This chapter presents an overview of the restorative justice movement in the twenty-first century. Restorative justice, on the other hand, offers a very different way of understanding and responding to crime. Instead of viewing the state as the primary victim of criminal acts and placing victims, offenders, and the community in passive roles, restorative justice recognizes crime as being directed against individual people. The values of restorative justice are also deeply rooted in the ancient principles of Judeo-Christian culture. A small and scattered group of community activists, justice system personnel, and a few scholars began to advocate, often independently of each other, for the implementation of restorative justice principles and a practice called victim-offender reconciliation (VORP) during the mid to late 1970s. Some proponents are hopeful that a restorative justice framework can be used to foster systemic change. Facilitation of restorative justice dialogues rests on the use of humanistic mediation.

This chapter describes some of the recent restorative justice innovations and research that substantiates their usefulness. It explores developments in the conceptualization of restorative justice based on emergence of new practices and reasons for the effectiveness of restorative justice as a movement and restorative dialogue as application. Chaos theory offers a better way to view the coincidental timeliness of the emergence of restorative justice as a deeper way of dealing with human conflict. The chapter reviews restorative justice practices that have opened up areas for future growth. Those practices include the use of restorative practices for student misconduct in institutions of higher education, the establishment of surrogate dialogue programs in prison settings between unrelated crime victims and offenders. They also include the creation of restorative justice initiatives for domestic violence and the development of methods for engagement between crime victims and members of defense teams who represent the accused offender.

This chapter lays the foundation for facilitative leadership from the unique social work perspective. Social work’s Code of Ethics and social work practice principles contribute to the value-based leadership that is part of the facilitative leader’s core. Among the important expectations of social work leadership are cultural sensitivity and competence. Five discussion areas have been selected as essential to facilitative leadership from a social work perspective: inclusion, strengths-based leadership, power and the difference between power over and power with, oppression and social justice, and the elusive but critically important concept of empowerment. There are different types of power and power relationships such as productive power and destructive power. Being conscious of privilege and oppression are precursors to understanding social injustice and working toward social justice. The social work program identifies social justice as a professional obligation of social workers to attempt to improve the quality of all people’s lives.

This chapter introduces the theoretical basis for restorative justice (RJ). It assesses the empirical evidence for RJ programs, and explores the challenges and opportunities associated with applying core competencies. The chapter describes competencies of specific interest which include: engaging diversity and difference in practice, and engaging with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. It also discusses skills essential to the success of RJ which include supporting processes that value the experiences of people associated with a crime or harm. The chapter suggests the importance of practical and context-specific knowledge and skills relevant when individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities find themselves in conflict and require support. Programs that rely upon restorative principles have been used at a variety of points in the criminal justice process. The chapter discusses a practice, a family group conference, which was first developed in New Zealand involving social workers considerably.

This chapter discusses the concepts, underlying principles, benefits, and challenges of using “whole-family” approaches in social work. It articulates the theory and skills associated with family engagement as part of a human rights and social justice framework for social work practice in forensic settings. The chapter describes the ethical imperatives and evidence base supporting the use of family group decision making (FGDM) in regulatory settings. It engages whole families as partners in the use of FGDM in child protection and youth justice. The chapter also describes the theory, empirical support, and skills in use of FGDM, or family group conferencing (FGC). It concluded with an example of how alert forensic social workers must be to the potential for their best intentions to collide with the tenants of responsive practice and a quote from a child protection social worker who worked closely with the author on a pilot project using FGC.

This chapter emphasizes the importance of improving health literacy. It describes the incorporation of cultural competence standards in forensic social work practice perspectives. The chapter also explains how to promote engagement of informal support networks in promoting health and well-being among diverse groups. Disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities in the United States have long been overrepresented in the criminal justice systems. The elimination of health care disparities and ensuring the health care delivery system is responsive to minority groups is a social justice issue. The roles and function of forensic social workers that provide services to persons with these cultural norms can be expanded using a broader ecological framework and the applied social care model to develop intervention strategies and care plans with incarceration persons. Identifying and incorporating culturally appropriate practice approaches are challenging, yet necessary undertakings for forensic social workers.

