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"The influx of children adopted into the United States from other countries has increased the need for social workers experienced in practice techniques that asssist in building rapport between the parents and children in these newly formed families. This study explored the use of employing the kinetic family drawing as a tool to build rapport between parents and children. This was an exploratory multiple case design. Six families participated in the process of drawing a picture of their family engaged in an activity together. It was anticipated that the drawings would be an effective tool to build rapport between parent and child."

The purpose of this study was (1) to review programs directed towards students defined "at risk" in the literature, (2) to construct a profile of the at-risk population served by the Gang Risk Intervention Program (GRIP) in Riverside County, and (3) to make future recommendations towards enhanced service delivery to the same.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a different personality trait between Department of Children's Services, intake and carrier workers. If there is a difference, does it effect job satisfaction when the worker is placed in a position that is not compatible with their personality trait?

The purpose of the current study was to examine delinquent pre-adolecents. It was hypothesized that both predictor variable [exposure to community violence (number of events; preception of events) and stressful life events (number of events)] would impact delinquent behavior (violent thoughts, violent behaviors, and promiscuity).

This study looked at the environmental factors present during testing for the spring 2004 administration of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) in an attempt to quantify some of the factors that were previously only qualitatively reported. Five factors were examined for their ability to predict passing percentages of students on the CASHSEE at the school level. The results indicated that socioeconomic status was the only significant predictor.

The purpose of this thesis is to reveal some of the behavioral characteristics of a specific type of laughter that I term "feigned laughter," and how it is used in the context of face-threatening-utterances (FTUs), or utterances that threaten the face needs of an individual.

This work critically examines the justiciability of the Sudan model of constitutionalising socio-economic rights (SER) and the legal implications of this model. Discusses the following questions: (1) What is the scope and extent of the Sudan Bill of Rights? (2) What is the effect of section 27(3) on section 22 of the Sudan Interim National Constitution? (3) Does the Constitution provide for justiciable SER, if yes, can the South African model of rendering SER justiciable and their standard of review provide a useful guide to the Sudan? / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2008. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Professor Julia Sloth-Nielsen of the Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

This thesis focuses on Catholic Charities (Hereafter CC), a non-profit agency that provides pregnancy and adoption support to families in times of crisis. Research and agency data reflect a positive association between the amount of time clients engage in services and the resolution of crises. Both theoretically and empirically, a key determinant of the depth and breadth of clients' engagement with both for-profit and non-profit services is their satisfaction with such services. In 2009-2010, CC's in-house, client surveys reported a decreasing level of client engagement with services. One clear trend was that clients discontinued services after thirty days or less. Against this trend, CC aims to provide social services for an extended period of time (i.e. longer than thirty days) in order to insure that clients have fully recovered from crises. In order to understand possible reasons for clients' low or short engagement rates, this thesis analyzes clients' satisfaction with CC services. Using a grounded-theory approach, twenty semi-structured interviews with former and current CC clients were analyzed for communication-based themes involving clients' satisfaction with services. Four macro-themes emerged: (1) Positive Caseworker Personality, (2) Feeling Emotionally Supported, (3) Feeling Helped, and (4) Positive Counseling Environment. Findings have implications for both theories of satisfaction and the offering and practice of CC services.

Sociologists of punishment generally agree that the American prison exacerbates social inequality, but the mechanisms by which it does so remain somewhat fuzzy. This thesis pulls from the tradition of Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002), a canonical theorist of power and inequality, and specifically his three "thinking tools" of field, capital, and habitus, to unveil these mechanisms. Empirically, I turn to ethnographic data I collected in a minimum-security men's prison that is generally reserved for convicts who will be released to one of the three most populated counties in Oregon. I explore how soon-to-be-released prisoners (i.e., prisoners who will be released within six months) understand and prepare for their exit. Data suggest most prisoners approaching release want to adopt an honest working class style of living, and that many take proactive steps they perceive as likely to increase their chances of accessing this lifestyle (sometimes called the "straight life"). However, I argue that any (re)integrative potential emerging from these conscious and interest-oriented strategies are at risk of being trumped by two processes I title "capital erosion" and "habitus adjustment." I frame these as unintended, but nevertheless strong, consequences of imprisonment. Ultimately, I suggest imprisonment worsens existing patterns of inequality by means of draining power from the nearly powerless and disintegrating the poorly integrated.