Critical Issues in Child Welfare

Critical Issues in Child Welfare PDF

Author: Joan F. Shireman

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2015-06-30

Total Pages: 832

ISBN-13: 0231539274

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Reorganized for more effective classroom use, the second edition of Critical Issues in Child Welfare begins with an updated, thorough overview of the challenges currently facing at-risk children and families. A description of the child welfare system highlights issues that are discussed in more detail throughout the book. The text explores protective services, family preservation, foster care and residential care, adoption, services for adolescents, and training and retention of staff. New material highlights the recent discoveries of the impact of early trauma and stress on children's development, and the modifications currently taking place in the child welfare system in response to this new information. The book also examines the critical challenges of poverty and substance abuse, the importance of the community in shaping child welfare services, racial disproportionality in the system, the changing response of the system to LGBT issues, and services to ameliorate the difficulties of youth leaving the system.

Critical Issues in Child Welfare

Critical Issues in Child Welfare PDF

Author: Nora S. Gustavsson

Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated

Published: 1994-04-06

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13:

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This volume provides a clear and concise overview of the mental, emotional, physical and social conditions of children in the United States, and the current social concerns which threaten their well-being. Traditional child welfare topics such as foster care, adoption, abuse and neglect are examined along with newer problems such as HIV and the increasing number of one-parent families living in poverty. The need for additional emphasis on proactive child welfare programmes and primary prevention is stressed throughout.

Child Welfare Research

Child Welfare Research PDF

Author: Aron Shlonsky

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-04-25

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0190294000

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Research has already been a significant factor in child welfare policy in recent years, but this essential new volume demonstrates that it has taken a leading role in the field to spur and guide change. In the incisive chapters gathered here, some of the field's top investigators present their work and assess its effect on the full spectrum of child welfare services. Future generations of researchers, as well as students, practitioners, and service providers, will find the resulting text indispensable. Edited by Duncan Lindsey and Aron Shlonsky, two of the discipline's most articulate voices, the book covers every base. The opening chapters situate child welfare research in the modern context; they are followed by discussions of evidence-based practice in the field, arguably its most pressing concern now. Recent years have seen historic rises in the number of children adopted through public agencies and, accordingly, permanent placement and family ties are critical topics that occupy the book's core, along with chapters broaching the thorny questions that surround decision-making and risk assessment. The urgent need for a more effective use of research and evidence is highlighted again with looks at the future of child protection and how concrete data can influence policy and help children. Finally, in recognition of the growing importance of a global view, closing chapters address international issues in child welfare research, including an examination of policies from abroad and a multinational comparison of the economic challenges facing single mothers and their children. With its insightful treatment of child welfare services in terms of the broader welfare system and acknowledgment of the myriad problems child welfare agencies face, this exceptional compendium offers a rich understanding of the social conditions that influence contemporary child welfare and enables the field to move ahead without losing sight of valuable lessons that have been learned.

Child Welfare in the United States

Child Welfare in the United States PDF

Author: Sylvia I. Mignon, MSW, PhD

Publisher: Springer Publishing Company

Published: 2016-11-28

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0826126472

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Provides a balanced critical analysis of the child welfare system along with promising innovations Distinguished by its critical perspective, this book delivers a balanced and comprehensive examination of the child welfare system in the United States today. In a clear and accessible style, it outlines key issues, reviews the history of the child welfare system, and explores the challenges to developing appropriate federal, state and local policies that address child welfare concerns. A chapter devoted to innovative and effective child welfare and prevention practices showcases examples of successful programs. Additionally, the book underscores the importance of coordination among human service professionals and organizations. The text addresses issues related to the educational system, homelessness, poverty, the juvenile justice system, foster care, and adoption. It incorporates the perspectives of parents and children involved in the system, who cite both positive experiences and bureaucratic challenges. Child welfare workers themselves describe the professional and personal realities of their experiences working within the system. Illustrative case examples of abused and neglected children add to the text’s value for BSW and MSW students studying child welfare. Key Features: Provides a comprehensive overview of child welfare issues in the United States today Offers case examples of abused/neglected children and their families Includes the perspectives of parents and children involved with the child welfare system Incorporates the views of child welfare workers Provides examples of innovative practices in child welfare

Children's Rights and Child Protection

Children's Rights and Child Protection PDF

Author: Deborah Lynch

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2013-08-20

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9780719090851

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This topical book comprehensively draws together diverse perspectives from key leaders in the field to address critical issues for children in relation to their rights, welfare and protection at a critical time in Ireland. The broad array of chapters addresses the changing and complex landscape of policy, practice and law. It discusses the politics of children's rights, the impact of child abuse within the catholic church, diverse approaches to service delivery and professional practice, the media and representations of child protection practice, and the relationship between research evidence and practice. It offers a critique of governance in children's services and identifies key barriers to fundamental progress in the area of children's rights and the protection of children. This original book fills a gap in publications in this area in Ireland. It is vital reading for academics, practitioners, managers, students and policy-makers, as well as being accessible to individuals with a broad interest in child welfare and protection.