Substance abuse is a significant problem among persons who are homeless. This chapter explores the application of addiction recovery management (ARM) principles for developing practice skills in the recovery process among vulnerable populations. It examines demographic and social action factors that may impede or foster successful completion of this long-term recovery for persons who are experiencing home insecurity. The chapter offers insight for forensic social workers about how to engage diversity and differences in practice, as well as advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice. Analytic concepts in forensic social work can enhance the capacity of educators to prepare practitioners to be effective in closing the gap that exists for racial disparities in treatment approaches and programs. Critical race theory can be used to develop guiding principles for competency-based education and outcomes that address the gaps in existing systems of care.

This chapter describes how forensic social workers can develop their expert witness testimony skills. It explains how to advocate on behalf of vulnerable racial and ethnic populations generally underrepresented in American legal system, to increase advocacy from a human rights perspective. The chapter explores how to use expert testimony to highlight a range of social justice issues including human trafficking, death, and persecution. It introduces forensic social workers to integrating narrative methods with evidence-based trends that can best support any legal claim for hardship. Expert witness testimony comprises core mitigation components: client interviews; collateral interviewing; obtaining institutional records; identifying core themes of hardship that have directly impacted the individual or family; identifying intergenerational patterns of illness and/or systemic traumas that impact family; identifying environmental and country conditions; writing a report; and preparing for direct testimony and cross-examination.

This chapter aims to disseminate theoretical and practical knowledge of practice using an empowerment and feminist perspective specifically when working with marginalized and oppressed forensic populations and in forensic settings. Forensic social work focuses on both victims and offenders, and strives to integrate the skills and knowledge of empowerment and feminist theory and practice with principles of social justice and human rights. The chapter discusses empowerment and feminist theories and their relevance to practice with forensic populations. It highlights a case example of group work with women, who were sexually abused, that was first presented in the 1990s and told from a strengths-based approach, but could very much be considered both a feminist and empowerment process of working. The chapter also highlights applying an empowerment approach to working with female and male prisoners in London.

This chapter examines the differences in facilitating a settlement-driven versus dialogue-driven mediation. It also examines the concept of introducing a humanistic approach to mediation and dialogue. The chapter presents the characteristics and qualities of an effective mediator in relation to the victim and offender, the facilitator’s responsibilities during preparation, the dialogue itself, and follow-up, including the significance of self-care. Nowhere else in the restorative justice process is the principle of respect and being non-judgmental more critical than in how the facilitator treats victim, offender, and other key stakeholders. Settlement-driven mediation is generally practiced within a conflict resolution context. In contrast, dialogue-driven mediation recognizes that most conflicts develop within a larger emotional and relational context characterized by powerful feelings of disrespect, betrayal, and abuse. Besides the governing values that define humanistic mediation, mediators must cultivate their emotional commitment to and connection with the highest principles they assign to the dialogue work.

This chapter describes the life course pathways of cumulative health and justice disparities experienced by historical and emerging diverse groups, which is often found among forensic populations. It helps readers articulate a life course systems power analysis strategy for use with forensic populations and in forensic settings. The chapter demonstrates how a data-driven and evidence-based assessment and intervention plan can be used to address clinical and legal issues using case examples of an aging prison population. It uses older people in prison to illustrate the complex life course of health and social structural barriers and needs of incarcerated people who have histories of victimization and criminal convictions. Information about trauma and justice, especially related to the trauma of incarceration, which in itself is often a form of abuse, especially when frail elders are involved and they are at increased risk for victimization, medical neglect, and “resource” exploitation is presented.

This chapter defines restorative justice and discusses the various forms that this approach to wrongdoing and offending may take. It reveals the relevance of restorative interventions to social work practice. The chapter recognizes pioneers in the field of restorative justice with special emphasis on social work theorists. It describes the various forms of restorative justice from micro level victim-offender conferencing to community-level healing circles to macro level reparative justice. The chapter argues for greater social work involvement in shaping policies that include restorative justice options in situations of wrongdoing and social work involvement in facilitating victim–offender and anti bullying conferencing. The chapter also describes aspects of restorative justice that address competencies related to advocacy for human rights and issues of spirituality.

