Daily language interactions predict child outcomes. For multilingual families who rear neurodiverse children and who may be minoritized for their language use, a dearth of research examines families' daily language interactions. Utilizing a language socialization framework and a case study methodology, 4,991 English and Spanish utterances from a 5-year old autistic child and his family were collected during naturally occurring interactions over 10 days. Utterances were analyzed for patterns of code-switching by speaker, activity setting, English or Spanish initial language, and code-switch function. Spanish was spoken in most activities. For reading, both languages were equally employed by the father. While participants used both languages across all activity settings, significant variations in code-switching type and function were observed by activity setting and speaker. We discuss implications for how home language resources can be integrated into autism interventions.

Marginalized mothers are disproportionately impacted by depression and face barriers in accessing mental health treatment. Recent efforts have focused on building capacity to address maternal depression in Head Start; however, it is unclear if mental health inequities can be addressed by two-generation programs in Head Start settings. Therefore, this study examined the implementation outcomes and processes of a two-generation program called "Healthy Moms, Healthy Kids" (HMHK) that provided an evidence-based depression treatment to ethnic minority Head Start mothers. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and merged in a convergent mixed method design in accordance with the RE-AIM Qualitative Evaluation for Systematic Translation (RE-AIM QuEST) framework. Qualitative data included interviews with 52 key stakeholders, including intervention participants and staff members, and 176 sets of meeting minutes from the implementation period. Quantitative data included intervention study data and administrative data. It was difficult for HMHK to reach the target population, with only 16.8% of eligible mothers choosing to participate. However, mothers who participated experienced reductions in depressive symptoms and parenting stress and shared a variety of positive impacts in interviews. The program was also more successful in enrolling Latinx mothers who were Spanish-speaking or bilingual rather than English-speaking and Black/African American mothers, limiting its reach. Providing IPT therapy groups was effective in reducing maternal depressive symptoms and stress for those who enrolled, but additional work should focus on reducing barriers to participation, considering other delivery models to meet participants' needs, and identifying culturally relevant ways to meet the needs of Black mothers.

AbstractThis study explores minoritized mothers’ experiences in group interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT‐G) and relates their experiences to treatment outcomes. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from 26 Latinx and Black mothers who participated in IPT‐G. Mothers were divided into three groups: (1) not depressed at follow‐up, (2) depressed at follow‐up, and (3) those with subclinical symptoms throughout the intervention, and similarities and differences across groups were examined. Results showed that mothers not depressed at follow‐up reported high levels of emotional safety in IPT‐G, facilitating emotional processing. Mothers depressed at follow‐up referenced the impact of stigma and had greater difficulty sharing their feelings and also reported lower socioeconomic status and higher levels of trauma. It appears that high levels of environmental stressors and difficulty developing trusting therapeutic relationships were related to experiencing depression at the conclusion of treatment. Alternatively, for many mothers, IPT‐G provided within head start was an effective therapeutic option.

Child abuse and neglect (CAN) is a complex issue that is subject to both under- and overreporting; yet, research into the underlying neighborhood-level drivers of these practices remains limited. The current study gathered perspectives from 30 child protective service (CPS) workers and agency leaders in Southern California neighborhoods to identify perceptions of social and contextual neighborhood factors that might influence over- and underreporting of CAN. The data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach, which revealed five themes: (a) neighborhood conflict, (b) neighborhood fear and mistrust, (c) neighborhood norms, (d) poor CAN reporting knowledge, and (e) mandated reporters’ discretion. These themes highlight the potential impact of neighborhood contexts and social dynamics on CAN reporting practices, emphasizing the need for prevention and early intervention neighborhood-level initiatives that improve CPS relationships within their local community.

Technological innovation has long been seen as a hallmark of progress in the modern world. While these advances may facilitate advantages to individual and social well-being, they have the potential for creating new areas of risk and expanding on those that already exist. In addition, a global pandemic has reshaped how we interact with one another, as more people connect online. Social work’s ongoing relationship with technology necessitates that we evaluate and re-envision how tech ethics create, shape, and transform social work practice. This paper has three goals. First, we argue that technologies have long been a hidden driver of social work practice and provide an initial mapping of their current influence. Second, we introduce the Ethical OS as a tool for conceptualizing ethical issues that may arise in social work practice, education, and policy. We ask if this tool could promote seeing around corners regarding how developing technologies might be advantageous or disadvantageous for reference or consumer groups. For example, how do they reify historical injustices such as structural racism and how do they offer remediation? Third, we discuss the importance of building coherent, social work tech habits of mind, in practice now and for the future

This kitchen-table talk is grounded in Black and Chicana feminist traditions, with the facilitator, Yvette M. Regalado, senior scholar Drs. Farima Pour-Khorshid, Timothy San Pedro, Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Mariana Souto-Manning, and community member Jessica Martell sit down to have a critical and authentic conversation around the real work that is being done to disrupt and move beyond the harmful prescribed curriculum. These conversationalists begin with an ofrenda, an offering, that connects and inspires their work. Then the discussion moves into types of coalition work done in our communities, and finally, we discuss our hopes and dreams for the future of education. So, sit down and dream with us as we discuss the consciousness of (re)defining equity and excellence in education.

Practices incorporating students’ cultures and communities are foundational to effective teaching. However, teacher candidates often do not effectively incorporate culturally based practices into their instruction. This article describes the perceptions of English education instructors as they reconceptualized their curriculum to cultivate culturally based practices. Findings show three major factors impacted the instructors’ reconceptualization of curriculum: (a) the instructors’ cultural roots; (b) the pervasiveness of whiteness—systems and processes that preference white identities, assumptions, and privileges that accompany the white experience; and (c) deep-seated tensions between culturally based practices and the practices of the university operating within the institution of English education. The authors assert that no individual who has matriculated through white-centric educational institutions and broader societal structures can be excluded from the call to unlearn whiteness. They urge teacher educators to dismantle oppressive, white-centric practices by reflecting on the interplay of biases and socio-political beliefs that they and their teacher candidates bring into educational spaces.

Family child care professionals are a critical sector of the early care and education workforce. Utilizing critical race theory and Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth model, the current study seeks to examine the strengths and assets that family child care professionals of color bring to their early care and education work and to the children and families in their programs. The authors identified evidence of four types of cultural capital (aspirational, familial, navigational, and resistant) in the focus group narratives of family child care professionals of color across four regions in the USA. Their narratives describe an orientation to caring for children and families that counters exclusionary and biased systems. The family child care professionals of color envision themselves as educators and supporters of community advancement in opposition to racialized stereotypes of home-based child care work as babysitting (aspirational capital); they leverage the home as a place for racial healing and sustain intergenerational connections with families through practices of othermothering and an ethic of love (familial capital). The family child care professionals of color describe the ways they enact navigational and resistant capital in their perseverance and participation in licensing and quality systems, despite inequities. The family child care professionals’ counternarratives of family child care work suggest their essential role in societal functioning and well-being. The study’s findings hold implications for (re)defining early care and education quality and (re)designing systems that celebrate and recognize the strengths, resilience, and capacity of family child care professionals of color to support equitable futures for children, families, and communities.