mamendez

About Melissa Mendez

Melissa Batalden Mendez, MSW, LICSW is the Title IV-E Field Coordinator at CASCW. She coordinates the field placements for MSW students who are receiving the Title IV-E child welfare stipend through CASCW. She leads a special Title IV-E field placement program at Hennepin County.

May 2016

Thank You for Mentoring Our MSW IV-E Child Welfare Students

By |2016-12-01T19:32:50-06:00May 23rd, 2016|Categories: Field Notes|Tags: , |

On April 28th, the U of MN School of Social Work Field Team hosted an Appreciation Luncheon for all social workers who have been supporting, teaching and mentoring MSW students this past academic year. Over 200 students and social workers attended. Here at The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW), we want to [...]

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Lifting the Burdens From Struggling Families

By |2016-12-01T19:32:50-06:00May 23rd, 2016|Categories: Stability, Permanency, and Adoption|Tags: , , , |

Today's guest blogger is Kristin Ashworth. The Huffington Post’s article, Lifting the Burdens from Struggling Families, run on 2/8/16, states that President Obama will seek $11 billion to address family homelessness. As part of his proposal, he hopes to create 25,500 new supportive housing units, or housing that is coupled with social services. The Corporation [...]

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Kinship is More than Just Blood

By |2016-12-01T19:32:50-06:00May 23rd, 2016|Categories: Stability, Permanency, and Adoption|Tags: , , , |

Today's Guest Blogger is Mollie Kohler. As the title suggests, Kinship is More than Just Blood discusses the issue of kinship care being preferential to non-relative care for children in out of home placements and the implications of this value. It was written by Marie K. Cohen, a former child welfare social worker from Washington [...]

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Minnesota Teens get New Perspective on Adoption

By |2016-12-01T19:32:50-06:00May 16th, 2016|Categories: Stability, Permanency, and Adoption|Tags: , , , |

  Today's guest blogger is a current MSW IV-E Fellow. Freelance writer Kevyn Burger wrote, “Minnesota teens get new perspective on adoption” for the Star Tribune on June 1, 2015. In this article, the author discusses how high school classrooms of Minnesota teenagers across the state are having the opportunity to converse with panels of [...]

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There’s No Place Like Home

By |2016-12-01T19:32:50-06:00May 16th, 2016|Categories: Stability, Permanency, and Adoption|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Today's Guest Blogger is Ann Rajkowski. The Mallon, Aledort & Ferrera (2002) article entitled There’s No Place Like Home: Achieving Safety, Permanency and Well-being for Lesbian and Gay Adolescents in Out-of-Home Settings discusses an exploratory study conducted on youth residing in two gay-affirming social service agencies, one in New York City and one in Los [...]

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Fostering Profits

By |2016-12-01T19:32:50-06:00May 16th, 2016|Categories: Stability, Permanency, and Adoption|Tags: , , , |

Today's Guest Blogger is Hung Tran. In 2015, BuzzFeed News investigation published the article, Fostering Profits, in which they examined the nation’s largest for-profit foster care company, National Mentor Holdings. What they found was that this was a company that has helped transform the field of foster care into a “cash cow,” with current placement [...]

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Microaggressions, Feelings of Difference, and Resilience Among Adopted Children with Sexual Minority Parents

By |2016-12-01T19:32:51-06:00May 9th, 2016|Categories: Stability, Permanency, and Adoption|Tags: , , , , , |

Today's Guest Blogger is Peter Holmlund-Fluker. Researchers from the University of Kentucky and the University of Massachusetts Amherst present the findings of their study on microaggressions experienced by preadolescent youth being raised by same-sex parents in the article, “Microaggressions, Feelings of Difference, and Resilience Among Adopted Children with Sexual Minority Parents.” Published in the September [...]

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The Insensitivity of Adoption Day Celebrations

By |2016-12-01T19:32:51-06:00May 9th, 2016|Categories: Stability, Permanency, and Adoption|Tags: , , , , |

Today's Guest Blogger is Sheena Pruitt. Huffington Post published an article by Mirah Riben titled “The Insensitivity of Adoption Day Celebrations”. Riben’s article takes a critical look at not only adoption celebrations, but also terminology such as “Gotcha Day” or “G Day”, which is used to reference those celebrations. The article examines “G Day” from [...]

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