'The Tip of the Ice Berg': Children's Complaints and Advocacy in Wales--An Insider View from Complaints Officers

This paper is based on findings of a Welsh Assembly Governmentfunded review of children’s independent advocacy servicesin Wales with reference to their involvement in complaints madeby children, or by their parents or carers on their behalf,about local authority social services. It draws, primarily,upon qualitative interviews with local authority children’scomplaints officers, whose task is to receive complaints orconcerns, field these to appropriate social services staff,maintain oversight of their progression and keep complainantsinformed of developments. The paper describes the challengesthat complaints officers perceive children encounter in movingcomplaints forward, especially in a context where independentadvocacy services are involved and where these services areviewed with some suspicion by social services staff. It suggeststhat complaints officers play a pivotal part in managing thesometimes contested and complex interface between service providerand child and may do so from a position of limited authorityand influence. The role of complaints officers in engaging withcomplainants and their advocates, and with those colleaguesimplicated in complaints, has rarely been the topic of research.This paper provides accounts from these key staff that helpilluminate the tensions and difficulties that can enter thechildren’s complaints process.     

Children's Voices: The Views of Vulnerable Children on Their Service Providers and the Relevance of Services They Receive

This paper describes and analyses the views of vulnerable childrenof eleven years and under on the relevance of services theyreceived. The two research questions posed were, first, whatare effective practices for engaging with vulnerable children;and, second, how can the voices of vulnerable children be usedto influence the development of policy? The first question wasaddressed through a systematic review of existing literatureon effective strategies for interviewing vulnerable childrenand revealed that few studies that focus on interviewing youngchildren are designed to address effectiveness. As yet, notall young children are asked for their views by those makingdecisions about their lives, though their involvement increaseswith age. The second question was addressed through focus groupsand interviews which revealed that children hold many validviews related to their roles and relationships with serviceproviders and decisions being made concerning their lives. Itwas concluded that whilst children’s lived experienceof services they receive could contribute to the creation ofmore democratic communities in which children and their familiesparticipate, it remains to be seen whether the new Green Paper,Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003), increases their sense of autonomyor merely extends the degree to which they are controlled.     

Evaluating Children's Services: Recent Conceptual and Methodological Developments

This article considers recent innovations and challenges withrespect to the evaluation of children’s services interventions.It sets out a method for designing and evaluating services thatis based on research evidence gathered on individual cases andthat permits revision of those services in the light of emergingresults. It starts by describing briefly different ways of identifyinga discrete group of children with similar needs. It then outlinesapproaches to ensuring that an intervention for those childrenis underpinned by theory and research evidence–includingthe idea of ‘logic modelling’–before discussingthe importance of capturing accurately how well the interventionis implemented. Experimental and non-experimental methods ofassessing an intervention’s effectiveness are considered,with particular emphasis on techniques for enhancing the causalinference that can be drawn from studies and the importanceof matching method and purpose. The article also demonstrateshow the principles and methods used in relation to evaluatingservices for groups can be applied in clinical work with individualcases, and identifies the benefits of this general approachto evaluation over and above the information that it provideson what works.     

Theorizing Sexuality, Sexual Abuse and Residential Children's Homes: Adding Gender to the Equation

This article is primarily concerned with emphasizing the importanceof gender in relation to understanding and responding to sexualityand sexual abuse/exploitation issues within residential children’shomes. Initially, past research and inquiry reports are analysedand evaluated, not only in relation to their overall conclusionsand recommendations, but also with regard to their consideration,misrepresentation or omission of gender issues. A theoreticalframework is then drawn up which takes into account historicaldebates and contestations around notions of gender. This illustrateshow gender is frequently conflated or merged with understandingsabout sex and sexuality. This theoretical conceptualizationis then extended to consider the effects of the social constructionof childhood and childhood sexuality, and how sex, gender andsexuality may commonly be represented and understood withinorganizational, public-sphere contexts. Important findings froma recent indepth qualitative research project focused on sexualityissues in children’s homes are then presented thematicallyand through narrative excerpts. These findings are also locatedwithin and made comprehensible in relation to the theoreticalframework previously constructed. The conclusion examines theimplications of the findings presented and their theorization,and briefly evaluates the usefulness of recent policy initiativesintended to improve the care and development of ‘lookedafter’ children.     

