Aging out of foster care

In the United States, as in many other countries, the primary goal for children who enter foster care is a permanent home. Children can achieve permanency through reunification with the family from which they were removed, adoption by a new family, or placement with a legal guardian. Although most children who enter care achieve permanency, some remain in foster care until they “age out,” generally between their eighteenth and twenty-first birthdays, depending on the state in which they live. For young people who age out of care, the transition to adulthood is not an easy one. No longer able to count on the state for continuing support, yet unable to turn to their parents or other family members for financial and/or emotional support, these young people often find themselves having to make the transition to adulthood largely on their own. Federal child welfare policy to address the needs of youth aging out of foster care has evolved since the Title IV-E Independent Living Program was created in 1985 to provide states with funding to prepare youth in foster care for the transition to adulthood. Three major pieces of federal legislation enacted over the past two decades have gradually expanded the supports available to this population. The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 established the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (renamed the Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood), the primary source of federal funding for independent living services. The law mandated the development of the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) to collect data on the provision of independent living services in fourteen domains, the characteristics of youth who receive those services, and the outcomes from youth at ages 17, 19, and 21 beginning in FY 2011. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 granted states the option of extending the age of eligibility for federally funded foster care from 18 to 21. To qualify for extended federal foster care, young people must meet certain eligibility requirements. As of 2020, a majority of states, several tribal nations, and the District of Columbia have extended eligibility for federally funded foster care. Most recently, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 allows states to extend eligibility for Chafee-funded services to age 23. This evolution in federal policy reflects advancements in our understanding of normative development, growing knowledge about the complex challenges young people face during the transition to adulthood, changing attitudes about the state’s responsibilities as corporate parent, and empirical evidence of the benefits of allowing young people to remain in care beyond age 18.

Social Work with Interpreters

Social workers help very culturally diverse populations. Therefore social workers are likely to work with language interpreters in various settings such as mental health agencies, healthcare settings, communities, and courts. Interpreters are persons whose role is to verbally or through sign language translate between individuals or groups who do not share the same language. A translator is a person who translates the written word from one language to another. Not all interpreters feel competent to translate writing, and not all translators feel competent to translate languages verbally. An interpreter can interpret verbatim or conceptually. There are professionally trained interpreters and informal interpreters. Professional interpreters have been trained and are hired to perform interpreted services in a variety of settings. Informal interpreters might be staff members who are bilingual, friends of the clients, or family members of clients including their children. There are clinical and ethical considerations that social workers must consider when working with interpreters, be they professionally trained or informal.

Child Welfare Practice with LGBTQ Youth and Families

The actual number of LGBTQ+ youth in the child welfare system in the United States is unknown, as this information is not collected at the federal level. There are some studies that use state-level and/or population-based samples to estimate these numbers; but they are not representative of the nation as a whole. Moreover, many of these data samples do not include samples of trans and nonbinary youth. Thus, documenting the disproportionality of LGBTQ+ youth in these systems is still in the early phases of development. Social workers and child welfare professionals play essential roles as case managers, therapists, and advocates with youth and families who are LGBTQ+ as they negotiate their lives in these systems. This annotated bibliography provides knowledge and applications that will help social workers and child welfare professionals as they increase their knowledge, competencies, and skills in working with this population of young people and their families. Drawing on classic texts, social workers can understand some of the historical and fundamental knowledge necessary to work with youth and families in child welfare systems who identify as LGBTQ+. Specific knowledge of the settings and situations where LGBTQ+ young people reside and/or are provided services (in-home versus out-of-home care) as well as a discussion about foster care and adoption by LGBT families is critical for understanding the complexity of these people’s lives and situations. Further, sexual orientation and gender identity expression variables intersect with other conditions, such as race/class/ethnicity. These intersections add to the complexity of the LGBTQ+ person’s life and experiences in child welfare systems. As youth who self-identify as LGBTQ+ experience both oppression and resilience in a range of systems, including the family of origin system, so too do families who identify as LGBTQ+ and wish to become foster or adoptive parents. The decision to self-identify and “come out,” the experience of historical and psychological trauma, the degree of social supports, and health and mental health status are some of the issues and barriers many LGBTQ+ individuals experience and overcome as they interface with child welfare systems. Interventions at the clinical level can move youth toward health, while interventions at the macro level can assuage the systemic discrimination and bias that has been present in many child welfare systems. Social workers and child welfare professionals can avail themselves to key journal articles and texts for the latest knowledge and advocacy efforts. Additionally, there are many organizations that provide digital and in-person education, family support, and legal advocacy for the LGBTQ+ youth and families in child welfare systems. Social workers and child welfare professionals are on the frontlines and behind the scenes with their work with the LGBTQ+ youth and families in child welfare. They have an ethical imperative to work to provide support, healing, and advocacy. It my hope that the bibliography will be useful to social workers and child welfare professionals in this endeavor.

