El trabajo social y sus intervenciones de apoyo a la capacidad jurídica de las personas, tras la Ley 8/2021 / Social Work and its Interventions to Support the Legal Capacity of People, after Law 8/2021

La relación del trabajo social con la Administración de Justicia adquiere una nueva dimensión en el campo de la discapacidad. La Ley 8/2021, por la que se reforma la legislación civil y procesal para el apoyo a las personas con discapacidad en el ejercicio de su capacidad jurídica, reconoce la importancia de esta profesión y la sitúa junto a la profesión médica en cuánto a la información pericial y la intervención a realizar con personas con discapacidad. La cuestión de los apoyos para mejorar la capacidad jurídica es una variable fundamental para que la valoración sociofamiliar sea necesaria. La aportación de este estudio es descriptiva y propositiva, sitúa la ley en relación con la situación social y con la profesión del trabajo social. Posteriormente, detalla las disciplinas o especialidades del trabajo social que pueden participar en estos procedimientos judiciales, con ejemplos de relaciones previas entre la regulación de la discapacidad y el trabajo social. Finalmente, realiza una propuesta de trabajo, un inicio de protocolo de actuación entre disciplinas para buscar la colaboración en forma de mesa redonda que recoge la ley. (AU)

The relationship between social work and the administration of justice acquires a new dimension in the field of disability. Law 8/2021, which reforms civil and procedural legislation to support people with disabilities in the exercise of their legal capacity, recognizes the importance of this profession and places it on a par with the medical profession in terms of expert information and intervention to be carried out with people with disabilities. The question of support to improve legal capacity is a fundamental variable for the socio-family assessment to be necessary. The contribution of this study is descriptive and propositional; it places the law concerning the social situation and the profession of social work. Subsequently, it details the disciplines or specialties of social work that can participate in these judicial proceedings, with examples of previous relationships between the regulation of disability and social work. Finally, it makes a work proposal, a beginning of the protocol of action between disciplines to seek collaboration in the form of a round table that includes the law. (AU)

Derecho sociosanitario, voluntad vital anticipada y muerte digna en España: un análisis a la situación jurídico-sanitaria actual desde el Trabajo Social / Socio-health law, living will and dignified death in Spain: an analysis of the current legal-health situation from the Social Work

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Impacto de la Ley de Dependencia sobre el gasto autonómico en servicios sociales / Impact of the Dependency Act on regional spending on social services

OBJETIVO: En este trabajo se cuestiona si el desarrollo del Sistema de Autonomía y Atención a la Dependencia (SAAD) contribuyó a incrementar el volumen de recursos del sistema público de servicios sociales (efecto desplazamiento) o, por el contrario, si dicho desarrollo se produjo a costa del resto de prestaciones de servicios sociales (efecto sustitución). MÉTODO: Se realiza una aproximación de datos de panel, orientada a explicar el comportamiento del gasto per cápita en servicios sociales para las comunidades autónomas españolas de régimen común en el periodo 2002-2016. RESULTADOS: La introducción del SAAD se asocia con un incremento del 14% en el gasto por habitante en servicios sociales. Este efecto se acerca al 25% cuando la variable explicada es el gasto en transferencias corrientes de carácter social. También se constata que los cambios legislativos introducidos en 2012 y 2013 se asociaron a una reducción del gasto per cápita en transferencias corrientes del 10%. CONCLUSIONES: Esta evidencia refutaría la hipótesis de que el SAAD ha originado meramente un efecto de «sustitución» en el gasto autonómico en servicios sociales

OBJECTIVE: In this paper we address whether the System for Personal Autonomy and Care of Dependent Persons contributes to increasing the volume of resources of the public social services system (displacement effect) or, on the contrary, whether this development has taken place at the expense of other social services (substitution effect). METHOD: Panel data analysis is used to explain how per capita expenditure on social services evolves in the Spanish Regions under the common regime in the period 2002-2016. RESULTS: The implementation of the Dependency Act is associated with a 14% increase in the level of per capita expenditure on social services. This effect raises 25% when the variable explained is expenditure on current transfers of a social nature. On the other hand, law changes introduced in 2012 and 2013 were associated with a reduction in per capita expenditure on current transfers of around 10%. CONCLUSIONS: This evidence would refute the hypothesis that the System for Personal Autonomy and Care of Dependent Persons had merely a "substitution" effect on autonomous spending on social services

The Effect of CASA on Child Welfare Permanency Outcomes.

