THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

magazine SSAA PUBLICATION OF THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION

Beyond the Minimum Wage What’s Needed to Improve Low-Wage Work

VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2007 4 Helping African-American Boys 6 Can Social Workers Ward Off Cancer? 8A New Mental Health System in Iraq 16 Psychotherapy Built for Social Work 20 Experience & Identity in Multiracial America magazine VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2007 SSA magazine SSA VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 1

DEAN Jeanne C. Marsh

EDITORIAL BOARD Robert Chaskin, Chair William Borden Robert Fairbanks II masthead Stephen Gilmore Waldo E. Johnson, Jr. Stanley McCracken Jennifer Mosley Karen Teigiser 10 16 20 EDITOR Andrea Durbin-Odom features 10 > COVER STORY: Beyond the Minimum Wage CO-EDITOR Working families are challenged by many policies of low-wage Carl Vogel employment ASSISTANT EDITOR Brandie Egan > 16 Deep Analysis DESIGN Sharon Berlin has spent her career showing how social workers Anne Boyle, Boyle Design Associates can stretch and adapt psychotherapy to a patient’s needs PHOTOGRAPHY 20 > Check All That Apply Dan Dry SSA faculty members are at the forefront of research on multiracial Peter Kiar identity in an era of many options Scott Petersen Juliana Pino 2 > viewpoint: from the dean SSA Sui Generis iStock Photography departments ShutterStock 4 > conversations Boys to Men EDITORIAL ADVISOR ideas 6 > Melcher + Tucker Consultants Can Social Workers Help to Ward Off Cancer? Transdisciplinary research led by SSA’s Sarah Gehlert suggests SSA Magazine is published twice a stress fuels tumors year for alumni and friends of the Wordsmith When is therapeutic language also political? School of Social Service At the Root “Root-cause analysis” can help family-services Administration at the University of programs work better Chicago. Articles may be reprinted in 8 > a voice from the field full or in part with written permission Building a Mental Health System in Iraq of the editor. We welcome your 36 > behind the numbers Future Tense comments. Please send letters to the What looms ahead for intellectually disabled people and their editor to [email protected]. aging caregivers THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL school news 24 > inside social service review SERVICE ADMINISTRATION Neighborhood Matters A leading child welfare scholar The University of Chicago questions a longstanding approach to foster care placements 969 E. 60th St. International Support In nearly two dozen industrialized Chicago, IL 60637 nations, spending increased for children and families over the P 773.702.1168 last 20 years F 773.834.1582 A Delicate Balance Case managers employ a range of www.ssa.uchicago.edu strategies to get the mentally ill to accept treatment 26 > faculty notes C Made from 30% recycled fiber and 30 > memoranda chlorine free (TCF/ECF) pulp using timber from managed forests 32 > the alumni community 35 > in memoriam ©2007 SSA, The University of Chicago

2 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 welcome

N BEHALF OF THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION, I am pleased to welcome you to the re-launch of our O signature publication, SSA Magazine. We hope this magazine will serve as a forum to introduce important social work and social welfare issues and to highlight the impact of SSA’s faculty, alumni, and students. Social work as a field—and at SSA in particular—is concerned with a wide variety of top- ics. Our first issue of the new magazine demonstrates the far-reaching impact of the School’s faculty, research, and teaching on the world around us:

■ Waldo E. Johnson, Jr. is working with the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago to use knowledge gained through research to influence program design and funding decisions for programs to benefit African-American boys. ■ Sarah Gehlert is leading a transdisciplinary team of scientists seeking to uncover the causes of breast cancer and the reasons behind racial disparities in its occurrence. ■ Susan Lambert and Julia Henly are working with employers to determine how low- income jobs can be restructured to provide more predictability and security for workers. ■ Sharon Berlin has spent her career developing a cognitive-integrative theory for clinical social work practice, a theory that reconciles the practice of psychotherapy, with its focus on a client’s perceptions and beliefs, with the hard realities of many people’s difficult life circumstances. ■ Gina Samuels and Yoonsun Choi are among a new cadre of researchers examining aspects of life as experienced by multiracial people in American society. The students at SSA and graduates also continue to impact social welfare in exciting and important ways. For example, in this issue you can read about the efforts of Scott Petersen, A.M. ’02, and Mary Bunn, A.M. ’05, to build a mental health system in Iraq, and the presti- gious fellowship given to Jewell Brazelton, a doctoral student, to study the impact of disclos- ing childhood sexual abuse suffered by African-American women. We very much want this publication to be the beginning of a dialogue between the School and you, our alumni and friends. We plan to publish your comments and feedback as “Letters to the Editor” in future issues of the magazine. We also welcome your suggestions for future stories. Please send your thoughts to us at [email protected].

Sincerely,

ROBERT CHASKIN Associate Professor and Chair, SSA Magazine Editorial Board

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 1 viewpoint from the dean

SSA Sui Generis

SA is an institution sui generis, a one-of-a-kind place, a social welfare institution unlike any other. Similar to the University of Chicago of which it is a part, the School of Social Service Administration has a unique place in higher education—in the caliber and influence of the ideas sproduced, the leaders prepared, and the organizational and community partnerships fostered. As we plan for the Centennial of the School in 2008, the record of accomplishment of this institution is really quite remarkable. The overall scope of SSA tells part of the story: 7,000 alumni in all 50 states (plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) as well as 32 other countries, who are in leadership positions in the public and private social service and community development sectors. These alumni reconnect with and support the School through more than 400 educational and research partnerships in Chicago and around the world. More difficult to quantify has been the impact of the ideas coming out of the “Chicago School” of Social Service Administration. SSA is well known for helping to lay the founda- tions for modern social welfare policy, for systematizing existing knowledge, and for developing specific approaches to social inter- vention. A few examples of the contributions of SSA faculty: Helen Harris Perlman’s problem-solving process, Irving Spergel’s compre- hensive community model of youth gang violence reduction, Bernece Simon’s generalist model, William Reid and Laura Epstein’s task-centered approach, Froma Walsh’s delineation of normal family processes, and Sharon Berlin’s cognitive-integrative approach to social work practice. The impact of this institution on the profession of social work and the field of social welfare has been powerful and far-reaching. SSA’s founding mothers Edith Abbott and Sophonisba Breckinridge were prescient in understanding that training for social welfare work would require a distinctive intellectual environment that was perhaps uniquely available at the University of Chicago. They had received their training in the social sciences at Chicago during the first years of the University, when social scientists were attempting to define the role of disciplinary inquiry in social reform. Out of the intellectual rough and tumble with the men of the emerging sociology department, and the political rough and tumble with politicians and social activists in Chicago, they defined a framework for social welfare training that would influence the

2 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 Each and every graduate of the School carries forth the values of rigorous development of the profession for degrees. While I definitely analysis in the decades to come. It was Edith Abbot’s have received a great education at the sentiments that only in a university, and University of Chicago, my own social work service of only in a great university, could social education comes from an institution just social justice workers be appropriately and rigorously 300 miles east of Chicago with an excellent trained. social work school and an equally fine foot- as an imprimatur Each and every graduate of the ball team (Go Blue!). of the University School carries forth the values of rigor- By virtue of shared values, shared ous analysis in the service of social jus- experiences, and shared commitments, you, and the School. tice as an imprimatur of the University as SSA graduates and friends, are yourselves and the School. Graduates work in Jeanne C. Marsh sui generis, a unique and quite remarkable group. You are the leaders diverse arenas—schools, hospitals, social and innovators in our field, the professionals who are thinking most service agencies—and are engaged in diverse activities related to pol- clearly and critically about the challenges before us and devising the icy development and evaluation, community organization and devel- solutions to address those challenges. A colleague recently pointed opment, program management, and direct provision of services. out, with some distress, that we are currently preparing students for Despite the focus of their professional activities, graduates agree that social work roles and positions that do not exist, where they will use SSA is an institution that is formative in their professional work and technologies that have not been invented to solve social problems in their lives. that have not yet been identified. But this is not new for SSA. This was powerfully conveyed to me in a recent visit with an Nonetheless, it is the genius of SSA graduates that you have used SSA alumna in Northern California, a 1947 graduate whose career your educations so effectively to meet the emerging challenges of a in child welfare in Alameda County was extremely distinguished and rapidly changing society. who was still actively organizing reforms in her retirement communi- This re-launch of SSA Magazine is one part of an accelerated ty. When she reviewed with us the profound influence of her teach- communications strategy designed to raise visibility and extend the ers, Edith Abbott and Sophonisba Breckinridge, she became a bit influence of SSA. We hope that as a result of more frequent and emotional. She apologized and explained, “I just hope I have lived effective communication from the School, we can create a sense of up to their expectations.” A more recent graduate from New York community with the School, a sense that you can call on the insti- City, one who has moved out of social work into business, explained tution and other graduates for regular guidance and support. And, that his experience in the School enabled him to have ideas that were as we use the occasion of the Centennial to celebrate the School and “bigger” than he was, that is, to think critically and originally about its accomplishments, it is my hope that we can come together to complex problems. These skills have been valuable in developing and further strengthen and invest in its future. advancing his business. Further, when I encounter SSA graduates in Whether you remember it or not, when you graduated from diverse professional venues—in meetings of researchers, teachers, SSA, the president intoned, as she or he has for nearly 100 years: practitioners and others—the most impressive person in the room “By the authority vested in me... I express the hope that your work invariably turns out to be a SSA graduate. The values that shaped the will promote the welfare of individuals and the achievement of a founding of the School are embodied in the ongoing work of its socially just society.” Evidence is ample that graduates of SSA have graduates. taken this presidential exhortation seriously. SSA is an institution Clearly, my respect for SSA as an institution and its graduates is that has had a powerful and enduring impact on you, as well as on profound. Some of you are no doubt thinking that my assessment is, the profession and the field. You have been shaped by its ideas and indeed, a bit “over-the-top.” You may even be concluding that my values. And you are uniquely qualified to continue its important time as dean of SSA has eroded my objectivity and clouded my judg- mission of promoting social justice and individual well-being. ment. Here I must assert the objectivity of my perspective by virtue Jeanne C. Marsh, Ph.D., is George Herbert Jones Professor and of the fact that I myself do not hold any University of Chicago SSA dean of the School of Social Service Administration.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 3 conversations

Boys to Men

Focusing on African-American males thought they would hear the needs holds great promise. I’m wondering if were about things like mentoring or you are seeing this across all of the from 10- to 16-years old, the African-American Chicago Public Schools. But what they communities that you’re investing in via Initiative of the United Way of Metropolitan heard instead, very consistent among all this initiative. those groups, were things related to Chicago aims to bring resources to an underserved crime—inability to travel or gangs— Froetscher: We’re just starting to population through partner agencies in five Chicago and parents. What they heard very begin a Latino initiative now. loudly was, “I need you to teach my Interestingly enough, from the perspec- neighborhoods. In 2005, as the program was being father how to be a father.” tive of the data—health rates, drop-out developed, United Way asked SSA Associate rates, instance of disease, unemploy- Johnson: We need to develop family ment, that type of thing—impover- Professor Waldo E. Johnson, Jr., director of the and community enhancement strategies ished neighborhoods are very much the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago, that enable African-American boys to same. We’re trying to unravel the family to help frame the issues. Johnson continues to work with United Way on the project, and in this Conversation, talks with Janet Froetscher, the president and CEO of United Way Metropolitan Chicago, whose experience includes serving as the chief operating officer of the Aspen Institute and executive director of the service arm of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. Their wide-ranging discussion touched on everything from how family impacts poverty to how researchers can better influence work in the field. >>> . <<<

Froetscher: One of the reasons we threatening—boys as well as adult have more enriching and fulfilling expe- piece, because it looks different for the started to focus on African-American males. riences with their biological fathers or Latino community. For instance, usually males was the feedback from the agen- So part of this project is to say other father figures in their lives to there are more adults in the house. cies we work with. They said, “It’s a lot that if African-American males can break the intergenerational cycle of Some folks say, “Well, they’re in the easier to get resources that focus on enhance their educational and labor male absence in their families. In my house, but often they’re working two mothers and children; it’s a lot harder force preparation during their develop- research on young African-American or three jobs, so there’s not an adult to get resources that focus on males.” mental stages, more of them support males, the young males recognize this who really is in the kids’ daily life.” themselves and pull their families out of problem and often set their own per- Others will say, “Well, you have still Johnson: In a number of instances, poverty. Unfortunately, women in the sonal goals by saying “When I become have adults who are physically present community resources have not been U.S. earn between 72 and 76 cents of a parent I want to be a better father to with the kids.” targeted toward males just because of every dollar that males earn when they my child than my father was to me. I the way male identity is constructed in perform comparable paid work. So want to be able to support my family.” Johnson: That would not surprise me. American society. Males are expected to focusing on African-American male But too many of them fall into the There is some research that suggests be able to be self-sufficient. They’re development not only enhances their same cycle, becoming parents far earlier that presence alone doesn’t necessarily expected to be responsible for their potential self-sufficiency but also has an than they are prepared to assume the mean involvement in any kind of sub- families. But such perspectives fail to important implication for strengthening attendant responsibilities. As a result, stantive way. We also see this phenom- acknowledge that African-American African-American families. they become the father that their enon in some African-American fami- males are integral victims of a U.S. lega- fathers were, even though they have lies. Men may have resident status but cy of slavery, and as a result, the Froetscher: Our partner agencies identified that as a part of the reason may not be permitted or feel empow- African-American population remains have asked a lot of community stake- why they were having these difficulties ered to play socially anticipated parental disproportionately poor. African- holders—kids, parents, community as boys. roles, particularly when children are not American males are specifically unsup- leaders, African-American girls—to I think that a focus to address their biological children. ported with community resources articulate the issues facing young family, as well as community issues, to because they are often viewed as African-American males. I think they intervene with African-American males Froetscher: Right. Another factor:

4 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 “Often our two disciplines don’t talk to each other.”

“Males are expected to be able to be self-sufficient.”

Even when the Latino parents have an within the family. Social service agen- [implications] and what we can learn what we’re seeing in the community. interest in playing a role with the kids, cies and schools need to take these from this. We want to create something Putting those pieces together is hard they don’t always know how to access kinds of cultural perspectives into con- that we can replicate. I think what we when you’re working in very distressed the schools, they don’t know how to sideration. see often is that our two disciplines neighborhoods. I think when we start help with homework. So they need don’t talk to each other. Practitioners examining outcomes and some suc- help in learning how to be an effective Froetscher: Another thing you tend to read the research. But we don’t cesses we’ll need to ask why. Was it parent too. helped us think about was this jobs always necessarily incorporate it actively just this community or this agency that piece, helping the kids understand the into the design of what we do. was effective? Or was it that the part- Johnson: Their inability or reluctance kinds of jobs they can get if they stay ners happened to be the right ones to engage social service agencies or even in school. There are often a lack of role Johnson: I agree. Researchers and right here? to engage the schools as advocates for models in the African-American popu- practitioners too frequently operate in their children may be compromised by lation, while in the Latino population, very different worlds. I think one of this Johnson: Well, research and practice their immigrant or legal statuses. there are jobs but not necessarily jobs particular initiative’s important contribu- don’t always line up neatly. And I think

Froetscher: I think there’s a fear from the children want. So I think they’re tions could be a broadening of the dia- one of the real problems of research is an immigration point of view; there are kind of similar pieces but they play out logue. Practitioners or people who work that it’s not always accessible to practi- also a couple of other things. One, in very different ways. with families at the ground level have tioners. It’s not always framed from a there’s a lack of knowledge that servic- enormous contributions that they can practical standpoint, so although peo- Johnson: Having a second initiative es exist, so they don’t even know that make to researchers, but it requires us ple might find it very interesting, they can allow us to have a broader under- they’re there to be accessed. And then to spend more time getting comfort- may find it difficult to try to relate it to standing of the degree to which family there are language issues. Sometimes able with one another’s language. And the problems or issues they encounter and community problems are not nec- there’s a child who can speak the lan- there are often both research and prac- in their work with families. essarily peculiar to a particular racial or guage, but a lot of times the parent titioner perspectives that have already I think that a lot of family ethnic group, but more specific to diffi- doesn’t. If you add all those things been developed that don’t necessarily researchers would like their work to be culties experienced by males in urban together... get challenged or explained. viewed as engaged scholarship; that is, environments and their socioeconomic to have a social utility and help individ- statuses. These are very important Johnson: It makes for a very compli- Froetscher: We [the United Way] are uals and families cope better in society. issues, because to the extent that we cated family system. Families also may the largest source of funds for human What really holds the greatest promise tend to believe that these problems are represent a cultural background where services after the federal government. is to articulate what you’ve done in peculiar to certain groups, then we also fathers don’t participate in various But we’re still pitifully small in terms ways that make sense to how people pathologize those groups. We often domestic activities within the family as what resources are needed. So how do operate right there at ground level. I say that the problem is with black they are expected to do in the U.S. And we focus our resources in the most think there is great value as a family males or the problem is with Latino in some of these cultural contexts, effective way? That’s where you have researcher in staying connected to males, when in fact these may be mothers, who may be the most likely been so helpful, pointing out key lever- practice with families. The degree to much more problems experienced by people to reach out, aren’t permitted to age points and what the research says which a family researcher understands people living in poverty or at the mar- do so. They’re not allowed to engage in terms of different options. We rolled how problems are understood and gins in urban environments. people outside the family, or all of the that information into conversations taken into consideration when develop- problems in the family are handled Froetscher: Let’s talk about national with the practitioners and looked at ing the research question is powerful.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 5 ideas

Can Social Workers Help to Ward Off Cancer?