This chapter distinguishes between spirituality and religiosity. It reports on a study that begins to deconstruct the elements in restorative justice that might be considered spiritual. Spirituality is defined as a reverence for life. Sacred reverence is defined as being in awe of and deep regard or veneration. Religious leaders are often strong promoters at the forefront of many rehabilitative justice practices including restorative justice. By delineating specific spiritual components, the concept of spirituality is made clearer and more usable by social workers and other mediators of restorative justice practice. Bender and Armour examined texts about restorative justice using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Nine components of spirituality emerged from the research on the restorative justice literature such as: internal transformation, connectedness, common human bond, repentance, forgiveness, making right a wrong, balance or harmony, rituals and the spirit or supernatural.

This chapter provides an introduction to the three basic dialogue practices like victim-offender mediation (VOM), family group conferencing (FGC) and peacemaking circles and the expansion of VOM to include severely violent crime. It describes the components of a restorative justice dialogue that are a part of all approaches. The chapter delineates the stages in developing a dialogue including referral, preparation, dialogue meeting, and follow-up. Again these stages demonstrate how restorative justice values, principles, and core concepts are actualized in the process. The chapter describes the conditions necessary for creating the context that enables change during the dialogue. Those conditions include a process orientation, safety establishment, respectful interaction, and the flow of positive energy. Besides embodying restorative justice values, these conditions represent spiritual components. The components include: personal accountability in response to the harm, inclusivity, voluntarism, preparation for the dialogue, and the telling of story as personal truth.

This chapter describes a forensic practice framework using a human rights and social justice systems approach. It articulates the definition and theme-based strategies that distinguish forensic social work from social work practice as usual. The chapter then proposes an integrated theoretical perspective that the authors refer to as a human rights and social justice systems (HR-SJS) approach. This approach helps to visualize forensic social work practice in any practice setting. The chapter also reviews the history of forensic social work using the United States as the case example to illustrate how a two-pronged approached to practice was integrated throughout this specialized arena of practice. A review of forensic social work history shows that well over 100 years ago, social workers understood that government, as author and institutor of policy, can and should be an arena for reform.

This chapter promotes understanding of the intersection of social work case level practice skills and social welfare programs and policy. It describes the social work advocacy process, and explores how social and political values impact accessibility to social welfare programs. It assists social workers in developing competence in policy practice and in case and policy advocacy. The chapter also helps social workers recognize when social welfare and economic policies are not fairly distributed, and to become skilled in taking action at the micro-, mezzo, and/or macro level. It discusses the interaction of direct practice with case advocacy to underscore the critical need to understand and interpret policy to achieve social justice. The chapter further highlights the importance of social workers engaging in case and policy advocacy to achieve a socially just outcome for any individual or group, especially those impacted by involvement in the criminal justice system.

This chapter describes how forensic social workers can use the knowledge and skills of intervention development to design or evaluate existing interventions with forensic populations or settings, and about funding for their cause. It articulates the language of program and proposal development to prepare forensic social workers to be the creators of programs needed for forensic populations. The chapter enables preparing forensic social workers to possess basic competencies for understanding the language and practice of program development and evaluation of forensic social work interventions. The chapter provides an overview of the different parts of the logic model and how it can be linked to program development and evaluation. It provides questions related to the common types of evaluation, which include a needs assessment and process, outcome, or efficiency evaluations. The chapter also reviews forensic intervention development using a human rights and social justice systems approach.

Working with justice-involved youth and employment-related services requires a wide range of social work and systems knowledge, skills, and expertise. This chapter enhances understanding of the role employment services play in forensic social work with youth. It presents relevant findings from recent research on employment services for justice-involved youth and their effects on recidivism. The chapter discusses the targeted programs and services for justice-involved youth, providing case examples and discussion of how social workers assist this population, and the skills required for effective intervention. It also provides a basic understanding for how employment services fit within the system. The chapter aims to connect research with real-life examples. It outlines two of the ways inequality and oppression impact juvenile justice and employment. The chapter also discusses two evidence-based employment intervention strategies that are available to justice-involved youth in New York.

