Child welfare systems have struggled to create innovative, culturally sensitive programmes to address the multiple and pervasive barriers that exist in engaging child welfare parent clients in their service plans. Peer mentor programmes-those in which parents who have successfully navigated the child welfare system and reunified with their children, mentor parents newly entering the system-are designed to address some of these barriers, to improve reunification outcomes. Focus groups with parent clients (n=25) and interviews with peer mentors (n=6) were conducted to identify the characteristics of peer mentoring programmes that are critically helpful to parent clients, as well as the mechanisms that allow peer mentors to be effective in their work. The qualitative analysis uncovered three general themes to which both parents and peer mentors frequently referred in interviews-the value of shared experiences, communication and support. Additionally, the study found that peer mentorship has positive effects not only on parent clients but also on the mentors themselves. The inclusion of peer mentors in child welfare practice suggests an important paradigm shift within child welfare that could lead to culture change for the field. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

This analysis seeks to bridge the differences between micro and macro practice within the context of the shared mission of social work. The search for common ground, given decades of specialization, includes the identification of the different ways that the two forms of practice can inform each other, describes core workplace skills relevant to interventions at the micro and macro levels of organizational and community life, and explores the need for bilingual capacities to enhance communications between both domains of social work practice. It concludes with implications for future curricular changes.