Social Work Practice with Families and Children (Foundations of Social Work Knowledge Series)

This book emphasizes family-centered, social network, and school-based interventions in the preparation of social workers for direct and indirect practice with clients from vulnerable populations, especially the poor, people of color, and recent immigrant groups. Sections of the book cover the knowledge and practice base for social work practice with families and children. The conclusion evaluates practice and service delivery, including the impact of welfare reform and managed care on vulnerable families and children and the implications for social work education and training. This book emphasizes family-centered, social network, and school-based interventions in the preparation of social workers for direct and indirect practice with clients from vulnerable populations, especially the poor, people of color, and recent immigrant groups. With an eye to recent changes in social work practice and service delivery, including the impact of welfare reform and managed care on vulnerable families and children, __Social Work Practice with Families and Children__ helps social work students and practitioners understand the increasingly complex needs of their clients. Three valuable appendixes include information about tools and instruments to support practice, child welfare resource centers, and electronic resources pertaining to the field.

Arguing that intellectual movements, such as deconstruction, postsecular theory, and political theology, have different implications for cultures and societies that live with the debilitating effects of past imperialisms, Arvind Mandair unsettles the politics of knowledge construction in which the category of religion continues to be central. Through a case study of Sikhism, he launches an extended critique of religion as a cultural universal. At the same time, he presents a portrait of how certain aspects of Sikh tradition were reinvented as religion during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

India's imperial elite subtly recast Sikh tradition as a sui generis religion, which robbed its teachings of their political force. In turn, Sikhs began to define themselves as a nation and a world religion that was separate from, but parallel to, the rise of the Indian state and global Hinduism. Rather than investigate these processes in isolation from Europe, Mandair shifts the focus closer to the political history of ideas, thereby recovering part of Europe's repressed colonial memory.

Mandair rethinks the intersection of religion and the secular in discourses such as history of religions, postcolonial theory, and recent continental philosophy. Though seemingly unconnected, these discourses are shown to be linked to a philosophy of generalized translation that emerged as a key conceptual matrix in the colonial encounter between India and the West. In this riveting study, Mandair demonstrates how this philosophy of translation continues to influence the repetitions of religion and identity politics in the lives of South Asians, and the way the academy, state, and media have analyzed such phenomena.

Columbia University Press

Arguing that intellectual movements, such as deconstruction, postsecular theory, and political theology, have different implications for cultures and societies that live with the debilitating effects of past imperialisms, Arvind Mandair unsettles the politics of knowledge construction in which the category of "religion" continues to be central. Through a case study of Sikhism, he launches an extended critique of religion as a cultural universal. At the same time, he presents a portrait of how certain aspects of Sikh tradition were reinvented as "religion" during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. India's imperial elite subtly recast Sikh tradition as a sui generis religion, which robbed its teachings of their political force. In turn, Sikhs began to define themselves as a "nation" and a "world religion" that was separate from, but parallel to, the rise of the Indian state and global Hinduism. Rather than investigate these processes in isolation from Europe, Mandair shifts the focus closer to the political history of ideas, thereby recovering part of Europe's repressed colonial memory. Mandair rethinks the intersection of religion and the secular in discourses such as history of religions, postcolonial theory, and recent continental philosophy. Though seemingly unconnected, these discourses are shown to be linked to a philosophy of "generalized translation" that emerged as a key conceptual matrix in the colonial encounter between India and the West. In this riveting study, Mandair demonstrates how this philosophy of translation continues to influence the repetitions of religion and identity politics in the lives of South Asians, and the way the academy, state, and media have analyzed such phenomena. Contents About the Authors Preface Acknowledgments Part 1 Knowledge Base 1. Understanding Vulnerable Families and Their Children 2. Risks and Vulnerabilities 3. Supporting Families and Their Children 4. Ethical Issues in Working with Vulnerable Families Part 2 Practice Base 5. Engagement, Assessment, Case Planning, and Goal Setting 6. Family-Centered Intervention 7. Social Network Intervention 8. School-Based Intervention Part 3 Looking to the Future 9. Evaluation of Practice and Service Delivery 10. Future Challenges and Opportunities Appendixes 1. Tools and Instruments to Support Practice 2. National Child Welfare Resource Centers 3. Other Resource Centers and Information Sources 4. Electronic Resources on Family and Children’s Services 5. Electronic Resources on Children’s Special Needs and Exceptionalities 6. Electronic Resources on Schools and Children’s Education 7. Electronic Resources on Health of Children and Adults 8. Electronic Resources on System Reform and Advocacy for Children and Families 9. Electronic Resources on Mentoring and Support Groups 10. Informational and Training Materials on Alcohol and Substance Abuse References Index