Transferring MSW Education to Practice: A Qualitative Study With Public Child Welfare Employees

This study used a qualitative analysis of survey data collected from public child welfare employees (n = 168) as they completed master's of social work courses in a weekend/hybrid program, to examine their perceptions of ability to apply classroom learning to practice. The program, which combined a focus on direct practice and management, was developed in partnership with the state's public child welfare agency, during a period of systemic change and case practice reform. Findings indicate that students readily transferred knowledge and skills to the workplace, albeit with some challenges. In particular, management courses appeared to provide an important framework in understanding the organizational context of practice.     

THE CONTENT OF DIVORCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS

A survey was conducted to assess the content coverage of more than 100 divorce education programs for parents in North America. Fifty-six percent of the programs were mandatory for at least some categories of divorcing parents. Results showed that the most intensively covered topics involved the effects of divorce on children and the benefits of parental cooperation. Moderate coverage was devoted to skills acquisition, such as conflict management and parenting, and to the effects of divorce on parents. Minimal coverage was devoted to "nuts and bolts" and legal issues. The results are discussed in terms of issues likely to emerge as a result of this content coverage.     

SUPERVISED VISITATION

Reviews of case files for 676 families who received supervised visitation services at one of four programs and interviews with 201 participating parents provide a portrait of the families receiving services, their experiences, and the outcomes. Programs successfully serve a wide variety of families and garner high ratings of user satisfaction, but half of the families exit without formal closure. Families that drop out receive fewer court hearings and evaluations for the problems that brought them into the programs in the first place, suggesting that they may feel neglected. In most cases that formally exit the program, the visitation situation improves over time, although interviewed parents give mixed reports about their visitation situations after they leave the programs.     

Australian court holds that sublicensor cannot validly assign brand management and termination rights

In Pacific Brands Sport and Leisure Pty Ltd v Underworks PtyLtd the Full Federal Court of Australia held that a sublicensorcould not validly assign certain rights, including brand managementrights and termination rights, to a third party because thenature of the rights was personal between the sublicensor andthe sublicensee and the assignment of those rights requiredthe sublicensee's consent.     

TURNING OFFENDERS INTO RESPONSIBLE PARENTS AND CHILD SUPPORT PAYERS*

This article describes four demonstration projects that strive to promote responsible behavior with respect to parenting, child support payment, and employment among incarcerated and paroled parents with child support obligations. These projects, conducted in Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Texas, with support from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement and evaluated by the Center for Policy Research, led to a number of common outcomes and lessons. The projects revealed that inmates want help with child support, parenting, and employment and that prisons can be effective settings in which to conduct such interventions. Family reintegration programs were popular with inmates and may have helped to avoid the rupture of parent–child relationships commonly associated with incarceration. Although employment is the key to child support payment following release, rates of postrelease employment and earnings at all project sites were low and the employment programs were of limited utility in helping released offenders find jobs. Agencies dealing with child support, employment, and criminal justice need to adopt more effective policies with incarcerated parents including transitional job programs that guarantee immediate, subsidized employment upon release, child support guidelines that adjust for low earnings, and better training and education opportunities during incarceration.