The Child Welfare Challenge

The Child Welfare Challenge PDF

Author: Peter J. Pecora

Publisher: AldineTransaction

Published: 2012-01-31

Total Pages: 461

ISBN-13: 0202363864

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Within a historical and contemporary context, this book examines major policy practice and research issues as they jointly shape child welfare practice and its future. In addition to describing the major problems facing the field, the book highlights service innovations that have been developed in recent years. The resulting picture is encouraging, especially if certain major program reforms I are implemented and agencies are able to concentrate resources in a focused manner. The volume emphasizes families and children whose primary recourse to services has been through publicly funded child welfare agencies. The book considers historical areas of service—foster care and adoptions, in-home family-centered services, child-protective services, and residential services—where social work has an important role. Authors address the many fields of practice in which child and family services are provided or that involve substantial numbers of social work programs, such as services to adolescent parents, child mental health, education, and juvenile justice agencies. This new edition will continue to serve as a fundamen­tal introduction for new practitioners, as well as summary of recent developments for experienced practitioners.

Child Welfare in the Legal Setting

Child Welfare in the Legal Setting PDF

Author: Thomas M O'Brien

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-04-03

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1136374809

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Explore legal issues that often hinder the work of child welfare practitioners! Child Welfare in the Legal Setting: A Critical and Interpretive Perspective is a revolutionary study of the child welfare system that is essential for practitioners, educators, and students interested in public child welfare work. It examines the legal system surrounding child welfare workers and highlights their need for agency-specific training. This insightful book challenges the traditional rules of child welfare and paves the way for alternate methods of conceptualizing and organizing child protection. It explores why many family interventions fail and others never even occur. By identifying incongruities between the philosophy of child welfare and its function, this book advocates a more individualistic and efficient technique for assisting clients. Addressing issues and challenges from the initial identification of problems to navigating the legal system, this book is also thorough enough for public child welfare workers who want to take their skills to the next level. The large-system perspective in this book uses the concentric circle model, the rational legal model of legal and court action, and the ritualized process model to examine child welfare practice. Learn why terms such as “child abuse” and “neglect” have become social constructions that vary depending on the values of social workers, judges, attorneys, agencies, and communities. Child Welfare in the Legal Setting: A Critical and Interpretive Perspective examines the standardization of the organizational activities of child welfare systems and how this limits professionals’ ability to accurately recognize unique problems and intervene in the most beneficial manner. Child Welfare in the Legal Setting also provides controversial opinions on emerging issues including: family investigations sanction for Child Protective Services intervention the legal setting as a host environment the function of the child welfare system rationalization of child welfare intervention “trained incapacity” of social workers Title IVE programs the court system Child Welfare in the Legal Setting: A Critical and Interpretive Perspective identifies vital issues by analyzing the ethical and moral foundations of the child welfare system. This insightful book also takes a close look at how practitioners inadvertently devalue their clients by using language that creates stigmatized social categories such as “victim” and “convicted felon.” Supervisors, managers, social workers and child welfare practitioners will benefit from this information. The vignettes that supplement the narrative also make the book an important resource in any child welfare course.

New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research

New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2014-03-25

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 0309285151

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Each year, child protective services receive reports of child abuse and neglect involving six million children, and many more go unreported. The long-term human and fiscal consequences of child abuse and neglect are not relegated to the victims themselves -- they also impact their families, future relationships, and society. In 1993, the National Research Council (NRC) issued the report, Under-standing Child Abuse and Neglect, which provided an overview of the research on child abuse and neglect. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research updates the 1993 report and provides new recommendations to respond to this public health challenge. According to this report, while there has been great progress in child abuse and neglect research, a coordinated, national research infrastructure with high-level federal support needs to be established and implemented immediately. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research recommends an actionable framework to guide and support future child abuse and neglect research. This report calls for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to child abuse and neglect research that examines factors related to both children and adults across physical, mental, and behavioral health domains--including those in child welfare, economic support, criminal justice, education, and health care systems--and assesses the needs of a variety of subpopulations. It should also clarify the causal pathways related to child abuse and neglect and, more importantly, assess efforts to interrupt these pathways. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research identifies four areas to look to in developing a coordinated research enterprise: a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system, a new generation of researchers, and changes in the federal and state programmatic and policy response.