Historically, community-based nonprofit organizations have drawn board members from their local communities. Board members are being asked to deepen their understanding of the mission of the agency and develop an understanding of social change and social justice. As the agency matures, the roles of the board shift and they become more responsible for governance and fundraising. A well-balanced board is composed of people of various professional backgrounds and social skills, with cultural and ethnic diversity that reflects the composition of the people being served by the agency, and with the financial means, or access to it, to provide support for the agency. Irrespective of any professional credentials that board members may hold, it is critical that all board members have strong leadership skills. Board members are frequently concerned about how agencies handle their ‘legal issues’.

In order to be an effective manager, the key ingredient is to understand that the world, as it is perceived, is the world that is behaviorally important. As a manager, it is important to be able to differentiate between fact and inference. Managers should identify staff with high-power needs and understand that when those people feel powerless or not in control of a situation, they are more likely to be frustrated. As many managers view the appraisal process as intruding into their “regular” responsibilities, they tend to not want to go out of their way to concentrate on gathering, thoroughly evaluating, and digesting all the information needed to accurately assess a staff member’s performance. An ongoing and open dialogue between staff and management is critical to ensure that the manager is conducting him- or herself in a manner that fits into the parameters of social justice.

This chapter refers to the most important federal tax laws relating to nonprofit governance. It addresses the relationship between tax-exempt status and advocacy for “social justice” that is an important public policy issue. The chapter describes the type of nonprofit organization, the primary responsibilities of directors, trustees, and officers, how to address conflicts of interest and related party transactions, important governance rules related to fundraising and what legal rules affect nonprofit organizations engaging in advocacy for social justice. A nonprofit status is generally a state law concept that may make an organization eligible for benefits such as state income, sales, and property tax exemption. The ultimate legal authority and responsibility for a nonprofit organization lie with the governing board, which is composed of directors or trustees. The chapter concludes by extracting some general principles and best practices for good governance of nonprofits.

Social justice is the foundation for a democratic society and means that all people should have an equal chance to achieve economic, personal, and public success. Social change means that nonprofit organizations do not accept the status quo in the health, education, poverty, and other areas of public concern where they work. The problem in today’s financially uncertain world is that nonprofits have moved away from doing social change advocacy and concentrate more on their own staff, fundraising, and other management issues. This chapter traces the development and evaluation of a training program for present and future nonprofit leaders that combine management and social change skills and knowledge, which allow a nonprofit executive to take on social change challenges. The training considers social change as a part of the daily workload of a nonprofit and so it is integrated into each management course in the curriculum.

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book illustrates the emerging importance of social justice when developing the nonprofit leader of the future. It describes the importance of financial management skills for the nonprofit leader. The book explores the changing role of a nonprofit board that includes more accountability and a higher level of demands. It analyzes many diverse functions within the nonprofit ecosystem and discusses how social justice is now an absolutely essential skill set when developing leaders in this field. The book examines the evolution of nonprofit boards from its humble beginnings as a neighborhood organization to its current state of a more formal entity. It indicates the definition of ‘social justice’ as creating an egalitarian society that is based on equality and solidarity where human rights and the dignity of each individual is of utmost importance.

Gender identity has a significant impact on how an individual navigates and experiences the world. This chapter provides an overview of the intersections of social identities, offers an introduction to intersectionality, explores the impact of systems of oppression on mental health and well-being, and suggests strategies for incorporating principles of intersectionality and identity construction into counseling practice. Locating individual identity within sociopolitical contexts and recognizing the mutually constitutive interplay of social identities cause a significant shift in how identities are experienced, studied, and treated within counseling relationships and educational contexts. Many practitioners ground their work in social justice principles, recognizing that power, privilege, oppression, and discrimination impact sense of self as well as life experiences and expectations. Intersectionality has been deepened and broadened by scholars in education, counseling, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, history, queer theory, feminist studies, ethnic studies, and many other fields.