OCIAL WORKERS $9.7 million grant from women on Chicago’s South Side who impact social work. “One of the added might have a the National Institutes have developed breast cancer to learn benefits of reducing stress could be role to play in of Health, the investi- about their social conditions. “We don’t improvement in a person’s health,” he preventing or gation pulls together think it’s race entirely. We think it’s liv- says. “We may find that the work of Sslowing cancer and other researchers from SSA, ing in marginal circumstances,” Gehlert social workers may reduce the risk of serious health conditions, the Biological Sciences says. “It sets the stage for further chronic disease in their clients. I think based on preliminary results Division, and the Social inquiry.” we’re going to see more and more evi- from a transdisciplinary Sciences Division. The research has found high rates dence of that.” research project at the Gehlert defines “trans- of women diagnosed with breast can- Gehlert believes that if the University of Chicago. disciplinary” as involv- cer who are not receiving proper treat- research continues to bear fruit, social Led by SSA Professor ing start-to-finish coor- ment both for the cancer itself and for workers will need to learn more about Sarah Gehlert, a study dination of research mental health issues like depression and biology. “We need more courses for out of the Center for methodology and post-traumatic stress stemming from social workers that teach them how to Interdisciplinary Health Transdisciplinary process. “We’re not past sexual assaults, Gehlert says. pull together health, mental health Disparities Research sug- research led by just coming together “The historical realities of racial treatment, and community practice. It’s gests that isolation and SSA’s Sarah at the beginning and and economic discrimination are meet- a lot to expect students to put it all stress caused by conditions end—that’s interdisci- ing up with today’s less-than-adequate together themselves,” she says. “You Gehlert suggests like high crime rates could plinary,” she says. “The health system for all the people who can’t just keep saying, ‘I’m doing one be contributing factors to stress fuels reason we are doing need it,” says Mildred Williamson, Ph.D. part of it. You’ve got to know enough the above-average rates of tumors well is that our projects ‘00, a center advisory board member about the other area of specialty. Social aggressive cancer among are completely inter- and director of program planning and workers are naturally good at taking younger African-American BY ED FINKEL dependent.” research with Cook County’s the holistic approach, but it’s not women on Chicago’s The researchers Ambulatory and Community Health stressed in our curriculum. We need to South Side. started with studies Network. “The capacity issue is huge, apply what we know about group “Something gets switched off so showing that socially isolated rats had a as far as primary care, diagnostics, and work with clients to teams of investiga- the cells don’t die naturally, and you get tendency to become more easily fright- follow up is concerned. One of the tors. It’s the way of the future.” the growth of big tumors,” Gehlert ened—and a tendency to develop major areas where that’s the case is in Social workers’ traditional skills in says. “It’s this downward causation: We tumors. “Trying to understand that link mammography.” working closely with community mem- think we know about genes and how between social environment and what’s Chris Masi, Ph.D. ‘01, assistant bers will continue to be crucial, Gehlert they affect your behavior; now we happening in cells, that’s the black professor at the University of Chicago says. “To include the community is know it goes in the other direction. box,” Gehlert says. Hospital’s Department of Medicine, sees very, very important,” she says, and What happens in the social environ- Teams of SSA students have con- the project as advancing the field of many researchers in scientific disci- ment affects your genes.” ducted focus groups and one-on-one epigenetics, which focuses on the alter- plines “really don’t have a clue on how Begun in September 2003 with a interviews with African-American ation of genes. That, in turn, will to work with the community.”

py when she was a master’s student. In on Ester’s success as a representative, When is therapeutic language also political? her field placement at an intensive out- how the board responded to her self- patient drug treatment program for representation, and the complex reasons Wordsmith homeless women, she became a client might use such a therapeutic BY CARL VOGEL intrigued by the way ideas and stories idiom in an administrative context. were exchanged in and out of therapy Carr’s close ethnographic study of UMMERSON CARR knows “Talk is the primary technology of sessions. More specifically, she noticed drug treatment discerns the skillful and that words matter. An assis- therapy,” Carr says, “and so much of that the language therapists encour- sometimes surprising ways that people— tant professor at SSA, Carr the treatment literature sees language aged clients to use in the therapy room with very different sets of interests and studies the political and cul- as a psychological tool that can help was also put to surprising uses outside stakes—leverage material and symbolic Stural implications of contemporary people express inner thoughts, dilem- the room. resources with their words. “Clients get American social work, with a particular mas, and desires—but that’s a very For example, a client who had things—therapists’ positive evaluations eye toward the use of language by small portion of what language does or been elected as a representative to the to respite child care, exonerating calls to social workers and clients. She’s work- can do. I’m interested in how social program’s Advisory Board introduced parole officers, housing vouchers—with ing on a book that delves deeply into workers and clients use therapeutic lan- herself by saying, “Hi, my name is Ester, their words,” she says. “My hope is that how patients in drug treatment pro- guage in very social and political ways.” and I am a recovering crack addict.” my book will be useful for people in the grams are affected by the language of Carr, whose doctoral work was in Carr points out that there are many field by providing an anthropological per- therapy—and how they use therapeutic cultural and linguistic anthropology, implications from those dozen simple spective on the cultural and linguistic language to achieve disparate ends. began research in language and thera- words, including what impact they had dynamics of social work.”

6 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 Any human-service agency that

the possibility to use the technique to experiences tragic help prevent smaller but no less terrible events. client outcomes needs “There are a lot of parallels,” she says. “Any human-service agency that a systematic occasionally experiences tragic client way to analyze outcomes needs a systematic way to take incremental steps back and ana- what went wrong. lyze what went wrong. While it is easy to blame individual caseworkers for poor decision making, it is increasingly Sarah, but later she claimed responsibil- recognized that errors are as likely to ity. Investigators took her at her word. result from problems at multiple levels The analysis by Rzepnicki uncov- of the organizational process. Remedies ered several opportunities for DCFS to should be directed at improving defens- have altered events. For example, the es and removing error traps.” caseworker, who had provided therapy Rzepnicki, SSA’s inaugural David to Sarah’s mother in the past and and Mary Winton Green Professor and argued the infant should be kept with director of the University’s Center for her parents, felt torn between being Social Work Practice, decided to test Sarah’s advocate and her mother’s for- the method in the inspector general’s mer therapist. The supervisor, dealing office. Headed by Denise Kane, A.M. with too many cases, failed to request ’78, Ph.D. ’01, the office examines child reports on the mother’s mental history deaths in families that have warranted and the father’s prior violence. recent DCFS attention. Three years ago Deferring to the therapist-caseworker’s Rzepnicki established a root-cause judgment, others didn’t verify the analysis pilot program there, adapting mother’s claims with neighbors or fami- the approach to increase its applicability ly members. to the specific needs and large number “Hindsight bias” presents a con- of cases investigated by Kane’s office. stant temptation, and sometimes the The computer-assisted approach conclusions are for changes in work- incorporates systematic questions about place culture, not policy. “We find that why and how specific events occurred. with a lot of these cases, the mid-level Getting the answers is a labor-intensive is where a lot of shortcuts are being process that yields six- or eight-foot- taken, or where there are disincentives long, color-coded diagrams. “You look for good practice,” Rzepnicki says. at each discrete point, rather than Rzepnicki, with SSA’s Dean of lumping it all together. At each point in Students Penny Johnson, published a At the Root the chain of events, questions are study of root-cause analysis in the “Root-cause analysis” can help asked, like, ‘What led to this event?’ January 2005 Children and Youth family-services programs work better ‘What contextual factors were evident?’ Services Review. Based in part on their and ‘What things should have hap- work at DCFS, state legislation was Adapted from a November-December 2006 University of Chicago Magazine article pened but didn’t?’ Pretty quickly you recently proposed that establishes error BY LYDIALYLE GIBSON end up with a lot of these red squares, reduction teams. These teams will work which highlight what didn’t happen with agencies serving child welfare INA RZEPNICKI first encoun- and develops better child-welfare prac- that should have at a particular point in clients to plan, apply, and monitor tered root-cause analysis in tice for the inspector general’s office of time,” Rzepnicki says. corrective actions when patterns of an article on failed military the Illinois Department of Children and To see how it all works, take the serious error are detected. Rzepnicki is T operations—missions Family Services (DCFS). case of an eight-month-old baby—let’s currently working with Kane’s office to doomed by bad decisions, bad commu- Root-cause analysis traces an out- call her Sarah—who died four years develop implementation details. In the nication, unforeseen or unforeseeable come to its most basic triggers: an ago in Chicago from abuse by her future, she’d like to look at successful obstacles, errors of action and inaction. unmade phone call, an unheeded order, father. Sarah had already been the sub- cases as well—children returned “Things started looking familiar,” says a missing part, a miscalculated step. It’s ject of a DCFS investigation when her happily to reformed parents or rescued Rzepnicki, who is the principal investi- typically used to assess disasters like air- grandmother brought her to the hospi- from deteriorating situations. “What gator for the Program Practices plane crashes, industrial accidents, and tal with bruises. At that time, the baby’s actions, conditions, decisions led to a Investigation Project, which examines hospital mistakes, but Rzepnicki saw mother first said her husband had hit good outcome?” she asks.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 7 a voice from the field

sion, Petersen felt a personal responsi- trauma—post-traumatic stress, sub- bility to get involved. stance abuse, anxiety, depression, fami- “What I can bring as a social ly conflict—the country has never had worker is a different way of responding a modern mental health system: Iraq to the violence and social injustice that currently has as few as 100 psychia- people had experienced,” Petersen trists, mostly in the cities. This history of says. “I wanted to offer people an pervasive trauma and dearth of experience of the U.S. that wasn’t from resources was what inspired the behind a Humvee or a tank.” Heartland Alliance, a large Chicago- based human rights and social service Building a Mental >>> . <<< organization, to bring mental health services to rural areas of the country. Health System in Iraq UNDER SADDAM HUSSEIN, detention Heartland, with a history of and torture were ubiquitous and rou- counseling refugees in the Chicago area BY KATHLEEN MCGOWAN tine, a way of ensuring social order. who had survived torture, secured State

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N 2004, THE FIRST TIME HE TRAV- and the Iraqi people’s drive to put that Based on surveys in the Kurdish region Department funding to work in Iraq. ELED TO NORTHERN IRAQ, Scott past behind them. and on the number of people who have The agency decided to bolster Iraq’s Petersen expected to find a society “The resilience of the Iraqi people registered with former-prisoner organi- existing extensive health network rather devastated by war and violence, is remarkable,” Petersen says. “In the zations, perhaps as many as 500,000 than try to establish a new bureaucracy, Ian arid, depopulated land where ordi- people in the south and more than inspired, in part, by the Iranian system, past 25 years, they’ve lived through the nary life had become impossible. rule of Saddam Hussein; U.S. sanctions, 150,000 people in the north may have where most health centers include Instead, as he gazed out the window in which they were without routine been jailed and abused. Political oppres- mental health and addiction services. during the long slow drive from the access to basic needs; the constant fear sion took other forms: One Kurdish Through the program, paraprofessional Turkish border to the northern Iraqi city of being kidnapped, of being tortured. family gave Petersen a tour of the bru- health care workers in rural clinics of Sulaymaniyah, he saw a lush, beauti- And they continue to live their lives, in tally cold mountain passes where they sprinkled across Iraq come to the ful landscape filled with people: kids midst of everything that’s gone on and and others hid from the Ba’athist forces Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, Duhok, playing soccer, men gathering in cafés is still going on.” during the genocidal anti-Kurd al-Anfal also in northern Iraq, or Najaff in for tea, marketplaces crowded with Going so far away to help people campaign. southern Iraq, for a series of six week- shoppers. who’ve endured such dramatic trauma “War, internal conflicts, embargo, long courses in mental health diagnosis The loss and the suffering he was new for Petersen, a 2002 graduate arrest, tortures, al-Anfal and chemical and treatment. The focus is on expected to find were there, too, but of SSA’s master’s program. Before this weapons, forced displacement—all community education to decrease the they took longer to see. As Petersen project began, he spent more than 13 those events traumatized our people in stigma of mental illness, case was to learn in the years to follow in years in social services in the Chicago a way or another,” says Dr. Ahmed management—addressing basic needs his work with the Heartland Alliance’s area, mostly focused on helping people Amin, the Iraqi medical director of such as safety, financial stability, and Integrated Torture Treatment Services in struggling with drug use and mental ill- Heartland’s project. “And we don’t have family conflict—and easing Rural Iraq project, a full picture of con- nesses. His regular role at Heartland is any institute or agency for delivering psychological symptoms with temporary Iraq has to take into account as director of clinical practice for Mental psychosocial support for those in need.” medication when appropriate. both the intensity of deprivation and Health and Addiction Services. But in Although many rural Iraqis are liv- To minimize cultural and linguistic adversity in the past-quarter century the aftermath of the 2003 U.S. inva- ing with the aftereffects of torture and difficulties, the project uses a “train-

8 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 the-trainer” model. Petersen and others human rights was especially appealing lecturer at SSA and a lecturer in the standard Western-style mental teach a mental health curriculum to a to Petersen, who sees the two as intrin- department of psychiatry. The two meet health services, which emphasize team of Iraqi health professionals, who, sically interlinked. Although he’s been a frequently to talk about professional independence, confidentiality, and a when they return to their towns and vil- social worker essentially his whole decisions and intellectual concerns. “It’s medical model for dealing with a lages, present the course to larger life—he volunteered in high school and been instrumental in many ways, just patient’s emotional problems. groups of health care workers. The his first job out of college was at a invaluable,” says Petersen. SSA is “like “The idea of reaching out to a training process was built to be respon- organization for the homeless—his per- a professional lifeline,” he adds. “Even stranger is foreign,” Petersen says. sive, allowing feedback from the local spective changed radically when he when I’m in Iraq, I exchange emails “In some ways we are introducing a staff to help design the final curriculum. went back to school for a master’s with people from this community.” Western model, so we’re trying to be About 240 of these community mental degree at SSA. “My education was a open to adapting it to the needs of the health workers have now completed transformative experience professional- >>> . <<< country, which are diverse.” One part the training. ly,” he says. “It equipped me to do the of the strategy is to get local parapro- “It makes more sense to invest work I do today, including this project TRAUMA SURVIVORS EVERYWHERE fessional health care workers involved, training knowledge in a core technical in Iraq.” have some of the same problems: long- since they may know more about the team of Iraqis so they could continue to When Petersen enrolled at SSA, lasting pain from injuries, anxiety and community than do doctors, who are

1 : Clients receive primary care and mental health services at this Iraqi Ministry of Health healthpost in Diyana. 2 : Members of the Iraqi Project staff , following completion of a recent training in Sulaymaniyah. 3 : All program staff gather to share a meal daily at the main office in Sulaymaniyah; Scott Petersen says it’s one of his favorite parts of the day when he’s in Iraq. 3

provide training as needed,” says Mary he was planning to prepare for a career mood disorders, physical complaints like typically assigned by the Ministry of Bunn, A.M. ‘05, associate director of as an administrator or executive director. headaches or stomach pains. But sur- Health to rural areas for two-year Heartland’s international program and a Within the first month of classes, vivors in Iraq face additional difficulties. appointments. social worker at Heartland’s Marjorie though, he began to see social work in The country’s ongoing conflict makes it Although the State Department did Kovler Center for the Treatment of a new light. He realized that his true harder to recover. And to publicly admit not renew funding for the humanitarian Survivors of Torture. “It’s more calling was really in direct service, what that you’d been tortured was (and in mental health assistance, Heartland is collaborative, more sustainable, and it had inspired him to get involved in some cases still is) dangerous, Petersen continuing the program as part of its avoids language issues.” The system social work to begin with. says, tantamount to an admission that other Iraqi projects, which include a par- does, however, illustrate some of the Petersen says his professors at you opposed the Ba’athist government. allel program to assist displaced persons, dangers of working in Iraq today: SSA—in particular William Borden and When creating the project’s focusing on substance-use problems. Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdish-controlled Julia Henly—deeply impressed him, program, Petersen and his colleagues The program will also continue to pro- northern part of the country, is relatively bringing an intellectual rigor to social also tried to take into account cultural vide technical support for the mental safe, but health workers who travel work that he hadn’t realized was possi- differences and the character of rural health advocates who’ve already gone from the south for training must ble, and combining that scholarly life. Because community and family through the training. These ongoing sometimes conceal their affiliation with approach with deep personal commit- influence are strong in rural Iraq, the efforts will bring Petersen back to Iraq— an American aid group out of fear of ment. “There’s a part of them that I take community mental health workers try to which he’s grateful for. retribution. with me in all of what I do, the core val- destigmatize mental illness, encouraging “In Iraq, there’s a tragic history, ues of social work practice: The centrali- family members to see post-traumatic but there’s a lot more that’s going on >>> . <<< ty of human relationships. The power of symptoms such as depression and in people’s lives than that they were people to transform their lives,” he says. crippling guilt as normal and natural tortured or lived under a repressive SCOTT PETERSEN HAS NOW MADE “Scott brings heart and mind and rather than signs of insanity or spiritual regime,” Petersen says. “They want five of the three- to four-week-long spirit to what he’s doing. He’s read failure. And while the culture’s strong people to know about Iraq—it’s a trips to Iraq to do trainings. The pro- widely, he’s thought deeply, thought family networks can provide powerful beautiful country, and they’re a ject’s dual focus on social service and critically,” says Borden, who is a senior support, they may also be at odds with remarkable people.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 9 10 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 Forty percent of employees work nonstandard hours

