The purpose of this study was to understand the levels of competence that master's level social work students have in regard to the issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender foster youth.

Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior with the addition of Perceived Moral Obligation was used to investigate the behavioral intentions of 65 caseworkers of the Children's Services Division (CSD) to cooperate with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) on cases involving abused or neglected children. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the subjective norms and perceived moral obligation constructs were significant predictors of the three behavioral intention categories and of all three categories combined. The two constructs, however, seem to have a considerable amount of overlap, suggesting that they may be measuring what is broadly called "social pressure to perform/not to perform 11 the target behavior. Perceived Behavioral Control was not significant in any categories and the attitude measure was marginally predictive. Possible reasons for the nonsignificant contributions of the two constructs include low inter-item correlations, questionnaire format, missing data concentrated in the two constructs, and finally, the notion that the caseworkers' attitudes and perceptions of control were of little consequence in their decisions to cooperate with CASAs. Of the three behavioral intention categories, all models performed best for the second category, 11voluntarily sharing pertinent Information about the cases with CASAs." The attitude construct performed best for this category, especially in the first and second models. Unlike the other two, this asked about the caseworkers' 11voluntary" cooperation. This finding seems to confinn the argument that Ajzen's models work better for a behavior for which one perceives greater volitional control. Prior, direct working experience with CASAs turned out to be an essential part of the attitude construct. The tested models performed better with the 54 caseworkers who had had direct working experience with CASAs in the last .. 24 months. This finding seems to indicate that the data from the 11 "no-experience" workers should not be combined with that of the 54 workers. Future studies of the theory of planned behavior with this sample are discussed.

This study examined the relationship between child welfare workers' coping skills and their levels of empathy. The author developed instruments for measuring empathy and for measuring coping skills. Measures of the coping skills and empathy of child welfare workers in San Bernardino County and San Diego County were compared and found to be similar; the author hoped that this would demonstrate that the results can be generalized. The hypothesis that excellent coping skills diminish compassion fatigue and lead to increased empathy was supported.

The purpose of the present research was to explore the political underpinnings that shape the meaning that native child welfare workers give to their work. This was achieved with the use of a participatory research model that combines group interviews (sharing circle) with ethnography as a means of data analysis. The resulting narratives have suggested that the meaning native child welfare workers attribute to their work emerges from their community and the provincial structures that legislate and define child welfare policies, two sources, composed of various sub-systems, that often share polarized values and ideologies in matters of child welfare. This struggle is further complicated by the cultural relevance of child welfare services in the debate surrounding sovereignty and colonialism. It is suggested that more attention be given to understanding this meaning and how this process must originate from the community if indeed the deriving services are to be both culturally relevant and community based.

No description available.

The purpose of the research study was to assess the job satisfaction of child welfae workers specifically working for San Bernardino County Department of Children's Services.

This study uses a qualitative research design to examine the skills and knowledge that both CPS (Child Protective Service) workers and Foster Care Professionals have regarding AOD (Alcohol and Other Drug) issues. It includes information on professionals' perceptions of whether or not more education in this area is needed, and the impact that these AOD issues are having upon the child welfare / foster care systems.

Sexual minority youth are coming out about their same-sex attractions earlier in recent years. Such youth and their families may experience a range of potential problems and concerns, suggesting that the child welfare system may need to do more to respond to the unique needs of this population. By employing a qualitative research design, this study, using face-to-face interviews with ten child welfare workers, examined child welfare agencies' ability to adequately render services to sexual minority youth and their families.

The purpose of this study is to examine child welfare workers' attitudes towards culturally diverse consumers. Social workers from four local foster family agencies were asked to complete a voluntary and anonymous questionaire. The survey also consisted of filling out the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (MCI) which, consisted of forty Likert type questions. The MCI served as an instrument scale to measure the workers' multicultural competencies.

The purpose of this study was to identify salient factors contributing to the overrepresentation of African Americans in the child welfare system. This study seeks to examine whether or not public child welfare workers are biased in their assessments of African Americans, and if years of experience influence their judgment. By understanding some of the salient factors that contribute to these disproportionate numbers, Child Welfare Services can begin to revamp their programs and services to ensure that they are more culturally sensitive and equitable.