Do You Speak English? Language Barriers in Child Protection Social Work with Minority Ethnic Families

This paper critically evaluates research and literature on childprotection social work practice with minority ethnic familieswho speak little or no English. Though the focus is on childprotection, many of the themes raised should be transferableacross to other areas and disciplines. Specifically, the paperfocuses on the limitations and difficulties of using professionalinterpreters in child protection work and covers themes likethe availability of interpreters, the role of interpreters,suitability of interpreters, the interpretation of particularwords and phrases, and manipulating the interpreting process.The paper then moves on to address the important but often neglectedarea of using children as interpreters, and ends by consideringthe broader issue of how language barriers can exacerbate discriminationagainst minority ethnic families.     

Towards the Disintegration of Child Welfare Services

This paper examines market issues in the provision of children's services in the light of the changing role and practice of local authorities contracting for welfare services. In adult services, where there has been a legal requirement to reorganize on market lines, the services have had to modify some of their earlier contracting practices to take account of the complex requirements of health and welfare services and it is argued that relational contracting offers a more appropriate paradigm for these. Following the implementation of the Children Act 1989, although not a requirement of the Act, many of the organizational systems in relation to markets, originally developed for adult services, have been adopted for children's services. Two areas of services for children, day care and fostering services, are discussed in order to demonstrate that these contracting systems are inappropriate and often dysfunctional for the children concerned. It is argued that there is a widening gap between contracting systems in adult and children's services which needs to be addressed. In general, it is concluded that the philosophies of the market place are flawed when applied to children's services.     

Native Hawaiian Families Systemic Disparities in Hawaii's Child Welfare System

This study examined systemic and individual factors that contribute to the disproportionality of Native Hawaiian families in the child welfare system using data from the 2004–2005 Hawaii State Child Welfare Services (N = 1267). Native Hawaiians were found to be more likely to reenter the system and less likely to be re-united with their families even when the type of abuse was less serious. This distinction was identifiable in interaction terms in multivariate analysis. The paper concludes that the child welfare system in Hawaii needs to continue to explore methods to reduce these disparities.     

The Impact of Welfare Reform Policies on Child Protective Services: A National Study

The 1996 welfare reform bill set forth major changes in social welfare policies. In addition to federal work requirements and time limits, new state policies impose behavioral mandates that may be accompanied by financial sanctions for noncompliance. Analysis of a survey of state Child Protection Services (CPS) directors focuses on four major areas: effect of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) on CPS; interaction between the two agencies; role of TANF sanctions in referrals to CPS; and select special areas of concern. This research provides empirical insight into the interaction between these two agencies, specific TANF sanctions, and the potential conflicts between TANF policies and CPS concerns for the welfare of children and families under its charge.     

区域性贫困地区儿童福利服务的思路与实践——以中国儿童福利示范区项目为例

本文通过中国儿童福利示范区项目探讨了在区域性贫困地区如何建立儿童福利服务的递送体系。文章从项目背景、对于儿童福利的理解、项目设计理念以及儿童福利服务体系的内容设计安排几个方面,以实际的项目运行为依托,清晰地描述了区域性贫困地区儿童福利服务递送体系在岗位设置、人员培训、硬件配套和管理制度方面的思路。     

Parents' perceptions of contact with the Norwegian Child Welfare Services

Listening to the opinions of service users is important in research. This study explored how parents cognitively and emotionally perceive contact with the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (CWS). It also compared the reports of parents recently referred to the CWS with reports of more experienced users. A content analysis was conducted on open‐ended survey responses from parents (n = 697). This study fills a gap in the literature on how parents perceive contact with the CWS and what they see as important factors when judging this contact. The findings showed that 40.6% of the parents reported exclusively positive experiences, 30.7% of the parents reported solely negative experiences, while 24% of the parents described both positive and negative experiences. The content of the positive and negative experiences were related to characteristics of the child welfare workers, the quality of the relationship, the help offered and the parent's feelings of insecurity and fear. New CWS users tended to view the contact as more positive than the more experienced ones. Practical implications are presented.     

Perceptions of Stigma and User Involvement in Child Welfare Services

Correspondence to Dr E. M. Scholte, Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences/Centre for Research on Youth Welfare, University of Leiden, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. Summary This paper explores the perceptions of social disqualificationor ‘stigma’ that service users attributed to publicchild welfare services in random samples of service users takenfrom the Netherlands, a part of Spain (Catalonia) and a partof the United Kingdom (Wales). It was found that, in all threesamples, foster and residential care invoked the greatest senseof stigma, while the health related and the preventive familyservices were perceived as the least stigmatizing types of publicwelfare services. Comparative analysis further revealed thata positive attitude towards the use of public welfare services,a perception of supportive or non-stigmatizing social normsregarding the use of such services, and a perception of publicwelfare services as helpful correlated in all three sampleswith higher levels of user satisfaction and involvement in theservices. It was further found that, in the British and Spanishsamples, a positive attitude towards public welfare services,as well as a perception of public welfare services as helpfulfor their recipients, were the predominating factors promotinghigher levels of satisfactory user involvement in the services,while, in the Dutch sample, a perception of supportive socialnorms was the factor that most promoted satisfactory user involvement.     

