Annotated Bibliography

What new sources did you include in your annotated bibliography?

 

   This week I received two books that I requested through Leatherby Library.  The Child's Journey

 

Through Care and Let's Get This Straight.  These were two new sources that added to the information

 

I have been seeking.

 

What gaps did they fill in your research? 

 

   The first book addressed specific 'stability' in the placement and care planning of youth in the foster

 

care system.  The second book took a look at broader placements and treatment of LGBTQ teens

 

including adoption and residential placement. 

 

What are three major findings of your research (brief bullet points are appropriate for this post)?

 

• LGBTQ adolescents have different needs
• LGBTQ teens are treated differently while in the system of care
• The system of care, throughout the world, is lacking in training, information and proper care of this vulnerable population

 

What aspects of your research question remain unanswered or require further research?

 

   I am fully satisfied that my research question has been answered in its entirety.

 

 

RESEARCH QUESTION 

Are there different needs for LGBTQ adolescents in the Foster Care System?

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY & ANNOTATION

 

Berrick, Jill Dueer . “Take Me Home.” Protecting America’s Vulnerable Children and Families

      New York  Oxford University Press, 2009. 

      Jill Berrick is able to delicately, insightfully and clearly disseminate the key issues that

      confront our children in the welfare system. Take Me Home consists of six easy to read

      chapters that take a look at the difficulties in our nation within this system of foster care.

      Reunification is a covered topic and the way in which the entire system needs an overhaul.

      The information found in this book dove-tailed the prior research and resources that have

      been discovered thus far.

 Iwaniec, Dorota.  “The Child’s Journey Through Care: Placement Stability, Care Planning, and

       Achieving Permanency.”  Queen’s University, Balfast. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2006.

       Children’s journeys are followed throughout the system of care and the problems that

       follow these children including behavioral and emotional problems.  The given rights of

       these children while in the care of the state and the children’s own participation in some

      decision-making issues help those who work in the system as social workers.  Experience in

      the court system is a part of the documentation and the ways in which these children can be

      supported while experiencing this additional arm of transition.

 Mallon, Gerald P.  “Entering into a Collaborative Search for Meaning with Gay & Lesbian

       Youth in Out of Home Care”, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal 14 (1997): 427-

       444

       This article offers a ‘model of training’ for child welfare workers using an empowerment

       approach.  This model is a three hour training in which LGBTQ youth experts train the

       ‘professionals’.  The training focuses on the needs of this population, ways in which to

       address these needs and the need for responding in a more competent manner to these needs

       within this population of youth. This article and the information is dynamic and useful as

       those youth in the system of care are the ones to share and teach from first-hand experience.

 Mallon, Gerald P.  “Let’s Get This Straight: A Gay and Lesbian-Affirming Approach to Child

         Welfare. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.

        Child welfare professionals are once again given ways within their practices to being

        effective and affirming to the adolescents who are in their care and the care of the state.

       Ways in which this population has continuously been ignored, seen as less than  and the

       considerably complex situations that arise while they are in the care of the child welfare

       system, are brought forward in a direct manner through Gerald P. Mallon’s writings,

       trainings and expertise in the field of Social work.  This is the third writing of Mr. Mallon I

       have used as a resource.  He is ‘spot on’ and, being an expert in his field, has invalid and

       informational examples of the ways in which we can move forward making a difference in

       the lives of these teens.

 Mallon, Gerald P.  “Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bones: Verbal Harassment and Physical

       Violence in the Lives of Gay and Lesbian Youths in Child Welfare Settings.”  Journal of

       Gay and Lesbian Social Services 1-2,  no.13 (2001):  63-81

       Through interviews with 88 child welfare workers/professionals and 54 youth, this is an article

       that explores the LGBTQ population of youths who are in the child welfare system.  The

       three cities explored are New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto.  All of these youth have

       experienced and been subjected to both verbal and physical harassment within these systems

       of care. The author, after studying and hearing the stories of these youth within the system

       and families, begins to offer recommendations to social work practitioners in creating

       affirming environments for the LGBTQ population of youth.  Extremely useful information

      from a professional who takes the time to ‘listen’ to the youth who have experienced this

      system of ‘care’.

 Nowacki, Katja, and Schoelmerich, Axel.  “Growing up in foster families of institutions:

       Attachment representation and psychological adjustment of young adults.”  Attachment and

       Human Development 12, no. 6, (2007): 551-566. University of applied sciences and arts,

       Dortmund, Germany (Nowacki, Katja) Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany

       (Schoelmerich, A).

       This is a study that was performed in Germany on 48 young adults who either grew up in

       foster homes or in institutions.  The findings show and support that a stable environment

       such as a foster family would be advantageous in the long run for the psychological

       development of a child rather than being reared in an institution.  This study, though

       performed in another country other than the USA, shows that the basic needs of youth in out

       of home care systems, is the same.

 

Michele K. Waite,  http://www.michele302lbsu.blogspot.com