Sarah Carnochan
Biographic Data
| ID | 187962 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sarah Carnochan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sarah |
| FAMILY NAME | Carnochan |
| SIGNATURE | CARNOCHAN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Berkeley |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 79 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Practice research methods in social work: Processes, applications and implications for social service organisations
Although social work research is commonly rooted within social service settings, it can be difficult for social work researchers and practitioners to develop and sustain participatory studies that specifically promote knowledge sharing and service improvement involving organisational practice. One participatory approach is practice research (PR), which involves social work researchers and practitioners collaborating to define, understand and try …
A Qualitative Study on Strengthening the Client–Worker Relationship in Welfare-to-Work Services
Objective: Agencies that provide welfare-to-work services often struggle with achieving successful outcomes, particularly for clients experiencing multiple complex barriers to work. California’s Family Stabilization program provides whole-family, intensive case management and services to address destabilizing crises among families. This study explores client and worker perspectives on Family Stabilization services to understand the helping relati…
Relational Mechanisms in Complex Contracting: Factors Associated with Private Managers’ Satisfaction with and Commitment to the Contract Relationship
The complexity of human service delivery means that contracts are often incomplete or contingent. When contracted services or products are complex, relational contracting can function as a critical informal accountability mechanism. This study introduces and tests a conceptual framework of relational processes and organizational factors hypothesized to inform private human service contract outcomes. Data from a 2015 survey of private nonprofit an…
Using Qualitative Data-Mining to Identify Skillful Practice in Child Welfare Case Records
Using qualitative data-mining methods, this study analyzed 39 child welfare case records in order to identify examples of skillful practice. Conducted in partnership with a public child welfare agency in northern California, the study found that child welfare workers are implementing many of the practices promoted by statewide and national child welfare practice frameworks. Broad categories of skillful practice identified included: (1) effective …
Exploring trauma-informed practice in public child welfare through qualitative data-mining of case records
The overwhelming majority of youth in the child welfare system (CWS) have experienced trauma. This qualitative data-mining study of case records explores how trauma manifests in child welfare and how child welfare workers engage youth who have experienced trauma. Case records revealed that youth exhibit many signs and symptoms of complex trauma, however, most did not have a trauma-related mental health diagnosis. The records included examples of …
Parental substance use: How child welfare workers make the case for court intervention
Learning Practice-Based Research Methods: Capturing the Experiences of MSW Students
The literature on teaching research methods to social work students identifies many challenges, such as dealing with the tensions related to producing research relevant to practice, access to data to teach practice-based research, and limited student interest in learning research methods. This is an exploratory study of the learning experiences of ten MSW students involved in a yearlong research methods course that utilized research data in a res…
Engaging Employers as Partners in Subsidized Employment Programs
The majority of studies of subsidized employment programs for public assistance recipients and low-income, unemployed individuals have focused on employment and earnings outcomes for participants. As employers are key stakeholders in a subsidized employment program, engaging them effectively is essential. This paper reports on interviews with 81 employers in four Northern California counties regarding their experiences in working with employees i…
Obstacles to Social Service Collaboration in Response to the Great Recession: The Case of the Contra Costa County Safety Net Initiative
This case study examines the experiences and dynamics of the Safety Net Initiative, a multisector collaboration in Contra Costa County, California. The Great Recession hit social services in Contra Costa County especially hard, and local stakeholders launched the Safety Net Initiative in an effort to repair and reimagine the county’s understaffed and underfunded safety net. The case study is based on 14 stakeholder interviews and extensive docume…
Low-Wage Work: A Synthesis of Major Social Science Concepts
Low-wage work is a defining feature in the lives of low-income families, who are challenged to achieve self-sufficiency through employment. This article offers a synthesis of theoretical concepts at the micro (individual), mezzo (group and community) and macro (social and political) levels to aid in understanding the human behavior and social environmental dimensions of low-wage work. The article concludes with a case vignette designed to illustr…
Preventing the Recurrence of Maltreatment