The Influence of Child Protection Orientation on Child Welfare Practice

Summary This article reports the findings of the second part of a two-partresearch project examining the potential for social workersto make changes in their work with families and children. Whilstsocial workers in the United Kingdom have been encouraged toshift from a child protection to a child welfare orientationin their practice, such changes have been hampered by professionaland organizational concern to manage risk. The research exploresthe influence of a child protection orientation on practicein child welfare cases. The findings, from two file analysesand interviews with 26 social workers, indicate that such aninfluence is indeed apparent. This is evidenced in two ways;first patterns of practice in child welfare cases are similarto those in child protection cases. Secondly, while the majorityof social workers express an attitudinal desire to move towardsa child welfare orientation, they still prioritize the managementof risk in their practice. It is argued that social workersneed permission from their employing organizations to make changesin their practice. This, in turn, requires such organizationsto state clear goals in line with a child welfare orientationand develop holistic strategies to achieve these.     

Castles in the Air: Welfare Services for Ex-prisoners

Prison aftercare in New Zealand has a history of haphazard planning and fragmented policy implementation, and a recent governmental review of penal policy recognized the inadequate provisions currently made for prisoners' re-establishment in the community. The research reported in this paper has shown that, at a local level, a considerable degree of confusion and ignorance exists among people presumed to have knowledge in the field of prison aftercare. This shortfall of knowledge and lack of cohesion among existing services must be taken into account before effective policy changes aimed at improving prison aftercare can be implemented.     

Collaboration and conversations with children in Child Welfare Services —Parents' viewpoint

Collaboration and conversations are important in meeting vulnerable children's needs in the context of Child Welfare Services (CWS). Building on 10 qualitative interviews with parents of children in Norwegian Child Welfare Services, this paper discusses parents' views on collaboration between children and child welfare professionals. The parents stated that a constructive collaborative relationship depends on professionals' attitudes towards the child, their ability to connect with the child and their awareness of how the child's emotions and how the parents influence the child–professional relationship. A collaborative relationship is essential for child welfare professionals to meet the child's needs and to help improve relations between the child and the parents. The parents asked for more collaboration between children and child welfare professionals. The findings call for more discussion of child welfare workers' tasks and competence.     

Emotional Knowledge for Child Welfare Practice: Rediscovering Our Roots

Child protection is arguably in a state of crises, with indications that current approaches to practice are failing to protect children and support families. A variety of competing approaches have been put forward to address the current inadequacies, such as evidence‐based social work and antioppressive approaches to social work. These approaches to practice promote rational and technical analyses of social work with little attention to what lies beneath the surface in the encounter between social worker and client. In this paper we consider the value of psychoanalytic concepts for child protection practice. Notions of ambivalence, transference, and counter‐transference might offer a much needed source of insight for child protection practice that might help to address some of what has been lost in the field over the last few decades.     

Welfare Reform and Child Fostering: Pinpointing Affected Child Populations*

Objective. The objective of our research is to examine the impact of New Jersey's welfare reform called the Family Development Program (FDP) on child fostering among children on welfare. Methods. The research and analytical methods we use include an experimental design and probit regressions. Results. Our results show that FDP impacts are confined to children of short‐term welfare recipients (new cases) but affects both African‐American and white children in this welfare group. Among new cases, FDP decreases the probability of African‐American children living in foster families, resulting in a 28 percent change from the baseline prevalence rate of 7.2 percent. In contrast, FDP increases the likelihood of white children living in foster families, leading to a 70 percent change from the baseline occurrence rate of 1.4 percent. Conclusions. We conclude by discussing the policy implications of such segmented impacts of welfare reform for vulnerable child populations.     

海南少数民族地区流动妇女的就业与福利研究

本文主要从海南少数民族地区流动妇女的就业现状来看现有的福利制度所存在的缺陷。首先从流动妇女目前的就业渠道单一、工作待遇差和工作条件恶劣等现状来看流动妇女的就业真正是谁的就业;其次,流动妇女的就业需求无法真正得以表达与实现,同时流动妇女就业所能获得的福利保障低甚至空缺,说明流动妇女的就业与福利之间的关系在于体现现有的福利体制所存在的缺陷由此可能出现的矛盾关系。最后,从流动妇女的就业与福利的边缘性,对现有的福利体制如何改革与完善作进一步的探索。     

Digital Storytelling: Families’ Search for Meaning after Child Death

Bereaved families that collectively make meaning of their grief experiences often function better than those that do not, yet most social work bereavement interventions target individuals rather than family units. In this article, authors describe an innovative social work intervention that employs digital storytelling. This is a narrative technique that combines photography, music, and spoken word to help families bereaved by child death make meaning of their loss and envision a future without their deceased child.     

Keeping the Faith: The Impact of Human Services Restructuring on Catholic Social Welfare Services

Church related agencies are major providers of community services in Australia (Lyons, 2001:34‐35). While the history of church related welfare service provision is not well known in Australia it is asserted that many have a long tradition of outreach and service provision to marginalised groups regardless of the government social policy of the day (ACSWC, 2000; Mendes, 2003). This paper examines the current environment of human services restructuring and the impact of the shift to contractualism on one church related provider: Catholic social welfare provision in Australia. It explores the significance of the church's social teachings and history on concerns that service innovation, diversity and advocacy are currently under threat. Finally it calls for greater appreciation of the distinctive contribution of church related agencies and what they have to offer in service delivery and as contributors to the social policy discourse.