The present study is the largest and most rigorous study to date on the effects of being appointed a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) on permanency outcomes of children in foster care. The intent-to-treat study accounts for selection bias by applying inverse probability weighting to logistic and sequential logistic regressions in a large sample of children in foster care in the state of Texas (N = 31,754). Overall, children appointed a CASA have significantly lower odds than children without a CASA of achieving permanency. They have lower odds of being reunified, greater odds of being adopted (if not reunified), and lower odds of being placed in permanent kin guardianship (if not reunified or adopted) than children who are not appointed CASA. This study makes an additional contribution by looking beyond the aggregate effect of CASA on permanency by examining the effect of CASA for different age groups and different types of first placement after removal.

Irrational rationalities and governmentality-effected neglect in immigration practice: Legal migrants' entitlements to services and benefits in the United Kingdom.

Governments' attempts to manage immigration increasingly restrict immigrants' eligibility to healthcare, education, and welfare benefits. This article examines the operation of these restrictions in the United Kingdom. It draws on qualitative research with civil servants and NGO expert advisors, and applies sociological theories on bureaucracy as a lens to interpret these data. Conceptually, the paper employs a generative synthesis of Ritzer's notion of "irrational rationality" and Foucault's perspective on "governmentality" to explain observed outcomes. Findings show that public service workers struggle with complex and opaque regulations, which grant different entitlements to different categories of migrants. The confusion results in mistakes, arbitrary decisions, and hypercorrection, but also a system-wide indifference to irrational outcomes, supported by human factors in contexts of austerity. I consider this a form of governmentality-effected neglect, where power operates as much through inaction as well as through intention, but which results in exclusions of legal migrants that are harsher in practice than in law.

Reforming a System That Cannot Reform Itself: Child Welfare Reform by Class Action Lawsuits.

Class action lawsuits have become an increasingly common way to facilitate institutional reform. The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to social workers of child welfare reform by class action lawsuits and subsequent consent decrees. The authors provide an overview of class action lawsuits, with a focus on their role in implementing systematic change in the United States. They highlight consent decrees as a means of settling class action lawsuits. They illustrate the current state of the child welfare system and how child advocacy groups have used class action lawsuits to initiate reform. Authors provide two case examples of child welfare reform by consent decree and engage in comparative analysis to investigate similarities and differences in the two cases. Finally, they note implications for social work practice and education and provide recommendations to equip and train social workers involved in child welfare services.

Resisting Neoliberal Social Work Fragmentation: The Wall-to-Wall Alliance.

Worldwide neoliberal policies are transforming the landscape of social work. Studies have shown that these policies increased social workers' caseloads, regulated welfare expenditures, impaired public services' capabilities to attend to the needs of growing demand, transformed social services delivery by implanting new public management methods, and often also worsened working conditions and deteriorated the professional status of social workers. Moreover, these policies have raised both poverty and inequality levels and left their negative marks on social work education, by prioritizing academic disciplines more attuned with the needs of neoliberal regimes. This article seeks to encourage schools of social work, social workers in the social services, and people living in poverty to challenge the harmful impact of this context by engaging in meaningful alliances focused on the fight against poverty and social exclusion. This article presents a long-term partnership project between a school of social work, local public social services, and groups of active clients, to tackle the issue of poverty in Israel. The article describes the project, introduces the theoretical and methodological principles, analyzes achievements and challenges, and finally discusses the potential contribution of such partnerships for the future of the profession.

The Israel Family Court - Therapeutic jurisprudence and jurisprudential therapy from the start.

Based on the recommendations of a commission set up to review the handling of Family Law cases in Israel, the Family Courts Law 5755-1995 included a revolutionary provision - that a Social Services Unit, staffed by senior social workers, would be an integral part of each Family Court. Their mandate includes giving assessment, advice and assistance services to litigants and to the court, and this provision has been broadly interpreted, to include mediation and referrals for therapy. The activities of the Unit are confidential and free of charge to the parties. More recently the Units were given the task of seeing children whose future is the subject of litigation, to find out their needs and views; and also to serve as the agency which parties who want to start proceedings are required to attend, in order to receive information about the effect of proceedings on their children and advice about alternative dispute resolution to avoid litigation. The resulting synergy between the social workers and the Judges ensures that the needs of all those involved are met in a therapeutic fashion where this is necessary and possible, alongside the judicial powers to make orders as needed. Thus unnecessary suffering can be mitigated.

