Inside Issue 1

Together, the articles in Issue 1 of The New Circle set the pace and build a foundation for the forum we intend to provide in future issues, presenting a collection of articles and ideas that help us think about the work we do and how we can ensure that we continue to provide such important services to children and adolescents who are at risk for a variety of difficulties.

  • Foreword
    A brief discussion of the impact COVID-19 has had on the lives all professionals who work with at-risk children.
  • Welcome to The New Circle
    Phil Rich, Editor-in-Chief, introduces readers to Safer Society’s new online magazine by answering the question, Why another resource for those working with at-risk youth?
  • What Are Helping Professionals Up Against?
    David Prescott, Publisher, talks about the difficulties faced by all helping professionals who, despite their best efforts, are unable to fulfill their professional missions.
  • It’s the Relationship that Heals
    Stu Copans, Feature Editor, Child Psychiatry, Introduces the series of articles in this and future issues, written by himself and his colleagues, on the challenges to child psychiatrists whose work with at-risk youths is structured and dictated by today’s medical care systems.
  • What is Social Work – And Who Exactly are Social Workers?
    Katelen Fortunati, Feature Editor, Social Work, introduces The New Circle series of articles in which social work professionals share problems and insights regarding their work with at-risk children and adolescents.
  • Violence Threatens Families – From Without and Within
    Becky Palmer, Feature Editor, Family Therapy, writes about the challenges of treating families traumatized by violence in the community and disrupted by violence, sexual abuse, and drug addition within their own homes.
  • Foster Care-Does It Mitigate or Exacerbate Trauma?
    Sarah Kull, Feature Editor, Foster Care, writes about the practice of removing children threatened by dangers in their homes of origin, but argues that we need to more carefully consider evidence that foster care may indeed be exacerbating children’s trauma from an attachment perspective.
  • Mentoring is Hard—Mentoring At-Risk Youths is Harder
    Mary Falcon, Feature Editor, Mentoring, introduces The New Circle series of articles about the difficulties of funding at-risk youth mentoring programs and supporting mentors in their sometimes years-long efforts to gain the trust of mentees whose adverse childhood experiences have taught them that adults are simply not to be trusted.
  • At-Risk Children and Adolescents—At Risk of What
    The Editors introduce The New Circle series of articles on childhood adversity and explain what it is we mean when we describe a child or adolescent as “at-risk”
  • Encountering Child Sexual Abuse in Your Work
    Constance DelGiudice, Feature Editor, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), explains the first steps a helping professional must take when faced with a situation in which a child or adolescent presents with symptoms of sexual abuse; then discusses further steps the professional may take if, for a variety of reasons, referral is not an option.
  • Issue 1 – Caption This
    In the Caption This section of The New Circle, we will publish an uncaptioned cartoon for readers to think about and have fun imagining possible captions.