The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families--A Basis for a 'Therapeutic' Encounter?

Does the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need andtheir Families, implemented by local authorities in Englandin 2001, embody an ethos of bureaucratic regulation with stultifyingeffects on social work, or is there evidence, as was anticipatedin the official guidance accompanying the framework’sintroduction, that it has potential as a basis for therapeuticsocial work? These questions are considered in this paper, whichanalyses findings from a study of the use of the framework basedon interviews with service users and social workers. Some serviceusers found aspects of their assessment to be personally beneficial.This is discussed in detail, reaching the conclusion that usingthe framework can be therapeutic. Furthermore, it is arguedthat part of what some service users considered helpful wasrelated to the format of the new framework, and not only toits use in the hands of skilful and experienced practitioners.This point is pursued to suggest that carefully balanced analysisis particularly important in the discussion of developmentsin assessment practice that might seem too ‘bureaucratic’.     

Social Work and the Shift from 'Welfare' to 'Justice'

It has become increasingly clear that the emancipatory capacityof social work has been eroded. Several scholars link this tothe influence of neo-liberal and ‘Third Way’ thinking.However, it has recently been argued that social work was notonly a victim of these new influences, but that it is also veryadaptable to the influence of such new ideas (Jordan, 2004)and not very critical about its own role in these changes (Lorenz, 2005).In this article, we will further develop this criticism, byfocusing on the debate surrounding youth delinquency. Accordingto Sharland (2006), youth delinquency has become someone else’sproblem. By analysing the role of social work within the youthjustice system, the article shows that (i) social work has notonly been the victim of recent changes, but that it has alsowithdrawn from the debate on youth justice, and (ii) that thisprocess is related to how social work is defined as a methodicalanswer to the problem of youth delinquency.     

语言观念的变迁:北京语音如何成为近代国语标准音

在清末最后二十多年的切音字运动时期,许多文字改革者对于当时的切音字应该以何音为标准争论不一,囿于传统的文/野之分的文化观念,有的人主张以南音(南京话)为正音,但大多数人还是以传统的北方官话音为是。作为一地方言,现代北京音在1930年代才正式确立其国语标准音的地位,它是时人语言观念、教育观念、社会政治文化等各种因素相互作用下的产物。     

To be or to be trained to be: On emerging and diverging ideological traditions in organizing day care activities for people with severe mental disorders in Sweden

Organized activities for people with severe mental disorders have until recently been the societal task of one human service organization, the medical speciality of psychiatry. With former psychiatric impatients moving out into the local community and with heavier dependence on outpatient polyclinic care, the situation is slowly changing. Day care activities for people with severe mental disorder are organized with an increasing involvement of the social services. The aim of this article is, using data from a national survey carried out in 1991 in Sweden, to describe and categorize how day care units interpret their task. Results show that claims-making activities still adhere largely to a therapeutic paradigm in spite of the outspoken social character of the work of organizing everyday life activities.     

Children and global social policy: Exploring the impact of international governmental organisations

Axford N. Children and global social policy: exploring the impact of international governmental organisations International governmental organisations (IGOs) seek to influence child welfare policy and practice in individual sovereign states. But do they succeed and, if so, in what way? This article outlines the nature of selected IGOs' work, explores the nature of their impact and seeks to explain the pattern that emerges. It also notes areas for further research.     

