An Exploratory Investigation of Heterosexual Licensed Domestic Partners

In‐depth telephone interviews were conducted in four cities in an exploratory study of 23 licensed cohabitors to determine why they have chosen to legitimize their intimate unions through domestic partnership ordinances, rather than through legal marriage. The cohabitors in this sample are pursuing these licensed partnerships to obtain an economic benefit (e.g., health insurance coverage for a partner); as a substitute for legal remarriage; to legitimize their unions in a way other than through legal marriage; or as an ideological alternative to legal marriage. Regardless of motivations to pursue domestic partnership certificates, these respondents are divided over whether they should have the same rights and responsibilities as the married.     

Czech lesbian activism: gay and lesbian parental rights as a challenge to patriarchal marriage

In their advocacy for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships during the 1990s, prominent Czech gay rights activists focused only on issues of sexuality and did not question the essentialist understanding of gender, especially in parenting. Consequently, even though the Czech Republic legalized registered partnerships for gays and lesbians in 2006, legal barriers now exist regarding parental rights for same-sex couples, who are prohibited from adopting children and accessing reproductive technology once they register with the state. This article examines a rising, new wave of Czech lesbian activism that has focused on gaining legal parental rights for registered same-sex couples. While lesbian activists were disempowered in terms of their public visibility as well as political involvement during the 1990s, the recent growing prominence of lesbian groups has been enabled by their stronger political focus and organizational coherence. Analyzing the lesbian activists' strategies, I show not only how lesbian activism can advance the public debate about traditional gender roles, but also how lesbian activism can strengthen the critique of the ideology of marriage.     

Parish councils,partnership and governance: the development of ‘exceptions’ housing in the Malvern Hills District,England

Partnerships between public, private and voluntary sectors have been feted as an effective strategy to broaden engagement with policy delivery. However, their legitimacy has been questioned as some of the power relations within and between partnerships raise doubts over their inclusiveness and effectiveness. In light of these concerns, this paper examines ‘partnerships projects’ established to build affordable housing for local people in rural Worcestershire. Particular emphasis is given to the role and power of parish councils within these partnerships. It is argued that far from leading to greater participation, such partnerships can give voice and power to those who seek to exclude particular groups from rural spaces.     

Suspending,settling, sponsoring: the intimate chronomobilities of young Asian migrants in Australia

In this article, I develop the concept of ‘intimate chronomobilities’ to understand some of the intersections between the temporalities of intimate relationships and of migration in the lives of young and ‘middling’ transnational migrants from Asia to Australia. Drawing on in‐depth interview data, I reveal how romantic partnerships are highly significant to experiences of transnational mobility, and how such experiences take place in the context of a governance regime in Australia in which migration has become increasingly transient, transitionary and transitory, and in which sponsored partner and spouse visas can secure migration futures. The analysis explores how the lived and imagined timelines and timings of intimate partnerships play highly significant roles in defining and structuring migrants' mobilities, and reveals how intimate chronomobilities of ‘suspending, settling and sponsoring’ are understood by migrants through lived experiences of sequence, synchronicity and tempo.     

Hurdling the Artificial Fence Between Child Welfare and the Community: Engaging Community Partners to Address Disproportionality

As with many national and state social service systems, child welfare agencies have traditionally functioned in isolation. A multitude of federal and state laws and policies direct the functions and practices of child welfare systems, setting up an artificial fence around the agency that has created a culture lacking in interprofessional collaborations. However, recent reform efforts have emphasized the importance of engaging the community in discussions and decisions regarding child welfare practice. Child welfare agencies are now expected to work with community leaders, key stakeholders, affiliated service providers, and families to address issues impacting children and families. A major obstacle is determining where to begin, how to proceed, and what is needed to develop those partnerships. This article reports the efforts of one state agency in hurdling that artificial fence to address the overrepresentation of minority children in the system. Through focus group interviews with community members, child welfare staff, and legal professionals, barriers to community engagement are identified, and recommendations are provided for facilitating meaningful relationships and partnerships between child welfare agencies and the communities they serve.     

Quality in early childhood services: parent,provider and policy perspectives

Recent government proposals give local authorities responsibility for establishing early years partnerships. The partnerships provide people interested in early childhood services with an opportunity to discuss local provision. In any discussion of early childhood services, quality is likely to be high on the agenda. This paper describes a series of discussions on the meaning of quality in early childhood services. Parents, day care providers and other stakeholders took part. Differences of opinion between and within stakeholder groups are discussed in the context of current policies and ideologies concerning non-parental child care.     

Living Apart Together and Money: New Partnerships,Traditional Gender Roles

Drawing on qualitative interview data from a sample of 54 men and women engaged in living apart together (LAT) partnerships in Belgium (Flanders), this study explored the organization and exchange of money in LAT arrangements. The data showed that the heterogeneity of LAT partnerships is reflected in couples' monetary behavior, with couples who foresee cohabitation (transitional LATs) showing more marriage‐like exchanges of financial support than those who perceive living apart together as a more permanent arrangement (permanent LATs). The economic position of the partners and the importance attached to economic independence and breadwinning mediate the impact of future expectations on the financial practices of LAT couples. The data also showed that traditional notions of gender and coupledom continue to be strongly influential, even in nontraditional types of partnerships.     

