Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C G Petr.
Based on a cross-disciplinary review of the literature, the concept of family-centered service delivery is traced historically. A new definition is presented that extends the current model by highlighting three core elements--the family as the unit of attention, informed family choice, and a family-strengths perspective. Practice, policy, and research implications, and the challenge they represent to prevailing professional practice, are discussed.
This article examines the concept of advocacy in child welfare. Definitions of social advocacy and case advocacy are presented that will perhaps give child advocates, child welfare workers, and social workers a better understanding of the concepts and their roles in the protection of children who have been abused or neglected. A historical account of advocacy efforts on behalf of abused and neglected children in the United States is presented, followed by an analysis of current advocacy efforts, highlighting the potential of court-appointed special advocates (CASAs). The article also presents implications and ideas for social workers to assist in case advocacy efforts for children who are part of the child welfare system.
Children who are dependent on medical technology present unique challenges to families and professionals who attempt to care for them at home. This longitudinal, exploratory study examines the placement threatening crises experienced over an eighteen-month period by four such families in Minnesota. The findings encourage development of a family support model of placement prevention for this population, as opposed to a crisis intervention model.
The objectives of this study were to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Minnesota's Comprehensive Children's Mental Health Act of 1989 and its early implementation in Hennepin County, Minn. Data were collected from official documents and key informants relative to three implementation criteria: (1) community-based and family-centered values; (2) the range, coordination, and affordability of services; and (3) process, outcome, and consumer accountability. Findings suggest that the state law is a laudable, yet seriously limited, attempt to reform the system of care for children with emotional disorders. While the law is strong in its intent regarding community-based value, range, and coordination of services as well as process accountability, implementation has been hampered by weaker intent with respect to other criteria and by a lack of a comprehensive financing plan. Despite these limitations in the state law, Hennepin County has moved to use the law as leverage to improve the local system of care. Implications for reformers in other states center on the issues of state/county relationships, scope of initial efforts, choice of organizational structure, and the interplay of financing and accountability issues.
Policy analysts and citizen groups have long struggled with the complexities of the implementation process. The model presented here empowers students, community organizers, and consumers with theoretically sound and practically useful procedures for assessing the extent to which social agencies are implementing any particular policy or piece of legislation. It also identifies key implementation processes for citizens to target in their agency change efforts. Specific research results are presented to illustrate the practical utility of the model.
In this article, the authors examine the evolution of America's varied and often conflicting responses to the needs of its children--more specifically, the historical responses to dependent, neglected, and emotionally disordered children. The authors discuss America's historical ambivalence about whether to institutionalize children or keep them with their families, the relationship between social work professionals and clients, and the lessons that can be learned and applied to current practice. The analysis suggests that social work challenge some of the assumptions upon which prior service and advocacy efforts have been based. The magnitude of the current service system problems warrants a family-centered advocacy stance aimed at improving community-based services. This approach could free social workers to operationalize key values of the profession.