Members of privileged groups have important roles to play in social justice efforts. Because they have social advantages and greater access to resources, they are in unique positions to address issues in ways that are more difficult for those with disadvantages, as they are somewhat protected from the negative outcomes of doing so. Thus, White people can work to reduce racism, wealthy people economic inequality, heterosexual people homophobia, and so forth. This chapter highlights how the participation of those in privileged groups is essential to the success of social movements. Sexism is a form of prejudice, and it is important to have a clear understanding of how it works. Many people in dominant groups define prejudice in individualistic terms, as a consciously held attitude. Everyday allies are men who practice supportive behaviors whenever they encounter the opportunity.

Advocacy is key for the clinical mental health counseling profession. Clinical mental health counselor advocates (CMHCAs) rely on the advocacy competencies to guide their assistance to clients in removing barriers and to secure deserving resources, or to advocate on behalf of clients, groups, or communities. This chapter addresses the importance of advocacy and social justice advocacy, and the strategic positionality of the clinical mental health counselor as an advocate for addressing social and institutional barriers that reduce client access, equity, and success. It identifies the advocacy competencies and approaches to advocate for clients care, and emphasizes the ways that they foster resilience and growth. Specific cases illustrate clients' and professionals' understandings of and access to a variety of community-based resources. The chapter also addresses strategies to advocate for the profession and for clinical mental health counseling professionals.

This chapter presents a type of culturally open pastoral counseling that requires a transformation of self and society beyond an educated mind and a politically sensitive vocabulary. It discusses the current state of multicultural competence and social justice discourses. The chapter offers a few guiding principles intended to foster a more culturally open approach to cross-cultural training for pastoral counselors and other helping professionals. Training cultural competence in pastoral counseling and related fields focuses on meeting the ethical guidelines established by professional organizations. Training and discussions of social justice in pastoral counseling and related fields are aimed at drawing attention to the injustices inflicted on marginalized populations and motivating privileged populations to address and eradicate the resulting disparities. The primary focus of cross-cultural training for pastoral counselors is awareness, knowledge, and self-reflection. Developing cultural competence requires heightened awareness of personal cognitive dissonance when confronted with conflicting beliefs.

This book presents a comprehensive list of leadership and management competencies from the Network for Social Work Management (NSWM) and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) along with a list of competencies and practice behaviors that are located in each chapter. This chapter discusses NSWM human services management competencies and practice behaviors. There are twenty one competencies, which include: establishes, promotes, and anchors the vision, philosophy, goals, objectives, and values of the organization; possesses interpersonal skills that support the viability and positive functioning of the organization; possesses analytical and critical thinking skills that promote organizational growth; models appropriate professional behavior and encourages other staff members to act in a professional manner; manages diversity and cross-cultural understanding and develops and manages both internal and external stakeholder relationships; and initiates and facilitates innovative change processes and advocates for public policy change and social justice at national, state, and local levels.

This book presents a comprehensive list of leadership and management competencies from the Network for Social Work Management (NSWM) and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) along with a list of competencies and practice behaviors that are located in each chapter. This chapter briefly describes the nine CSWE competencies and practice behaviors. Competency one: Demonstrate ethical and professional behavior; Competency two: Engage diversity and difference in practice; Competency three: Advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice; Competency four: Engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice; Competency five: Engage in policy practice; Competency six: Engage with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities; Competency seven: Assess individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities; Competency eight: Intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities; and Competency nine: Evaluate practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. It provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. The chapter focuses on music-based interventions in the personal/social domain for connecting students to the Civil Rights Movement through music. Music played a key role in the movement and marked pivotal milestones as the movement progressed. The music-based interventions explore songs related to the Civil Rights Movement and as an expression for discussing social justice.

This chapter provides an overview of social work values and how these values influence the definition of ethical conduct and practices. “Social workers’ values influence the kinds of relationships they have with clients, colleagues, and members of the broader society”. The profession’s values also inform the kind of interventions social workers employ with clients. For example, a social worker might advocate against separating immigrant parents from a child born in the United States based on the value of social justice. The social work profession’s values also provide guidance in resolving ethical dilemmas. The social work profession continually reexamines the value base of the profession as it evolves in today’s ever changing world. Direct practice social workers should pay particular attention to the standards addressing the roles, duties and interactions they have with the clients they serve.

