Taking stock: parents' reasons for and against having a third child

In developed countries with below-replacement fertility, the proportion of people who have at least three children make a substantial difference to the aggregate level of fertility. This study, based on 40 in-depth interviews with Australian parents of two children, analyses what factors influence the decision to have a third child. Using a grounded theory method of qualitative analysis, the study finds that parents who have decided to stop at two children are more able to articulate their reasons than are parents who are considering having a third child. The reasons for stopping include age and health; work and finances; and the capacity to parent another child. The weighing up of multiple factors is evidence of parents taking stock of personal and financial resources when making complex family formation decisions. The reasons for having a third child are expressed with far less elaboration and are more guarded and personal. We conclude that there is less shared or familiar language for articulating the value of family relationships. The contemporary context is one in which parents are attempting to manage risks related to having children, including the personal and financial implications of time out of the workforce. This study finds a persistent story of limited resources among parents of two children. Policies aimed at increasing fertility need to address this perception of limited resources through direct measures like affordable childcare and more generally through greater government and community support for families.     

Family Ties and Young Fathers' Engagement in Cape Town,South Africa

Young South African fathers are often engaged in their children's lives even if they do not live together. Using longitudinal data on children (n = 1,209) from the Cape Town area, the authors show that although only 26% of young fathers live with their children, 66% of nonresidential fathers maintain regular contact, and 61% provide financial support. The father–child relationship, however, is embedded in broader family ties. The type of father–mother relationship is strongly associated with whether fathers coreside with their children but not with fathers' contact with nonresidential children. Close mother and maternal grandmother bonds reduce the likelihood that fathers live with their children, whereas close ties between fathers and paternal grandmothers increase the chance that fathers visit nonresidential children. Family ties do not affect fathers' financial contributions, which are driven by men's current economic situation. These findings illustrate that father–child relationships are best understood in the context of interacting family systems.     

FROM OBEDIENCE TO AUTONOMY CHANGES IN TRAITS DESIRED IN CHILDREN, 1924-1978

This paper presents results from a comparison of data on thetraits desired in children from the Lynds' studies of Muncie(Middletown), Indiana, in the 1920s with similar data collectedin a 1978 replication of the Lynds' work by Caplow et al. (1982).These results indicate that major changes have occurred in themost preferred qualities of children over this century, providingrelatively strong evidence of changes in parent-child relationsover this period. These patterns suggest that adult preferencesfor child qualities in contemporary society give more emphasisto qualities linked to the autonomy of children, whereas earlierdesiderata stressed greater obedience to institutional and adultauthority. These trends are interpreted in terms of changingrelationships in the family and in the context of the responseof the family to social, economic, and demographic changes duringthe twentieth century.     

Are services to prevent foster care effective?

The prevention of foster care became an important issue for child welfare services during the 1970s. Two main types of prevention models have emerged: crisis intervention programs intended to prevent imminent placement and intensive service programs designed to avert those crisis situations that precipitate placement. A critical analysis of several project evaluations leads to the conclusion that neither model has been markedly successful. Low nominal project placement rates seem attributable to inability to predict placements and to client selection biases. From a strictly financial perspective, preventive services have been considerably more expensive than regular services, including temporary family foster care. Data from a new demonstration project in New Jersey illustrate various problems in providing and evaluating preventive services to families referred to protective service agencies. Implications of the findings for prevention programs and policies are discussed, and a new direction focused on truly early intervention with children and families is proposed.     

珠三角区域的创新路径选择与增长转型——理论、实践与政策评论

2008年的全球金融危机给了珠三角外向型经济以沉重打击,也为经济转型提供了契机。本文针对《珠江三角洲改革发展规划纲要（2008—2020年）》中提出的自主创新、产业升级和增长转型三个问题进行了理论阐述和实证分析,并对所实施的政策进行了评论,提出了通过创新的路径选择促进产业升级和增长方式转变的对策。     

Social insurance and children: The relationship between Social Security,economic well-being,and family context among child recipients

The relationship between social insurance, which provides families protection against certain risks, and child economic security is understudied. Using the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) matched to Social Security Administration benefit records, this article investigates the economic welfare effects of the child component of the US Social Security program. We examine how the poverty rate of child beneficiaries would change, absent Social Security income, and how heavily the family incomes of these children rely on it, by family characteristics. Our findings reveal that Social Security plays an important role in mitigating economic insecurity among children deprived of a wage-earning parent through disability, death, or retirement. Family structure, earnings, and employment status are identified as key factors moderating the effect of Social Security on child recipients’ financial circumstance.     

