Social Work (2014)

Social Work By Jae Ran Kim Introduction Choosing social work readings to include for this compilation was challenging because of the diverse and varied nature of the social work profession itself. At its core, social work is an applied field, contributing to multiple ways of thinking about the discipline and profession—not only theoretically but in terms of practice with individuals and families. As a profession, social work is historically rooted in the seemingly dichotomous goals of social justice and advocacy, which takes a macrolevel view of the problems associated with social functioning, as well as in social casework, which studies the micro-level family and individual barriers to social functioning. To complicate matters, the increasing emphasis on clinical social work mirroring other fields (psychology, counseling) has contributed to greater prioritization for evidence-based research and practice. However, both views—macro and micro—differ from traditional counseling and psychology fields given that social work considers the importance of environmental barriers to human functioning with greater relevance over individual pathology. The following readings include research studies, policy analyses, conceptual articles, and critiques and recommendations for improving practice on the topics of transracial and intercountry adoption, children with disabilities and special needs, the ethics of adoption, placement disruption and dissolutions, orphans and vulnerable children, recruitment of prospective parents, post-adoption services, and counseling issues (trauma, grief, attachment, loss, identity formation). The field is dominated by “outcome studies,” quantitative studies that look at how children or parents fare after the finalization of an adoption, often based on validated tools measuring child behavior or parental stress. Given the large number of these studies, a select few were included in this list. A few legal texts are included because of their importance to social work practice. Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota Adoption & Culture Vol. 4 (2014) 150 Avery, Rosemary J., ed. Adoption Policy and Special Needs Children. Westport: Auburn House, 1997. Print. ---. “Information Disclosure and Openness in Adoption: State Policy and Empirical Evidence.” Children and Youth Services Review 20.1/2 (1998): 57–85. Print. Avery, Rosemary J., et al. “AdoptUSKids National Photolisting Service: Characteristics of Listed Children and Length ofTime to Placement.” Children and Youth Services Review 31 (2009): 140–54. Print. Babb, L. Anne. Ethics in American Adoption. Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 1999. Print. Baden, Amanda L., and Mary O’Leary Wiley. “Counseling Adopted Persons in Adulthood: Integrating Practice and Research.” The Counseling Psychologist 35 (2007): 868­ –901. Print. Bailey, Jo D., ed. Orphan Care: A Comparative View. Sterling, VA: Kumarian, 2012. Print. Barth, Richard P., et al. “Predicting Adoption Disruption.” Social Work 33.3 (2001): 227–33. Print. Barth, Richard P., and Julie M. Miller. “Building Effective PostAdoption Services: What is the Empirical Foundation?” Family Relations 49.4 (2000): 447–55. Print. Berebitsky, Julie. Like Our Very Own: Adoption and the Changing Culture of Motherhood, 1851–1950. Lawrence: UP of Kansas, 2000. Print. Bergquist, Kathleen J. S. “Operation Babylift or Baby Abduction? Implications of the Hague Convention on the Humanitarian Evacuation and ‘Rescue’ of Children.” International SocialWork 52.5 (2009): 621–33. Print. Bergquist, Kathleen J. S., Mary E. Campbell, and Yvonne A. Unrau. “Caucasian Parents and Korean Adoptees.” Adoption Quarterly 6.4 (2003): 41–58. Print. Berry, Marianne. “Adoption in an Era of Family Preservation.” Children and Youth Services Review 10.1–2 (1998): 1–12. Print. Bilingsley, Andrew, and Jeanne M. Giovannoni. Children of the Storm: Black Children and American Child Welfare. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972. Print. Boss, Pauline. Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live With Unresolved Grief. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1999. Print. Kim, “Social” 151 Bowlby, John. “Substitute Families: Adoption.” Readings in Adoption. Ed. I. Evelyn Smith. New York: Philosophical Library, 1963. 434– 42. Print. Bradley, Carla, and Cynthia G. Hawkins-Leon. “The Transracial Adoption Debate: Counseling and Legal Implications.” Journal of Counseling and Development 80 (2002): 433–40. Print. Brooks, Devon, and Richard P. Barth. “Effects of Race, Gender, Adoptive Family Structure, and Placement History on Adjustment Outcomes.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 69.1 (1999): 87– 99. Print. Brodzinsky, David M., Charlotte J. Patterson, and Mahnoush Vaziri. “Adoption Agency Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Prospective Parents: A National Study.” Adoption Quarterly, 5.3...