Despite the efforts to shorten the time youth spend in foster care, every year about 37, 362 youths emancipate from the foster care system without reaching permanency. Permanency for foster youth has not received adequate attention from the child welfare community due to the belief that youths are unadoptable. Using a qualitative approach, this study will explore the social workers’ perceptions related to permanency planning for youth with behavior problems and/or juvenile involvement in foster care and analyze the influence of the social workers’ perception on permanency planning for these youths. This research study found that social workers considered the mental health of youths as most important in considering placement and permanency options. They believe that reunifying the youths with their families of origin was the optimal permanency outcome. However, when this option was not available, they felt that placing the youths with extended family members or family friends under legal guardianship was a good permanency outcome. This study also found that most of the participants limited the youths’ permanency options to only those known family members or friends already named by the parents; they did not consider reinstating reunification services to the parents, reaching out to incarcerated parents, searching for maternal and paternal extended family, or searching for lost siblings. Implications for social work research and practice are discussed.

Social perceptions tied to stereotyping remain a strong contributor to women's experiences, particularly in the workplace. Emotion stereotypes, working in tandem with gendered-racial stereotypes, have been shown to be an important factor in workplace experiences. However, findings on the specific effects of emotional expression have been inconsistent based on the emotions investigated, women's identity characteristics, and workplace contexts. The present project investigated the contributions of race, organizational status, and emotional expression on perceptions of working women across three studies conducted in 2023. Study 1 experimentally investigated the role of organizational status and emotional expression on perceptions of a woman's competence and perceived emotional appropriateness. Study 2 replicated Study 1's methodologically while also experimentally manipulating the race of the woman exposed to participants. Study 3 used qualitative interviewing to investigate woman leaders' experiences with emotions in the workplace. Multi-level modeling for Studies 1 and 2 revealed that participants harbor a strong preference for women displaying neutral emotions, regardless of women's racial identity or power level. In alignment with these results, through reflexive thematic analysis, I identified that the woman leaders in Study 3 face discouragement around their emotional expression. However, they continue to perform various forms of emotional labor, as well as leverage individual emotions to accomplish their goals. Findings can guide future investigations into these stereotypes' influence on workplace interactions and refine our understanding of perceptions that can contribute to inequitable workplace experiences.