Solution-Focused Trauma-Informed Care (SF-TIC): An Integration of Models

Trauma-informed care is a rapidly emerging approach in child welfare and is significantly aligned with the core tenets and techniques of solution-focused practice. The integration of solution-focused practices and trauma-informed care offers an alternative to the problem-solving method frequently employed in child welfare. This paper describes and demonstrates how using a Solution-Focused Trauma-Informed Care (SF-TIC) approach can shift individuals and systems from a problem-solving focus to solution building. SF-TIC provides individuals with concrete skills, language and knowledge to effectively avoid inadvertent re-traumatization. Evaluation of this approach is in its infancy and future research is warranted.     

Parental efficacy, self-control, and delinquency: A test of a general theory of crime on a nationally representative sample of youth

Criminologists have recently begun examining Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) proposition that parenting is the primary influence on children's levels of self-control. The few existing studies on the subject, however, have typically been based on small, nonrandom samples. The current study examines the relationships between parental efficacy, self-control, and delinquent behavior using data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents (the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health). The results indicate that although parental efficacy is an important precursor to self-control, contrary to Gottfredson and Hirschi's proposition, self-control does not completely mediate the relationship between parental efficacy and delinquency. The implications for future research and theoretical development are discussed.     

Of Eggshells and Thin-skulls: a consideration of racism-related mental illness impacting Black women

Recent research has indicated that the prevalence of mental disorders is estimated to be higher among Blacks than among Whites, most likely due to the nexus of race and socioeconomic disparity. Blacks are under-represented in in-patient populations and more likely than Whites to use the emergency rooms for mental health treatment. Numerous studies confirm that Blacks drop out of mental health services at a significantly higher rate than Whites and use fewer treatment sessions for mental health issues. Furthermore, Blacks enter mental health treatment at a later, more advanced stage than Whites, under-consume community mental health services of all kinds, are misdiagnosed more often than Whites, and are more often diagnosed with a severe mental illness than Whites. People from diverse ethnic backgrounds often are prevented from receiving adequate mental health treatment due to misdiagnoses and lack of access to the services they need. Factors contributing to this disparity include a general mistrust of medical health professionals, cultural barriers, co-occurring disorders, socioeconomic factors, and primary reliance on family and the religious community during times of distress. Unfortunately, the traditional institutions of racialized research largely ignore the disparate social and political exposures confronting people of color, such as residential and occupational segregation, racial profiling, tokenism, discrimination, racism, and the consequential physiological and psychological effects flowing from the macro and micro effects of such interactions and intersectionalities. This article explores these issues and proposes civil law legal frameworks for addressing these disparities. In particular, it is suggested that renewed consideration be made of the Thin-skull and Eggshell doctrines in the United States and comparable traditional international doctrine.     

UK court rules government erred in denying housing assistance to woman with HIV

In March 2002, the English High Court of Justice ruled that municipalities have a duty to use their powers to provide assistance where refusal to do so would infringe an applicant's rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.