Cognitive Processing Therapy

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a method of cognitive-behavioral treatment used for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This intervention was created in the 1980s and has been proven to be effective across differing populations such military veterans, sexual assault survivors, emergency service workers, survivors of child abuse, and others who suffer from PTSD or PTSD symptoms. CPT is typically a twelve-session therapy intervention where each session lasts fifty minutes. It can be used in individual therapy, a group setting, or a combination of the two. CPT is based on the social cognitive theory and focuses on repairing the negative experiences and thoughts stemming from the experienced trauma causing PTSD. CPT is evidence-based treatment that challenges cognitive distortions regarding trauma but also assists in dealing with any cognitive distortions, including future traumas. The Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies fully endorse CPT and suggest it as a first-line therapy for PTSD. However, further research is still needed for evaluation when patients who have co-occurring morbidities such as substance abuse disorders, which may prevent them from fully engaging in the treatment process, such as homework completion. The first phase of cognitive processing therapy is educational: providing education on PTSD as well as the thoughts and emotions that stem from their trauma. The second phase focuses on the formal processing of the trauma. During this phase, the therapist often uses Socratic questioning to explore complex issues and encourage the client to think differently about their trauma based upon their own conclusions and perspectives. Through this, the clinician is able to help the client focus on changing their beliefs of self-blame. The final phase focuses on fortifying the new thoughts from the previous phase and focuses on building upon safety, trust, power and control, esteem, and intimacy.

Immigrant Integration in the United States

Diversity is a common feature of Western societies, especially in urban areas, and particularly because as immigration continues to transform nations, integration grows as an area of practice and research. Conventional “assimilation” perspectives, which center on a linear path that immigrants travel to become part of the host society, have been challenged by scholarship that finds immigration to be a dynamic and synergistic process. “Immigrant integration” is not a static or narrowly defined term but rather an inclusive description of the dynamic three-way process of change for the migrant, the sending country, and the receiving community. The increase of immigrants, especially beyond the traditional gateway cities, and responses to newcomers have led to the development of new social constructs, contesting older ones, to capture the complex patterns of inclusion and exclusion of distinct immigrant ethnic groups residing in varied settings across the United States. “Integration” as a term is suggestive not of all becoming part of a single culture but rather a process of affirming cultures that combine within the diverse and enriched nation that results. Oscar Handlin wrote in The Uprooted (1951:3) that “Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.” No single academic disciplinary lens provides a complete grasp of immigration, and it is the confluence of disparate theories and methods that sharpens knowledge and insights about the “who, what, and why” of the immigration process and its consequences. The stresses on contemporary society created by significant demographic changes have led to a quest for a more nuanced understanding about the patterns of settlement, the cultural reactions stimulated by these population shifts, and the impact immigration has on education, health, the marketplace, and the democratic institutions of the state. Selected works in this article express the vast array of issues and approaches to understanding the dynamic processes impacting the more than forty-four million residents of America who are foreign born. In recognition of social work as a primary career serving newcomers, this article displays the breath of the theory, methods, issues, implications, and culturally sensitive interventions related to migration. Social workers, educators, and religious leaders are first responders, and presenting these professionals with evidence-based analysis equips both providers and policymakers with the knowledge to facilitate the full social, civic, and economic integration of foreign-born residents. A few comparative works that both acknowledge the unique history of the United States and the global nature of migration are included. There is a complementary body of work in immigration law outside this article, and there are an increasing number of law schools partnering with social work schools to integrate practice. The subject of the “second generation” has not been included, although they warrant a distinct entry. Current political debates and continuing issues of oppression and prejudice also merit an article in themselves. No list can do justice to the wealth of scholarship available, nor even the various experts and emerging scholars, but this effort is offered to ground pursuits in the breadth of approaches and subjects relevant to the field.