当前国内外经济全局变化及未来趋势展望

当前国际经济金融形势极为复杂。金融危机使全球的治理结构面临重大调整,各国转型发展的压力增大,对市场、资源、标准的竞争更加激烈。同时,我国逐步进入国际体系的核心部位,机遇增大,但挑战更大。2011年,中国经济可归纳为＂五大目标实现＂和＂三大风险缓解＂。2012年,中国宏观金融政策总体上稳中求进。同时,通过分析中国经济内外推动因素,对今后10年中国宏观经济发展作出趋势预判。     

Welche familienpolitischen Maßnahmen fördern die Arbeitsmarktpartizipation von Müttern?

This article investigates the effects of family policies (child care, parental leave, financial transfers) on labour market participation of mothers in 21 European countries. In contrast to previous studies, the correlation of child care provision with national culture and the cultural influence on maternal employment decisions are also estimated. The microeconomic theory of labour supply provides the theoretical framework of the analysis. With the use of hierarchical logistic regression models the hypotheses are tested on the data of the European Social Survey (2004/2005) and contextual variables of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. As a central result the level of child care provision for children below the age of three is found to be the single variable with regards to increasing labour market participation, particularly for mothers of young children. This political measure is strongly correlated to national culture.     

Socioeconomic Resource Environments in Biological and Alternative Family Care and Children's Cognitive Performance*

We examined social and economic resources in the environments of children involved with child protective services and their associations with children's cognitive performance. We used a national dataset of child protection investigations (children aged 6–16 at Wave 1). Using latent class analysis, we constructed profiles of the financial resources, parental education and employment, and family structure and size. We then examined within‐ and across‐time associations between resource environment profiles and children's math and reading scores and tested whether associations differed by family care type. Our latent class analysis identified four distinct family resource environments: educated middle class, single earner, large working class, and severely disadvantaged. Family resource environment profiles predicted current cognitive performance and changes in performance over time, but associations were more consistent for children in biological family care. Children who remain in home following maltreatment allegations may benefit from services that target social as well as economic resources.     

University Students’ Perceptions of Child Sexual Offenders: Impact of Classroom Instruction

Research with the public suggests that knowledge about sexual offenders, especially child sexual offenders, is limited and often inaccurate. In general, the public tends to believe that adults who commit sex crimes against children are pedophiles or monstrous strangers who cannot be rehabilitated. However, there is some evidence to suggest that these perceptions can be changed through curricular intervention. The current study was designed to determine whether a course on sex crimes against children could influence college students’ knowledge and attitudes toward child sexual offenders. In a pretest–post-test design, students enrolled in the sex crimes course endorsed fewer stereotypes had more positive attitudes toward treatment and offender rehabilitation, along with reduced support for punitive sentencing compared with students enrolled in a general psychology class. Implications for improving public attitudes and suggestions for informing public policies are offered.     

‘I Just Don't Agree’: A Voice-Oriented Analysis of An IFPS Case of Alleged Child Maltreatment

In contrast to the many outcome studies of Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS), little is known about the underlying personal and relational dynamics of family crisis interventions. This article focuses on the core evolving dynamics of the changing self-presentations of a parent involved in an intensive home-based family preservation case of alleged child maltreatment. Three key family intervention sessions were videotaped and transcribed including both verbal and nonverbal behavior. The Listening Guide Method – a theoretically flexible, qualitative, relationally oriented method of in-depth interpretative analysis – served as our guide for this case analysis. In the processes of change toward a jointly constructed meaningful narrative on responsibility and self-care, two key elements emerged as playing a pivotal role: (1) the momentum of a potential referral of children to out-of-home care that precedes the start of an IFPS intervention and (2) the rhizomatic or root-like intertwinement of the voices of both parent and therapist with respect to the rationale for any involvement of society in the family. We argue that discourses on imminent placement in the context of family preservation deserve a genuine and valuable position in the initial discourse of a family therapist when entering a family in the context of crisis intervention. Both in understanding and driving any processes of change, we may need to reconsider our own willingness to step into the blending interplay of discourse and counter-discourse with our clients on the subject of our often drastic intervention. Consequently, we may read this narrative analysis as an invitation to reflect on the conceptualization of ‘client readiness’ in psychotherapy and to shift our thinking on preconditions for therapy from a client's readiness toward a therapist's attentiveness to listen.     

