Elder justice Act

Instructions

Section 1

1. Review the detailed outline for the final assignment (module 13 and/or the Signature Assignment Kickoff posted in Module1).

2. Be sure your policy is going to work for the assignment. Review the examples below and review feedback on your Module 4 assignment. Remember, in Module 4 you identified your social issue and policy for this assignment.

3. Start to collect and read the literature you will need to answer the specific questions outlined in the final policy analysis assignment. Note that the expectation is that you will use a lot of sources -- the minimum is 10 – in the final paper. That is because you need different kinds of sources to answer different kinds of questions.

· you will need both research articles (peer-reviewed, from the social work/related literature) and sources that provide you with statistics/facts about your topic (these may be government websites, sources, etc.)

· you may also need sources that help you write about the history, etc. - these could include your textbook, other books with broad overviews of policy, websites that provide policy overview, etc.

· for all of the sources, ask yourself if you're looking at "good" evidence -- if you're looking at web-based sources are they from reputable think tanks or policy forums? Do they have a bias you need to understand as you read? Are they legitimate/good sources that you trust?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations for various books, articles, and other sources on a topic. The annotated bibliography looks like a References page but includes an annotation after each source cited. An annotation is a short summary and/or critical evaluation of a source.

· Example Annotated Bibliography

For this assignment, you will collect evidence/sources for your final policy analysis paper. In order to do so, you will compile an annotated bibliography (using APA format).

FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT, LABEL THIS AS SECTION 1: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

This bibliography will include at least eight references – of these, five should be from the peer-reviewed/academic literature and three should be government sources, textbooks, or other reliable sources.

You will provide appropriate APA format citations and a discussion/overview of the article/source – this should include:

· what question(s) it will help you answer in the final paper,

· any quotes you plan to use (cited appropriately),

· any especially helpful information/a critical analysis of the document.

Information on Annotated Bibliographies can be found in Section 9.51 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.)

· The format of your annotated bibliography follow the same format as any APA paper.

· Title page, page numbers, font style and size, etc. Consult your style manual and sample student paper for help with the formatting.

· The order of references also follow the same style and order as on a Reference page

· Alphabetical with hanging indents etc.

· The annotation - the notes you have about the source - appear in a new paragraph below its reference entry, indented 0.5 inches from the left margin. These are written in complete sentences in an academic voice and tone.

Section 2

THEN, COMPLETE SECTION 2: CONCEPTUAL PLANNING/OUTLINE per the instructions below.

FOR THE CONCEPTUAL PLANNING/OUTLINE please demonstrate that you have started to “fill in the ideas” for the final assignment. These questions will help you build your draft that is due for peer review in Module 11.

It is not necessary to write your answers as a written paper – it is sufficient to answer each question. Below you have five questions to answer along with five examples of how a student might answer those questions.

Answer each of these questions (these map to the outline/requirements for the final paper). When appropriate, link your answers to the articles/sources provided above in your annotated bibliography.

1. Provide a two-to-three sentence overview of what your paper will be about. This should include both the problem/condition and the policy response.

· Example: My paper will be focused on the Healthy-Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 and whether that legislation has helped to effectively decrease child hunger in the United States. The problem of note is that kids in this country are still going hungry, with over 1 in 5 children experiencing hunger at any given moment (Cross, Clark, and Smittie, 2023, p. 1).

2. Provide an understanding of the history of the problem/highlight at least two key historical events/dates/acts, etc. that you will highlight in your paper. Here it is appropriate to talk about the history of the problem/condition as well as the history of the policy response – though in your paper you’ll build on each of those.

· Example: I will talk about the original 1947 School Lunch Act legislation and the changes to it – but beyond that I’ll also talk about what led to the creation of that legislation to begin with – how the Great Depression socialized this US towards safety nets and how many people experienced hunger – opening the door for a policy response. I’ll also talk about the growing role of school as a place where more than education takes place as that shift is important in understanding the history of the current legislation and its school based programs. Beyond that, I will touch on other programs and policies that help hunger but that do not do enough – like WIC, SNAP, etc. I think I also need to talk about the relationship between hunger/being food insecure and obesity as that has shaped current responses. That is Obama era changes.