Myriad statutory, procedural, and technological innovations have been made in the criminal and civil justice systems to increase access to courts and legal services for older people and people with disabilities. This chapter describes basic legal concepts that pertain to individual rights and explains some of the criticisms that have been leveled against aging and elder abuse policy on legal grounds. It points out the role that courts play in interpreting rights, determining when they have been violated, and finding that statutes and executive actions are invalid. It focuses on a few examples that have attracted scrutiny, particularly with respect to elder abuse and neglect. Among the constitutional amendments that are most relevant to elder justice are the Fifth, which limits the government's authority to infringe on life, liberty, and the pursuit of property without due process, and the Fourteenth, which provides equal protection under the law.

A dramatic shift has occurred in the field of long-term care in recent decades in how providers talk about those they serve. This chapter explains what consumer rights are and suggests how they might apply in long-term care. It considers obstacles that older consumers with physical and cognitive disabilities may face as well as barriers imposed by the markets themselves, such as the failure of healthcare to respond to market forces that are supposed to drive prices down and lead to new and improved products. It acknowledges the special rights of users of medical care, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and health plans as articulated in patients' rights and residents' rights declarations and agreements. The chapter finally makes the case that consumers' rights should be a component of elder justice and that elder justice advocates and the public need to understand how to exercise and protect them.

Much of what has been accomplished in elevating elder rights and abuse prevention internationally has been accomplished by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that work in collaboration with the United Nations (UN), are supported by the UN, or that focus on influencing UN policy and programs. The UN also has “specialized agencies”, committees, councils, and commissions that play significant roles in promoting elder justice. UN entities employ a wide range of strategies to address aging issues, which are International Assemblies, Sustainable Development Plans, Treaties and Conventions, Public Awareness Events and Observances, and Special Procedures. American advocates have much to gain from participating in the systematic, deliberative, and inclusive processes that the UN and international NGOs have applied to aging, elder rights, and elder abuse prevention. This includes the UN's tripartite approach to age as a matter of human rights, public health and social development.

Throughout history, social work has played a significant role in the changing healthcare delivery system. This chapter highlights the history of healthcare and social work, including the roles social workers are engaged with diverse populations. It underscores the unique contributions and challenges that social workers are involved with in practice, policy, and research. Social workers have advocated for human rights and social justice throughout history. Social workers can help to change the healthcare delivery system that embraces collaboration with the individuals, families, communities, and other disciplines to insure good health for all members of society. Social workers recognize the dignity and worth of all people as well as the influence of the environment on human life. The recognition of healthcare disparities that continue to exist in society is a major concern of social workers responding to the needs of vulnerable populations.

This chapter identifies the four tools of effective academic writing. It creates concept maps to support theory development and research criteria for literature reviews. It also addresses multicultural context in academic writing including employing bias-free writing and describes the purpose and structure of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) as a tool for successful academic writing. The chapter explores the connection between writing and thinking by way of an approach for researching and writing a literature review, which includes creating concept maps to support the theoretical foundation of a literature review and addressing multicultural issues in academic writing. It begins with the multicultural and social justice–competency as a framework. Cultural considerations in writing are expansive and can include the mechanics of language through to the context by which information is framed and communicated to an audience.

The phenomenological approach to qualitative research is rooted in philosophy and amplified in social justice and creativity. The general purpose of phenomenology is to seek the essence of its subject, and that may take the form of meaning making with a social justice context. Phenomenologist are interested in what lies at the heart of the matter. Phenomenology differs from other qualitative traditions in its unique quest for meaning making through essentialism. While all qualitative inquiry is an attempt to preserve a unique perspective, phenomenologists highlight the uniqueness as a community value, allowing the reader to engage in transference of a common purpose. This chapter helps to identify the paradigmatic hierarchy and understand how to increase rigor of phenomenological research. It describes the five types of phenomenological research and recognizes multicultural issues associated with phenomenological research.

This concluding chapter proposes an Elder Justice Agenda. The agenda suggests strategies that can be adapted by advocates, service providers, educators, planners, policy makers, and researchers, and offers examples for doing so. The chapter summarizes recommendations made throughout the book and organizes them into categories: practice, training, policy, public awareness and engagement, and research. It further suggests steps and actions for getting started. The agenda is neither complete nor definitive. Rather, it is offered to stimulate discussion, debate, problem solving, collaboration, and innovation. It is further provided to inspire thought leaders and those new to the field of aging and abuse prevention to share perspectives. It provides opportunities for critics and advocates to be heard, and young and old to join together to tackle today's unprecedented challenges and shape the future of an aging America.

