Policy and Practice Brief Issue Five: How Social Workers Can Create Immigrant-Friendly Communities

The Trump administration has signaled a change in immigration policy to increase enforcement as well as reduce numbers of legal immigrants. However, local governments and community-based organizations have been working to create immigrant friendly communities. This is consistent with social work values and ethics around nondiscrimination and cultural competence. We present an overview of changes to immigration policy at the national level, an overview of immigrant-friendly community initiatives, and close with ways social workers can practice cultural competence around immigration.

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Policy and Practice Brief Issue Four: Diversion of Individuals with Mental Illness from the Criminal Justice System

The past four decades have seen an exponential increase in the number of Americans housed in jails
and prisons; with a disproportionate number having a severe mental illness. The resulting impact on families and
communities has triggered a movement towards 'smart decarceration'. The sequential intercept framework can help
social workers understand the criminal justice system and the intercept points where individuals with severe mental
illness can be diverted from this system and into treatment services. Presented here is a brief overview of the
sequential intercept model and the multiple roles that social workers play in service delivery, leadership, and advocacy
efforts.

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Policy and Practice Brief Issue Three: Foster Care Youth and Education
Assistant Professor Angelique Day & Elizabeth Agius, Manager of Community Partnerships

This brief highlights the post-secondary outcomes of older youth in care, looking first at the perceptions of currently enrolled high school and college aged foster youth with regard to their status on where they are in their transition from high school to college and then describes persistence in post-secondary education for a sample of foster care alumni who are enrolled at a four year university.

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Policy and Practice Brief Issue Two: The Case Of The Juvenile Offender  
Associate Professor Poco Kernsmith & Assistant Professor Joanne Smith-Darden

Research has demonstrated treatment, particularly re-integrative approaches, are effective in preventing recidivism among juvenile sex offenders. This practice brief highlights how policy trends have instead become more punitive, which may impose barriers to successful reintegration and increase recidivism rates.

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Policy and Practice Brief Issue One: Culture-Sensitive Regulation Of Anger
Associate Professor Antonio González-Prendes

The expression of anger is often influenced by cultural norms that sanction accepted forms of emotional expression in general and anger in particular. This practice brief highlights the importance of culture in the evaluation and treatment of anger problems.

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