Child Welfare Child Abuse And Child Protection

This collection focuses on child welfare in its specific sense: welfare and social interventions with children and young people undertaken by State bodies or NGO's. The term 'child welfare' is deployed differently in diverse international settings. In the United Kingdom child welfare tends to refer to individualised programmes for children who have experienced problems in their lives. In India, to take a contrasting example, it can also refer to major housing and nutrition programmes. This collection takes an inclusive approach to international perspectives.The collection is completed by a new general introduction by the editor, individual volume introductions, and a full index.Titles also available in this series include, Medical Sociology (November 2004, 4 Volumes, 495) and the forthcoming collection Health Care Systems (2005, 3 Volumes, c.395).

In 1994 a group of researchers and decision makers met to discuss the state of child welfare. Also present were a few practitioners and two youth in care. Six years later, when they met again, the number of practitioners and youth had grown considerably and were joined by a strong contingent of foster parents. Thus the findings and insights presented were affirmed or challenged by those most affected -- those on the front line. It was an exciting event, worth capturing in book form. Kathleen Kufeldt and Brad McKenzie have gathered the papers presented at the 2000 Symposium and have organised them under four themes: incidence and characteristics of child maltreatment; the continuum of care; policy and practice; and future directions. An analysis and synthesis of the work informs each of these themes, while an eight-point research agenda developed in an earlier symposium is used to assess developments to date and provide guidance for the future.

'I think this book, in assembling the views of a distinguished group of professionals, can have a profound effect on child welfare theory and practice. These practitioners, critics and academics have much to say. I for one am grateful that their views are now conveniently available to all of us in this book.' -- from the foreword by Thomas R. Berger, Chairman, the British Columbia Royal Commission on Family and Children's Law The first Canadian text on child welfare, this work examines a number of issues which represent the state of the art of child welfare in Canada. Among the contributors are practitioners as well as academics from the fields of social work, child care, law and medicine. Important government studies and reports in the 1970's did much to define existing problems in child welfare and to provide directions for their solutions. The developments and research reported in this book add to their findings. Several main themes emerge in the book -- one being the lack of standardization of child welfare policy and practice in Canada since each province has its own regulations and policies. Other concerns common to many of the authors are the dismantling of social service programmes as a result of the current recession and the need for greater cooperation with the native Indian leadership in regard to the provision of child welfare services to the Indian community. Another important theme touched on by several authors concerns children in the care of welfare agencies. They discuss how adequate the range and quality of services are and how the effect of these services can be measured. The final theme centers on prevention and the early identification of families whose children may be at risk without certain support services. The point of view which transcends all the contributions supports an institutional approach, where a range of services is available to families to choose from, as opposed to the residual approach which regards government services as the last resort. While it is the latter view that is prevalent in Canda today, the authors argue that this represents a penny wise but pound foolish approach not only to child welfare but also to the broader field of social welfare.

This title was first published in 2000: This text provides international perspectives on examples of best practice in child welfare and proposes organizational structures and policies to support this practice. Practice innovations span the range of child welfare services, including prevention, protection and out-of-family care. The contributors describe the child welfare context in each of their particular jurisdictions, producing an addition to the literature comparing child welfare in different countries. Moreover, existing books on the subject are primarily descriptive and examine overall child welfare legislation and policy. The work adopts an analytical approach, proposing policies and focusing on the largely unexamined topic of excellence in child welfare practice.

The introduction to this report provides a general overview of the common elements of provincial/territorial child welfare systems, including: the philosophy & goals of child & family services legislation; the service delivery systems; and a summary of the case management process. The main section is arranged by name of province or territory and presents specifics for each jurisdiction with respect to administration & service delivery, legislative & working definitions, mandatory reporting provisions, investigation of reports, child abuse/neglect protocols, First Nations services, voluntary agreements & court-ordered protection, descriptions of child abuse registers, and statistical charts.

This volume provides a wide spectrum description analysis of the contemporary and well established child protection systems in a range of countries, such as Australia, Canada, Netherlands and Spain. It presents a brief orientation about the public and private systems involved in protecting children in each country. Further the book identifies current key policy and implementation drivers that orient the systems of child protection, such as children’s rights, family preservation, use of evidence and public health orientation. Finally it presents a critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of the systems, as well as, strategies for prospects for improving outcomes for children and their families.

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.