In the context of the federal child welfare performance measurement system, recurrence of maltreatment refers to circumstances in which children that have previously been substantiated as victims of abuse or neglect experience another incident of substantiated maltreatment. Multiple episodes of maltreatment can lead to: (1) more serious short and long term negative consequences, (2) entry into the juvenile justice system, and (3) juvenile delinqu…
Using Performance Measures to Manage Child Welfare Outcomes: Local Strategies and Decision Making
The federal child welfare performance measurement system exerts a profound influence over the design, delivery, and evaluation of child welfare services at the local level, with funding contingent upon participation in the federally mandated Child and Family Services Review. In this exploratory study the authors focus on local efforts to respond to and comply with the federal child welfare performance measurement system in 11 northern California …
Achieving Placement Stability
Placement stability as an outcome goal in child welfare performance measurement is grounded in the importance of providing stability for children as they are developing attachments and relationships to caregivers. Research shows that many children are vulnerable to placement instability, especially those who have been in long term foster care. This literature review provides an overview of the federal placement stability measure. It then summariz…
Achieving Exits to Permanency for Children in Long Term Care
Despite the federal emphasis on achieving timely permanency for children who enter foster care, some children continue to remain in foster care for extended periods, with approximately 20,000 children a year “aging out” of foster care into adulthood without having achieved permanency in a family setting (Dworsky, 2008 Dworsky, A. 2008. “Transitions to adulthood among youth “aging out” of care: What have we learned?.”. In Child welfare research: A…
The Context of Child Welfare Performance Measures
A growing movement in the United States seeks to improve the outcomes achieved by public agencies through performance measurement strategies. In child welfare policy, a federally mandated performance measurement system has evolved since the 1980s, establishing the federal Child and Family Services Review which uses a series of performance indicators for evaluating the child welfare system. This article reviews the literature on performance measur…
Achieving Timely Reunification
In the context of child welfare, family reunification refers to the services that are provided for purposes of returning children who have been placed in out-of-home care to their families of origin. Family reunification is the primary permanency goal for the majority of children who have been placed temporarily outside of their homes. This literature review focuses on the federal Child and Family Services Review composite outcome indicator that …
Preventing Re-Entry to Foster Care
Re-entry to foster care generally refers to circumstances in which children who have been discharged from foster care to be reunified with their family of origin, adopted, or provided kinship guardianship are returned to foster care. In the context of the federal performance measurement system, re-entry refers specifically to a return to foster care following an unsuccessful reunification. The federal Children and Family Services Review measures …
Achieving Timely Adoption
While family reunification is the primary permanency objective for children who must be placed temporarily outside of their homes, reunification is not possible for all children. For those children who do not return to their parents and cannot find permanent homes with other family members, adoption is the favored outcome. This review examines the composite measure in the federal Child and Family Services Review that measures agency performance r…
Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth: A Pioneering Child Advocacy Organization (1974-2008)
Coleman Advocates for Youth and Children is a pioneering 30-year-old child advocacy organization founded by several affluent community members and children's service professionals to stop housing abused and neglected children in juvenile hall. Today, low-income youth and parents in families of color are now assuming leadership in developing a unique hybrid approach that integrates community organizing with more traditional child advocacy strategi…
The Challenges to Promoting Collaboration Between Child Protection Services Workers and Court Professionals: An Exploratory Study of Case Records
In juvenile dependency proceedings, the protection of children depends upon the collaboration between professionals in the child welfare and court systems. Since there is little empirical research on such collaborations, this exploratory study sought to identify factors associated with the difficulties encountered in these professional relationships through an analysis of case records. The data were extracted from 111 cases in seven Northern Cali…
Child Welfare and the Courts: An Exploratory Study of the Relationship Between Two Complex Systems
This exploratory study focuses on the relationships between professionals working in the juvenile dependency system, including judicial officers, attorneys, social workers, and court-appointed special advocates. It includes an examination of the quality of professional relationships, factors contributing to tensions, the consequences of difficult relationships, and strategies for improving relationships. It utilizes interviews and focus groups wi…
Shut Out: Low Income Mothers and Higher Education in Post-Welfare America. Valerie Polakow, Sandra Butler, Luisa Stormer Deprez and Peggy Kahn (Eds.)