Doing The Right Thing: Labour's Attempt to Forge a New Welfare Deal Between the Individual and the State

This paper explores the rhetoric behind the Labour Government's welfare reforms. Recent publications and statements emanating from the new administration indicate the extent to which Labour feels comfortable with notions of communitarianism and stakeholding. The influence and (potential) impact of these two concepts upon welfare policy is explored through the works of Macmurray, Etzioni, Hutton and, in spite of his departure from Government, Field. The paper argues that in attempting to create a welfare system based largely on conditions of work, set firmly within a framework of self-help and individual responsibility, Labour's reform agenda is concerned with the establishment of a new moral order for welfare in which individuals are urged to "do the right thing": that is, to take control of their own welfare and ultimately to be responsible for meeting their own needs whenever possible. The Government presents this attempt to forge a welfare settlement between the individual and the state as both new and inclusive. However, it is concluded that such claims are contentious as the Government's "new" approach echoes old individualistic ideas about the causes and solutions to poverty, and may also result in the exclusion of some citizens from publicly financed welfare.     

返回历史视野，重塑社会学的想象力:中国近世变迁及经史研究的新传统

从康有为到王国维和陈寅恪,中国现代思想变局的两次浪潮,确立了经史研究的新传统。康有为对《春秋》三世说的重解,旨在通过现代变革重塑大同理想,通过确立新的宗教教化化育民情,从而实现从据乱世到升平世的过渡。王国维藉社会科学之综合演绎方法,以《殷周制度论》等著作“以史治经”,确立了周代立制之源及成王周公所以治天下之意,从制度、民情乃至思想精神入手,重塑中国文明之本源、制度精神之普世价值。陈寅恪所治“不古不今之学”,则从中古史出发,运用历史研究的“总汇贯通之法”,考证中古之思想和风俗流变,构建出一部胡汉杂糅、各教混融、民族迁徙与文化融合的历史场景。     

Unemployment services for newly arrived migrants in Sweden: The privatization and rebureaucratization of the introduction programme

A recent policy reform in Sweden reorganized the management of newly arrived migrants' entrance into the labour market, which resulted in the Swedish Public Employment Service being given coordinating responsibility and introducing private service providers. Building on qualitative interviews with public employment officers and private actors, this study focuses on how the political contradictions in the new 2-year introduction programme are managed at the organizational level. In the article, it is argued that although both public employment officers and private actors experience difficulty separating unemployed migrants' need for social support from the workfare ambitions of the programme, aspects of privatization—such as freedom of choice and the service specification—further complicate this situation. Thus, the individualization aspects of the policy should be viewed as countering some of the more controlling aspects of the reform, thus, in effect, neutralizing its liberalizing tendencies.     

Institution and Change of the Public Economy: A New Interpretation of Early Modern Civilization Evolution

Abstract

The causes of the evolution of human civilization have drawn much attention among social scientists. The new institutional economics (NIE) and its model of property rights explain the rise of the West Europe, but not the Industrial Revolution itself; nor have they addressed the causes for the rise and fall of civilizations in the East. By defining human civilization within the context of the public economic institution, we interpret this change in the public economic institution using swings in the demand structure of public goods. We see these swings as a contributing cause of the evolution of human civilization from traditional to modern. Our conclusions show that the shifts of public economic institutions between the mass democratic one and the elite constitutional one contributes to the current modern economic crisis and the stagnancy of modern civilization.     

留守经历与新工人的工作流动——农民工生产体制如何使自身面临困境

本文批评了“农民工”和“留守儿童”两种研究问题意识割裂的现状。通过对 “农民工权益保护理论与实践研究”调查数据的分析,本文试图在两种问题之间建立系统性的关联。研究发现,有留守经历的新工人相比其同辈群体更频繁地转换工作。对工种性质进行进一步划分后的统计模型表明,体力工种相对非体力工种、非熟练工种相对熟练/半熟练工种,有留守经历的新工人相比其同辈群体,表现出更高的工作流动性。这说明有留守经历的工人更难适应世界工厂高强度、异化的劳动方式。父母外出打工造成亲子分离,儿童家庭责任感淡薄,但也带来更优越的经济条件和更少的务农经历,由此共同导致了有留守经历的工人频繁的工作流动。留守经历是“拆分型农民工生产体制”的产物,但某种程度上它又加剧了这一体制持续运行所面临的困境。逐步赋予工人公民权,修复家庭生活,是解决系统性危机的基本立足点。     