Immigration and Intimate Partner Violence

Drawing from a feminist and ecological perspective, intimate partner violence, also known as domestic violence, is abuse that occurs in intimate relationships regardless of culture, race/ethnicity, or sexual orientation and involves behaviors used by one person to gain or maintain power and control over the other person. These types of abuse and characteristics of abuse include psychological, physical, sexual, verbal, or economic abuse, or isolation. Targeted victims in intimate partner violence incidences are predominantly women. According to the ecological model, intimate partner violence manifests at four levels, including individual, relationship, community, and societal. During the 1970s in the United States, recognition of intimate partner violence as a community problem affecting millions of American Caucasian women was apparent. Since that time increasing numbers of foreign-born individuals have resulted in increased prevalence of intimate partner violence among different groups of women (e.g., African women, Asian women, Southeast Asian women, Latinas, immigrant women, refugees) living in the United States. In addition, the intersection between intimate partner violence and immigration-related implications has increased for one particular group of women living in the United States: immigrant Latinas (i.e., approximately one in three Latinas have experienced physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime). This is partly due to the increase of Latinos migrating to the United States from Mexico, Central American countries, and other Spanish-speaking countries. According to the 2016 US census, Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States. The majority of Latinos currently reside in large states and distinct geographical parts of the United States (e.g., California, Texas, New York, Southwestern and Eastern states). In the early 21st century, the Southeastern (e.g., state of North Carolina) and Midwestern (e.g., state of Iowa) parts of the United States have seen an increase in the Latino population. The criminal justice system’s involvement and efforts to mitigate intimate partner violence among migrant populations are noteworthy.

Immigration and Poverty

Immigration impacts two distinct dimensions of poverty: poverty among immigrants and global poverty. Emigration generally involves moving to better opportunities, and the process lowers poverty among emigrants. Immigration also impacts global poverty through multiple channels including remittances, the proliferation of economic activities, and exchange of ideas between immigrant-sending countries that are generally low income and receiving countries that are often rich. Finally, immigrants improve productivity in the host country through innovation and new economic activities, in turn creating employment and lowering poverty. Immigrants generally have higher poverty when they first arrive in the host country on account of multiple disadvantages they experience, including lack of host-country-specific skills, discrimination on account of their immigration status, and limited access to safety net programs and services that reduce poverty. But their poverty levels decline with increases in the duration of residency in the host country and across generations.

Immigration and Spirituality

Social workers who study and/or work with migrant populations are often faced with the most immediate tasks of addressing psychological trauma and immediate physical needs for functioning in a new context. However, understanding client needs under a social work framework must include a biopsychosocial and spiritual understanding of their well-being and current and future functioning. It is important to acknowledge the different reasons why people migrate, including economic opportunities, family reunification, natural disasters, and safety from political violence. The spiritual perspectives of some migrant populations are intimately connected to their mobility. In addition to reviewing scholarship related to migrant populations and spirituality, this entry also addresses spiritual perspectives that influence the reception of migrant populations into a new society and anti-immigrant sentiment. These are niche topics in the field for sure, and are not fully studied in social work. Therefore, this entry borrows from other fields (in addition to social work) in order to provide a list of resources that could be helpful in understanding the varied nuances that relate to spirituality and migration, both for the migrants themselves and also for the communities that receive them. This list is not meant to be comprehensive but provides a beginning resource for scholars to examine the topic with the intent to supplement it as new scholarship is developed. The resources in this entry primarily focus on contemporary global migration.