This chapter applies an “elder justice lens” to the field of elder abuse prevention and suggests how it applies to policy, practice, and public consciousness. Adopting an elder justice approach to elder abuse prevention requires ridding the system of ageism and adopting approaches that advance personal autonomy, independence, respect, and self-determination. It further requires that help be provided in ways that are fair and equitable, which requires addressing systemic as well as interpersonal risk factors and social determinants. An elder justice approach to elder abuse prevention requires that individual rights and social justice principles are reflected in abuse prevention theory, practice, policy, and public understanding of the problem. Adopting elder justice approaches to elder abuse starts by changing how we think about abuse. This begins by adopting a conceptual framework that reflects a social justice and individual rights perspective. The ecological model is best suited for incorporating elder justice principles.

Social justice requires fairness in how governments distribute resources, provide services and opportunities, and protect rights. This chapter considers fairness with respect to older people from two perspectives: (a) fairness vis-à-vis other segments of the population, or “intergenerational equity”; and (b) fairness among older adults. It proposes to rectify intergenerational inequities by adopting an “across the life span” approach to allocating resources for health, social, legal, and protective services. It further urges policy makers and program developers to design policies and programs to reflect America's demographic profile, trends, and the special needs of different age groups. In addition to ensuring greater fairness, the approach combats the counterproductive “generations at war” narrative. The chapter further calls for programs for older people to acknowledge challenges and barriers faced by older people of color; women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT); immigrants; and other socially and economically disadvantaged groups.

This chapter examines five areas of social work that have been primarily developed in more recent social work eras: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights, ethics, environmental social work, trauma and neuroscience. It provides some basic information on these areas, along with one individual who had contributed to this area of social work. These individuals have been selected as examples of leading areas of social work, but are by no means the only leaders in the field during this new century. It would be impossible to recognize here all of the people who are creating, developing, and inspiring the field of social work today. Social workers are moving into new areas of the field, and are collaborating with professionals from many other areas related to mental health and social justice.

Public health seeks to achieve optimal health for everyone, employing the “ecological model” to identify and respond to individual, interpersonal, community, and societal factors that pose health risks to entire populations. Public health is increasingly focusing on the “social determinants” of disease, disability, and premature death. This chapter proposes that public health be included as a key component of elder justice, providing an alternative or complement to the medical model that is more compatible with social justice goals. Public health theory and practice provide powerful tools for elder justice. Adopting public health principles and practices to elder justice will require: applying the ecological model beyond elder abuse and Alzheimer's disease to encompass a wider array of elder justice issues, expanding on the use of epidemiological research to identify health disparities, building upon and prioritizing prevention strategies, forging new alliances and collaborations, and achieving public support.

This chapter draws from the literature, professional counseling and education organizations, and their professional experiences to discuss the multi-faceted areas associated with counseling children and adolescents. It also details the evolving requirements to enter the school counseling profession and the standards that guide professional preparation and ongoing professional, ethical practice. Additionally, the chapter explores the challenges associated with balancing multiple roles and the benefits associated with using the literature to engage in the ethical practice of counseling that meets the needs of diverse stakeholders and supports personal well-being and professional excellence. The authors offer this chapter as a resource to counselors-in-training and persons in professional practice to remain engaged in the profession. The authors encourage readers to ponder the convergence of counselor training, professional standards, empathy, advocacy and social justice and wellness on their work, well-being, and contributions to their communities and the profession.

Perhaps nowhere are the challenges to preserve individual rights and justice greatest than in the face of illness, disability, and death. This chapter calls attention to common violations of individual rights at the end of life such as the disregard of advance directives like “living wills” and “do not resuscitate” orders. It highlights the perils of these instruments, which were created to preserve autonomy but can be weaponized to exploit. The chapter then explores highly controversial rights of individuals to control their own deaths and enlist others to help them. It suggests how the “right to life” takes on new meaning in light of technological innovations that seek to extend life to previously unimaginable lengths and their implications for individual and collective rights. Finally the chapter also explores the implications of its corollary the “right to die”.

