The individual welfare function : A rejoinder

The Individual Welfare Function (IWF), introduced by Van Praag (1968), is a cardinal utility function. It can be measured by means of survey questions. Since its introduction, the IWF has been used extensively in both theoretical and empirical research. This research is reviewed, with an emphasis on policy applications.     

The individual welfare function : A comment

There appear to be a number of problems associated with the empirical measurement of the cardinal utility function discussed in the review by Kapteyn and Wansheek. The purpose of this comment is to explain these problems and to examine their implications.     

Transnational social workers in statutory child welfare: A scoping review

Internationally, child welfare services experience chronic workforce shortages and high rates of staff turnover. One strategy adopted to fill critical workforce gaps is the international recruitment of social workers. Child welfare employers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have a shared tradition of recruiting transnational social workers to address ongoing labour shortages in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. This raises questions about the impact of this practice for those migrating social workers and about practice with indigenous populations. This paper scoped publications to identify emerging themes about social work movement between these countries, with a focus on knowledge that can prepare transnational social workers for the unique Australian context, including working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The review found that international recruitment to statutory child welfare in Australia is not well researched, with limited evidence about the profile of recruits, the effectiveness of this strategy and retention rates. The demographics and experiences of overseas qualified social workers in child welfare over the past 40 years in the various Australian jurisdictions remain relatively unknown. There are major gaps in knowledge about the ways international recruitment affects outcomes for children, and their families, in Australia's statutory child welfare services delivery.     

The NIP graph of a social welfare function

We consider the fraction of pairs of m distinct alternatives on which a social welfare function f may be nondictatorially independent and Pareto when the domain of f satisfies the free k-tuple property. When k = 4 we improve the existing upper bound to . When there are at least 26 alternatives and we obtain an original upper bound, . To obtain these results we define and analyze the graph formed from the nondictatorial independent and Pareto pairs and combine the results of this analysis with known results from extremal graph theory. The authors extend special thanks to the two reviewers and the editor for their comments.     

Training child welfare citizen review panel members: A promising approach?

Citizen Review Panels (CRPS) are groups of volunteers mandated by United States federal law to examine policies, procedures, and practices of public (e.g., state) child welfare agencies, and make recommendations for systemic improvements. To date, several researchers have made clarion calls for training frameworks and approaches for CRP members. Despite the federal mandate, millions of dollars in resources allocated to these panels, and the potential to positively impact the child welfare system, no published training frameworks exist. This brief documents the evaluation of an online training for CRP members (N = 21) in one southeastern state. The training was developed based on needs identified in existing CRP literature, and delivered via an online learning platform. A pre-experimental (pre/post) approach was used to evaluate the training. Results indicate a significant improvement in knowledge associated with serving on the CRP, and overall, participants viewed the training as being positively impactful to their work as a CRP member. The brief will provide an overview of the training, evaluation approach, and briefly discuss salient implications derived from the results.     

Child wellbeing assessment in child welfare: A review of four measures

Child wellbeing is identified as one of the three primary goals for child welfare outcomes, thus strong wellbeing assessment tools are crucial to the monitoring of child welfare success. Data from wellbeing measures can serve to identify child needs, inform case planning, monitor change over time, and evaluate intervention impact at the individual, local, state, and national levels. This paper examines the goals, strengths, and challenges of four wellbeing measures currently used with child welfare populations, namely: the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS), the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths Assessment Tool (CANS), the Child Behavior Checklist and related tools from the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (CBCL/ASEBA), and the Treatment Outcomes Package (TOP). For each measure, we describe the content, practical attributes, clinical applications, and evidence of reliability and validity. We explore implementation considerations and provide recommendations for system changes to ensure the optimal use of each instrument. Agencies are encouraged to carefully consider their needs, goals, capacities, and implementation infrastructure to inform selection of tools that will aid them in successfully supporting and monitoring child wellbeing over time.     

Decision making in child welfare: A critical review of the literature

The decision to intervene with families has enormous implications for a democratic society. Child protective services must both protect children and families. Practice theory, social policies, and agency procedures have not provided a consensus on the criteria to guide decision making in child welfare. This paper reviews the empirical studies in the decision making literature for the purposes of: identifying variables workers are using to guide their decisions; identifying major professional concerns and issues with this literature; and suggest questions for further research.     

Exploring the university partnership model for child welfare citizen review panels: A research brief

Child Welfare Citizen Review Panels (CRPs) are groups of citizen volunteers authorized by Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA; P.L. 104-235) to examine practices of public child welfare agencies. Increasingly, state CRP groups are engaging in university-community partnerships to assist in meeting CAPTA mandates. Despite this trend, there are no published studies that examine this practice.This research brief examines group differences between CRP members of university and non-university affiliated panels, respectively. Factors of interest included CRP Knowledge, Member Satisfaction, Member Engagement, Personal Influence, Perceived CRP Impact on Child Welfare System, CRP Member Dynamics, and Meeting Format. Results indicate that respondents perceived themselves to be no more knowledgeable or engaged in their panels and expressed no greater confidence in the potential impact of CRPs on the child welfare system, whether affiliated with a university or not. After a brief review of literature, this brief will explicate findings derived from this study and discuss salient implications and areas for future research.     

A multi-level analysis of individual and agency effects on implementation of family-centered practice in child welfare

This study describes factors associated with the implementation of family centered practice (FCP) across a state child welfare system. Using Multi-Level Model (MLM) analysis of self-report data from the child welfare workers and supervisors in one multi-jurisdiction state, individual and organizational factors that may influence successful implementation of innovative practice models are identified. Individual worker's characteristics such as social work degree, training, and age were all associated with higher levels of individual adoption of FCP principles. Organizational culture including innovation and flexibility and outward focus were associated with organization level implementation of FCP principles. Implications for child welfare practice and implementation of FCP are discussed.     