Social Work Luminaries: Luminaries Who Contributed to Social Work Theory and Scholarship in the Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries

Oxford Bibliographies in Social Work includes three articles describing the scholarly writings of a select group of deceased social workers who have been especially prominent and influential in the profession within the United States. We refer to these individuals as social work luminaries. These three bibliographies can be used to identify the publications of prominent individuals who have been most influential in the development of social work. We identified these individuals by first reviewing the biographies of significant social workers in the Franklin’s article on Encyclopedia of Social Work and obituaries collected by the Council on Social Work Education since the publication of the Encyclopedia of Social Work. From this list we reviewed the biographical material and publications, selecting the most prominent luminaries for each of the three articles. For each luminary we provide a brief biographical overview and one to five annotated citations of their most important publications. Respectively, the three articles describe the publications of luminaries (1) who were involved in the founding and creation of the social work profession in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, (2) who subsequently contributed to the clarification and elaboration of social work practice and theory, and (3) who contributed to social work theory and scholarship in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This article presents social work luminaries who made major contributions to research and practice in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Luminaries in this era often made more use of scientific findings than those luminaries in the previous two articles. They related practice and theory to the social conditions of this more current period, and they often were concerned about a research-based (i.e., empirical) practice and incorporated contemporary ideas of social justice into their thinking. In this period, as in the previous one, most luminaries fell into one of several categories in terms of their contributions to social work scholarship, although several luminaries contributed to more than one category. We have organized this article around these different categories, which include contributions to social work methods; specific fields of service; the overall field of social work; diversity, multiculturalism, and empowerment; and social work research.

Gender, Violence, and Trauma in Immigration Detention in the United States

While international law protects the rights of individuals to seek asylum and to be treated humanely and with dignity, immigration detention, the practice of confining individuals accused of violating immigration law, has surfaced as a growing response to the large numbers of individuals and families on the move throughout the world in search of freedom, safety, and economic security. Detention has long been used as a strategy for enforcement of immigration laws across the globe, and has also been used as a tactic to dissuade and control future migration. The detention of immigrants consistently presents concerns about and allegations of civil and human rights violations and negative bio-psycho-social impacts on those detained. Given the contemporary expansion of the immigration detention system in the United States, this bibliography will focus primarily on the context of immigration detention within the United States. This bibliography includes selected scholarly resources from the social sciences, health, and legal fields to present an overview of immigration detention, the impact on survivors of violence and trauma, and detention alternatives. While the Global Detention Project and other nonprofit organizations aim to track the scope of immigration detention worldwide, numbers of individuals detained, as well as the number and location of detention facilities, immigration detention remain difficult to track. In the United States, the average daily population of immigration detention facilities in the United States had increased from 6,785 in 1994 to more than 38,000 in 2017. That number has risen to closer to 50,000 in recent years and manifests across a wide variety of facilities, including temporary and long-term holding facilities operated by a host of federal, state, local, and private for-profit entities. The US government has broad, though not absolute, power over immigration and immigration detention. Authorization of the detention of immigrants dates back to 1798 with the Alien Enemies Act, which allowed for the detention of immigrants from “hostile” countries during times of war. As of 1875, another series of laws expanded the framework of detention, in particular pertaining to the incarceration of individuals with criminal convictions. Further changes were made in 1952 with the Immigration and Nationality Act, then more drastically in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which served to begin a decades-long expansion of the US immigration detention system. This expansion has also led to numerous allegations of civil and human rights violations related to due process, exploitative labor practices, sexual and physical abuse, and inadequate medical care, as well as growing concern about the impact of immigration detention on survivors of violence and trauma, particularly children, women, and LGBTQ communities. The author would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of Jessenia Herzberg in researching and reviewing literature on immigration detention.