Beyond the Minimum Wage Working families are challenged by many policies of low-wage employment

BY TOM WALDRON

neya, a part-time cations for many aspects of peo- schedules and their implications employee at a ple’s lives,” Lambert says of firms for family life, finds that the tra- she has studied during 20 years ditional full-time, Monday discount retailer in of research into work-family through Friday, daytime sched- the Chicago area, is issues. “It’s a trend in business to ule does not actually characterize one of the parents pass risk and variation in con- the majority of workers’ sched- sumer demand onto workers, ules. National data indicate that athat School of Social Service particularly those in lower-level at least forty percent of employ- Administration Associate Professor jobs.” ees work the majority of their Julia R. Henly has interviewed in A fair wage is the issue hours outside of daytime, week- affecting low-income workers day hours. While some workers recent years about the struggles that generates the most attention choose to work nonstandard of low-wage workers to manage ever we’re done, we’re done.” (see “Making a Living Wage”). hours, for many—and especially their jobs and families. Aneya, Aneya’s situation exemplifies But researchers, advocates, and for low-income workers with identified by a pseudonym, a problem facing large numbers some policy makers are increas- limited job autonomy and con- described how her employer of low-wage workers: many ingly focused on a wider array of trol—these hours are a require- required her to accept extra workplaces impose burdensome issues: scheduling, child care, ment of the job rather than a hours, even if they conflicted scheduling policies that make it health insurance, transportation, preferred arrangement. with her child care arrangements. difficult to manage family unemployment insurance, paid Henly and Lambert are col- At times, the job required her to responsibilities. Henly and SSA sick leave. “How do we structure laborating on a project that will stay well after the store closed at Associate Professor Susan J. work and public policy so people assess the effects of a workplace 11 p.m. Lambert are in the forefront of with limited earnings have intervention designed to build “I don’t have no problem studying how employers manage greater access to a decent stan- more predictability and flexibili- with [staying late] but after two, the challenges of scheduling and dard of living when their jobs fail ty into the scheduling process, three hours go past... I think how those scheduling practices them?” Henly asks. which could reduce work-family that that’s too much because I affect workers and their families. conflict, improve worker pro- have a child to go home to, and “Fluctuating hours and post- Making Work ductivity, and facilitate family so does everybody else,” Aneya ing schedules at the last minute Schedules Work management and caregiving. It’s told Henly. “They have family to so employees can’t plan....These Harriet Presser, a sociologist at a program they hope will benefit go home to. And...they [employ- are basic features of today’s low- the University of Maryland who both the employer and the er] didn’t care. It was just, when- wage jobs, and they have impli- has extensively studied work employee.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 11 The project, the Scheduling The Impact of Work the Sloan Work and Family Intervention Study, is underway on Families Research Network at Boston in a national clothing chain, The Scheduling Intervention College. While research is not which has agreed to participate Study comes at a time when conclusive, it has demonstrated in the random-assignment exper- many American employers are negative associations between imental study. The intervention increasing demands on employ- nonstandard schedules and the being evaluated is targeted at ees to meet the preferences of health of workers, marital quality improving both schedule pre- customers and to maximize prof- and stability, and parent-child dictability (advance notice of its. This year, for instance, Wal- interactions. work hours) and flexibility (con- Mart, the nation’s largest private “Instability at work gets trol over work hours): employer, began requiring many passed on to home life,” Henly Intervention stores will post work of its 1.3 million workers to says. “Even when kids are with schedules four weeks in advance move into a new system that parents, instability results. Family while control stores will continue schedules workers based on how time is really compressed by Rather than targeting the usual practice of posting many shoppers are in stores at a unstable work or work time that workers by trying to schedules a few days before the particular time. As described by doesn’t provide employees with start of the workweek. adequate flexibility. What stands find ways to help them the Wall Street Journal, “the move The researchers will track promises greater productivity and out to me is how complicated survive an how these changes affect meas- customer satisfaction for the managing child care arrange- unpredictable ures such as absenteeism, huge retailer but could be a ments can be when your work turnover, sales-to-labor ratios, major headache for employees.” life is unpredictable.” work and employee attitudes about the Such practices have drawn Take the example of environment, company, as well as its potential the attention of a cadre of “Jenna,” a retail sales clerk who impact on family processes and researchers, including Henly and was interviewed in a chapter the this intervention targets practices such as elder and child Lambert. The two came to the two researchers wrote for the the unpredictability caregiving activities, child care issue from different backgrounds. 2005 book Work, Family, Health, arrangements, and parenting Lambert’s expertise is on corpora- & Well-being. In one week, Jenna of work itself. stress. The study, supported by tions and how low-level jobs are was scheduled two shifts 11 a.m. grants from the Russell Sage positioned compared to other to 5 p.m., a Friday evening from Foundation, the Ford jobs in the firm. In their joint 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., and a Saturday Foundation, and the Annie E. research, Lambert has focused on shift from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. That Casey Foundation, is currently the nature of the jobs low-wage meant she had to find child care being fielded in stores in the earners hold and the obstacles starting as early as 9 in the morn- Chicago area but is designed to these jobs pose to workers trying ing and ending as late as 10 at include sites in three additional to support themselves and raise night, with no set pattern at all. regions of the country. families. Henly began looking at The schedule forced Jenna to rely “What is unique about this the struggles of low-wage earners on her mother—her primary intervention is its focus on as welfare reform took place in caregiver—her sister, her changing employer practices the mid-1990s, and she has pub- boyfriend, and her son’s paternal directly. Rather than targeting lished research on the impact grandmother to accommodate workers by trying to find ways to that unpredictable, low-wage jobs her various work shifts. “The help them survive an unpre- have on workers’ home life, par- demands of work and the dictable work environment, this ticularly on child care. demands of running a family, intervention targets the unpre- “A growing body of empiri- when you’re being called in at dictability of work itself,” Henly cal work suggests nonstandard unpredictable times, can be over- says. “We want to know whether work schedules have negative whelming,” Henly says. employers can deliver greater pre- implications for worker and fam- Lisa Dodson, a research pro- dictability to workers by giving ily well-being,” Lambert and fessor in sociology at Boston them more advance notice about Henly wrote in an article, “Low- College who has studied the their schedules, without compro- Level Jobs and Work-Family challenges confronting low- mising business goals.” Studies,” published this year by income working parents, has

12 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 Their goal is to get employers to focus on the tainty in their work lives. For example, one retailer used hour- challenges by-hour sales figures from the that workplace previous week to set schedules. Employers also sent workers practices pose home when there weren’t for workers “enough” customers to justify the staffing level, Lambert wrote, and to convince while some companies forced employers to consider workers to be available for work on a call-in basis. Baltimore, Maryland different ways of While the study did not Making a Living Wage doing business. assess how those employer prac- tices affect worker performance UCH ATTENTION HAS FALLEN RECENTLY ON CONGRESS interviewed many parents who or contribute to absenteeism or as it considered the first increase in the federal have little choice but to accept turnover, other research in the minimum wage since 1997. But the reality is that extra shifts, even though it means field has shown a link. “When another important debate—this one over the concept M of a “living wage” rather than a minimum wage—has they spend less time with their jobs are unpredictable and unsta- been taking place for more than a decade, not in the nation’s capital, children. Dodson believes that ble, so are workers,” Lambert but in cities and states around the country. the message being delivered to says. “That’s the key point.” A living wage is calculated to be what is minimally necessary to these low-wage workers is that As part of their work, support a family. To date, 140 cities and other local governments have they are expendable. “The rami- Lambert and Henly meet regu- approved a living wage for municipal workers or, in some cases, larly with employers in the employees of contractors doing business with those local governments. fications of treating children and The first locality to approve a living wage ordinance was the city parents as if they don’t matter are National Retailers Work-Life of Baltimore in 1994. The ordinance increased the pay for about 1,300 profound,” she says. “What is Forum, made up of major retail- employees of city contractors to $6.10 an hour, a rate that was more shared by a lot of them is this ers, including Sears, Nordstrom, than 40 percent higher than the existing minimum wage. Following sense that it’s reached the point and Federated Department Baltimore’s example, other local governments have accepted the Stores. They have also met with notion that workers who work full-time should be better able to where the larger society is not support themselves and their families. concerned about what’s happen- Chicago-area employers to dis- Maryland recently became the first state to move toward enacting ing to them.” cuss workplace issues. Their goal a living wage law. In 2004, the Maryland General Assembly passed a is to get employers to focus on measure requiring state contractors to pay their employees at least Changing the Workplace the challenges that workplace $10.50 an hour, but it was vetoed by then-Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, practices pose for workers and to Jr. The legislature was considering a similar measure this year, with the In a 2003 study, Lambert ana- support of a newly elected governor. lyzed employers’ practices in 22 convince employers to consider Some nonprofit groups have made the living wage a key focus. workplaces in Chicago in four different ways of doing business. The Tides Foundation in San Francisco has spent $3.4 million since 2001 business sectors—retail, hospital- “Part of the impetus for this to support local living wage campaigns and related efforts. “We ity, transportation, and banking- is the Wal-Mart phenomenon,” identified the living wage effort as one of the most effective tools to and documented how some busi- Lambert says. “Not all firms affect economic justice,” says Christopher Herrera, director of communications at Tides. nesses strived to achieve “just-in- want to be pressed to take the Support for living wage laws has been buttressed by intensive time” labor to minimize worker Wal-Mart road. They want a research into the actual financial conditions of low-wage earners in costs. Lambert’s analysis, as business case for how to offer America. Leading that research has been the Washington, D.C.-based reported in her working paper, something else.” nonprofit Wider Opportunities for Women, which worked with Diana “Managing Work Flows: How Some studies do show there Pearce, a professor at the University of Washington’s School of Social very well may be a bottom-line Work, to develop realistic self-sufficiency standards for how much it Firms Transform Fluctuations in costs for families to support themselves, reflecting local costs for such Demand into Instability for benefit to firms. Jennifer expenses as housing, child care, health care, and transportation. While Workers,” demonstrated that the Swanberg, an associate professor these costs can vary widely from area to area, the bottom line remains companies were minimizing their in the College of Social Work at consistent: families that earn slightly more than the federal poverty own financial risk (such as hav- the University of Kentucky, and income threshold are hard pressed to support themselves. Jacquelyn James of Boston In Miami, for example, Wider Opportunities has determined that a ing too many workers on hand, single parent with two young children requires an annual income of given the work load) by forcing College’s Center for Work & $39,053 to be self-sufficient. By comparison, a family of three, through- employees to accept more uncer- Family have surveyed 6,000 out the 48 contiguous states, is considered to be out of poverty if it has an annual income of more than $16,600. Even starker was the finding that that same parent of two, if paid the minimum wage, would earn only 31 percent of what is needed to support the family.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 13 hourly and salaried employees of ly unavailable to low-income a national retail chain to gauge workers, who often don’t work how they are affected by the enough hours to qualify. And company’s workplace practices. mass transit in many communi- For example, the survey asked if ties does not reflect evolving employees had input into their employment patterns, making it schedules and if employees had difficult for many low-wage opportunities to make last- workers to reach the jobs they minute changes in their sched- qualify for. ules without jeopardizing the “The nation has a policy number of hours they worked. focused on putting people to “Some of the preliminary analy- work, but it’s doing very little to Healthy Sick Days ses support the idea that employ- make work viable for people,” ers who have this flexibility...that says Alice O’Connor, a poverty T IS ESTIMATED THAT NEARLY HALF of all private-sector work- it is associated with a higher level researcher and history professor ers have no paid sick days. Low-wage workers are even worse of employee engagement,” at University of California, Santa off—more than three-quarters have no paid sick days. Of Swanberg says. Barbara. “The biggest barriers those workers who do have paid sick leave, fewer than half of Employers will need to hear many people face are work-relat- Ithem can use it to take care of sick children. For the first time, Congress is considering legislation that that type of message to make ed: child care, transportation, a would require many employers to provide sick leave to their work- changes, says Helen Neuborne, lack of health care. All of these ers. The Healthy Families Act, sponsored by Sen. Edward M. senior program officer in eco- are huge issues that are only spot- Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), would nomic development at the Ford tily and sporadically being require employers with 15 or more employees to provide seven Foundation, which has funded addressed.” paid days of sick leave that workers could use when they are sick or if they must miss work to care for a sick relative. research in workplace issues, The United States trails The Healthy Families Act has “a wildfire of support across the including the Scheduling much of the developed world in country,” Senator Kennedy told The New York Times recently. Intervention Study. “If you talk how its laws treat working fami- “When you talk to workers, this is, besides an increase in the mini- about this by making a business lies. Although the U.S. has one mum wage, the most important issue for these families. This is a case you win the argument,” she of the highest guaranteed pay families issue. This is a values issue.” Some in Congress are also pushing to expand the reach of the says. “It’s not a simple argument rates for overtime work in the Family and Medical Leave Act, which was passed in 1993 and allows of, ‘Let’s be nice to the employ- world (150 percent), on many workers at larger employers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave ees.’ It’s about making an econo- other measures, the country lags, for personal health problems. Advocates now want to extend the my function better for every- according to research by the law’s coverage to workers at smaller employers and to allow body.” Institute for Health and Social parents to use their allotted leave to attend important school events such as teacher conferences. Policy at McGill University. Wanted: Public Policy Several local and state governments are also moving to man- Perhaps most glaringly, Improvement date paid leave for workers. Voters in San Francisco approved a most low-wage workers have no measure last November that requires all businesses with more than There is a role for government in paid sick leave and often are inel- 10 employees to provide workers with up to 72 hours of paid sick building better quality low- igible for unpaid leave—making leave annually and smaller employers to provide up to 40 hours. income jobs. More than 45 The measure, which was approved with more than 60 percent sup- it difficult to attend to family port, allows workers to take the paid leave to care for certain rela- million people in America have problems and remain employed tives or domestic partners. no health insurance, with the (see “Healthy Sick Days”). Of At least seven states have enacted laws that require employers working poor particularly likely 173 countries around the world who provide paid sick leave to allow workers to use it to provide to be uninsured. Federal and the institute studied, 145 provide care to sick dependents. In Illinois, lawmakers were considering a state child care subsidies have paid sick days. The U.S. only bill to provide paid leave to workers to compensate them when they are sick or when they need to care for an ailing relative or failed to keep up with the requires some employers to pro- after the birth of a baby. Maryland this year is considering a bill to demand, leaving many low- vide unpaid time off for serious require larger employers to provide up to 56 hours of paid leave. income parents unable to afford illness through the Family Ellen Bravo, former director of 9to5, National Association of dependable, high-quality care. Medical Leave Act. The institute Working Women, and now the coordinator of a network of state Unemployment insurance—a found that 168 countries offer groups working on work-family issues, says such issues are receiving vital safety net for a worker who new and deserved attention—from the media and from elected guaranteed paid leave to women officials. “Finally some political candidates are coming to us to say, loses a job—is disproportionate- in connection with childbirth. ‘How do I talk about this?’” she says. “That’s progress, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”