Public policy bearing the labels of elder rights and elder justice is scant and only recently appeared on the scene. The terms “elder rights” and “elder justice” have been largely appropriated by the field of elder abuse, which has applied them narrowly to policies and programs that address elder and dependent adult abuse and mistreatment. But “aging policy” in the United States is grounded in social justice principles and goals. This explains how Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Supplemental Security, the Older Americans Act, and the Elder Justice Act have advanced individual rights and social justice. It also explores how discrimination against older people has been addressed, explicitly, through measures like the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and by policies that protect older people as members of other groups. This includes laws and regulations that protect people with disabilities, residents of institutions, consumers, crime victims, prison inmates, and others.

This introductory chapter presents a brief description of the book and its contents. It begins with description of the concepts of truth, justice, and the American way. This book assumes that advocates for older people can increase their effectiveness by achieving a clearer understanding of Americans’ not-so-self-evident nor inalienable rights. It explores how social justice and human rights principles have applied to older adults in the past and are viewed today. The book examines how the interests of older adults compare to and are intertwined with those of other groups. In essence, it frames elder justice as the intersection between aging policy and policy that promotes human rights and justice. Finally, the chapter describes the organization of the book and presents a brief overview of each chapter.

Elder justice has emerged from multiple fronts. It comes from researchers who are discovering that chronic illnesses, disability, and elder abuse are linked to poverty, discrimination, and social exclusion. This chapter calls for a new paradigm of elder justice that is based on the principles of human rights and social justice as they apply to older people. It builds on and reinforces past progress, revisits old assumptions and unfulfilled promises, and identifies new needs and challenges. The chapter then lays the groundwork for an elder justice agenda by suggesting the need for a new conceptual framework and elements to include. It builds upon principles of human rights and justice and employs public health methods to identify needs and suggest solutions. Finally the chapter connects the dots among existing policies and practices, building on those that have proven successful and rejecting those that have not.

Native Americans are a young and growing population. Poverty, racism, and trauma are common factors in the lives of many Native people, and these provide a context for significant social and health disparities. It is also important to recognize the resilience and tenacity that have allowed Native people to survive as distinct cultural and political groups in spite of centuries of colonization. Helping professionals can play an important role in assisting Native clients to access needed services and nurture their resilience. Professionals can also bring a strong grounding in social justice to combat many of the struggles that affect Indigenous Peoples. This chapter discusses the demographic profile of the Native American population. It also discusses the psychosocial risks and needs of Native Americans. The chapter provides the assessment treatment approaches for social and health problems, although few have been developed or adapted for Native Americans.

The task taken up by this last chapter entails a review of the dominant and stable array of policy agendas arising from different interests and segments of the body politic. A pragmatic understanding of the policy priorities and arguments of the health care system’s key stakeholders is needed when considering any effort toward health care reform, whether incremental or fundamental. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is critiqued in accordance with the central principles of alternative theories of social justice, and its accomplishments, deficits, and prospects for survival as coherent social policy are then considered. The chapter concludes with a synopsis of an approach to health care reform that would satisfy the demands of justice articulated in the theory of John Rawls. In the U.S. health care system, one is “enfranchised”, or eligible, to receive nonstigmatized health care on the basis of health care insurance.

The premise of this chapter is that relatively few students in public health, medicine, nursing, and social work have more than a superficial acquaintance with specific theories of social justice. It briefly describes five theoretical perspectives on positive rights to health and health care. As readers might have concluded by now, the five social justice perspectives considered in this chapter (libertarian, utilitarian, Marxist, liberal, and capabilities approach) indeed differ on their appraisal of health care as a basic right. Some theoretical perspectives go even further, by extending their arguments to entitlements or positive rights to not just health care, but to health itself as well. The chapter briefly summarizes these alternative theoretical perspectives on the right to health care, and then reviews the reasons for choosing the “Justice as Fairness” liberal theory of John Rawls as the optimal framework for the analysis of just health and health care policies.