Required Paper

SOCW 517: PRACTICE WITH FAMILY VIOLENCE, NEGLECT, AND ABUSE

Requirements & Grading

Final Paper
Practitioner Interview
Final Presentation
Participation

All students will be held accountable for adhering to academic and nonacademic standards of conduct as described in the JACSW Student Handbook

FINAL PAPER (50% of grade, due April 29): 12-16 pages of text excluding title page and references, in APA format. The paper will be focused on a practice issue within one of the areas covered in this course: intimate partner violence, child maltreatment, sexual assault, elder abuse, or the overlap of substance abuse and family violence. Papers should address, minimally: the current state of knowledge in this practice area, including research in support of practice; best practice in this area as it is currently understood; practice issues, controversies, or areas where practice is unclear; JACSW mission-specific issues related to this area (i.e., issues related to urban practice, minorities, GLBT, women, and the poor); and, social work’s contribution or perspective on this area.

All papers must be accompanied by a separate signed statement indicating: (1) the paper is original, (2) no part of the paper was taken directly and uncredited from the Internet or any other source, and (3) no part of the paper, nor a earlier version of the paper, has been previously submitted for credit in any other course. Group papers are an option. If the final paper is a group project, only one paper will be submitted and every member of the group will receive the same grade. In the case of group papers, please add to the above signed statement: (4) the distribution of work (as a percent) for each group member, totaling 100% for the group.

PRACTITIONER INTERVIEW Conduct an in-depth interview (20% of grade, due March 25) of an advocate or practitioner in a public or non-profit agency or program focused on preventing or treating family violence. [The following people are excluded as possible interview subjects: JACSW full time faculty members, the student’s immediate field instructor and/or immediate supervisor, and guest presenters in SocW 517]. Write up a critical synopsis of the interview [5-8 typed, double-spaced pages]. The instructor will assist students in locating a person to interview if needed. Guidelines for interviews will be distributed in class. Group interviews are not an option.

Interview ideas

CLASS PRESENTATIONS (20% of grade, April 22 and April 29). Students will select from any of several areas of interest and present for 5 to 10 minutes. Presenters should provide a 1-page handout for each student outlining key points or areas of discussion and several key references. Ideally, the discussion will focus on the area the presenter is researching for his or her paper, and in which their interview was condeucted. Discussions of best practice principles gleaned from field interviews, experience, and research are most welcome. Group presentations are an option, but the time should reflect the larger group. For example, a group of three students who are co-authoring a final paper entitled “Social Work Practice Issues with Cases of Child Maltreatment in Asian Immigrant Families” may want to lead a discussion of key practice issues in this area based on the results of their three interviews with practitioners, the results of their literature search, and their own experience in the field. With three presenters, this presentation will last 15-30 minutes, but may be presented in the way the presenters believe would be most interesting and most informative to their colleagues.

PARTICIPATION (10% of grade–please initial the attendance sheet) Attend class and participate in discusssions