14 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 matter how well businesses respond to the needs of employ- ees, “there will always be a group of workers who are left out of opportunities.” For example, she notes that many social benefits defined in both workplace and public policy—such as unem- ployment insurance, time off guaranteed by the Family and Medical Leave Act, or, in many cases, health insurance—are con- Associate Professors Susan Lambert (left) and Julia Henly are co-investiga- Workplace protections tors of the Scheduling Intervention Study. ditioned on the number of hours worked. “This is why we focus on in America are often Of those, 98 countries offer 14 such as an unexpected early dis- scheduling. It’s central to many not available or more weeks of paid leave. missal at their children’s schools. public policy issues,” she says. The U.S. guarantees no paid “Most people at a lower wage Many efforts remain targeted to low-wage leave for mothers and, unlike level don’t get any pay for this. at improving individuals. Some workers. Employees 137 other countries, does not They’re lucky if they can get the nonprofits are seeking clearer mandate any paid vacation time off,” she says. pathways for low-wage workers to can receive demerits for leave. A range of changes are on move into better-paying jobs by using sick time. Some While such numbers are the agenda in state capitals and obtaining additional skills. The discouraging enough, Lambert in Congress. Advocates identify Working Poor Families Project, employers change when points out that the practical real- key policy changes to bolster which was launched by several a pay period begins to ity is that workplace protections low-wage workers: national foundations, including in America are often not avail- Ford, Rockefeller, and Annie E. prevent workers from ■ Expand the federal Family and able to low-wage workers. Casey, has found that many states Medical Leave Act to cover all claiming overtime pay. Employees who are entitled to do not adequately fund educa- workers and allow for use for paid sick time can receive tional and training programs care of same-sex partners, demerits for actually using the geared toward adult workers or siblings, and other family time. Some employers some- have failed to align their pro- members. times vary the day of the week grams with the needs of workers ■ Create a living wage that a pay period begins, a prac- and employers. Without a system requirement. tice designed to prevent workers that encourages them to improve ■ Provide better health care and from claiming overtime pay. their skills and provides an child care. “We’re far behind in many affordable way to do that, these ■ Give employees more union ways,” Lambert says. “And even low-wage workers are hard- organizing rights. when there are policies on the pressed to move into better-pay- ■ Require employers to provide books, they may not be available ing, family-supporting jobs. paid sick days and allow to workers in practice.” “None of these things is a parents to take time off to Rhonda Present, A.M. ’89, panacea, but education and skills attend to important school is the unpaid director of training is a very important com- activities. ParentsWork, an Illinois group ponent to helping a low-income ■ Provide parity for part-time that is among many advocates at worker’s opportunities now and workers, so they don’t get the state and federal levels in the future,” says Brandon penalized with lost benefits if attempting to organize working Roberts, manager of the national an employer cut their hours. parents to advocate for change. Working Poor Families Project. Low-wage workers, she notes, SSA’s Lambert agrees with “Putting this issue on the radar have the fewest resources to cope the need for public policy screens of policy makers in the with disruptions in their lives, reforms because, she says, no states is critical.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 15 Deep Analysis Sharon Berlin has spent her career showing how social workers can stretch and adapt psychotherapy to a patient’s needs

BY CARL VOGEL

T’S A LONG WAY FROM THE UPPER WEST SIDE to DePeter, A.M. ’05, a former student of Berlin’s who uses different the poorest sections of Chicago’s South Side. That’s true for pieces of the approach in her role as a school social worker and in anybody, no less so for a practicing therapist. But while the work with people who have experienced the loss of a loved one common image of psychotherapy might be a weekly appoint- through suicide. ment on a nice leather couch in Manhattan, the reality is In many ways, Berlin’s personality infuses the cognitive-integra- more likely to be a patient from a beleaguered background tive approach. Her ability to hold and incorporate many different italking with a social worker about how to repair a life scarred by complex theories, her compassion for those who have been dealt a poverty or deprivation. hard hand, her calm demeanor are all reflected in the theory. “Sharon Filling the gap between psychoanalytic theory that suits a mid- is a very deep thinker, but she also is deeply committed to what hap- dle-class patient and that for a social worker’s clients is at the heart of pens in the field. She has a sense of balance in terms of thinking very the work of Sharon Berlin, the Helen Ross Professor at the School constructively and creatively about a problem without being co-opted for Social Service Administration. The synthesis of a 40-plus-year or distracted by irrelevant issues or insignificant considerations,” says career is captured in her 2002 book, Clinical Social Work Practice: A Jeanne Marsh, the dean of SSA and co-author with Berlin of a 1993 Cognitive-Integrative Perspective, which lays out her take on how cur- book, Informing Practice Decisions. rent life conditions and memory impact our view of “Sharon has a certain kind of grace and passion and moral ener- the world—and what to do when they collide. gy,” says Bill Borden, a senior lecturer at SSA who has been a student Cognitive therapy is an increasingly popular and colleague of Berlin and now is planning a day-long event for aca- method of helping patients from all walks of life deal demic experts to gather to discuss and expand upon her work. The with psychiatric troubles. In her cognitive-integrative conference, entitled “The Play and Place of Theory in Social Work perspective, Berlin deftly synthesizes a wide range of Practice,” will be a swan song for Berlin, who is retiring in June after therapeutic techniques and theories into a model a distinguished career that has included winning SSA’s teaching excel- explicitly for social workers, then adds her own twist: lence award in 1997 and the 2002 Richard Lodge Prize for contribu- When people whose life circumstances are terrifically tions to Social Work Theory. “She’s provided a crucial reorientation of difficult show up at the mental health center door, it cognitive theory for social workers,” Borden says. “I think that her Berlin has is quite probable that their problems are not all in work has really yet to be fully appreciated.” influenced their heads. A part of helping such clients psycholog- generations of ically involves helping them get on their feet. >>> . <<< social workers “I find the cognitive-integrative approach to be over her more extremely useful. The framework allows social work- BERLIN LEANS FORWARD a bit on her feet in front of class, her than 40-year career as a ers to recognize the complexity of the clients we hands knotted around a paper cup of coffee as she gently asks for scholar and work with, while also being practical and flexible input from the 20 or so students in her course, “A Cognitive educator. enough to be applied to the diverse work environ- Perspective for Social Work Clinical Practice.” With her all-black ments social workers are involved in,” says Lynette outfit, stylish glasses, and an easy-going manner, she’s reminiscent of

16 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 “Sharon has a certain kind of grace and passion and moral energy.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 17 “In the classroom, Sharon is a favorite, hip aunt, the one who tive studies, relational psychoanalysis, and most importantly, the incredibly always listens to your troubles when emphasis on real-life circumstances that comes from social work. she visits. To the side, a PowerPoint Colleagues consider it a bravura performance, a melding of many relaxed and projection of a psychiatric org chart different ideas into a comprehensive and comprehensible whole. looms, illustrating the complexity of In Berlin’s eyes, there is no one way to approach all clients; the open to how she wants her students to see a best route to wellness depends on how much of the client’s difficulty what people client’s psyche: boxes and arrows stems from negative information that comes from life circumstances delineating input patterns, and how much comes from relying too heavily on out-dated memo- have to say. compensatory themes, internal cues. ry patterns. “Sometimes the information coming to the patient over- The class starts suggesting how whelms their level of skills and knowhow, so the clinician can borrow It is so refreshing to fill the boxes with details from the ideas from behavioral approaches to help the client gain new skills to hear her say that last reading, a case study of a Ms. M, and increased competency. Or the negative information coming in a part-time nurse’s aide who presents might have a lot to do with family conflict. In those times we some- learning is open a confounding list of troubles. She times borrow tools from the family therapy domain,” she says. was abandoned by her mother, then “Sharon is very suspicious of mechanistic solutions that don’t to change; it’s abused by her stepmother. Married look at the complexity and the context of the clients’ lives,” says Jim a process.” twice to abusive husbands—the sec- Clark, Ph.D. ’95, the associate dean for research at the College of ond marriage ending when her hus- Social Work at the University of Kentucky and a former student of band left her for her sister—she is Berlin’s. “It’s really hard work, but her approach as a clinician is that, barely in contact with her adult chil- yes, it’s hard, but you have to do it to be effective.” dren. She has type 1 diabetes, and recent renal failure caused her to lose >>> . <<< her job. It is, quite literally, depress- ing: Ms. M had come to seek treat- ment for ongoing depression. THE BIG IDEA WOVEN THROUGH Clinical Berlin starts the discussion with Social Work Practice: A Cognitive-Integrative Ms. M’s history because the cognitive Perspective is a re-evaluation of the role of social school of therapy is built on the idea worker in therapy. Berlin argues that—in certain sit- that we use our memory patterns, or uations—to help a patient change her perspective on cognitive schemas, to interpret events life, a social worker needs to help that patient to in the present. Usually this reliance change her life. on organized memories works well, t“Cognitive theory says that people’s sense of helplessness or an but when someone becomes unable to recognize when different cir- overriding sense of sadness are a function of negatively biased under- cumstances require different thinking, they can become stuck in old standing of their prospects in the world,” Berlin says. “I think that and unhelpful ways of understanding. And with that can come feel- notion is accurate to a degree, but it suggests that distorted thoughts ings of depression, fear, or rage. “Cognitive theory says that people are behind people’s feelings. That seems overly simplistic to me. It are meaning makers. Whatever a person thinks a thing means, that’s puts all the onus on the person. From my earliest social work train- what it is,” Berlin explains. “But the idea behind cognitive therapy is ing, I learned that part of the reason people feel so demoralized to help people consider how to enlarge their realities.” about their lives is because their life situation leaves them with so few With a current emphasis in psychology on evidence-based prac- options.” tice, the cognitive model has become increasingly popular over the If it is true that people change their minds when they repeatedly last 20 years. The therapy lends itself to outcome measurement, encounter events or find personal capacities that are different from where it performs well. Insurance firms like it; mental health centers what they already know, then a social worker needs to be sure that like it. “It’s really one of the ascendant areas of empirically based there are actually discrepancies to be noticed. “We need to create medicine,” says Mark Reinecke, a professor and the chief of the divi- them or work with clients to create them, and then focus the client sion of psychology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at on making something meaningful from them,” Berlin says. “That Northwestern University. “For example, the British government has could mean helping the client get better housing or assisting her in now mandated its use in their healthcare system.” cleaning up and organizing her current place. It could mean cutting Berlin has been impressed with cognitive concepts for years. through bureaucratic red tape so the client can get the services he Much of the cognitive-integrative perspective is connecting the stan- needs; or it could mean sticking with the client no matter how many dard approach with a wide variety of other therapeutic techniques, times she forgets or doesn’t show up.” including neuroscience, personality theory, social psychology, narra- “The cognitive behavior theory is built on the idea that people

18 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 construct their own reality. What Sharon has brought to the field is fighting to change your mental a counterpoint: The context in which they’re living can contribute state and wrestle negative to their psychopathology, and we should understand the cognition thoughts away, you should just in that context. That’s a valuable contribution. It’s useful, and I allow them—notice them, accept happen to agree with it. I also think it fits well with the position a them, and decenter from the social worker is in. You bring what works to people,” Reinecke says. experience,” Berlin says. These are concepts that a >>> . <<< practitioner can use to help a client in the cognitive-integrative approach, and they certainly ERLIN BEGAN HER SOCIAL WORK match well with Berlin’s career on the child care staff at the Children demeanor. While she says she Berlin argues Home Society in Seattle, Wash., after earning doesn’t regularly practice medita- that—in certain her bachelor of arts at the College of Idaho in tion herself, she has taken a trip to the state where she was born and raised. Her Tibet last summer, as part of a situations—to help Master’s of Social Work and Ph.D. in Social University of Chicago, Rockefeller a patient change Welfare are from the University of Washington Chapel program available for stu- in Seattle. To this day, her tidy office gives dents, staff, and faculty and has her perspective on away her love of the Pacific Northwest with a few postcards and a b read extensively on Eastern medi- life, a social Native American totem pole image in a 1992 Distinguished tation. “I try to use the acceptance Alumni Award from her alma mater. When she retires this year, she and decentering technique in my worker will return back to a home she owns on Whidbey Island in own life at times,” she says. “If Washington State. something seems to work, why needs to Berlin first joined the faculty at SSA as a visiting associate pro- not, right?” fessor in 1983. Over the years she has helped provide the spark that help that any academic institution requires to thrive. She served for a time as patient to the School’s associate dean for academic affairs. She directed a >>> . <<< National Institute for Mental Health program to train Ph.D. stu- change dents in research in the field. After student requests, she introduced DESPITE THE ENTHUSIASM a class into the curriculum that examines the intersection of human for the cognitive-integrative her life. rights and social work. All along she has inspired students with her approach by many, sales of passion for the work and her comfortable yet challenging classes. Clinical Social Work Practice: A Cognitive-Integrative Perspective have “Her courses are one of the best things I encountered at SSA. been relatively slow. Supporters say that the long-term impact of Sharon is incredibly relaxed and open to what people have to say. Berlin’s thinking may come from her teaching, as her students use She believes that this is hard and valuable work and is open to dis- the technique in practice and teach it to a new generation of social cussions about how to go about it,” says DePeter. “She would often workers. focus on ‘What does work?’ It is so refreshing to hear her say that Take, for example, Justin Heilenbach, A.M. ’05, a program learning is open to change; it’s a process.” administrator and therapist at Dragonfly Transitions, a residential When she arrived at the School, Berlin had already written a treatment center for young men with mental health and substance few working papers that sketched out her ideas about the role of abuse issues in Kalmath Falls, Ore. Heilenbach says Berlin’s courses the environment in psychotherapy, and with her curious nature, she and her approach have become infused into his work. “The idea of continues to explore its ramifications. “Since I wrote the book, in bringing in new information to the patient is huge, whether it’s a some ways my understanding has become more refined,” she says. new experience that he can have where he’s more successful than in For example, in a 2005 paper published in Social Service Review, the past or insight into old memories where he can see himself in a she wrote at length about the history and value in social work different light,” he says. “Linking that ‘social worker’ work with the direct practice of the concept of acceptance, the balance of compas- work in therapy, having that concept be part of your global way of sion for a client with an appreciation for his or her autonomy. viewing things, that can make a real difference.” The paper also touches on another of Berlin’s areas of interest: Heilenbach views Berlin as a mentor, even though since his mindful meditation as a therapeutic tool. It’s a concept that is graduation she has been two time zones away. “Sharon is very much grounded in Buddhist philosophy and stems from Marsha on the ground and present whenever you talk with her,” he says. Linehan’s work to help patients with borderline personality disor- “She sees clients’ lives as important and valued. She’s a true social ders. “Some of the newer work in the field suggests that instead of worker that way. She completely embodies those values.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 19 Check All That

INCE AT Obama refers to himself as day,” says Gina M. Samuels, an selves, her colleague, Assistant LEAST the an African American, but it assistant professor at SSA. Professor Yoonsun Choi, looks at times of Eston seems that the American public Even to have a conversation the implications of these defini- Hemings (the and the American media aren’t so about the topic is difficult tions. “It is not ‘multiracial’ that likely son of sure. Is he on his way to becom- because, while multiracial is a problem, it is how [society] Thomas Jefferson ing the first black president? The Americans have some common responds to it,” Choi says. sand his slave, Sally Hemings), first multiracial president? The experiences, much of their tri- With more and more of the multiracial Americans have been first black president because he is umphs and trials are unique to American population comprised making headlines. Even so, it is multiracial? We’ve been through their own racial combination. A of multiracial individuals—and hard not to be taken aback by this before with Tiger Woods; black-white woman has a dra- new research opportunities avail- the intensity of our interest in only in that case, Woods refused matically different set of experi- able because of how agencies the bloodlines of Sen. Barack to be put into a standard catego- ences and issues than an Asian- such as the U.S. Census gather Obama since he announced his ry, referring to himself as Hispanic man. And someone’s information on racial back- run for the Democratic presiden- “Cablinasian” for his mix of cau- age, or where she grew up, or her ground—the work of Choi and tial nomination. Google “mul- casian, black, Indian, and Asian parent’s attitudes all can play a Samuels is part of a wave of tiracial” combined with “Barack heritages. role in how she feels about being scholarship on the issue of mul- Obama” and you’ll get 31,600 “The discussion that is being multiracial as well. tiracial identity, from both the results, and another 59,300 for had about Obama—‘What is While Samuels’ research societal and personal point of “biracial” and “Barack Obama.” he?’—is the same discussion that examines how society’s defini- view. The answers say a lot about And the primaries are still nearly everyone who is racially ambigu- tions of race affect how multira- how far we have, and haven’t a year away. ous has every day or hears every cial individuals identify them- come, in dealing with race in this

20 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 SSA faculty members are at the forefront of research on multiracial Apply identity in an era of many options. BY MARGARET LITTMAN

country, and what it means for that declared states could not the Study of Race, Politics, and more than one race. That equals our future. prohibit interracial marriage Culture at the University of 6.8 million respondents, 2.8 mil- (although many kept the unen- Chicago. lion of whom were under age 18. >>> . <<< forceable laws on the books: The ability to measure and Other agencies are following Alabama’s was not removed until analyze the multiracial popula- the Census’ lead. Last year the AS MUCH AS 20 PERCENT 2000). tion in the U.S. got a huge boost U.S. Department of Education of the U.S. population will iden- The Chicago-based Council in 1997, when the Office of urged colleges and universities to tify itself as multiracial by 2050, on Contemporary Families, co- Management and Budget start offering multiracial options according to a National Academy chaired by SSA Associate (OMB) decided that, beginning when they collect data on stu- of Science study. The trends are Professor Waldo E. Johnson, Jr., with the 2000 Census, respon- dents. In 2005 the Food and built on a number of factors. For found that black-white marriages dents would be permitted to Drug Administration recom- one thing, Americans are more grew from 55,000 in 1960 to check more than one box in mended adding multiracial diverse than ever. Nearly a quar- 440,000 in 2005. Today about response to the question asking options for clinical trial partici- ter of the U.S. population in 13 percent of American mar- one to classify his or her race. pants. Many states are starting 2002 was immigrants and their riages are unions of people of dif- Someone with a black father and the practice as well, meaning children, the Census shows. And ferent races, estimates Jennifer a Hispanic mother could check there will be even more data into it’s more acceptable for people of Lee, an associate professor in the both boxes, rather than deciding which researchers may delve. different races to have children department of sociology at the which of the two races better Ann Morning, an assistant together. This year is the 40th University of California, Irvine defined who he or she was. In professor in the department of anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, and a 2006-2007 visiting associ- that 2000 Census, 2.4 percent of sociology at New York the U.S. Supreme Court ruling ate professor at the Center for the population identified with University, points out that in

