The Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research announces a special issue dedicated to enhancing the dissemination of scholarly knowledge by issuing a call for papers exploring the methodologies and examining the results of systematic reviews such as those published in the Cochrane Collaboration or Campbell Collaboration Library of Systematic Reviews. Submissions should summarize key findings and discuss applications to social work and public policy. As a part of the same special issue, the journal is seeking papers that will contribute to ongoing scholarly debate regarding the development and use of scientific methods for reviewing and synthesizing research on social and health problems, programs, and policies. For this special issue, we are seeking full-length articles and brief reports on systematic reviews of observation and intervention studies as well as papers on related methodological issues. Interdisciplinary-authored papers are welcome. Click here for more information.

Educators, researchers and practitioners are invited to submit papers with an emphasis on demonstrating religious and spiritual competence in practice. Building on the growing interest among practitioners in the role of religion and spirituality in social work practice, this special issue of Social Work & Christianity seeks to call attention to the diversity among both longstanding and emerging religious and spiritual traditions, while highlighting the implications for Christians in Social Work. Renewed professional interest in religion and spirituality has manifested itself in the formation of a work group on religion and spirituality convened by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Representatives of NACSW serve on the work group along with members from other diverse religious and spiritual traditions. The co-editors of this special issue are members of the CSWE work group, and are exemplars of religious diversity representing a Muslim, Jewish, and Christian perspective, respectively. The intended audience for this special issue will be social work educators and practitioners although it is understood that the depth and breadth of the final selection of papers for inclusion in the journal will be of benefit across disciplines. Interested authors can choose to focus on various aspects of how religion and spirituality influences the practitioner-client therapeutic relationship. One level of focus could be to delve deeper into the scholarly knowledge base upon which a particular religious or spiritual intervention is rooted. Another approach could be to describe in detail how a particular religious or spiritual intervention came into being, what considerations developed its design and implementation and with what particular population of clients or communities. Utilizing an outcomes approach, interested authors could submit a manuscript to assess strengths and weaknesses and to convey lessons learned and best practices which have emerged from the implementation of a religious or spiritually based intervention. And yet another approach could be to focus on recommendations for the future of religious and spiritual competence in practice. 

The SRA Executive Council and Program Committee invite submissions for the 15th Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) to be held at the Hilton Austin Hotel, March 20-22, 2014. Persons with an interest in adolescence, whatever their discipline and wherever they are located, are encouraged to submit. Empirical, theoretical, historical, and methodological submissions related to adolescence are welcome. We also welcome student-both graduate and undergraduate-submissions. The Program Committee and the Executive Council of SRA strongly advocate the interdisciplinary and international character of the Society through its Biennial Meetings. Click here for more information. 

Juveniles in Residential Placement, 2010 (Bulletin)
Juvenile Offenders and Victims: National Report Series
This bulletin presents information from the 2010 Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP), a biennial survey of public and private juvenile residential facilities conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and sponsored by OJJDP. The bulletin compares information for detained versus committed offenders and for offenders in public versus private residential facilities, and provides state-level comparisons. The population of juvenile offenders in custody has declined by one-third since 1997, and the number of status offenders in custody was down 52 percent from 1997. Minority youth are still disproportionately confined, however; the custody rate for black youth was more than 4.5 times the rate for white youth, and the custody rate for Hispanic youth was 1.8 times the rate for white youth. Click here for more information. 

Nature and Risk of Victimization: Findings from the survey of youth in residential placement
Andrea J. Sedlak, Karla S. McPherson, and Monica Basena
The Survey of Youth in Residential Placement (SYRP) is the third component in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's constellation of surveys providing updated statistics on youth in custody in the juvenile justice system. It joins the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement and the Juvenile Residential Facility Census, which are biennial mail surveys of residential facility administrators conducted in alternating years. SYRP is a unique addition, gathering information directly from youth through anonymous interviews. This bulletin series reports on the first national SYRP, covering its development and design and providing detailed information on the youth's characteristics, backgrounds, and expectations; the conditions of their confinement; their needs and the services they received; and their experiences of victimization in placement. Click here for more information.   

Child Welfare Information Gateway
Below is a list of new publications that were added to Child Welfare Information Gateway Library in May:
-An Audit Report on Child Protective Services Funding, Direct Delivery Staff, and Disproportionality Efforts at the Department of Family and Protective Services; Keel, John
-Pathways to Mental Health Services: Core Practice Model Guide.
-An Audit Report on Caseload and Staffing Analysis for Child Protective Services at the Department of Family and Protective Services; Keel, John
-Permanency Planning and Family-Based Alternatives Report in Response to S.B. 368, 77th Legislature, Regular Session, 2001, Submitted to the Governor and the Texas Legislature, January 2013.
-Guidelines for Foster Parents and Relative Caregivers for Health Care and Behavioral/Mental Health Services.
To view all 14 publications and their detail click here.