Book note for Valerie Polakow, Sandra Butler, Luisa Stormer Deprez and Peggy Kahn (Eds.), Shut Out: Low Income Mothers and Higher Education in Post- Welfare America. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2004. $75.00 hardcover, $24.95 papercover
Family Law in the New Millennium: For Whose Families
In this article, the authors review changes in family law over the past 30 years in the following areas: marriage, divorce, child custody, remarriage and stepfamilies, unwed fathers, third-party visitation, nontraditional partnerships, assisted reproduction, and adoption. The authors also discuss the role that the social sciences have had in the family law revolution. Finally, the authors speculate about future changes in family law and the role …
Building a Comprehensive Agency-University Partnership: A Case Study of the Bay Area Social Services Consortium
University-community partnerships are receiving increased attention in an era of rapid change and fragmented resources. This case study of a multi-county consortium of social service agencies in collaboration with four graduate social work programs and two foundations represents an innovative approach to building a partnership through the use of a consortium as a mediating structure. With a focus on training, research, policy development, and a t…
Building a Comprehensive Agency-University Partnership: A Case Study of the Bay Area Social Services Consortium
University-community partnerships are receiving increased attention in an era of rapid change and fragmented resources. This case study of a multi-county consortium of social service agencies in collaboration with four graduate social work programs and two foundations represents an innovative approach to building a partnership through the use of a consortium as a mediating structure. With a focus on training, research, policy development, and a t…
Relational Mechanisms in Complex Contracting: Factors Associated with Private Managers’ Satisfaction with and Commitment to the Contract Relationship
The complexity of human service delivery means that contracts are often incomplete or contingent. When contracted services or products are complex, relational contracting can function as a critical informal accountability mechanism. This study introduces and tests a conceptual framework of relational processes and organizational factors hypothesized to inform private human service contract outcomes. Data from a 2015 survey of private nonprofit an…
Child Welfare and the Courts: An Exploratory Study of the Relationship Between Two Complex Systems
This exploratory study focuses on the relationships between professionals working in the juvenile dependency system, including judicial officers, attorneys, social workers, and court-appointed special advocates. It includes an examination of the quality of professional relationships, factors contributing to tensions, the consequences of difficult relationships, and strategies for improving relationships. It utilizes interviews and focus groups wi…
The Challenges to Promoting Collaboration Between Child Protection Services Workers and Court Professionals: An Exploratory Study of Case Records
In juvenile dependency proceedings, the protection of children depends upon the collaboration between professionals in the child welfare and court systems. Since there is little empirical research on such collaborations, this exploratory study sought to identify factors associated with the difficulties encountered in these professional relationships through an analysis of case records. The data were extracted from 111 cases in seven Northern Cali…
Family Law in the New Millennium: For Whose Families
In this article, the authors review changes in family law over the past 30 years in the following areas: marriage, divorce, child custody, remarriage and stepfamilies, unwed fathers, third-party visitation, nontraditional partnerships, assisted reproduction, and adoption. The authors also discuss the role that the social sciences have had in the family law revolution. Finally, the authors speculate about future changes in family law and the role …
Exploring trauma-informed practice in public child welfare through qualitative data-mining of case records
The overwhelming majority of youth in the child welfare system (CWS) have experienced trauma. This qualitative data-mining study of case records explores how trauma manifests in child welfare and how child welfare workers engage youth who have experienced trauma. Case records revealed that youth exhibit many signs and symptoms of complex trauma, however, most did not have a trauma-related mental health diagnosis. The records included examples of …
Parental substance use: How child welfare workers make the case for court intervention
Learning Practice-Based Research Methods: Capturing the Experiences of MSW Students
The literature on teaching research methods to social work students identifies many challenges, such as dealing with the tensions related to producing research relevant to practice, access to data to teach practice-based research, and limited student interest in learning research methods. This is an exploratory study of the learning experiences of ten MSW students involved in a yearlong research methods course that utilized research data in a res…
Obstacles to Social Service Collaboration in Response to the Great Recession: The Case of the Contra Costa County Safety Net Initiative
This case study examines the experiences and dynamics of the Safety Net Initiative, a multisector collaboration in Contra Costa County, California. The Great Recession hit social services in Contra Costa County especially hard, and local stakeholders launched the Safety Net Initiative in an effort to repair and reimagine the county’s understaffed and underfunded safety net. The case study is based on 14 stakeholder interviews and extensive docume…
Using Qualitative Data-Mining to Identify Skillful Practice in Child Welfare Case Records
Using qualitative data-mining methods, this study analyzed 39 child welfare case records in order to identify examples of skillful practice. Conducted in partnership with a public child welfare agency in northern California, the study found that child welfare workers are implementing many of the practices promoted by statewide and national child welfare practice frameworks. Broad categories of skillful practice identified included: (1) effective …
Building a Comprehensive Agency-University Partnership: A Case Study of the Bay Area Social Services Consortium
University-community partnerships are receiving increased attention in an era of rapid change and fragmented resources. This case study of a multi-county consortium of social service agencies in collaboration with four graduate social work programs and two foundations represents an innovative approach to building a partnership through the use of a consortium as a mediating structure. With a focus on training, research, policy development, and a t…
Family Law in the New Millennium: For Whose Families
In this article, the authors review changes in family law over the past 30 years in the following areas: marriage, divorce, child custody, remarriage and stepfamilies, unwed fathers, third-party visitation, nontraditional partnerships, assisted reproduction, and adoption. The authors also discuss the role that the social sciences have had in the family law revolution. Finally, the authors speculate about future changes in family law and the role …
Shut Out: Low Income Mothers and Higher Education in Post-Welfare America. Valerie Polakow, Sandra Butler, Luisa Stormer Deprez and Peggy Kahn (Eds.)
