The 2014-2016 Ebola pandemic in Sierra Leone significantly increased the orphan population and the need for social support programs, especially for student-orphans in higher education. Poorly prepared disaster response managers have little knowledge about how college student-orphans experience social services. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore how post-Ebola student-orphans enrolled in an agricultural university in rural Sierra Leone experienced post disaster specialized case management to enhance student performance. Criterion sampling techniques including specific inclusion and exclusion criteria guided the recruitment, that included 10 research participants taking part in the semi structured interviews. Ecological system theory and postpositivist ontology informed this transcendental phenomenological research. The modified van Kaam transcendental phenomenological data analysis enabled the development of themes from lived experiences of post-Ebola case management for student-orphans. The findings of the research showed that student-orphans experienced specialized case management with three characterizations: (a) sadness, (b) happiness, and (c) anger which included information helpful for crisis and disaster case management administration and staff across similar circumstances. The social change implication for the study results include information useful for human service administrators and staff in designing and employing post disaster programs for college student-orphans.

Many youth exit the United States foster care system each year and face challenges related to housing, employment, health care, and education. After emancipation, foster youth can experience family instability, educational disruption, incarceration, unemployment, unstable housing, and emotional problems at a much higher rate than youth in the general population. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the experiences of African American foster women and the social support they received in finding housing upon exiting foster care system. Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory provided a conceptual framework of social interrelation for the study. Data were collected from a purposeful sample of 4 African American former foster care women, a foster parent, a social worker, and a director of a support service's programs through face-to-face interviews. Data were analyzed using a 5-step approach for coding and analysis. Key findings were that the mobilization of collaborative social network support from foster parents, social workers, and government officials before foster youth enters their transitional phase were keys to successful outcomes. According to the foster care women and supporting adults' reports, more collaboration among agencies may assist youth with transitioning to independent living. Additionally, one-on-one mentorship program could address housing, education, employment, and health plans prior to emancipation. This study contributes to social change by providing information to those who provide services to foster care youth and may lead to enhanced programs and services encouraging youth to pursue their goals, and promote economic self-sufficiency.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The government poverty alleviation programme in the form of social welfare support grants and free basic services have been going on over the past decade. This prompted the research into the study which is aimed at the investigation of the implementation of the government social welfare support and free basic services in the Mapuve village, in Greater Giyani, Limpopo Province. The study was designed as a case study within a qualitative framework. The simple random method, which is a probability type of statistical sampling approach, was used in the selection of respondents. Closed and open-ended questions were used to solicit information from the participants in the study. The study discovered that the implementation of government social welfare grant and free basic services in disadvantaged communities represented the realisation of their socio-economic rights as enshrined in the South African constitution. Mapuve village is one of the villages with a huge backlog of service delivery in Greater Giyani Municipality. The municipality „s inability to provide every applicant with an RDP house is the major contributing factor to the different views and perceptions that people held towards the allocation of RDP houses. The assessment of the key level of services in the dwelling of respondents painted a deplorable situation in the village. None of the respondents had free basic services; that is, water, sanitation and refuse removal in their dwellings and in the communities. Electricity as one of the free basic services is found in one portion of the village. The perceptions of community members towards the government social welfare grant and free basic service at Mapuve Village point to frustration, anger and dissatisfaction towards the services of the government although to some extent, the social welfare support has contributed to poverty alleviation. In view of the absence of free basic services in the village the respondents complained that the social grants are inadequate in meeting their needs because they also use the grant buy paraffin/electricity and water which are supported to be free basic services. Therefore they called on the government to increase grants to people in areas where free basic services are inadequate.

<p>The aim with the study was, that through a qualitative research approach, to examine in which way social services employees perceive information about children with incarcerated fathers and how they furthermore relates to the child's right to both parents in these situations. Seven interviews were implemented with social workers in the Stockholm County to obtain informa-tion on the following questions; how the children's needs are noticed at the social services, how employees discuss the child's right to their incarcerated father and which possibilities and obstacles social workers experience to promote contact between the child and the father. The ecology of human development theory was used in the analysis. The conclusions are that chil-dren with incarcerated fathers seldom is noticed at the social services as a result of inadequate cooperation between authorities but also due to whether the social services should be respon-sible for the children. Furthermore, children always have the right to maintain contact with their incarcerated father, with exceptions for situations where physical or sexual abuse have occurred. Social workers may contribute to contact by awarding a contact person, in cases where the mother is insufficient. Finally, individual assessments must always be done with considerations to the individual child.</p>

<p>Family centres are established to serve families with children and the personnel usually consists of units of social-workers, preschool staff, paediatric nurses and midwives. The purpose of the study was to examine the social-workers preventive work with families at the family centre. To fulfil the purpose, a qualitative interview with five social-workers was conducted. The theoretical framework referred to attachment and empowerment theory. The results of the study showed that the main part of the work consists of giving advice and support to parents. The social-workers do also organize different group activities. One example of group-work was about teaching parents to interplay with their children. Some work is also carried through in a structural level. The target groups are very varying, and consist of parents with different income, origin and social networks. Furthermore the study showed that the social-workers apprehend that most of their visitors are satisfied with their work. The important possibility united with the social work in a family centre is to meet the families in the beginning of parenthood, and to offer help early. The difficulties consist among other things to collaborate with the paediatric nurses and midwives, and also to claim the importance of their work towards employers and politicians.</p>