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 21 someone as multiracial obscures be legally enforced, it remains the differences. But if you put a culturally reproduced in everyday lot of emphasis on people being interactions and in institutional one-half this, one-quarter this, I contexts, so that regardless of think that in some ways that how black multiracials choose to reinforces the old ways of think- identify, they are often identified ing,” Morning says. by others as black.” herself is multiracial and adopt- We live in a moment when The blade cuts both ways. ed. “It is much more complex there is no clear way to identify Barack Obama’s self-identity as than just identifying how society people whose parents are of dif- an African American has been views an individual, or the indi- ferent races. In a study at the questioned because of his multi- vidual simply choosing any iden- University of Missouri- ethnic background, while Tiger tity she or he wishes. It’s the indi- the 19th century the Census Columbia, kindergarteners who Wood was criticized by some vidual and society operating included “mulatto” (referring to had both a white and a non- within the African-American simultaneously, at different force, those who had both black and white parent were overwhelming- community for refusing to iden- and one’s daily context that shape white heritage) and “mixed- ly more likely to be identified by tify as black. identity across one’s lifetime.” blood” (applying to those with their parents as the race of the For example, when children American Indian and white non-white parent. >>> . <<< of white mothers and black backgrounds). However, in mod- There were, however, some fathers were put up for adoption ern times, U.S. residents were odd twists in the data. Girls who INA in the late 1960s and 1970s, it required to fit themselves into had both Hispanic and white SAMUELS has was often because having a bira- just one box until now. parents were more likely to be learned that cial child caused problems for the “Our history has had mixed identified as Hispanic, while boys individual’s white mothers. For some white race people for a long time,” were more likely to be identified notion of mul- families looking to adopt, Morning says. “But now that the as white. Students living in the gtiracial identity though, faced with a small pool OMB lets people mix-and-match Western U.S. and with a higher can be as hard of healthy white babies to in a way they didn’t in the past, family socioeconomic status were to pin down as society’s. Her choose, those same children (now sociologists and demographers more likely to be identified as research focuses on the black- labeled as black), were considered are picking up the baton and multiracial. Morning notes that white biracial experience, with thinking about the context of other studies have shown those interviews of transracial adoptees mixed race. Part of the reason we who live on the coasts are more between 20- and 32-years old. are acknowledging it now is that likely to identify as multiracial Subjects were asked about the in some ways racial classification than those in the heartland. stories they were told about why doesn’t matter. Before, race dic- Lee points out that regard- they were put up for adoption tated who you could marry, less of how a person may wish to and adopted, how they were where you could live, and it was be perceived, society won’t neces- socialized to think about a way to enforce class.” sarily agree. “Given the history of race/mixed race and their own Of course, nobody is claim- the one-drop rule of hypodes- identities, and their racialized ing that race has become irrele- cent—by which all multiracial experiences at school, home, and vant to people’s Americans with in their lives as adults. lives. The com- any black ances- “The one-drop rule says if more desirable because their skin plicated relation- try were identi- you have any black heritage you tone was lighter. ship we have fied as black— should identify as black. But Samuels also found that peo- with race may black multira- developing an identity is more ple don’t necessarily identify be more accu- cials continue complicated than that. The idea themselves the same way all the rately reflected to be limited in that one racial heritage always time. High school students by multiracial their racial/eth- trumps the other, or that identi- among African-American friends identities, but it nic options,” ties are fixed and don’t change, or family may call themselves isn’t changed. she believes. does not reflect how many mul- black, while with their white “People may “While the rule tiracials develop a racial-ethnic friends or relatives, they may say think identifying may no longer sense of self,” says Samuels, who they are mixed race. “And what

22 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 someone calls themselves when can come with a price, making it recipient of the Research they are 10 may be different than hard for a multiracial person to Scientist Development Award when they’re 30 or change again identify with a group. Samuels from the National Institute of at 40,” she adds. says that when families of one Mental Health, she is conducting Other research shows how race adopt a child of another, it a series of interrelated projects to pervasive this phenomenon can can be difficult because the par- identify the multiple develop- be. A study by Princeton ents do not have the same racial mental trajectories of Asian University of 2,000 students experience as the child and may youth and the factors that pre- aged 14 to 17 who had at least not be able to provide first-hand dominate in the determination of one immigrant parent showed guidance. “What was most pow- these outcomes. Part of that that half of the students changed erful was the ways in which this work has been looking at mul- the way they classified their race, group had to navigate so much tiracial children. 38 percent less that white Multiracial Identification by 2000 Census Racial Categories students would smoke than for RACIAL MULTIRACIAL their multiracial peers, 32 percent a b PERCENT IDENTIFICATION IDENTIFICATION MULTIRACIAL less for black students, and 51 per- (millions) (millions) cent less for Asian students. White White 216.5 5.1 2.3 kids were 63 percent less likely than multiracial kids to have been Black 36.2 1.5 4.2 in a fight. Asian 11.7 1.4 12.4 “I do not want to say these Other 18.4 3.0 16.4 kids are problematic. The majority of kids do not show any problems. American Indian But we have not done a good job and Alaska Native 3.9 1.4 36.4 of integrating them and that can Native Hawaiian cause the problem,” says Choi. In 0.7 0.3 44.8 or other Pacific Islander fact, incidence of the problematic

aRacial/ethnic group totals do not sum to the total U.S. population because multiracial persons are counted here in more than one group. behaviors was higher in schools bMultiracial persons are counted for each race category mentioned. and neighborhoods with perceived Source: Lee, J., and F. Bean. 2004. “America’s Changing Color Lines: Immigration, Race/Ethnicity, and Multiracial Identification. Annual Review of Sociology 30:221-42. racial discrimination, and Choi notes that other research has and by age 24, most had devel- of this on their own,” she says. Working with a sample of shown that “in Hawaii, multiracial oped a hyphenate way to “There is not a transracial 2,000 middle school students in kids did not show problems, describe their racial identity. adoptee side of town. There is Seattle, Choi and colleagues at because Hawaii is somewhere “The ways we need to think not a country you can visit, and the University of Washington where multiracial is the norm.” about race and identity must be so sometimes people felt they did studied specific problem behav- As if to illustrate the fluid. At different moments in not have a community. But hav- iors among multiracial young- problems of acceptance for our lives, different parts of us ing this sense that there are oth- sters such as substance use and multiracial children, when Choi’s come forward,” Samuels says. ers like you is helpful.” interpersonal violence. Examples research was first published, hard “The study of identity must include smoking cigarettes, right extremists used the results as reflect its lived complexity. It has >>> . <<< drinking alcohol, carrying a gun, ammunition for their arguments traditionally been theorized as and participating in fights. For for limiting immigration and coming from the inside. But my OONSUN many behaviors, multiracial chil- interracial relationships. “I was work challenges this and suggests CHOI’S research dren were more at risk. When it surprised by that reaction. That is that identity work is dynamic seeks to under- came to smoking, for example, exactly what puts these kids in and grounded within our socio- stand the familial Choi found that the odds were trouble,” she says. “If people hate political structures of race, our and environmen- me because of my article, that’s family experiences, and our indi- y tal processes that okay, I’m misunderstood. But if vidual ways of making sense of influence and this is what these kids have to deal this.” impact ethnic minority children with every day, then we have to All this shifting of identity and their development. As a do better.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 23 inside social service review BY RICHARD MERTENS

Founded in 1927, Social Service tions whether neighborhood place- problems as poverty, unemployment, ments are such a good idea after all. In and high numbers of single-parent fam- Review is committed to examining the December issue of Social Service ilies are often dangerous for kids. They social welfare policy and practice Review, she challenges what she calls have poor schools. “Do distressed the “enthusiasm” for neighborhood neighborhoods provide foster children and evaluating its effects. placements and offers evidence that and families with essential services, suf- Providing multidisciplinary and foster children from “distressed” neigh- ficient strengths, and adequate borhoods may have a better chance to resources?” she asks. The answer is multicultural analyses of current thrive in neighborhoods more able to usually no. policies and past practices, SSR support and nurture them. “The odds Berrick does not reject neighbor- for vulnerable children are not favorable hood placement altogether. She says publishes critical research from in some neighborhoods,” she writes. that older children who are likely to social welfare scholars and practitioners, as well as The neighborhood approach is an remain in foster care only a short time old idea. Berrick traces it back to Jane may benefit from the continuity that sociologists, economists, theologians, historians, Addams’ settlement house movement staying in the neighborhood offers. But psychologists, and political scientists. Social Service and the principle that “supportive serv- she suggests that younger children and ices should be readily accessible and those less likely to return to their fami- Review is edited by the faculty of the School of close to home.” In many ways, she lies may do better in neighborhoods says, the approach makes sense. that can offer greater safety and more Social Service Administration, led by Emily Klein Families that are “struggling with par- resources. Gidwitz Professor Michael Sosin. enting and other stressful life events” “My argument is not to take kids can benefit from services in their own and move them into homes of tremen- Below are summaries of three articles that appeared in the 2006 issue neighborhoods. Such neighborhoods dous affluence and privilege,” she says. of Social Service Review. clearly need help. But making them the “My argument is to give some children focus of services to strengthen families greater opportunities, in families with does not make them appropriate places somewhat greater means and higher for foster children. incomes. The incomes that are typically The reality, Berrick writes, is that found in nearby or more distant neigh- Neighborhood Matters some neighborhoods simply are not borhoods not only offer children access A leading child welfare scholar questions healthy for children. She cites studies to better education and safety, but also a longstanding approach to foster care placements linking child abuse and neglect to higher social capital on the part of the poverty, substandard housing, high foster families.” mobility, and high rates of female-head- Berrick said she undertook her HILD WELFARE AGENCIES motes neighborhood placement ed households. Children are also more study after noticing a “wave of enthusi- are entrusted with some of through its “Family to Family” program, likely to suffer in neighborhoods with a asm” for neighborhood placement America’s most vulnerable arguing that “child welfare agencies high concentration of bars, liquor without evidence to justify the and damaged children. can effectively partner with disadvan- stores, and police-related alcohol or approach or a debate about its effec- CAnd yet it’s no secret that agencies are taged communities to provide better drug incidents. tiveness. “There has been no conversa- struggling. Burdened with high case care for children who have been abused The challenge is not simply to find tion,” she says. “That’s what these kids loads and overworked staffs, they labor or neglected.” skilled and compassionate foster par- need so desperately. There hasn’t been to find stable homes for foster children Now, Jill Duerr Berrick, a professor ents. The surroundings matter, too. public debate to discuss the benefits of or to reunite them with their families in in the School of Social Welfare at the Neighborhoods suffering from such this approach.” ways that avoid further abuse or University of California-Berkeley, ques- At a deeper level she takes issue neglect. with how new ideas are taken up Recently many agencies have uncritically in child welfare. “Child wel- embraced a new approach to foster fare in my opinion is very faddish in care, seeking to place children in foster nature,” she says. “It tends to embrace homes within their neighborhoods as new ideas with a rush of enthusiasm, part of a wider emphasis on neighbor- often with little evidence to support the hood services for families needing help. new ideas. The research and reflection Los Angeles and New York City have usually come later.” adopted the neighborhood approach,

and many states, counties, and munici- Berrick, J.D. 2006. “Neighborhood-Based Foster palities are following suit. The influen- Care: A Critical Examination of Location-Based tial Annie E. Casey Foundation pro- Placement Criteria.” Social Service Review 80 (4): 569-83.

24 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 International Support A Delicate Balance In nearly two dozen industrialized nations, spending Case managers employ a range of strategies to increased for children and families over the last 20 years get the mentally ill to accept treatment

HEN IT COMES TO THE CHALLENGES FACING children EW CHALLENGES ARE AS common, and most people with severe and families, the United States is not alone. Most indus- difficult or as controversial as mentally illnesses encounter them at trialized nations find themselves in the same boat, with getting people with severe some point in their lives. aging populations and families increasingly vulnerable to F mental illness to accept But case managers often employ Wa global economy that disadvantages, among others, immigrants, the poor, treatment. One approach that has had less forceful strategies that rely instead and single-parent households. A new comparative study of 21 industrialized some success is Assertive Community on frequent contact and on developing countries, however, finds that support for children and families has been Treatment (ACT), a form of intensive a relationship with the client. These growing to meet these challenges, though in a variety of ways. case management that uses teamwork include distributing medicines to their In an article published in the June issue of Social Service Review, and frequent personal contact to clients daily or even Shirley Gabel of Fordham University and Sheila Kamerman of Columbia encourage clients to take their twice daily, handing Case University look at public support for children and families between 1980 medicines and accept other help to live out spending managers and 2001. Their study, “Investing in Children: Public Commitment in stable and autonomous lives. But some money and medi- Twenty-One Industrialized Countries,” finds that even though children criticize the approach as coercive and cines at the same often employ declined as a percentage of the population everywhere, all 21 countries paternalistic—an effort to bend the time, listening to less forceful increased the amount they spent on children and families. will of unwilling patients. the client’s reasons This paradox, the authors say, reflects chang- In an article published in for resisting treat- strategies that ing realities across the industrialized world, includ- September’s Social Service Review, ment—what one rely instead ing a growing percentage of children born to sin- “Promoting Treatment Adherence in case manager gle mothers, and widespread changes in policy. Assertive Community Treatment,” describes as “get- on frequent For example, in the late 1970s child support in researchers from the University of ting on the client’s contact and most countries consisted mainly of cash payments Chicago and the University of trampoline”—using on developing to families with children. Thirty years later, support Wisconsin-Madison examine how case persuasion, reward- had shifted toward services that help families bal- managers in two ACT programs cope ing clients by buy- a relationship ance work and family. with uncooperative clients. What they ing them lunch, with the The study looks at several different kinds of find is a wide range of strategies, many confronting them, or public benefits, including cash payments, parental of which fall short of coercion. simply letting them client. leaves, child care, and early childhood education. ACT appeared in the 1960s as an suffer the natural Countries vary widely in the mix of benefits they alternative to hospitalization. The idea consequences of their non-adherence. provide. English-speaking countries, for example, In the late was to bring the comprehensive servic- The authors argue that “coer- share an emphasis on encouraging parents to es available in a hospital to a communi- cion” cannot adequately describe this work. Most industrial countries have liberal poli- 1970s child ty setting—a “hospital without walls,” range of possibilities. They define them cies on parental leave, but not the United States. support says one of the authors, SSA Assistant rather as “social influence strategies” At the same time, though, the authors say Professor Beth Angell. The approach that employ many of the same means the United States can no longer be regarded as a consisted involves low client-staff ratios and close that all of us use to influence the deci- “laggard” in supporting children and families. The mainly of cash coordination among experts in different sions of others. United States provides substantial support through areas, including medication manage- Nevertheless, case managers face its tax benefits, a category that is seldom system- payments. ment, vocational rehabilitation, and an inescapable dilemma. They have atically measured or acknowledged internationally. Thirty years occupational therapy. Case managers what the authors call a “dual man- “We’ve been measured in the use of instruments reach out to clients rather than wait for date,” promoting the client’s autonomy in which the U.S. is least generous,” Gabel says. later, them to seek services. “By communi- but also protecting the safety of the Gabel and Kamerman undertook their study support cating concern for the client, repeated client and the public. The difficulty lies in part because so much had changed for families outreach efforts are intended to erode in determining how much autonomy to and children. “It’s a very different world today had shifted client resistance to treatment,” the allow and “how forcefully” to inter- than it was 20 years ago,” Gabel says. “There toward authors write. vene when the client, in exercising that have been significant changes in the way we live. Some strategies are clearly coer- autonomy, resists treatment. And policy should respond to those changes.” services that cive. Courts mandate treatment. Angell, B., C.A. Mahoney, and N.I. Martinez. Mental health agencies use support Gabel, S.G., and S.B. Kamerman. 2006. “Investing in Children: help families 2006 “Promoting Treatment Adherence in Assertive Public Commitment in Twenty-one Industrialized Countries.” payments to compel cooperation. Community Treatment.” Social Service Review Social Service Review 80 (2): 239-63. balance work These strategies are becoming more 80 (3): 485-526. and family.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 25 faculty notes

basic research,” she says. Gehlert, who is also deputy dean for research at SSA, professor in the Fulbright Takes Institute of Mind and Biology, and director of the Center for Grogan to Interdisciplinary Health Disparities Northern Ireland Research, is particularly interested in research related to women’s health and Associate Professor Colleen Grogan social factors that impact group differ- has been awarded a Fulbright ences in health. The co-editor of the Fellowship to spend several months Handbook of Health Social Work, at Queen’s University of Belfast, in recently published by John Wiley & Northern Ireland. Grogan is well- Sons, Gehlert has published broadly on known for her work on health policy issues about the interactions of genes and politics and the American welfare and environment, women’s health and state. While in Belfast, she is based in mental health, psychosocial aspects of the School of Law and is lecturing and epilepsy and other chronic health condi- researching on “Public Policy, Health tions, as well as issues on maternal and Disparities, and the Politics of child health. Medicalization.” Associate Professor Susan “Fulbright Fellowships are a Lambert, an expert on organizational wonderful way to foster cross-cultural theory and understanding, friendships, and management, learning,” says Grogan. “I am working the relationship on a collaborative project involving a between work team of researchers from Queen’s and personal University in Belfast and Trinity College life, and lower- in Dublin. We’re trying to understand skilled jobs and the factors that influence policy low-wage decision-making in public housing and workers, has health policy in the Republic of Ireland SSA Associate Professor Colleen Grogan is in Northern Ireland for her work also been elect- Susan Lambert and in Northern Ireland, in a time of on health policy and politics. ed to the board real change. This project fits well with of directors of the Society for Social my own research interests and will Work and Research. Lambert is the co- help us to better understand how Gehlert President- research in this time in which they are editor of Work and Life Integration: public policies are implemented in challenged,” Gehlert says. Elect of Society for Organizational, Cultural, and Individual different political-economic Gehlert says the group plans to Perspectives, published by Lawrence environments.” Social Work and work with organizations, such as the Erlbaum Associates. She joins Associate The Fulbright Fellowships were American Psychological Association, Research; Lambert Professor Waldo E. Johnson, Jr. as a established in 1946 to promote that conduct member-at-large on the SSWR Board. “mutual understanding between the Joins the Board social and people of the United States and the Sarah Gehlert, SSA professor and a behavioral people of other countries in the leading authority on the connections research to world” through international between social work and health care, demonstrate Henly, Co-Authors educational exchange. Fulbright will serve as president-elect of the its importance Win Research Award Scholars are chosen for their Society for Social Work and Research in the health leadership potential and have the and begin a two-year term as president and well-being Associate Professor Julia Henly, and opportunity to observe the political, in 2008. of the U.S. co-authors Sandra K. Danziger and economic, and cultural institutions of “I represent the organization’s population. Sarah Gehlert Shira Offer, received the 2007 their host country. Fulbright grants are members to the research community, “In this envi- Excellence in Research/Best Scholarly primarily awarded for university notably to the National Institutes of ronment, in Contribution Award from the Society lecturing, graduate study, and Health and to the legislature. I intend to which research funds at the national for Social Work and Research for their teaching in K-12 schools. The program work at forging ties with other profes- level are compromised, we need to 2005 article “The Contribution of Social is sponsored by the U.S. Department sional organizations in the field to raise demonstrate that social and behavioral Support to the Material Well-Being of of State. the profile of social and behavioral research complements and extends Low-Income Families.” The article,

