The Cost Of Protecting Vulnerable Children

Government-by-proxy and intergovernmental relations profoundly affect the public administration of foster care. Using examples from foster care systems in the states of Delaware, Michigan, New York, and Rhode Island, Rebecca Padot eloquently combines a rigorous methodology and theory work to expose the conditions under which foster care outcomes can be improved. The cases selected suggest that the federal government has increased its focus on measuring the performance of state programs while simultaneously decreasing its funding of state foster care programs and offering the states very little management or mentorship. Padot turns the page and recommends administrators place a greater priority on building community partners, integrating the advice of mentors, providing leadership from public managers, and cultivating relationships with the federal government. An original and timely resource for scholars and practitioners, this book represents a significant contribution to our understanding of how leadership and management variables may be associated with more positive foster care practices and performance in the United States.

Professionals in the Child Welfare System will find this book to be a radically different explanation on protecting children from harm. Child maltreatment remains front and center in the collective consciousness of communities around the United States, this book is a depiction of current events of social outrage.

Presenting a history of child protection in America, this work analyses reform proposals and introduces innovative policy strategies for reducing abuse and strengthening child protective services.

First published in 1999, The Management of Child Protection Services is not about child abuse but about child protection. It is about the arrangements that professionals from different disciplines make to ensure they operate together effectively to protect the most vulnerable children in society. The book examines five different contexts of child protection: historical, cross-cultural, structural, managerial and professional and consideration of the operation of Area Child Protection Committees. In exploring these contexts, the book seeks to address such questions as: ‘how can universal standards be applied to protect vulnerable children whilst avoiding ethnocentrism?’ and ‘from where are derived, historically, and cross-culturally, the models of child protection adopted in the UK today?’ It also seeks to identify the different professional contexts, roles and contributions of agencies involved in child protection, with a view to promoting interdisciplinary understanding. These questions and understandings are necessary if changes currently being contemplated are to enhance the effectiveness of child protection.

The family-state relationship in contemporary American theory and public policy -- Theorizing the supportive state -- The supportive state and caretaker-dependent ("vertical") relationships -- The supportive state and ("horizontal") relationships among adults -- The supportive state, family privacy, and children.