Políticas de assistência social: entre a produção/governo da vida / Social assistance policies: between the production/government of life / Políticas de asistencia social: entre a producción/gobierno de la vida

O artigo tem por objetivo mostrar como a vida humana, em tempos de neoliberalismo, se tornou recurso importante que afeta os interesses e interfere na eficiência das instituições sociais. Para isso, realiza-se uma análise das classificações em diferentes níveis de complexidade do Sistema Único de Assistência Social (proteção social básica, proteção social média e alta complexidade) descritas na Tipificação Nacional de Serviços Socioassistenciais (2014). Tendo isto em vista, fundamentamo-nos no conceito de classes interativas de Ian Hacking e na noção de governamento dos estudos foucaultianos para apontarmos como o processo de produção de sujeitos e o governo da vida humana têm sido atravessados pelas políticas socioassistenciais do presente. Para tal, organizamos esta discussão em três pontos: introduzindo a discussão; políticas de assistência social e a produção das classes interativas; e o governo da vida. (AU)

This paper aims to show how human life, in neoliberal times, has become an important resource that both affects the interests of and interferes with the effectiveness of social institutions. In order to do that, we have performed an analysis of the classifications of different levels of complexity of the Unified Social Assistance System (basic social protection, medium social protection, and high complexity) as described in the National Categorization of Social Assistance Services (2014). The analysis has been supported by the concept of interactive kinds by Ian Hacking, and the notion of government from the Foucauldian studies to point out how the process of production of subjects and the government of human life have been crossed by the present social assistance policies. With this purpose, we have structured this discussion on three points: introduction of the discussion; social assistance policies and the production of the interactive kinds; and the government of life. (AU)

El artículo tiene por objetivo mostrar como la vida humana, en tiempos de neoliberalismo, se ha tornado recurso importante que afecta los intereses e interfiere en la eficiencia de las instituciones sociales. Para eso, se realiza un análisis de las clasificaciones en diferentes niveles de complejidad del Sistema Único de Asistencia Social (protección social básica, protección social media y alta complejidad) descritas en la Tipificación Nacional de Servicios Socio-asistenciales (2014). Teniendo eso en vista, nos hemos fundamentado en el concepto de clases interactivas de Ian Hacking y en la noción de gubernamentalidad de los estudios foucaultianos para poder apuntar como el proceso de producción de sujetos y el gobierno de la vida humana han sido atravesados por las políticas socio-asistenciales del presente. Así, organizamos esta discusión en tres puntos: introducción a la discusión; políticas de asistencia social y la producción de las clases interactivas; y el gobierno de la vida. (AU)

Servicios sociales municipales. Necesidad de una refundación / Municipal social services. The need for a refoundation

Los actuales Servicios Sociales municipales comenzaron a implantarse en los años 80 de la anterior centuria. Herederos en buena medida de la beneficencia pública que las administraciones locales venían haciendo, en la actualidad todavía arrastran influencias de aquella etapa. Existe una confusión en cuanto a su misión y su delimitación con otros ámbitos de las políticas sociales. Hay una sobrecarga de trabajo burocrático y administrativo que limita las actuaciones propias de los profesionales de la Intervención Social. Es necesario realizar una refundación de los Servicios Sociales que prestan los ayuntamientos, que debería de pasar por su reconceptualización e importantes cambios normativos, organizativos y metodológicos

The current municipal social services began to be implemented in the 1980’s. Largely descendants of the public assistance that the local administrations had been providing, they still display influences from that phase today. There is confusion regarding their mission and their delimitation with other areas of social policy. There is an overload of bureaucratic and administrative work that limits the actions of the professionals of social intervention. It is necessary to refound the social services provided by the city councils, a process that should include their reconceptualization as well as important normative, organizational and methodological changes

'Everyone has an agenda': Professionals' understanding and negotiation of risk within the Guardianship system of Victoria, Australia.