26 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 which was ed as perpetrators in the most severe, involvement among nonresident fathers Children at the University of Chicago. published in and often fatal, forms of physical child in fragile families, and the physical and Richman was also honored for his the Journal of abuse or neglect, we currently have a psychosocial health statuses of African- international efforts on behalf of Marriage and poor understanding of what specific American males. He is a research young people by SSA students and Family, fathering influences place children at consultant to Strengthening Healthy others at a student-run conference in analyzes the risk,” Guterman says. “Developing this Marriage, a seven-year longitudinal November 2006. “Global Issues Facing nature and knowledge will enable us to make research and evaluation study of Youth” brought together child welfare function of major strides in designing more effec- strategies for enhancing couple scholars from around the world, as social support tive prevention strategies that stop child relationships among low-income, well as graduate students and practic- Julia R. Henly available to maltreatment before it occurs.” married parents in the United States ing social workers, to discuss poverty, low-income and an investigator for the Fragile disease, violence, racism, and other mothers through their social networks. Families and Child Wellbeing study. challenges for children and young peo- The authors conclude that informal Johnson to Lead Johnson ple throughout the world (see related networks often provide essential coping is also a story in “Memoranda”). resources that help low-income families the Council on convener of get by on a daily basis; however these Contemporary Families the 2025 networks are ill-suited for helping low- Campaign income families advance up the The Council on Contemporary Families for Black MacArthur Foundation elected Waldo E. Johnson, Jr., as its socioeconomic ladder. Men/Boys, Supports Research The Best Scholarly Contribution national co-chair. Johnson, associate a national Award recognizes outstanding social professor at SSA and the director of the initiative on Mixed-Income work research that advances knowledge Center for the Study of Race, Politics, designed Waldo E. Johnson, Jr. Communities with direct applications to practice, and Culture at the University of to build policy, and the resolution of social Chicago, has served on the CCF board community capacity to enhance the The Chicago Housing Authority is eight problems, and honors original scholarly for five years and is co-chairing CCF’s status and well-being of African years into a bold effort to transform contributions to the peer-reviewed 10th Anniversary conference, “What American males across the life cycle in public housing, in part by relocating research literature in a given year. Have We Learned? How Can We the family and community, led by the residents to lower-density, newly Translate it to People Living in 21st Century Foundation. developed mixed-income communities. Families?” The Council on Contemporary Associate Professor Robert Chaskin, Study to Examine “In its relatively brief existence, Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan working with colleague Mark Joseph, CCF has made an incredible organization of family researchers and assistant professor at The Mandel Fathers’ Roles contribution to the public discourse practitioners that seeks to further a School of Applied Social Sciences at in Child Abuse regarding the statuses, strengths, and national understanding of how Case-Western needs of contemporary American America’s families are changing and Reserve The Centers for Disease Control and families in the U.S. and abroad. The what is known about the strengths and University, has Prevention have funded a three-year, CCF membership comprises many of weaknesses of different family forms received a $895,000 study on the roles that the nation’s leading family researchers and various family interventions. three-year, fathers and father-figures play in the and clinical practitioners who $600,000 origins of physical child abuse and neg- individually inform U.S. family policy grant from the lect. The research, led by SSA Professor and practice via their scholarship and John D. and Neil Guterman, will look at longitudi- practice wisdom respectively,” Johnson Richman Honored Catherine T. nal data for families with children from says. “Collectively, CCF’s work with for His Efforts MacArthur Robert Chaskin birth through age three—when they journalists in examining and explaining Foundation to are at the greatest risk for the most often complicated issues facing families on Behalf of Youth fund research on the implementation severe forms of physical abuse or neg- in 21st century America and a global Distinguished faculty member and and early community-building process lect—and attempt to identify the vari- society has helped to broaden the former dean Harold Richman, at three of Chicago’s new mixed- ous fathering pathways that place chil- public conversation, thus offering Hermon Dunlap Smith Professor income developments. The research dren at risk. The study uses data from a explanations and interventions based Emeritus, was among those honored will examine the early stages and initial nationwide sample and examines the on solid research and practice with the 2006 Kids Count Award from strategies used to build the mixed- fathering role at multiple levels: the experience with families and as a result, the advocacy organization Voices for income communities and the initial community level, the relationship making these discussions more Illinois Children. Richman was experiences of residents being between the parents, and the interac- accessible for a wider audience.” recognized for his long-time dedication integrated into them, as well as the tions between parent and child. Johnson’s research focuses on to improving the lives of children and lessons, challenges, and key issues that “Even though fathers and father- male involvement in adolescent for his leadership as the founding are emerging as these developments figures are disproportionately represent- pregnancy, paternal and family director of the Chapin Hall Center for are taking shape.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 27 faculty notes

“Chicago is in many ways, incarceration and substance-use and tools available for replication. at-risk youth. New chapters present because of its scale and pace, at the problems.” Roderick and her team are work- resilience-oriented approaches to forefront of a nation-wide The project is funded by the ing to expand the Network for College recovery from major disasters and transformation of public housing,” John A. Hartford Foundation and is Success to include other schools, and demonstrate community-based and Chaskin says. “The CHA Transformation administered by the Gerontological are in the early planning phase of international applications. Walsh is the presents us with a unique opportunity Society of America. establishing a Principals’ Center. Mose and Sylvia Firestone Professor at to examine and understand the Roderick is a prominent scholar SSA and the Department of Psychiatry. potential, the complexities, and the on education and an expert in urban appropriate place of mixed-income Roderick Convenes school reform, high-stakes testing, development as a strategy to raise the minority adolescent development, and Spergel Book quality of life for low-income families the Network school transitions. She is co-director at and to promote community for College Success the Consortium on Chicago School Advocates Community- revitalization.” Research at the University of Chicago To strengthen leadership in the Chicago Based Solution to and faculty director of the Community Public Schools’ high schools and improve Schools program at SSA. From 2001 to Gang Violence the ability to prepare students for 2003, Roderick served the administra- Engstrom Receives college, Melissa Roderick, Hermon Cities across the tion of CPS as founding director of the Dunlap Smith Professor at SSA, and nation struggle Hartford Faculty Department of Planning and colleagues from the Chicago Public to reduce gang Development. Scholar Award Schools, the violence, but for Gerontological Center for efforts often fail Urban School to unite law Research Improvement, enforcement 2nd Edition of and community Assistant Professor Malitta Engstrom and Harvard interests, lead- has received a two-year, $100,000 University have Walsh’s Strengthening ing to an award for her research into the lives of founded the Family Resilience emphasis either women who must care for their grand- Network for Published on gang sup- children when their daughters are incar- College Success. Melissa Roderick pression or outreach youth-worker cerated. Her project, entitled “Women, Principals of Internationally-renowned scholar approaches. Rarely do they involve Incarceration, and Substance Use: eight mid- to Froma Walsh has revisited her book empirical research evaluating these Caregiving Grandmothers as a Missing high-performing high schools meet Strengthening Family Resilience for a strategies’ effectiveness. Irving Link in Family Intervention,” will exam- monthly to share ideas for school revised, updated, and expanded second Spergel, George Herbert Jones ine the needs and strengths of these improvement efforts with a focus on edition published by The Guilford Press. Professor Emeritus, has spent five families, as well as pilot an innovative ensuring students are ready to go to The book presents Walsh’s family decades researching gangs and evaluat- intervention model aimed at all three college. Network members include resilience framework for intervention ing effective ways to reduce the vio- generations. principals from charter, neighborhood, and prevention with clients dealing with lence. His newest book Reducing Youth “The incarceration of women in and selective enrollment high schools, adversity. Drawing on extensive research Gang Violence: The Little Village Gang the United States is increasing at an University researchers, and leaders from and clinical Project in Chicago, published by alarming rate and disproportionately CPS and the University who are charged experience, AltaMira Press, details the efforts—and impacts women of color,” noted with reforming high schools in Chicago. Walsh describes results—of his Chicago project to Engstrom in her application. The McDougal Foundation and the key processes reduce youth gang problems, including “Grandmothers are disproportionately Polk Bros. Foundation have together in resilience for violence and illegal drug activity. The likely to become the grandparent provided more than $100,000 to sup- practitioners to Little Village Gang Violence Reduction caregivers and to experience complex port the implementation of the target and Project is a comprehensive, community- caregiving challenges that exceed usual network. The project addresses three facilitate. based model that brings together a grandparent caregiving burdens as they central challenges: Supporting high Useful coalition of criminal justice, neighbor- offer support to their incarcerated school leadership in developing instruc- guidelines and hood, and academic organizations with daughters, often in the context of tional visions, strategies, professional case a team of tactical officers, probation longstanding burdens associated with communities, and learning environments illustrations officers, and former gang leaders to their daughters’ substance-use that raise the bar; creating mechanisms address a wide range of challenges: address hardcore violence from two problems, and as they provide care for for cross-fertilization and transfer of sudden crisis, trauma, and loss; gangs: the Latin Kings and the Two Six. their grandchildren who are likely to be innovation between schools; and disruptive transitions such as job loss, The book describes their successes and experiencing numerous psychological, increasing the capacity of the entire divorce, and migration; persistent multi- failures at the individual level, within behavioral, and academic problems system to change by creating networks stress conditions such as serious illness the gang itself, and in the community associated with their mothers’ of leaders with demonstrated success or poverty; and barriers to success for

28 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 at large. Spergel’s integrated project has since become the model for a series of initiatives across the country.

Chaskin Book Leads to Chinese Trip Associate Professor Robert Chaskin recently traveled to Bejing to participate in a working seminar on “Bridging Research, Policy, and Practice for Children.” Sponsored by Childwatch International and China Youth and Children Research Center, the event brought together researchers from six continents to discuss strategies and processes for using research-based knowledge to influence policy and practice. The seminar was based on a book that Chaskin is co-edit- ing, Research for Action: Cross-National Approaches to Connecting Knowledge, Policy and Practice for Children, which will be published by Oxford University Press. "We have a lot to learn in the social welfare and human service fields about how to effectively implement evidence- based policy and practice," noted Chaskin. "It's not simply a question of supplying evidence that gets applied to action. Knowledge gets mediated in all kinds of ways—through relationships, in light of competing priorities, interests, and expectations, and shaped by the specific context in which it's developed. By draw- ing on examples from throughout the world, we hope to better understand the kinds of strategies, roles, and tools that researchers can use to foster better knowledge utilization."

Moving On: Courtney Heads to Seattle McCormick Tribune Professor Mark Courtney has accepted a new position at the University of Washington School of Social Work. Courtney will become the Ballmer Endowed Chair for Child Well- Being and will head up Partners for Our Children, a public-private partnership working to improve Washington’s child welfare system.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 29 memoranda

Jared Diamond spoke to a standing-room-only audience at SSA.

Hartford Fellowship cohort of African-American women International Richman says his work has been ages 40-55, focusing on how the trau- Children’s Issues Focus based on a simple idea: “Policy is better for Study of Childhood ma has affected the social functioning when it is based on good data and Sexual Abuse and well-being of these women as they of Student-Run good analysis.” Second-year SSA stu- execute their many mid-life roles, dent Liz Bomgaars, the 2006 SSA doctoral student Jewell Conference International Social Welfare Fellow, pre- Brazelton has received a prestigious including parenting and caring for The world’s issues of poverty, disease, sented Richman with a photo of chil- Hartford Doctoral Fellowship for her aging relatives. violence, racism, and other problems dren who have benefited from the dissertation research on how mid-life Much of Brazelton’s direct practice are especially difficult on children and increased ability of the many organiza- African-American women interpret and has been with African-American young people. The “2006 International tions he has influenced to develop disclose child- women in mid-life, and she has com- Child Welfare Conference: Global Issues good data and analysis. hood sexual pleted fieldwork practica in the areas of Facing Youth,” a day-long event on SSA alumna Irene Rizzini, A.M. abuse. homelessness and domestic violence. At Saturday, November 4 at SSA, took a ‘82, gave the keynote address at the Brazelton the University of Chicago, Brazelton hard look at these issues, bringing event, and Associate Professor Dexter hopes that her serves as a research assistant conduct- together child welfare scholars from Voisin was among the presenters. The research will ing in-home interviews for the Center around the world and graduate stu- conference was sponsored by the increase the for Interdisciplinary Health Disparities dents and practicing social workers School of Social Service Administration, understanding Research, lead by Professor Sarah from throughout the Chicago area. the Center for International Studies’ of how Gehlert, focusing on the higher rates Professor Emeritus Harold A. Norman Wait Harris Fund, the Chapin African- of breast cancer that African-American Richman was honored at the begin- Hall Center for Children, the Office of American Jewell Brazelton women in Chicago face. She also has ning of the conference for his extensive the Reynolds Club and Student women have served as a teaching assistant at SSA for work on behalf of children throughout Activities, and SSA’s student-run experienced this trauma while providing Assistant Professor Yoonsun Choi’s the world. Dean of SSA from 1969 to International Social Welfare group. a foundation for the future develop- research methods classes and lectured 1978, Richman also served as the ment of culturally sensitive interventions on qualitative research methods such as founding director of Chapin Hall and for them and their families. those she is using in her dissertation received the University of Chicago’s Brazelton noticed that African- research. Quantrell Award for Excellence in 2006-2007 Lecture American women were often under- “SSA has offered me a wonderful Teaching in 1990. Richman currently Series Features represented in empirical studies on opportunity to grow academically, and serves as chairman of the board of the childhood sexual abuse and disclosure. to hone my research and teaching Center for the Study of Social Policy in Distinguished Scholars When they were included they were skills,” Brazelton says. “The opportunity Washington, D.C., and is active in seven Each year, SSA sponsors a series of pub- often under the age of 35. Her research to interact with some of the premiere international child welfare organizations lic lectures on important issues in social considers the challenging issue of dis- professors in the nation is something in countries including South Africa, work and social justice. Last year’s closure of childhood sexual abuse for a for which I will always be grateful.” Jordan, Israel, and the United States. events addressed an especially wide