Welfare,child support and family formation

This article provides preliminary tests of the hypothesis that welfare and child support policies designed to accommodate the needs of women (and children) impoverished by fathers who discontinue financial support of children following marital dissolution, have adverse effects on family formation among young unwed parents who were poor even before their children were born. The tests are preliminary because there is too little variation among our policy variables to control for selection. We derive a generalized logit model of the mother' planned and actual family formation outcomes, allowing for her to choose no father involvement, father involvement, co-habitation, and marriage. We estimate this model using baseline data (seven cities) of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The results indicate that more generous welfare benefits and aggressive child support enforcement, increase the odds that disadvantaged unwed mothers' will move from to more stable planned and actual family formation (father involvement, co-habitation, marriage) with the fathers of their children. Besides the effects of these direct policy variables, the fathers employment status, which could also be influenced by policy, also has a large, positive effect on mothers' planned and actual family formation.     

Work–family attitudes and behaviours among newly immigrant Pakistani expatriates: the role of organizational family-friendly policies

The work–life interface literature is often criticized for its limited sample base, with the majority of research focusing on the experiences of white women living in nuclear family households in Western societies. This paper aims to address some of these criticisms by using a qualitative methodology to explore the impact of organizational family-friendly policies on the work–family attitudes and behaviours of 26 newly expatriate Pakistani employees in the UK. Individual, family and religious/cultural influences on these outcomes were also explored. Findings indicate that study participants undergo a shift of priorities that result from expatriation and the consequent attenuation of extended family and societal pressures to have children immediately after marriage; participants are delaying childbirth in order to gain educational qualifications and establish careers in a foreign country. A strong preference for familial childcare suggests that family-friendly policies such as part-time or flexible hours have the potential to significantly affect employment outcomes for Pakistani expatriate women, who, in the absence of extended family to provide care for children, might not otherwise return to work following childbirth. Other potential organizational interventions are also discussed.     

Every child matters: a legal perspective

Recent legal and policy changes, including the introduction of the Human Rights Act, provide the context for the new child welfare and protection policies proposed for England. These proposals are discussed from a legal perspective in relation to early and coordinated intervention, sharing information between agencies and with children and families, partnership with children, information management, and structural and legal change. Consideration is also given to issues overlooked by the Green Paper, such as immigration and asylum, youth justice and the whole family justice system. The discussion concludes by arguing for the need for integrating cultural and structural change and for leadership (and investment of resources) across government to achieve such goals. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pathways to permanence in England and Norway: A critical analysis of documents and data

The English language term ‘permanence’ is increasingly used in high income countries as a ‘short-hand’ translation for a complex set of aims around providing stability and family membership for children who need child welfare services and out-of-home care. From a scrutiny of legislative provisions, court judgments, government documents and a public opinion survey on child placement options, the paper draws out similarities and differences in understandings of the place of ‘permanence’ within the child welfare discourse in Norway and England. The main differences are that in England the components of permanence are explicitly set out in legislation, statutory guidance and advisory documents whilst in Norway the terms ‘stability’ and ‘continuity’ are used in a more limited number of policy documents in the context of a wide array of services available for children and families. The paper then draws on these sources, and on administrative data on children in care, to tease out possible explanations for the similarities and differences identified. We hypothesise that both long-standing policies and recent changes can be explained by differences in public and political understandings of child welfare and the balance between universal services and those targeted on parents and children identified as vulnerable and in need of specialist services.     