Child welfare: A view from Australia

In this article the author presents an analysis of family and child welfare in Australia. The author explores the philosophical approaches underlying the development of child welfare policies. Through a historical perspective the author identifies factors which may have influenced some current child welfare policies and practices. Characteristics of the Australian child are described and selected child welfare services in Australia are discussed.She is Editor ofAustralian Child and Family Welfare Journal. She has worked in child welfare in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.     

The color of welfare sanctioning: exploring the individual and contextual roles of race on TANF case closures and benefit reductions

This article investigates the individual and contextual roles of race on welfare sanctions: benefit cuts for failing to comply with work or other behavioral requirements under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Using six years of federal administrative data, I advance previous welfare research by providing a nationally representative analysis of participant-, county-, and state-level predictors of welfare sanctioning. Using theories of racial classification, racialized social systems, and racial threat as guiding frameworks, I find that black and Latina women are at a greater risk of being sanctioned than white women. Further, although odds of a sanction are slightly reduced for black women living in counties with greater percentages of blacks, the opposite holds for Latinas, who are at an increased risk of being sanctioned in counties with greater percentages of Latinos.     

Mothering,equality and the individual: Feminist debates and welfare policies in the USA and Sweden

This paper addresses issues raised by ‘welfare reform’ in the USA by using the example of Sweden's women activists in constructing a ‘woman friendly’ welfare state. In the USA, feminist advocates see a tension between the argument that motherhood should be valued by the provision of care allowances, and the view that work should be reformed to meet the needs of parents. This reflects debates about gender difference/equality, the possibility of commonality, and the individual.

The Swedish ‘woman friendly’ welfare state was built on the recognition, through social policy, of the interrelationship among care, material resources, and public voice. The interrelationship was embodied in what I call the ‘social individual’, and articulated in public child care and other policies and collective services. The adequacy of those universal policies and services was frequently judged by the situation of lone mothers, who ceased being ‘deviant’, and often became a model for understanding the interrelationship. Cross-class solidarity among women was a prerequisite for, and was built on, the social individual. This solidarity is now threatened by neoliberal economic and social policies that fragment care, resources, and voice, and therefore the social individual.

It is possible to challenge the downsizing of welfare states by moving the terms of discussion away from the poor as deviant other, acknowledging that all women have much in common with the targets of current policy making. This involves the creation of concrete social policies that embody the relationship among care, resources, and voice, and recognize the inseparability of community, work and family.     

Forgotten children: A critical review of the reunification of American Indian children in the child welfare system

Reunification is the preferred permanency path experienced by children following out-of-home placement (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011, 2012). Emerging literature suggests a number of child, parent, family, and child welfare case characteristics predict the likelihood of reunification. However, research on the reunification of American Indians in child welfare system is limited. Given the unique historical and cultural context of American Indian families, a need exists to better understand what contributes to achieving permanency through reunification for these families. To develop a better understanding of reunification research, this article provides a critical review of the literature on predictors of reunification that is inclusive of American Indians. A search of the literature resulted in the inclusion of 17 articles. Findings suggest that although awareness of the factors associated with reunification for American Indian families is helpful, without consistent inclusion of child, parent, family, and case-related variables across statistical analyses, limited conclusions can be drawn. It is significant to note that a level that is not currently considered in literature is the tribe or band and what is done to assist the child in reunification from the tribal level.     

A general equilibrium approach to tourism and welfare: The case of Macao

Macao has been witnessing spectacular economic growth in recent years. The ongoing boom is mainly driven by rapid tourism growth reflected in massive tourist arrivals and foreign capital inflow. Although Macao is praised as an ‘economic wonder’, serious externalities have emerged, raising concerns about the sustainability of the city's long-term development. Using a modified simple general equilibrium model, this paper shows how economic, social, environmental and political externalities accompanying rapid tourism growth may possibly reduce the net welfare of host communities. The paper concludes that comprehensive tourism policies leading to a sustainable development should be developed in a broader social framework.     

Using concept mapping as a planning tool: Child welfare citizen review panels

Citizen Review Panels (CRPs) are groups of citizen volunteers authorized by U.S. federal law to examine state child welfare agencies. These groups inspect policies and practices related to child protection responsibilities and are tasked with making recommendations for systemic improvement. Despite the federal mandate for each state to develop a CRP and the potential of these groups to positively impact child welfare practices, there is a dearth in the literature related to CRPs. Consequently, planning and evaluation processes of these groups vary widely. This study reports on the use of concept mapping (CM) to outline a framework for planning and subsequently evaluating the CRP in one southeastern state. CM is a mixed-method research approach that uses multi-dimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses to explore an area of study. Through these analyses, the method creates visual depictions of conceptual relationships between ideas. Data yielded a seven cluster concept map that CRP members (N = 36) utilized for planning processes, and subsequently for developing an internal evaluation tool. Results from this study offer a unifying framework by which CRPs, and similar groups in other areas can utilize for planning and evaluation purposes. After a review of pertinent literature on CRPs, this article explicates CM processes utilized in this study, describes results, discusses lessons learned, and outlines apposite areas for future CRP research.     

Chemically exposed children: The child welfare response

Child Welfare Agencies, especially in urban areas, are confronted with multiple problems as they attempt to deal with the complex needs of chemically dependent families. Maternal chemical use places children at an elevated risk of placement and other negative events. This article critiques research on incidence and consequence of maternal chemical use and suggests strategies Child Welfare Agencies can employ in working with these vulnerable families.This work was supported by a grant from the Program for International and Crosscultural Social Welfare, School of Social Work, University of Illinois.