3. Clarify what problem your chosen policy responds to.

· Example: the policy I am examining is related to hunger. Hunger can hard to define but the USDA defines terms like “food insecure” and those can be defined/discussed as related to hunger. More specifically though, the policy responds to the need to have healthy food available for school lunches and to the relationship between obesity and hunger for low income kids.

4. Consider the different and conflicting social values that “show up” in the development of legislation and social programs. Are there any values that you believe are prominently displayed within the legislation you’re researching? Here, you may need to read the preamble to the legislation, comments about it, etc. What can you find that helps orient you towards the values that shaped this policy response to a social problem?

· Example: In the HHFK Act of 2010 there’s a lot of discussion about not just feeding kids but about what kind of food, about childhood obesity, etc. So I think some of the values here are specific to being healthy and active as well as related to what certain groups of people perceive of as appropriate and healthy food for kids. It seems like, from what I’ve read, most people in congress support the overall school feeding programs but maybe disagree about the specifics tied to what kind of food can be served.

5. Based on the reading and research you’ve done this far, has the policy you’re analyzing been effective? What information are you using to generate that answer?

· Example: So far it looks like the original intent of the School Lunch Act has been good – data in some of my sources shows that kids would go hungry if they did not have access to meals at school, summer feeding programs. This stays true w/ more recent legislation – the HHHK Act which extended/continued those programs. What is less clear is whether the focus on “healthy” food has made a difference in the lunch program, so whether the focus on obesity and healthy food has mattered. I have two articles that look at this. Because the legislation has many different components, I’m trying to focus in on the school lunch component of the Act. I can find more data. So, for now, I think it has been effective yes.

Check Your Policy:

In order to collect literature and sources, you should finalize the policy you would like to focus on for the assignment; the previous assignments should have helped you to hone in on your chosen policy for the final project. If you are not sure about your topic, the following scenarios may be helpful:

· As a reminder, you may analyze a federal, state, or local policy that piques your interest & that is related to the practice of social work and vulnerable populations.

· Please be sure that you are looking at a current policy (e.g. the most recently reauthorized version of a policy if it has been reauthorized).

· Be sure you are looking at something that has been voted on/is an actual policy, not something that has been introduced but not passed!

· Additionally remember that you are looking for a POLICY - not a PROGRAM enacted because of a policy. Sometimes it is difficult to tease these out.

EXAMPLE 1:

You're interested in safety net supports for households so you want to look at TANF -- TANF is a PROGRAM (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) that was created by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity (PRWORA) Reconciliation Act -- Public Law #104-193).That is a BIG piece of legislation - remember it amends the Social Security Act and Title 1 of that act that creates TANF replaces AFDC... "welfare" - as you've learned about in this and other classes... so, for the assignment you would be focused on the Act but could specifically narrow your discovery and analysis to Title 1 of the legislation.

EXAMPLE 2:

You're passionate about affordable housing and you have family members who have served in the military - so you want to look at housing related policy specifically for veterans. You might google homeless veterans’ policy and find the Helping Homeless Veterans Act of 2021 -- sounds great! BUT...WAIT – you check the federal BILL TRACKER and find out this is legislation that has been introduced but not passed – thus it is not qualified for this assignment!

EXAMPLE 3:

You are interested in child hunger and how to end it, so you decide that you will focus on the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. You’re most interested in school lunch, breakfast, and summer feeding programs but know that those are PROGRAMS created by the POLICY. The original policy was the 1947 School Lunch Act – which has been amended many times. So, you focus on this more current legislation as it has more bearing on the current situation in US schools and communities.

As always, consult your section instructor if you have questions about your chosen policy.