The Political Economy of Longevity: Developing New Forms of Solidarity for Later Life

Aging populations now exert influence on all aspects of social life. This article examines changes to major social and economic institutions linked with old age, taking the period from the mid‐20th century to the opening decades of the 21st century. These developments are set within the context of the influence of globalization as well as the impact of the 2008 financial crisis, these restructuring debates around the longevity revolution. The article examines how the basis for a new framework for accommodating longevity can be built, outlining ways of securing new forms of solidarity in later life.     

Child care policy: A need for greater advocacy

While some scholars have recognized the importance of child care to families in the United States (Kamerman, 2001; Waldfogel, 1998), child care has not been viewed as a core social policy concern in the United States. In this article, we provide an overview of child care needs in the U.S. followed by an analysis of three major federal programs that shape U.S. child care policy. The first, the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), provides financial child care supplements to low-income parents to enable them to engage in paid labor. The second policy, The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), is technically a universally applicable policy enabling people to care for a family member in need, including all parents who choose to spend a few weeks of unpaid leave with a newborn child. The third is the U.S. tax policy, including child care exemptions, deductions and credits. We suggest that, though all of these policies exist to help families care for children, they fail the children and families that they are purportedly designed to help. We then discuss the crucial role that professionals who work with families and children can play in shaping U.S. child care policies.     

Maternal Health Policies in Countries in Transition: Poland and Kyrgyzstan, 1990–2006

ABSTRACT

Starting with the initiation of democratic and market economic transitions, unsupportive policies concerning women's reproductive health were implemented in Kyrgyzstan and Poland in the period 1990–2006. These policies were expressed by (1) political decisions limiting available funding to support medical practices protecting women's reproductive health, (2) diminishing or restricted dissemination of knowledge about family planning, and (3) the implementation of new contraception and abortion policies. Could these changes be perceived as combat between democratic liberalism, cosmopolitanism, and tolerance versus traditionalism, insularism, and fundamentalism? We use analyses of policies concerning women's reproductive and maternal health to manifest rivalry between economic crisis and the push toward modernity and between traditionalism and liberalism. We demonstrate that the return to traditional gender roles and gender policies, and their practical application expressed in maternal health policies, illustrates cultural backlash toward diffusing Western liberalism in countries in political and economic transition.     

Achieving Permanence in Foster Care for Young Children: A Comparison of Kinship and Non-Kinship Placements

ABSTRACT

A number of child welfare policies have reinforced the use of kinship care as the most preferred placement for foster children, reflecting the philosophy that maintaining children within their own extended family system contributes to their stability and well-being. Given the growing utilization and legislative emphasis on kinship care along with the push for an immediate implementation of permanency plans for children in foster care, this study examines how the permanency goal under the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) is being implemented and achieved. The reunification and permanency placement (adoption or legal guardianship) outcomes of children in relative and non-relative care are analyzed, focusing on the experiences of young children. Based on public child welfare agency data from 2000 to 2003, child, case, and placement variables are explored to identify which set of factors best explains case outcomes. The present study identifies the total length of foster placement (kinship and non-kinship), the length of family maintenance services, and the number of placement changes as the most important variables in determining family reunification and permanent placement (legal guardianship and adoption) outcomes for young children.     

The long-term impact of family difficulties during childhood on labor market outcomes

The literature on child development shows that the promotion of cognitive and non-cognitive skills is essential to prevent inequalities in adult socioeconomic outcomes. In this context, the family environment plays a strategic role, as during childhood, it represents the most important institution for child development. This paper evaluates the long-term impact of various family difficulties during childhood on adult labor market outcomes. Evidence of negative impacts on employment probability and wages emerges from applying propensity score matching to the UK National Child Development Study. Simulation-based sensitivity analysis and standard parametric techniques support our findings. We also find that the intensity of the negative impact appears to increase with the number of recorded family difficulties, while the negative effect does not decline over the cohort’s working life. Moreover, we find that housing and economic (financial and unemployment) problems are responsible for the more serious disadvantages, while disabilities of family members and familial disharmony do not produce statistically negative impacts per se but tend to do so only if associated with other family difficulties, including economic and housing difficulties.