It is frequently asserted that pressures to assess and manage risk have eroded the therapeutic, rights-based foundation of the human services profession. Some argue that human service workers operate in a culture of fear in which self-protection and blame avoidance, rather than clients' needs, primarily drive decision-making. In the field of Adult Guardianship, it has been suggested that organisational risk avoidance may be motivating applications for substitute decision-makers, unnecessarily curtailing clients' rights and freedoms. However, the absence of research examining the operation of risk within Guardianship decision-making inhibits verifying and responding to this very serious suggestion. This article draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with 10 professionals involved in the Victorian Guardianship system, which explored how issues of risk are perceived and negotiated in everyday practice. Risk was found to be a complex and subjective construct which can present both dangers and opportunities for Guardianship practitioners and their clients. While a number of participants reported that Guardianship might sometimes operate as an avenue for mitigating the fear and uncertainty of risk, most participants also valued positive risk-taking and were willing, in their clients' interests, to challenge conservative logics of risk. These findings highlight the need for further research which examines how service providers and policy makers can create spaces that support open discussions around issues of risk and address practitioners' sense of fear and vulnerability.

"One Size Does Not Fit All:" A Proposed Ecological Model for Human Trafficking Intervention.

The problem of human trafficking continues to be one of the vilest human rights abuse and manifestation of social injustice around the world. A lot of antitrafficking efforts have been put in place. However, there is still a lot of emphasis on the criminal aspect of the problem. This has meant that human and practical aspects of the problem have not received sufficient attention, including assessing the problem, victims, and perpetrators in their environments. The ecological perspective helps practitioners, researchers, and policy makers to better understand the problem. This article uses the main concepts in this theory to frame the problem. Discussions are directed toward understanding the different aspects of the problem from an ecological perspective.

Bridging the Gap between Health and Social Care for Rare Diseases: Key Issues and Innovative Solutions.

Bridging the gaps between health and social care for rare diseases is not only necessary but crucial to increase the life expectancy, quality of life and autonomy of people living with a rare disease, supporting them in the full realisation of their fundamental human rights.The complexity of rare diseases, their strong relation to disability and the current unmet social and daily life needs of people living with a rare disease must not be underestimated and require urgent attention from all stakeholders involved in care provision, from healthcare to social and community services.The Commission Expert Group Recommendations to Support the Incorporation of Rare Diseases into Social Services and Policies, adopted unanimously in April 2016, by the representatives of European Member States and the other rare disease stakeholders, clearly set the tone for the need to promote measures that facilitate multidisciplinary, holistic, continuous, person-centred and participative care provision to people living with rare diseases.These recommendations, sided by other recent policy developments at European and national levels, represent an important policy step into approaching rare diseases' complex challenges in regards to holistic care provision.Innovative approaches aiming at bridging the gap between health, social and community service and support providers are currently being developed and tested in different European countries: standards of care, networks of expertise, case management services, one-stop-shop services, amongst others.These ongoing pilot approaches, presented in this chapter, have the power to inspire future policies and the effective and efficient implementation of holistic care pathways for people living with a rare disease, bringing about significant changes for patients, carers, care providers, competent authorities and the society at large.Nonetheless, the challenges to fully address this issue remain numerous and other key issues will also need to be taken into account when moving forward with the implementation of measures that aim at bridging the gaps between care providers and providing holistic care to people living with a rare disease.

Pathways to Housing Policy: Translating Research to Policy to Achieve Impact on Well Being.

Policy emerges from the legislative, agency, and practice levels and from several pathways, including litigation; high profile or tragic events; community-based service provision and practice innovations; and research evidence. This commentary places an emphasis throughout on discussions of the articles included in this issue. It explores pathways that influenced the development of housing policy targeting child and family well being and provides examples to illustrate each pathway. The article further highlights how research on housing and child well being has influenced policy and practice and notes gaps for further research. It concludes with suggestions for structuring research to more effectively assist policymakers to make informed decisions that achieve positive change for children, youth, and families.

A Social Work Response to the Affordable Care Act: Prevention and Early Intervention.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act represents a reinvestment in primary care, with a focus on prevention of illness and remediation of the impacts of chronic diseases through a behavioral health framework. Licensed social work professionals, specifically those trained in behavioral health, are a natural fit to help implement these new approaches. Though there are many evidence-based interventions that will be helpful, two that come from the field of substance abuse ought to be specifically beneficial: SAMHSA's SBIRT Model and Motivational Interviewing, developed by Miller and Rollnick. In response to the growing need for specially trained social work practitioners, the Social Work Program at Seton Hall University has developed the initial concentration of its MSW Program around these learning needs.