30 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 range of topics, from global warming to SSA Students Named for ten weeks will be one of the biggest from the department of social welfare racial politics to spirituality in social challenges of my life.” He notes, at Seoul National University in South work. Human Rights Interns however, that Aisha, a student in the Korea. Professor Ku holds a Ph.D. Jared Diamond, professor of SSA students were well represented University of Chicago Medical School, from the University of Washington in geography and physiology at the among the recipients of the University encouraged his application to the Seattle, and his research interests Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, gave of Chicago Human Rights Program Internship Program. include poverty, child welfare, and the Helen Harris Perlman Lecture on Awards, which provide a $5,000 grant “Namibia has some amazing social welfare policy. October 19. He spoke on “Collapse: for each student to spend the summer social workers and great opportunities Lorraine Waterhouse was a How Societies Choose to Fail or working on an international human for learning,” Reuler says, adding that visiting professor at SSA for the 2006 Succeed” based on his book of the rights issue aligned with his or her aca- he hopes to establish an ongoing Autumn Quarter. Professor same name. demic discipline, career goals, or per- partnership between agencies in Waterhouse currently holds the Froma Walsh, the Mose and sonal interests. One-quarter of the cam- Namibia and the University. appointment of professor of social Sylvia Firestone Professor at SSA and pus human rights internships went to In addition to financial support, work at the University of Edinburgh, the department of psychiatry, gave the SSA students. the University of Chicago Human Rights where she recently completed a term Ruth Knee Lecture on Spirituality and Two SSA students who won the Internship Program provides award as head of the School of Social and Social Work on November 9. She dis- award will be in Guatemala this recipients with services such as resume Political Studies. Her research interests cussed “The Spiritual Dimension in summer: Second-year student Emily translation and a student liaison who include child welfare and juvenile Suffering, Healing, and Resilience: Marion will work on children’s rights assists students throughout the year- justice. Expanding Clinical Theory and issues, while doctoral student Ben long process. Jessica Darrow, a sec- Sam Choi is a post-doctoral Practice.” Roth will address migrant rights. ond-year A.M./Ph.D. student, is the cur- scholar on the National Institute on Randall Kennedy, the Michael Second-year student Kristin Buller rent student coordinator and a previous Drug Abuse’s Women and Substance R. Klein Professor of Law at Harvard will work in a Cambodian women’s Human Rights Intern. Darrow spent last Abuse Treatment Services Project. University, delivered the Pastora San crisis center, and Xavier Williams, a summer in northern Rwanda working Choi was the recipient of the 2006 Juan Cafferty Lecture on Race and third-year student in the Extended for the American Refugee Committee Society for Social Work Research Ethnicity in American Life, on April 12. Evening Program, will focus on juvenile on HIV/AIDS awareness among refugee Outstanding Dissertation Award and His lecture was entitled “Sell Out: The justice issues in South Africa. popluations. completed her Ph.D. in August at the Politics of Racial Betrayal.” First-year student Ben Reuler, University of Illinois Urbana- Sharon Berlin, the Helen Ross who will work on violence prevention Champaign. While at SSA, she will Professor at SSA, concluded the lecture projects for UNICEF in Namibia’s capital SSA Welcomes also continue work on the Alcohol series with the Rhoda G. Sarnat Lecture city, Windhoek, has visited the country and Other Drug Abuse Waiver on June 2, during Alumni Weekend. twice before, as a student and as a Visiting Scholars Demonstration Project for the Illinois Her talk was entitled “Why Cognitive researcher. Reuler is eager to return but Inhoe Ku is a visiting professor at SSA Department of Children and Family Therapy Needs Social Work.” says, “Being away from my wife Aisha this year while continuing his sabbatical Services.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 31 the alumni community

Alumni Association News Alumni Updates

AA Board Welcomes New Members Paul Kusuda, A.M. ‘49, was recently program development efforts with a and Officers presented with a 2006 Community range of populations, including ChangeMaker Award by the Wisconsin preschoolers, school-aged children and At its annual meeting during Alumni Weekend, the SSA Alumni Community Fund for his work as an families, and the elderly. Jones was a Association elected new officers and members to fill the vacancies left by activist promoting Asian-American founding member of the board of members completing their terms of service. rights and culture and the rights of directors of the Illinois Center for Congratulations to older adults. During WWII, Kusuda and Violence Prevention, and served as Officers President Molly Baltman, A.M. ‘99 his family were sent to the Manzanar chair. She also is a founding board Vice-President Annie Rosenthal, A.M. ‘98 Relocation Camp for Japanese member of the Healthcare Consortium Secretary Tom Wedekind, A.M. ‘73 Americans. While there, he helped start of Illinois and serves on several other a school for the children living in the boards as well. Members Glenn Dillon, A.M. ‘05 camp. Kusuda left the camp to attend Doris W. Koo, A.M. ‘75, has been Elizabeth Frate, A.M. ‘06 SSA. Following graduation, he and his selected to lead Enterprise Community Allen Hernandez, A.M. ‘06 wife moved to Wisconsin, where he Partners, a national affordable housing Nicole Hrycyk, A.M. ‘04 worked for 35 years with the Wisconsin and community development organiza- Terri Travis-Davis, A.M. ‘99 Department of Health and Human tion. Prior to her selection as president Services, retiring in 1987. Kusuda has Our sincere gratitude to those who completed their terms of service and CEO of the group, Koo served as remained active, particularly around on the Alumni Association Board executive vice president, overseeing the issues of aging, earning accolades from Harley Grant, A.M. ‘96 organization’s Gulf Coast rebuilding ini- other organizations such as the Timothy Hilton, A.M. ‘97 tiative, as well as activities in California, Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, Marilyn Omahen, A.M. ‘78 Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, which gave him and his wife the 2004 Margaret “Peggy” Philip, A.M. ‘00 and Washington. Koo is a nationally Award for Leadership. A contributing Will Weder, A.M. ‘70 respected leader with nearly 30 years of writer to Asian Wisconzine, Kusuda was experience in the field of affordable given the 2005 Editor’s Award. In 2006 housing and community development. he received the Dane County Martin Enterprise is a leading provider of the Luther King, Jr. Recognition Award. development capital and expertise it Barbara Jackson, A.M. ‘69, joined takes to create decent, affordable nine other social workers on a two- homes and rebuild communities. week trip to Durban, South Africa, in July 2006, sponsored by NASW-IL, part Tom Scott, A.M. ‘75, was recently of an exchange program with social elected President of Housing California, service providers from South Africa. the leading statewide advocacy organi- Jackson is a member of the committee zation for affordable homes for low African-American Alumni Committee Forms hosting a reciprocal group from Durban income families, seniors, and the dis- and possibly Casablanca in Chicago this abled in California. He was also award- Establishing and strengthening connections among SSA’s African-American summer. The visitors’ itinerary includes a ed a Fannie Mae Foundation Fellowship alumni, and engaging under-represented groups with the School are two visit to SSA to discuss diversity in to Harvard’s Kennedy School of of the motivations behind the formation of a new committee of the human services. Jackson is a master Government Executive Education Alumni Association. Renée Rose, A.M. ‘04, is chairing the new practitioner instructor for field work at Program for Senior Executives in State committee, whose members are working to develop a mission and vision SSA, coordinating the School’s partner- and Local Government. statement for the group. More information about forthcoming events and ship with the Revere Community activities will be included in SSA’s electronic newsletter, or you can find out Pat Dowell, A.M. ‘80, was elected to School. more by contacting the group at [email protected]. the Chicago City Council on April 17, Colleen M. Jones, A.M. ‘74, was after a runoff election against Alderman Members include recently presented with the Social Dorothy Tillman. Dowell is a community Alvinnetta Burks, A.M. ‘79 April Porter, A.M. ‘01 Worker of the Year Award by the Illinois field coordinator at SSA and has been a Misty Drake, A.M. ‘00 Dhamana Shauri, A.M. ‘98 Chapter of the National Association of long-time activist in the area of commu- Gregory Gaither, A.M. ‘84 Ray Thompson, A.M. ‘03 Social Workers. Jones is the executive nity and economic development. She is Tawakulitu Jogunosimi, A.M. ‘01 Terri Travis-Davis, A.M. ‘99 vice-president and chief operating offi- also a former deputy planning commis- Erwin McEwen, A.M. ‘98 Quenette Walton, A.M. ‘04 cer of Metropolitan Family Services in sioner for the city and served as execu- Theresa Matthews, A.M. ‘98 Monico Monae Whittington- Chicago, where she has worked since tive director of the Near West Side Denice Murray, A.M. ‘98 Eskridge, A.M. ‘96 1974. She is particularly known for her Community Development Corporation.

32 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 Lucy Steinitz, Ph.D. ‘80, was recent- Juvenile Justice and Delinquency ly featured in the Baltimore Jewish Prevention. Chaired by the U.S. Thanks to Alumni Career Volunteers Times for her work in Namibia. Steinitz Attorney General, the council coordi- SSA wishes to thank all the alumni who volunteered their time in Winter moved with her family to Namibia in nates all federal juvenile delinquency Quarter to assist students with networking, job search strategies, and advice 1997, where she worked with UNICEF prevention and detention programs. As on career paths. As an essential part of the SSA community, these alumni’s to publish one of the first studies about executive vice-president for Treatment participation made the networking events, career luncheons, and Washington orphans in that country. Steinitz was Alternatives for Safe Communities of Week resounding successes and helped the next generation of social work also instrumental in establishing Illinois, which serves adults and youth leaders find their way. Namibia’s first church-based response to with substance use and mental health the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which has disorders, Rodriguez oversees service Roxanne Alvarez, A.M. ‘00 Christopher Link, A.M. ‘06 grown since its inception to become a delivery to more than 30,000 individu- Deborah Anderson-Irving, A.M. ‘95 Tiffanie Luckett, A.M. ‘01 role model for other organizations. als who are referred by the courts, cor- Gina Anselmo, A.M. ‘98 David Lysy, A.M. ‘05 rections, and child welfare systems. Caleb Avraham, A.M. ‘06 Sara Manewith, A.M. ‘97 Sunny Fischer, A.M. ‘82, has Rodriguez also serves as a member of Molly Baltman, A.M. ‘99 Sarah Marshall, A.M. ‘04 received the 2007 Visionary Award the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission Kiley Bednar, A.M. ‘03 Stan McCracken, A.M. ‘78, Ph.D. ‘87 from Rape Victim Advocates in recogni- and the oversight board for Redeploy Moushumi Beltangady, A.M. ‘03 Araceli Ramirez Med, A.M. ‘05 tion for her long-time efforts to end Illinois, an initiative to reduce youth Debra Berth-Mallek, A.M. ‘99 Judith Meltzer, A.M. ‘71 violence against women. Fischer began incarceration by supporting local efforts Tatjana Bicanin, A.M. ‘04 Marcy Mistrett, A.M. ‘95 her career as an activist against domes- to offer community-based treatment for Courtney Bledsoe, A.M. ‘04 Emily Niederman, A.M. ‘03 tic violence, was the founding executive juvenile offenders. Ilana Gotz Bodini, A.M. ‘03 Sara Oberst, A.M. ‘04 director of the Sophia Fund—one of Linda Bowen, A.M. ‘82 Marilyn Omahen, A.M. ‘78 the first private women’s foundations in David. W. Engstrom, A.M. ‘83, Aviva Cahn, A.M. ‘93 Neelam Patel, A.M. ‘05 the nation—and the co-founder of the Ph.D. ‘92, and Lissette M. Piedra, Lekesha Campbell, A.M. ‘04 Jacquelynn Payne, A.M. ‘05 Chicago Foundation for Women. Ph.D. ‘06, co-edited Our Diverse Seth Chamberlain, A.M. ‘04 Nancy Perlson, A.M. ‘05 Fischer is currently the executive direc- Society: Race and Ethnicity— Peter Chapman, A.M. ‘86 Scott Petersen, A.M. ‘02 tor of the Richard H. Driehaus Implications for 21st Century American Iris Chavez, A.M. ‘05 Peggy Philip, A.M. ‘00 Foundation and serves on the boards Society, a new book recently published Jessica Chen, A.M. ‘03 April Porter, A.M. ‘01 of several organizations, including the by the National Association of Social E. Tyna Coles, A.M. ‘73 Heather Powers, A.M. ‘04 Family Violence Prevention Fund and Workers. Dedicated to SSA Professor Pamela J. Cook, A.M. ‘05 Ellyce Roitman, A.M. ‘92 the Sargent Shriver National Center on Emerita Pastora San Juan Cafferty, Tammy Cook, A.M. ‘94 Renée Rose, A.M. ‘04 Poverty Law, of which she is the chair. the volume is a response to The Diverse Robert Cordero, A.M. ‘97 Laura Rosenfeld, A.M. ‘01 Fischer is a member of SSA’s Visiting Society: Implications for Social Policy, a Marcella Douce, A.M. ‘02 Martha Ross, A.M. ‘99 Committee. ground-breaking book co-edited by Misty Drake, A.M. ‘00 Bina Rubinson, A.M. ‘06 Carole Dunn-Seddon, A.M. ‘79 Elizabeth Scheibe, A.M. ‘03 Irene Rizzini, A.M. ‘82, gave the Cafferty and Leon Chestang. Engstrom Andrea Durbin-Odom, A.M. ‘93 Richard Scott, A.M. ‘96 keynote address and presented an edu- is an associate professor of social work Paul Fagen, A.M. ‘98 Mara Siler-Price, A.M. ‘01 cational session at “2006 International at San Diego State University, and Eric Foster, A.M. ‘03 F. Grace Air Solares, A.M. ‘05 Child Welfare Conference: Global Issues Piedra is an assistant professor at the Heather Fraser, A.M. ‘04 Mary Pat Sullivan, A.M. ‘97 Facing Youth” (see page 30). Rizzini is a University of Illinois at Urbana- Jay A. Freedman, Ph.D. ‘82 Andrea Taylor, A.M. ‘05 professor of social work at the Pontifical Champaign. E. Aracelis Francis, A.M. ‘64 Heather Tompkins, A.M. ‘06 Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Lieutenant Colonel David Rabb, Harley Grant, A.M. ‘96 Benjamin J. Topp, A.M. ‘05 and currently is serving as an interna- A.M. ‘85, has received a Bronze Star Tim Hilton, A.M. ‘97 Tracy Tucker, A.M. ‘04 tional fellow for the Kellogg Institute at from the U.S. Marine Corps for his Nicole Hrycyk, A.M. ‘04 Kim Riordan Van Horn, A.M. ‘95 the University of Notre Dame. In 1984 leadership in the Iraq war. LTC Rabb has Phyllis Johnson, A.M. ‘78 Bonnie Wade, A.M. ‘04 Rizzini founded the Center for Research served for the past 18 years with the Melissa Johnston, A.M. ‘03 Katherine Wagner, A.M. ‘06 on Children, today known as the 785th Medical Company, U.S. Army Carol Jones, A.M. ‘82 Steven Wallman, A.M. ‘94 International Center for Research and Reserves at Fort Snelling, Minn., includ- Anju Khubchandani, A.M. ‘95 Terri Webb, A.M. ‘06 Policy on Childhood (CIESPI), and she is ing the past four years as the unit’s Kristen Kainer, A.M. ‘04 Tom Wedekind, A.M. ‘73 president of Childwatch International commander. The primary mission of the Virginia Karl, A.M. ‘40 Will Weder, A.M. ‘70 Research Network, a consortium of 50 785th is to provide combat stress con- Lynn Kim, A.M. ‘97 Renita White, A.M. ‘93 child welfare institutes in 45 countries. trol services and treat soldiers with Patricia King, A.M. ‘04 Nicole Williams, A.M. ‘06 Pamela Fladeland Rodriguez, combat stress and battle fatigue. Ruth Knee, A.M. ‘45 Susan Wilschke, A.M. ‘98 A.M. ‘82, was recently named one of Following a one-year deployment in Jessica Kuendig, A.M. ‘06 Keith Witham, A.M. ‘06 nine juvenile justice experts appointed Iraq, the unit earned the U.S. Army Tanya Larson-Topp, A.M. ‘04 Laura Zumdahl, A.M. ‘04 to the federal Coordinating Council on Meritorious Unit Commendation. Anna Marie Lawrence, A.M. ‘03

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 33 the alumni community

In 2005, LTC Rabb received the Social Implemented.” Maxwell is the regional interviewed on NPR's Latino USA pro- providing care to patients who have had Worker of the Year Award from the inspector general for the U.S. gram in a show that aired on April 29. joint replacements and spinal surgeries. Minnesota Chapter of the National Department of Health and Human She discussed Amigas Latinas for a Prior to her new position at RIC, Jeskey Association of Social Workers, and in Services. story on Latino LGBT issues. Amigas worked in an employee assistance pro- 2006 he completed the Veterans Latinas is an outreach and advocacy gram as a counselor and stress-manage- The debut novel by Ben Tanzer, A.M. Administration’s National Leadership organization devoted to lesbian, bisexu- ment workshop facilitator. She has also ‘96, Lucky Man, was published in Program. In January 2007, LTC Rabb al, and questioning Latina women; taught yoga since 1999 to adults and March by Manx Media. The novel fol- relinquished command of the 785th Cardona was among the founders of children with and without special needs, lows four friends from the final days of Medical Company and remains in the the organization and serves as the and in corporate settings. high school through their first years out Army Reserves, serving as the 330th treasurer of its board of directors. of college. Tanzer lives, works, and Joe Strickland, A.M. ‘02, was Brigade chief social worker/operational Cardona is also a senior program officer blogs in Chicago with his wife and among the panelists at the annual combat stress control consultant at Fort at the Polk Bros. Foundation in young sons. He can be reached at ben- Chicago Dinners event organized by the Sheridan, Ill. In his civilian job, LTC Rabb Chicago. tanzer.blogspot.com. Community and Economic Development is the executive assistant for the under Ron Huberman, A.M. ‘00, M.B.A. Organization, a student group at SSA secretary for the health diversity adviso- Carol St. Amant, A.M. ‘97, has ‘00, was appointed by Mayor Daley to and the Harris School. Strickland is the ry board of the Office of Management retired from her long-time position at head the Chicago Transit Authority on founder and CEO of Metropolitan Area Support. the Illinois Department of Children and April 19. He has been serving as Mayor Group for Igniting Civilization, an organ- Family Services. For the past four years, Daley’s chief of staff for the past two Ann Maxwell, A.M. ‘96, gave a ization based in the Chicago community she has been a part-time lecturer at years. Prior to that, Huberman was presentation to students and faculty as of Woodlawn with a mission to organ- Knox College, where she teaches a head of the city’s Office of Emergency a part of the University of Chicago ize residents of the neighborhood and two-term course Social Service and Communications (including the 911 Graduate Program in Health surrounding areas to stimulate social Internship, combining classroom educa- call center) and a senior official in the Administration and Policy’s Ray E. change. tion in the social service system with a Chicago Police Department. Brown Fellows speaker series. Her Robin Tillotson, A.M. ‘02, was five-month community internship expe- February 27 talk was entitled Caren Jeskey, A.M. ‘02, is currently recently appointed to the board of riential learning component. St. Amant “Evaluating within the Office of working at the Rehabilitation Institute directors for Little Brothers Friends of has also recently begun consulting for Inspector General, Medicaid Drug of Chicago as a care manager for the Elderly. Her responsibilities will private child welfare organizations. Pricing: The Success and Failure of patients with a variety of diagnoses and include chairing the service delivery Getting Your Recommendations Evette Cardona, A.M. '98, was rehabilitation needs, and their families, committee.

