economic, political, and social barriers encountered by street children. National policies and programs are not intertwined with efforts of empowerment at the provincial and regional levels. To compound these deficiencies, adaptive strategies incorporating local culture, conditions, and needs are also absent in the planning and implementation of official programs. Alternative efforts are required to rectify the inadequacies endemic to current approaches for assisting street children. A number of recommendations are presented in this study, which take into consideration the complex problems presented by existing programs and suggest a rethinking and a redesign of contemporary methodologies in Indonesia.

This study involves a quantitative, descriptive study of the Ontario child welfare organizational practices that most influence retention of its workers. A model was created to display significant factors related to worker retention. The purpose of the research was to compare how independent variables such as worker demographics, client variables, and agency procedures, individually and together with worker job satisfaction impacted worker retention in two Ontario Children's Aid Societies. Measures utilized included the Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1997), a demographic information sheet, and an organizational survey to compare differences in the actual organizational practices and workers' satisfaction levels with those practices of the two agencies. Job satisfaction mean scores were then compared to JSS norms from the human services and nursing professions. Findings indicated that agency procedures combined with worker job satisfaction factors most contributed to retention rather than the worker demographics and client variables and this was consistent with other studies. Therefore, child welfare agencies need to increase their efforts regarding agency policies and practices such as competitive salaries, quantity and quality of supervision, and inclusive fringe benefits in order to retain workers. / Ce projet de recherche englobe une étude quantitative et descriptive des pratiques organisationnelles exerçant la plus grande influence sur la rétention des travailleurs voués au bien-être de l'enfance en Ontario. La création d'un modèle a permis de présenter les facteurs significatifs liés à la rétention de ces travailleurs. L'objet de la recherche consistait à comparer la façon dont des variables indépendantes, dont les caractéristiques sociodémographiques des travailleurs, les variables liées à la clientèle, ainsi que les procédures des agences, exerçaient un impact, individuellement et conjointement avec la satisfaction professionnelle, sur la rétention des travailleurs membres de deux sociétés d'aide à l'enfance de l'Ontario. Parmi les instruments de mesure utilisés figuraient une enquête sur la satisfaction professionnelle (Spector, 1997), une fiche d'information démographique et un sondage organisationnel. Ces instruments visaient à comparer les différences caractérisant les pratiques organisationnelles réelles et le niveau de satisfaction des travailleurs avec les pratiques adoptées par les deux agences. Par la suite, les scores moyens de satisfaction des travailleurs ont fait l'objet d'une comparaison avec les normes de l'enquête sur la satisfaction professionnelle, dans les domaines des services à la personne et des professions infirmières. Conclusions indiquent qu'Agence procédures associées au travailleur des facteurs de satisfaction d'emploi plus contribués à la rétention plutôt que la démographie de travailleur et variables client et c'était compatible avec d'autres études. Par conséquent, organismes de protection de l'enfance ont besoin d'accroître leurs efforts concernant les politiques des organismes et des pratiques telles que les salaires compétitifs, la quantité et la qualité de surveillance et d'avantages sociaux inclus afin de conserver des travailleurs.

As people continue to immigrate to Canada, it is becoming more important to consider the many social challenges that migrant youth face upon their arrival. The purpose of this MSW thesis was to evaluate the subjective experience of adolescents in a welcoming class who participated in a video art pilot project. Twelve adolescents were interviewed using a semi-structured qualitative format after the end of the project. They reported enjoying the group work process, discovering each other's talents and learning new skills such as how to use a video camera. All of these responses echo the goals of the Positive Youth Development model. It is hoped this study will contribute to the social work literature regarding programs for migrant youth.

Adaptation to vision impairment was studied by telephone interviews with 78 legally blind adults (mean age 79.5) who had received rehabilitation services from an agency in upstate New York. Data were collected on demographics, health, activity levels, social support, blindness data, adaptation to vision loss (AVL scale, Horwitz and Reinhardt, 2005), and symptoms of Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS). Using multiple regression and logistic regression, the most significant predictors of high AVL scores were found to be good interpersonal communication and a relative living close by, while predictors of CBS were self-reported health issues, especially diabetes, and fewer trips into the community. Very few respondents reported receiving any information on CBS from eye care providers. This suggests that doctors should consider discussing CBS with patients, and that both social workers and doctors need a better understanding of CBS, as symptoms could easily be mistaken for mental illness, causing inappropriate referrals.

The High Risk Assessment Review Team (HART) in Belleville, Ontario is a community coordinated initiative that reviews domestic violence cases before the criminal court. Record analysis was conducted on 60 case files that had gone through criminal court in that jurisdiction. The purpose was to determine if a sample of cases reviewed by HART (n=30) would yield a higher rate of conviction and increased contact with community agencies when compared to a sample of cases (n=30) prior to this team being implemented. A logistical regression yielded no statistically significant results but did demonstrate a higher rate and likelihood of conviction in the HART sample as well as a greater involvement and likelihood of involvement with community agencies.

This study examined the relationship between residential environment and subjective quality of life (QOL) for individuals with mental illness. Demographic variables impacting QOL were also examined. The Wisconsin Quality of Life Index---Canadian Version (CaW QLI, Diaz & Mercier, 1996) was administered to a total of 46 participants and was used to assess the QOL of individuals living in a supported residential environment as compared to individuals living in other types of environments. / The major findings were: (1) psychiatric consumers/survivors in the supported residential environment reported higher QOL scores in 4 of the 9 domains examined; (2) residents living in a supported housing facility were more likely to be involved in a greater number of daily activities; (3) education was strongly correlated with 4 of the 9 QOL domains; (4) regression analyses however showed that residential environment or demographic variables on their own did not have a significant effect on QOL. Further research is required to delineate the relationships between residential environment, demographic variables and QOL.

The past decade has witnessed the introduction and development of fee charging in family agencies on this continent. This is a subject of current interest to lay and professional groups in various communities both in Canada and in the United States. Fee charging implies an understanding between client and agency that compensation for the service will be paid by the client. [...]

As a student social worker in the Royal Victoria Hospital, the writer became interested in the many problems presented by handicapped children. This interest was later reinforced when she came to know the families of some of these children who were receiving service from the Family Welfare Association of Montreal. Of particular concern to the writer was the behaviour problems presented by these children and the interrelated causes leading to their maladjustment.

The goals of this study were to determine the proportion of children that were identified in the 2005 & 2006 at one youth protection agency as victims of sexual abuse or as at risk of becoming victims; to describe the family members and offenders and to determine what decisions concerning treatment and restrictions of contact were consistent with a model of best practice. Information on 18 variables was collected and grouped into child, abuse, offender, and agency response categories. In total, 70 children or about 3% of investigated cases involved either victims or children at risk of sexual abuse. Best practice responses for treatment were followed in 90% of the cases for treatment but only 70% of the cases for restrictions of contact; this difference was statistically significant. Findings show importance of specialized sexual abuse training for workers, managers and judges, more treatment resources for nonoffending parents and further research involving a larger sample and validated best practice model.