<p>The aim of this study is to look how the Social Service has handled custody issues. The study has a legal and social aspect with a purpose to investigate how the law affects the social administration as well as the family. During a period of one year a quantitative and qualitative study was performed within the social administration in a nearby community. The study focus is partly on the relationship between the law, family and society. The main questions have been: Which one of the parents, mother or father, did in fact get the custody and why? How has the children’s point of view been reported in the inquiry? A child needs a well organized everyday life in a preferably conflict free environment. The result shows that the mothers are most often presented as the child’s main provider but it´s not related to gender. The main reason is the child´s need to stability, security and structure in everyday life and therefore the authority often chose to not change the child´s existing resident and surroundings. We have also found out that more focus must be put on the child’s wish, they need to be considered. For the best interest of the child!</p>

<p>The aim of this study is to look how the Social Service has handled custody issues. The study has a legal and social aspect with a purpose to investigate how the law affects the social administration as well as the family. During a period of one year a quantitative and qualitative study was performed within the social administration in a nearby community. The study focus is partly on the relationship between the law, family and society. The main questions have been: Which one of the parents, mother or father, did in fact get the custody and why? How has the children’s point of view been reported in the inquiry? A child needs a well organized everyday life in a preferably conflict free environment. The result shows that the mothers are most often presented as the child’s main provider but it´s not related to gender. The main reason is the child´s need to stability, security and structure in everyday life and therefore the authority often chose to not change the child´s existing resident and surroundings. We have also found out that more focus must be put on the child’s wish, they need to be considered. For the best interest of the child!</p>

<p>The purpose of this study is to investigate preschool personnel experiences concerning their obligation to report existing and suspicions of child maltreatment. This is a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews that can provide a good understanding of the subject and of the informants’ views. The theoretical starting points we used were the communication theory, Kelly’s personality theory and the role theory. We carried out eight interviews with pre-school personnel who work in four different counties in Sweden. The interviews lasted between 45 to 60 minutes. The result from our study shows that the pre-school personnel have a positive view upon their obligation to report child maltreatment. In contradiction to this, the result also shows that there is a fear and concern about making a report. The main reasons for not reporting, is the relationship with the preschool children’s parents, lack of knowledge to identify the children who suffer the abuse, previous bad experiences from the social services and poor feedback from the social services.</p>

The present dissertation is based on a phenomenological study on undocumented Mexican immigrant mothers of high school students who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and received social services. Most of these mothers have emigrated from rural areas of the central and southern Mexican States of Guanajuato, Michoacan, Queretaro, among others. According to the participants, socio-economic conditions forced them to leave their homelands hoping to find a better life in the U.S. Ten undocumented mothers of high school students living in the U.S. were interviewed from a phenomenological perspective. They were monolingual Spanish speakers (only one mother spoke a native Mexican dialect as a first language and Spanish as a second language), parents of several children, and unskilled laborers with little formal education. This research explored the experiences of these mothers, their beliefs and values, and their relationship with their children’s school and the community in general. The study confirmed some of the outcomes presented in the literature review and revealed other findings that are critical to the development of school and social service programs.

Die sozialen Sicherungs- und Fürsorgesysteme in Deutschland befinden sich in einem radikalen Umbau im Sinne eines neoliberalen Gesellschaftsmodells mit der Folge, dass sich die gesellschaftlichen Widersprüche und Konflikte zuspitzen. Gleichzeitig weisen die aktuellen Debatten in der Sozialen Arbeit darauf hin, dass die gesellschaftlichen, und damit strukturellen, Widersprüche in deren Mitte angekommen sind. Sie manifestieren sich u.a. in Handlungsdilemmata, mit denen die Sozialarbeiter/innen in ihrem Berufsalltag und in ihrer pädagogischen Praxis konfrontiert sind und auf die sie reagieren (müssen). Hier liegt auch der Ausgangspunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit. Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, welche Strategien die in der Jugendberufshilfe tätigen Sozialarbeiter/innen bei der Konfrontation mit sich widersprechenden Handlungsanforderungen entwickeln, die sich aus den institutionellen und gesellschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen einerseits und der sozialpädagogischen Berufspraxis andererseits ergeben. Von besonderem Interesse ist die Frage, welche Probleme und Handlungsdilemmata überhaupt von den Sozialarbeiter/innen wahrgenommen werden. Der Fokus dieser Arbeit liegt auf der Jugendsozialarbeit, und insbesondere auf der Jugendberufshilfe, als demjenigen Teil des sozialen Sicherungssystems, der sich speziell an individuell beeinträchtigte und sozial benachteiligte Jugendliche richtet und an ihrer Übergangsproblematik ansetzt. Dem qualitativen Forschungsansatz der grounded theory folgend werden zwei Fallanalysen von Sozialarbeiterinnen durchgeführt, die als Beraterinnen am Übergang Schule – Beruf tätig sind. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass die Umgangsformen mit Handlungsdilemmata in einem engen individuellen, institutionellen sowie gesellschaftlichen Kontext stehen, da sie stets gleichsam eine individuelle, institutionelle und gesellschaftliche Funktion erfüllen.