Book note for Valerie Polakow, Sandra Butler, Luisa Stormer Deprez and Peggy Kahn (Eds.), Shut Out: Low Income Mothers and Higher Education in Post- Welfare America. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2004. $75.00 hardcover, $24.95 papercover
Child Welfare and the Courts: An Exploratory Study of the Relationship Between Two Complex Systems
This exploratory study focuses on the relationships between professionals working in the juvenile dependency system, including judicial officers, attorneys, social workers, and court-appointed special advocates. It includes an examination of the quality of professional relationships, factors contributing to tensions, the consequences of difficult relationships, and strategies for improving relationships. It utilizes interviews and focus groups wi…
The Challenges to Promoting Collaboration Between Child Protection Services Workers and Court Professionals: An Exploratory Study of Case Records
In juvenile dependency proceedings, the protection of children depends upon the collaboration between professionals in the child welfare and court systems. Since there is little empirical research on such collaborations, this exploratory study sought to identify factors associated with the difficulties encountered in these professional relationships through an analysis of case records. The data were extracted from 111 cases in seven Northern Cali…
Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth: A Pioneering Child Advocacy Organization (1974-2008)
Coleman Advocates for Youth and Children is a pioneering 30-year-old child advocacy organization founded by several affluent community members and children's service professionals to stop housing abused and neglected children in juvenile hall. Today, low-income youth and parents in families of color are now assuming leadership in developing a unique hybrid approach that integrates community organizing with more traditional child advocacy strategi…
Preventing the Recurrence of Maltreatment
In the context of the federal child welfare performance measurement system, recurrence of maltreatment refers to circumstances in which children that have previously been substantiated as victims of abuse or neglect experience another incident of substantiated maltreatment. Multiple episodes of maltreatment can lead to: (1) more serious short and long term negative consequences, (2) entry into the juvenile justice system, and (3) juvenile delinqu…
Using Performance Measures to Manage Child Welfare Outcomes: Local Strategies and Decision Making
The federal child welfare performance measurement system exerts a profound influence over the design, delivery, and evaluation of child welfare services at the local level, with funding contingent upon participation in the federally mandated Child and Family Services Review. In this exploratory study the authors focus on local efforts to respond to and comply with the federal child welfare performance measurement system in 11 northern California …
Achieving Placement Stability
Placement stability as an outcome goal in child welfare performance measurement is grounded in the importance of providing stability for children as they are developing attachments and relationships to caregivers. Research shows that many children are vulnerable to placement instability, especially those who have been in long term foster care. This literature review provides an overview of the federal placement stability measure. It then summariz…
Achieving Exits to Permanency for Children in Long Term Care
Despite the federal emphasis on achieving timely permanency for children who enter foster care, some children continue to remain in foster care for extended periods, with approximately 20,000 children a year “aging out” of foster care into adulthood without having achieved permanency in a family setting (Dworsky, 2008 Dworsky, A. 2008. “Transitions to adulthood among youth “aging out” of care: What have we learned?.”. In Child welfare research: A…
The Context of Child Welfare Performance Measures
A growing movement in the United States seeks to improve the outcomes achieved by public agencies through performance measurement strategies. In child welfare policy, a federally mandated performance measurement system has evolved since the 1980s, establishing the federal Child and Family Services Review which uses a series of performance indicators for evaluating the child welfare system. This article reviews the literature on performance measur…
Achieving Timely Reunification
In the context of child welfare, family reunification refers to the services that are provided for purposes of returning children who have been placed in out-of-home care to their families of origin. Family reunification is the primary permanency goal for the majority of children who have been placed temporarily outside of their homes. This literature review focuses on the federal Child and Family Services Review composite outcome indicator that …
Preventing Re-Entry to Foster Care
Re-entry to foster care generally refers to circumstances in which children who have been discharged from foster care to be reunified with their family of origin, adopted, or provided kinship guardianship are returned to foster care. In the context of the federal performance measurement system, re-entry refers specifically to a return to foster care following an unsuccessful reunification. The federal Children and Family Services Review measures …
Achieving Timely Adoption