New avenues to be opened for social protection in the Arab world: the case of Egypt*

This article looks at social protection in the Arab world. Giving the example of Egypt, it asks why poverty is so widespread and why – despite the country's numerous social protection systems – social risks are a major contributing factor to it. It concludes that reforms are due. The existing systems are well funded but inefficient and more to the benefit of the better‐off than the poor. A reform approach is proposed which builds on both conventional and more innovative strategies: campaigns should be launched to raise public awareness of social risks; social assistance spending should be increased; and the operating public pension schemes should be reformed. At the same time, new avenues have to be opened to meet the specific needs of informal sector workers who have extreme difficulty in being covered by social insurance or social assistance. To this purpose, micro‐insurance is a promising approach for the Arab‐world region.     

Need,well‐being and outcomes: the development of policy‐thinking for children's services 1989–2004

This paper describes how government policy thinking about the well‐being of children and young people developed between the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004. These two Acts are milestone statements about how services to children in England and Wales should be delivered. It is an account informed by the author's own experience as a government adviser on children's social care over much of this period and supporting documentation. It traces the strands of government policy thinking about how to deliver services for children from children in need to the articulation of the five Every Child Matters outcomes. It argues that attempts to achieve coordinated service planning for children and young people played a significant role in the formulation of shared objectives and the articulation of child outcomes. However, it argues that looking at real outcomes exposes how children in the UK do relatively badly compared with other rich nations. It questions whether we can realistically expect our services to deliver significantly improved outcomes given the impact of enduring inequality in our society. This paper is dedicated to the memory of David Lambert CBE, former Assistant Chief Inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate in London, who died suddenly on 7 October 2010. He lent me articles to assist me in writing this paper.     

Construct Validity of the Emotion Matching Task: Preliminary Evidence for Convergent and Criterion Validity of a New Emotion Knowledge Measure for Young Children

Current emotion knowledge (EK) measures examine only one component of the multifaceted construct. We examined the reliability and the construct validity of a new measure of EK, the emotion matching task (EMT). The EMT consists of four parts which measure the components of receptive EK, expressive EK, emotion situation knowledge, and emotion expression matching. First, we compared the EMT and its parts to two widely used EK measures—the Kusche emotional inventory (KEI) and Denham's affective knowledge test (AKT, 1986) in order to establish convergent validity. The EMT and its four parts were strongly correlated with both measures of EK. Regression analyses revealed moderate to strong predictive validity for EMT. Compared with KEI and AKT, the EMT was a more robust predictor of teacher-rated emotion regulation and parent reported effortful control. Compared with KEI and AKT, the EMT correlated similarly with verbal ability and age.     

The Parent's Capacity to Treat the Child as a Psychological Agent: Constructs, Measures and Implications for Developmental Psychopathology

Recent studies of the relationship between parenting and child development have included a focus on the parent's capacity to treat the child as a psychological agent. Several constructs have been developed to refer to this capacity, for example maternal mind-mindedness, reflective functioning, and parental mentalizing. In this review article, we compare and contrast different constructs from diverse theoretical backgrounds that have been developed to operationalize parental mentalizing. We examine the empirical evidence to date in support of each of the constructs and review the relevant measures associated with each construct. Next, we discuss the possibility that these apparently diverse constructs may tap into the same underlying neurobiological socio-cognitive system. We conclude by proposing a testable model for describing the links between parental mentalization, the development of mentalizing in children, and child psychopathology.     

争国本：君臣博弈的政治解读

万历年间册立太子之争被称为＂争国本＂,围绕册立皇长子朱常洛还是皇三子朱常洵,明神宗万历与廷臣进行了旷日持久的博弈。整个事件由廷臣温和的建议开始,经过长期而激烈的斗争,以至于谣言四起,最后借助太后的力量得以解决,按祖制皇长子朱常洵被册立为太子,皇三子朱常洛受封福王。争国本是认识明朝政治运作的典型样本,折射了专制王朝政治运作的内在逻辑。