Maintain the Connection: Remember to stay in touch with the SSA community by sending your news to [email protected].

34 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 in memoriam

SSA has recently learned of the death and was enjoying retirement from his of Grace Angle, A.M. ‘34. career as a social worker with H.I.P. of Greater New York. Olive Swinney, A.M. ‘37, died on February 8, 2007 at the age of 97. SSA has recently learned of the death Swinney began her social work career of Thelma Danilson, A.M. ‘48. during the Great Depression, directing Nancy Sperling Scheftner, A.M. federal relief programs in Minot, N.D., ‘66, died on April 6, 2007. After grad- and the coalfields of West Virginia. After uating from SSA, she worked at the graduating from SSA, she and her hus- Madden Mental Health Center in band moved to Washington, D.C., where Hines, Ill., and the Stickney Mental she devoted herself to social justice caus- Health Center in Burbank, Ill. She es, including improved housing and serv- became a dedicated docent at the ices for low-income families. Swinney Brookfield Zoo, where her memorial was known for her slide show “In the service was held on April 14. Shadow of the Nation’s Capitol,” which revealed slum dwellings, outhouses, and Jane Roiter, A.M. ‘72, died on destitute women and children living in March 8, 2007. For many years, Roiter alleys, as a part of her campaign to was a clinical social worker in private improve public housing in Washington. practice. She was very involved in the She retired in the 1970s from her posi- Illinois Society for Clinical Social Work, Friend of SSA tion as a senior official with the U.S. including most recently serving as the David Green, A.B. ‘42, A.M. ‘49, died on March 26, 2007. An Department of Health, Education, and organization’s president. Among her entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political advisor, Green was a noteworthy Welfare. In retirement, Swinney and her other contributions to the Society, she presence in Chicago and Illinois. He founded Quartet Manufacturing Co., husband remained active and dedicated organized a popular series of Sunday which made bulletin boards and other office products, and built it into a to improving the lives of others. Together seminars that served as a professional $150 million company before selling it in 1997. Green played a significant they accepted a two-year assignment resource for social workers in private role in electing Dan Walker as governor of Illinois in 1972 and also served with the World Council of Churches to practice. Roiter also served as an as an advisor to presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Green evaluate medical mission programs in adjunct faculty member at Kendall was a noted philanthropist who supported several Chicago institutions, more than 50 countries. Swinney was College and National-Louis University. including his alma mater. In 2005, Green and his wife, SSA Visiting also a long-time volunteer with Common In 1997, she earned her Ph.D. from Committee member Mary Winton Green, A.M. ‘49, established the Cause, working to enact campaign the Institute for Clinical Social Work. David and Mary Winton Green Professorship to support the work of a finance reform, and in her retirement distinguished clinical faculty member at the School, one of three named home, advocating for improved services Elizabeth Ann “Beth” Kutza, professorships the Greens established in recent years at the University of for the residents. She is survived by her Ph.D. ‘77, died on June 9, 2006. Chicago. The couple also provided crucial sponsorship for SSA’s daughter, son, and four grandchildren. Kutza was a nationally known expert on the social and public policy issues groundbreaking field education initiative, as well as student scholarship SSA has recently learned of the death of affecting the elderly and a strong aid. He is survived by his wife, Mary Winton Green; a daughter, two sons, Josephine Riggins, EX ‘39. advocate on behalf of the aging. After and their spouses; and eight grandchildren. earning her Ph.D., Kutza taught at Robert (Bob) S. Burgess, A.M. ‘43, SSA from 1976 through 1987, leaving passed away on December 25, 2006, in Achievement” by the Portland YMCA. University and Argosy University. to become a professor and director of Hanover, N.H., at the age of 90. Burgess SSA has established a memorial fund the Institute of Aging at Portland State began his career as a field secretary for to honor her life and her contributions SSA has recently learned of the University. She was widely sought after the American Friends Service Committee. to the fields of aging and social work. death of Wendy Friedman, A.M. as a consultant for Congressional and He then worked for the Illinois Board of Contributions to the Elizabeth Kutza ‘02, on January 8, 2007. Cabinet-level offices on issues such as Welfare Commissioners before returning Fund will support the work of Ph.D. health care policy for the elderly and Edward Averette, A.M. ‘04, died to Rhode Island as assistant warden at students at SSA. For more informa- the societal impact of the aging Baby on February 6, 2007. Averette was the Correctional Institution and then as tion, please contact 773.834.1763. Boomers. Kutza was a member of the one of the first African-Americans to supervisor to the Department of Public Gerontological Society of America, the Phyllis Ham Garth, A.M. ‘90, died attend the United States Merchant Assistance. Burgess served on the Association for Public Policy and in January 2007. From 1997 to 2002, Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.; National Association of Social Workers Management, and the American Garth taught “Human, Social, and he served in the United States Navy. board from 1969 to 1972, and three of Society on Aging, where she chaired Economic Diversity: Implications for He also worked as a college profes- his four children followed him into the the editorial board for its journal Policy and Practice” at SSA as an sor, an administrator, and a social profession of social work. Generations. Kutza served on the adjunct instructor. She earned her worker. Averette attended Columbia SSA has recently learned of the death boards of several nonprofit organiza- Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University College in Chicago and was pursuing of Jack M. Kaplan, A.M. ‘47, on tions, and received numerous honors in adult continuing education, and a Ph.D. at Clark Atlanta University. December 4, 2004. At the time of his and awards throughout her career, went on to teach at other area institu- Survivors include his brother, Arvis death, Kaplan was living in Teaneck, N.J, including being named a “Woman of tions, including Northern Illinois Averette, A.M. ‘78.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 35 behind the numbers BY HAROLD POLLACK

mericans with intellectual Yet they left key vulnerabilities unad- make this transition harder and more Parents also need practical help disabilities have made dressed. One serious problem arises painful than it needs to be. in monitoring available services. great progress towards from the sharply improved health of The essential challenge is to make Movement to community-based services full citizenship. Long- intellectually disabled people. Fifty years residential services sufficiently attractive presents caregivers with a bewildering Ashunned by local schools, children with ago, infants born with intellectual dis- and available that families are able and array of choices they are ill-equipped to intellectual disabilities have won the abilities typically died quite young due willing to choose these options while make well. Across the country, residen- right to appropriate education at public to cardiac defects and other morbidi- they are still capable of providing care tial care is provided through 140,000 expense. Once marginalized from work- ties. Over time, however, medical inno- at home. When a parent can form last- providers. Few caregivers can scrutinize places and other aspects of common vations produced dramatic increases in ing partnerships with professional care- whether they are getting the right serv- life, they have achieved legislation such longevity. By the 1970s, the majority of givers, she is spared many fears about ices. The professionals charged to help as the Americans with Disabilities Act people with intellectual disabilities were what will happen once she is gone. Her families navigate care systems may be which symbolize and enforce inclusion. adults. Today, many will outlive their child is also spared, because the sad- equally unable to find the best option Mass media, once dominated by fearful or freakish imagery, now often depict intellectually disabled people as valuable and productive citizens. Once excluded from medical and social services, people with intellectual disabilities enjoy broad Future Tense access to cash aid and other services: What looms ahead for intellectually disabled Inflation-adjusted public spending for people with intellectual disability has people and their aging caregivers been rising 10 percent annually for 25 years and enjoys broad support. Perhaps most striking has been in intellectually disabled citizens live with caregivers who are older than age 60 support for family care. In 1960, the 711,000 birth of an intellectually disabled child was seen as a private tragedy. Parents parents or live long enough that their ness of a parent’s infirmity or death will in such a system. were expected to care for the child as aged parents can no longer provide not be compounded by a simultaneous In the end, one must confront the best they could, for as long as they proper care in the family home. and drastic life change. bad experience many families have with could, or they placed the child into insti- Census data indicate that 711,000 public caregiving systems. Despite tutional care. Professionals typically intellectually disabled people (including Obstacles in Policy decades of progress, many families advised the latter course. Periodic 30,000 in Illinois) live with family care- How can public policies help families experience available services as unhelp- exposes revealed appalling conditions in givers older than 60 years of age. navigate this transition? One obstacle is ful and, often, inaccessible and unwel- state homes for the retarded and similar Growing numbers of families feature a simple denial. No one likes to face the coming. Despite steady increases in facilities. Yet in the absence of feasible physically challenged 75-year-old parent prospect of one’s death or infirmity, funding, states provide sufficient alternatives, many parents saw institu- who cares for—and often is helped particularly when the prospect implies a resources to keep clients clean and safe, tionalization as the only available by—an intellectually disabled son or frightening loss of control over the care but not much more. Workers on the choice. daughter. Every year, tens of thousands of one’s child. Public care systems miss front lines of community-based care By the 1970s, however, the advent of aged caregivers die, ending the only many opportunities to engage families earn an average hourly wage of $8.68, of Supplemental Security Income and caregiving arrangement an intellectually in addressing these concerns. with corrosive consequences for morale, the emergence of community services disabled person has ever known. Greater difficulties are posed by professionalism, and skill. In failing to gave families real choices. Millions of Surprisingly little research has social service systems, which often pro- show a human face, we encourage people who might have been been done about how families address vide little reason for caregivers to seek caregivers themselves to turn away, to institutionalized in an earlier era came inexorable realities of human frailty and help. Long waiting lists for basic servic- use services grudgingly, to try to ride to live with their parents or in group death. Available data indicate that es pose large barriers for many families. things out in the family home. homes, achieving higher functioning many families are unprepared. Many Almost 60,000 people nationally are Harold Pollack is an associate and better quality of life than was parents lack an explicit plan. Many have now on waiting lists for residential serv- professor in the School of Social previously thought possible. neglected the mechanics of wills, ices. Given such scarcity, states under- Service Administration and faculty changes in guardianship, special needs standably prioritize emergency cases, chair of the Center for Health Growing Older trusts, and similar matters. In many thus undermining efforts to make Administration Studies. These achievements deserve celebration. ways, public policies and interventions smooth transitions before a crisis hits.

36 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 Administration Officers of Instruction 2006-2007 Visiting of the School Committee 2006-2007 2006-2007

JEANNE C. MARSH BETH ANGELL, Ph.D. MELISSA RODERICK, Ph.D. VALERIE JARRETT Dean Assistant Professor Hermon Dunlap Smith Professor Chairman SHARON B. BERLIN, Ph.D. TINA L. RZEPNICKI, Ph.D. SARAH GEHLERT Helen Ross Professor David and Mary Winton Green DONNA E. BARROWS Deputy Dean for Research WILLIAM BORDEN, Ph.D. Professor FRANK M. CLARK TINA RZEPNICKI Senior Lecturer GINA M. SAMUELS, Ph.D. PETER H. DARROW Deputy Dean EVELYN Z. BRODKIN, Ph.D. Assistant Professor JAMES DIMON for Faculty and Academic Affairs Associate Professor WILLIAM SITES, Ph.D. JUDITH K. DIMON KAREN TEIGISER E. SUMMERSON CARR, Ph.D. Associate Professor ARNE DUNCAN Deputy Dean Assistant Professor MICHAEL SOSIN, Ph.D. SUNNY FISCHER for the Master’s Program ROBERT J. CHASKIN, Ph.D. Emily Klein Gidwitz Professor DR. BETSY R. GIDWITZ PENNY RUFF JOHNSON Associate Professor KAREN TEIGISER, A.M. MARY WINTON GREEN Dean of Students YOONSUN CHOI, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer CYNTHIA GREENLEAF SYDNEY HANS Assistant Professor DEXTER VOISIN, Ph.D. RICHARD JONES Chair of the Doctoral Program MARK E. COURTNEY, Ph.D. Associate Professor IRIS J. KRIEG MICHAEL SOSIN McCormick Tribune Professor FROMA WALSH, Ph.D. JOSEPH G. LOUNDY Editor of Social Service Review MALITTA ENGSTROM, Ph.D. Mose and Sylvia Firestone Professor AMY S. LUBIN STEPHEN GILMORE Assistant Professor HENRY WEBBER, A.M. LINDA KELLY LYMBURN Associate Dean for External Affairs ROBERT P. FAIRBANKS II, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer KITTY B. MANN KEITH MADDEROM Assistant Professor SUZANNE MUCHIN Associate Dean for Administration SARAH GEHLERT, Ph.D. Faculty Emeriti TERRY PETERSON SUE FOURNIER Professor IRENE ELKIN, Ph.D. BRIAN P. SIMMONS Assistant Dean for Administration COLLEEN GROGAN, Ph.D. Professor Emerita HEATHER STEANS and Director of Grants and Contracts Associate Professor PAUL GITLIN, D.S.W. REV. RICHARD L. TOLLIVER MICHAEL JOGERST NEIL GUTERMAN, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus DAVID J. VITALE Assistant Dean and Professor LAURENCE E. LYNN, JR., Ph.D. GAIL WALLER Director of Career Services SYDNEY L. HANS, Ph.D. Sydney Stein, Jr. Life Members LINDA CLUM Associate Professor Professor Emeritus Director of Admissions JULIA R. HENLY, Ph.D. ELSIE M. PINKSTON, Ph.D. DANIEL ALVAREZ, SR. CHRISTINA COLE Associate Professor Professor Emerita SHIRLEY R. BRUSSELL Director of Alumni Affairs and PENNY RUFF JOHNSON, Ph.D. WILLIAM POLLAK, Ph.D. ELIZABETH M. BUTLER the Annual Fund Lecturer Associate Professor Emeritus CHARLES R. FELDSTEIN ANDREA DURBIN-ODOM WALDO E. JOHNSON, JR., Ph.D. HAROLD A. RICHMAN, Ph.D. NANCY J. JOHNSTONE Director of Communications Associate Professor Hermon Dunlap Smith ANN DIBBLE JORDAN RICHARD KASS SUSAN J. LAMBERT, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus ELLIOT LEHMAN Director of Information Technologies Associate Professor MARGARET K. ROSENHEIM, J.D. MRS. BEATRICE CUMMINGS SUSAN KNIGHT JUDITH LEVINE, Ph.D. Helen Ross Professor Emerita MAYER Director of Field Education Assistant Professor PASTORA SAN JUAN JEAN S. MELTZER BRANDIE EGAN JEANNE C. MARSH, Ph.D. CAFFERTY, Ph.D. ARTHUR E. RASMUSSEN, JR. Assistant Director of Continuing George Herbert Jones Professor Professor Emerita JAMES T. RHIND Education and Communications STANLEY MCCRACKEN, Ph.D. JOHN R. SCHUERMAN, Ph.D. DOROTHY W. RUNNER QUENETTE WALTON Senior Lecturer Professor Emeritus REV. DR. KENNETH B. SMITH, SR. Assistant Director of Admissions JENNIFER MOSLEY, Ph.D. BERNECE K. SIMON, A.M. BERNICE T. WEISSBOURD EILEEN LIBBY Assistant Professor Samuel Deutsch Professor Emerita MAYNARD I. WISHNER Librarian DOLORES G. NORTON, Ph.D. MARY LOUISE SOMERS, BEVERLY MASON Samuel Deutsch Professor D.S.W., D.H.L. Office Manager VIRGINIA PARKS, Ph.D. Professor Emerita Assistant Professor IRVING SPERGEL, Ph.D. HAROLD POLLACK, Ph.D. George Herbert Jones Professor Associate Professor Emeritus THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION SSA/CHICAGO

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 969 East 60th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637

www.ssa.uchicago.edu