While family reunification is the primary permanency objective for children who must be placed temporarily outside of their homes, reunification is not possible for all children. For those children who do not return to their parents and cannot find permanent homes with other family members, adoption is the favored outcome. This review examines the composite measure in the federal Child and Family Services Review that measures agency performance r…
Low-Wage Work: A Synthesis of Major Social Science Concepts
Low-wage work is a defining feature in the lives of low-income families, who are challenged to achieve self-sufficiency through employment. This article offers a synthesis of theoretical concepts at the micro (individual), mezzo (group and community) and macro (social and political) levels to aid in understanding the human behavior and social environmental dimensions of low-wage work. The article concludes with a case vignette designed to illustr…
Obstacles to Social Service Collaboration in Response to the Great Recession: The Case of the Contra Costa County Safety Net Initiative
This case study examines the experiences and dynamics of the Safety Net Initiative, a multisector collaboration in Contra Costa County, California. The Great Recession hit social services in Contra Costa County especially hard, and local stakeholders launched the Safety Net Initiative in an effort to repair and reimagine the county’s understaffed and underfunded safety net. The case study is based on 14 stakeholder interviews and extensive docume…
Learning Practice-Based Research Methods: Capturing the Experiences of MSW Students
The literature on teaching research methods to social work students identifies many challenges, such as dealing with the tensions related to producing research relevant to practice, access to data to teach practice-based research, and limited student interest in learning research methods. This is an exploratory study of the learning experiences of ten MSW students involved in a yearlong research methods course that utilized research data in a res…
Engaging Employers as Partners in Subsidized Employment Programs
The majority of studies of subsidized employment programs for public assistance recipients and low-income, unemployed individuals have focused on employment and earnings outcomes for participants. As employers are key stakeholders in a subsidized employment program, engaging them effectively is essential. This paper reports on interviews with 81 employers in four Northern California counties regarding their experiences in working with employees i…
Using Qualitative Data-Mining to Identify Skillful Practice in Child Welfare Case Records
Using qualitative data-mining methods, this study analyzed 39 child welfare case records in order to identify examples of skillful practice. Conducted in partnership with a public child welfare agency in northern California, the study found that child welfare workers are implementing many of the practices promoted by statewide and national child welfare practice frameworks. Broad categories of skillful practice identified included: (1) effective …
Exploring trauma-informed practice in public child welfare through qualitative data-mining of case records
The overwhelming majority of youth in the child welfare system (CWS) have experienced trauma. This qualitative data-mining study of case records explores how trauma manifests in child welfare and how child welfare workers engage youth who have experienced trauma. Case records revealed that youth exhibit many signs and symptoms of complex trauma, however, most did not have a trauma-related mental health diagnosis. The records included examples of …
Parental substance use: How child welfare workers make the case for court intervention
Relational Mechanisms in Complex Contracting: Factors Associated with Private Managers’ Satisfaction with and Commitment to the Contract Relationship
The complexity of human service delivery means that contracts are often incomplete or contingent. When contracted services or products are complex, relational contracting can function as a critical informal accountability mechanism. This study introduces and tests a conceptual framework of relational processes and organizational factors hypothesized to inform private human service contract outcomes. Data from a 2015 survey of private nonprofit an…
A Qualitative Study on Strengthening the Client–Worker Relationship in Welfare-to-Work Services
Objective: Agencies that provide welfare-to-work services often struggle with achieving successful outcomes, particularly for clients experiencing multiple complex barriers to work. California’s Family Stabilization program provides whole-family, intensive case management and services to address destabilizing crises among families. This study explores client and worker perspectives on Family Stabilization services to understand the helping relati…
Practice research methods in social work: Processes, applications and implications for social service organisations
Although social work research is commonly rooted within social service settings, it can be difficult for social work researchers and practitioners to develop and sustain participatory studies that specifically promote knowledge sharing and service improvement involving organisational practice. One participatory approach is practice research (PR), which involves social work researchers and practitioners collaborating to define, understand and try …
Political science (22 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Psychology (15 works) · Welfare (15 works) · Business (11 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (11 works) · Law (11 works) · Medicine (10 works) · Child Welfare and Adoption (9 works) · Economics (8 works)