Connecting Policy To Practice In The Human Services

Authors Brian Wharf and Brad McKanzie argue that, as currently developed, policy seldom responds to the needs of service users. This book attempts to come to grips with this unsatisfactory state of affairs. The first section describes the policy making process and the second section outlines new and more inclusive approaches to policy making.

In this fourth edition of a social work standard, Leon Ginsberg and Julie Miller-Cribbs offer an updated version of the text that has introduced thousands of social work students to the defining policies and procedures of the profession. Concise yet comprehensive, the volume surveys the span of social welfare history, explains the elements of social welfare policy education, and describes the impact of executive, legislative, and judicial initiatives on the delivery of social services.

Children who receive child welfare services are a vulnerable group. This book focuses on Canadian child welfare. It highlights major developments in child welfare and shows how these inform directions taken in research, policy, and practice. It reviews efforts to increase supports for families in need.

Focusing on children who are subject to welfare intervention, Protecting Children addresses the challenges and issues of the child welfare system and provides foundational knowledge on the theoretical and practical aspects of the field. This edited collection begins with a review of key concepts, including child development, attachment, and resilience theories; social policies; family law; and ethics. Highlighting the translation of theory into practice, the contributors discuss current services and the search for best practice internationally, as well as explore Indigenous child welfare and offer conclusions and recommendations to promote positive outcomes for children and families involved in the system. Scholars, researchers, and practitioners from across the globe provide insight on a wide range of timely issues, such as the risk of reductionism, limits to predictability, pragmatic issues, as well as the disproportional presence in the care system of minority groups, including Indigenous children, children of new immigrants and refugees, children in LGBTQ communities, and children of the poor. This foundational volume is an important resource for courses in social work and child welfare. FEATURES - includes contributions from researchers, practitioners, and scholars from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States - highlights Indigenous authors and personal stories of service users, and includes figures and tables throughout the text, as well as section introductions and conclusions to situate main theories and concepts for students

What are the major issues confronting social policy-makers today? What theoretical perspectives shape our thinking about the causes of social problems and how we should respond? What can we do to influence decision makers about which policy choice to make? In this completely revised and updated edition of "Canadian Social Policy," a new generation of social policy analysts discusses these important questions. Readers who are interested in discovering the current policy debates, and who want to understand the policy-making process at various levels of government as well as how they can influence the process and assess whether policies are working, will find this book invaluable.

During the past decade, a remarkable transference of responsibility to Indigenous children’s organisation has taken place in many parts of Australia, Canada, the USA and New Zealand. It has been influenced by Indigenous peoples’ human rights advocacy at national and international levels, by claims to self-determination and by the globalisation of Indigenous children’s organisations. Thus far, this reform has taken place with little attention from academic and non-Indigenous communities; now, Decolonising Indigenous Child Welfare: Comparative Perspectives considers these developments and, evaluating law reform with respect to Indigenous child welfare, asks whether the pluralisation of responses to their welfare and well-being, within a cross-cultural post-colonial context, can improve the lives of Indigenous children. The legislative frameworks for the delivery of child welfare services to Indigenous children are assessed in terms of the degree of self-determination which they afford Indigenous communities. The book draws upon interdisciplinary research and the author’s experience collaborating with the peak Australian Indigenous children’s organisation for over a decade to provide a thorough examination of this international issue. Dr Terri Libesman is a Senior Lecturer in the Law Faculty, at the University of Technology Sydney. She has collaborated, researched and published for over a decade with the peak Australian Indigenous children’s organisation.

Family support is an increasingly strategic approach to welfare services for children and families. This book covers core issues in family support. Providing a combination of clear theoretical frameworks and practical guidance this book will assist practitioners in working with families.

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.