CASCW podcast

Hanna Bjorg Sigurjondsottir and Jim Rice have extensive knowledge of the Child Welfare System in Iceland. In episode 17, they speak to the faults and preconceived biases that the system can impose and how detrimental it can be, especially to parents with intellectual disabilities.

SHOWNOTES, RESOURCES, and Transcript available at:

https://z.umn.edu/parenting-done-differently

In episode sixteen, Marjorie speaks with Carmit-Noa Shpligelman. Carmit is a mom by choice and a woman with a disability. She discusses her research on the attitudes of workers towards the parenthood of parents with disabilities. In their work with children and families, child welfare workers can learn from Carmit’s incredible lived experience and applicable research.

SHOWNOTES, RESOURCES, and Transcript available at:

https://z.umn.edu/parenting-done-differently

In episode fifteen part 2, Ella Callow speaks more with Marjorie about the law pertaining to the rights of parents with disabilities and the intersection of parenting, disability, and the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). She discusses Native people’s experiences of disability in their community and how explicit or implicit bias about disability and an inability to parent leads to detrimental decisions for families. At 34 minutes, listen to the story of Ella’s fondest memories with her grandfather.

SHOWNOTES, RESOURCES, and Transcript available at:

https://z.umn.edu/parenting-done-differently

In part 1 of this two-part episode, Ella Callow speaks about the law pertaining to the rights of parents with disabilities and the intersection of parenting, disability and the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). She points out the systemic discrimination that is still pervasive in many states and other parts of the world. Ella’s lens as a member of an Indigenous community and experience as a lawyer working with parents with disabilities will be useful for child welfare workers.

SHOWNOTES, RESOURCES, and Transcript available at:

https://z.umn.edu/parenting-done-differently

In episode 13, Marjorie speaks with Beth Tarleton, who believes that workers need to be empowered to do their job. She talks about her orientation has always been to look for new ways to train, infuse knowledge and support the workers who support the parents.

Beth Tarleton is a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol. Beth has been researching positive support for parents with learning disabilities (intellectual disabilities) and milder learning difficulties since 2005. Beth is co-ordinator of the Working Together with Parents Network which shares positive practice about working with parents with a learning disability/difficulty.

SHOWNOTES, RESOURCES, and Transcript available at:

https://z.umn.edu/parenting-done-differently

In this episode, Amanda Moses interviews Rebecca Shlafer, PhD, MPH, to discuss parental separation, including incarceration, and how it impacts families. It includes an exploration of research and advocacy work around current practices in Minnesota for incarcerated parents, and a discussion for how to work with prison systems around advocating for families. Strategies are discussed for how child welfare workers can help parents maintain involvement in their children’s lives.

In this episode, Andre Dukes, MA, interviews Gil Domally to discuss the important role of fathers in children’s development and how child welfare workers can be more inclusive of fathers. Drawing on research, personal, and professional experiences, the conversation includes topics such as barriers to father involvement, misconceptions around fathers, and strategies to engage fathers in a more inclusive practice.

In this podcast, Alyssa Meuwissen, PhD, interviews Kristin Johnson, MSW, LGSW, IMH-E, and Jessica Hoeper, MSW, LISW, IMH-E about the concept of well-being for the child welfare workforce. Topics include why well-being is so important to focus on and why child welfare can be a particularly difficult field. Drawing on research and personal experience, the participants explore the role of emotions and reflection in well-being, and discuss strategies, both individual and systemic, that can promote child welfare worker well-being.

Rinal Ray is the Interim Executive Director at People Serving People. She leads a dynamic team in responding to the crisis of family homelessness and works to change systems to prevent the experience of family homelessness in Hennepin County. Rinal is a former deputy public policy director for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits where she advanced the organization’s policy agenda at a state and local level, trained leaders on nonprofit advocacy, and lead special legal projects for the statewide association. Rinal currently serves as a co-chair for the Voices & Choices Coalition for Children and is on the Board of College Possible Minnesota. She teaches Nonprofit Advocacy in the Masters in Advocacy and Political Leadership (MAPL) program at Metropolitan State University.

Ending Family Homelesssness

Marybeth (Beth) Shinn is a Cornelius Vanderbilt professor at Vanderbilt University who studies how to prevent and end homelessness. She was co-principal investigator of the 12-site Family Options experiment examining approaches to ending family homelessness, the evaluator for the initial study of the Pathways Housing First program in New York City, and the developer of a model used by that city to target its homelessness prevention services. Her 2020 book with Jill Khadduri, In the midst of plenty: Homelessness and what to do about it (Wiley], surveys research to show that we know how to end homelessness, if we devote the necessary resources to doing so. Beth has received research or publication awards from the Society for Community Research and Action, the Society for Research on Adolescence, and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. She serves on her local Homeless Planning Council and on the Research Council for the National Alliance to End Homelessness.