LESS ACCESS,WORSE QUALITY

High-quality child care is a boon for children and buffers some of the long-term negative effects of growing up in straitened circumstances. Yet, just one in seven Canadian children has access to regulated care. Within this, poor children have worse access and are over-represented in lower-quality care arrangements. Canada's policy architecture, as reviews of Winnipeg, Quebec, and Vancouver demonstrate, generates inequities of access and quality that reproduce neighborhood socioeconomic gradients of class and racialization. Poor children are systematically disadvantaged by a national approach that relies on privatized partnerships with the voluntary sector to implement public child care policy. Equalizing poor children's access to quality child care remains a pressing Canadian challenge, and will require policy and delivery redesign.     

Intimate Partner Violence in Young Adult Dating,Cohabitating, and Married Drinking Partnerships

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined intimate partner violence (IPV) and drinking partnerships in 741 young adults in male‐female dating, cohabitating, and married relationships. Cluster analyses revealed four similar kinds of drinking partnerships: (a) congruent light and infrequent, (b) discrepant male heavy and frequent, (c) discrepant female heavy and infrequent, and (d) congruent moderate/heavy‐frequent drinkers. Overall, there were no significant main effect differences across relationship type and clusters. The type of relationship and the type of drinking partnership interacted with contexts examined (i.e., type of violence severity, gender, and whether the violence was perpetration or victimization). Given the severity of IPV in couple relationships, additional empirical attention to drinking partnerships is warranted.     

Remarriage,Cohabitation, and Changes in Mothering Behavior

We used data from two waves of the National Survey of Families and Household to investigate changes in mothering behavior associated with remarriage or cohabitation by single mothers. We considered three dimensions of mothering: (a) time and supervision, (b) harsh discipline, and (c) relationship quality. Mothers and children agreed that mothers who remained in new partnerships used harsh discipline less frequently than mothers who remained single or whose new partnership had ended by the second interview. Mothers reported less supervision if they had experienced a disrupted partnership, whereas children reported less supervision if their mothers remained in a new partnership at the second interview. Children but not mothers reported better relationships with mothers in partnerships at the second interview, compared with children whose mothers remained single or whose new partnership had ended. Only a small part of the differences in harsh discipline, and none of the other observed differences, could be explained by maternal or family characteristics or by mothering behavior and relationships in the first interview. Although cohabiting partnerships were more likely to end than were marriages, we found no differences in effects of cohabiting or marital partnerships, net of their status at the second interview.     

Vying for the Urban Poor: Charitable Organizations, Faith-Based Social Capital, and Racial Reconciliation in a Deep South City

In this article the mobilization of social capital is examined as it relates to the formation of collaborative partnerships among charitable organizations. It is argued that social capital, expressed through social ties and mutual trust, forms the foundation for such partnerships. Specifically, collaborative activities built upon religiously based social capital mobilized among charitable organizations are focused upon in this study. The extensive role of such social capital, combined with the historical context of the research setting, overshadows alternative forms of social capital that might be accessed for neighborhood revitalization, particularly social capital based on race. Consequently, this article's findings suggest that a color-blind approach to racial reconciliation has emerged among charitable organizations in conjunction with the hegemonic role of religiously based social capital in this local context. The unique nature of this outcome is significant because it emphasizes the impact of local context on the manner in which social capital is mobilized within localized networks.     

Myth,allegiances, and the study of social control

That sociology subscribes to certain popular myths and has aligned itself with the welfare of some groups over others complicates research into social control. This is especially so when the research deals with stereotypes and their effects on differential legal treatment. That the discipline has historically taken sides regarding certain commonly held stereotypes and been supportive of certain groups, means that findings that challenge those stereotypes or that are viewed as detrimental to the supported groups are brought into question. Our research on a regulatory mechanism of social control—the Black Book, a list of persons excluded from licensed gaming in Nevada because of their perceived threat to the industry—is illustrative of these complications. Our findings that the Black Book is largely symbolic and is applied discriminatorily challenge not only beliefs in its efficacy but certain myths and allegiances within sociology. That a group sociologically identified with the problem was discriminated against, and that a well-protected group elicited preferential treatment at the hands of regulators who identify with them have been particularly problematic for the acceptance of the findings. We argue here that debunking myth and value neutrality are essential to scientific endeavor and should override such disciplinary tendencies toward the tolerance and protection of some groups over others. Her research has dealt with aspects of culture, organized crime, and social elites. She is currently working on a book on high society and thoroughbred racing. His publications have dealt with issues of labeling and secondary deviation, the role of stereotypes in the legal process, and the legal reaction to corporate crime.     

Money management and views of civil partnership in same‐sex couples: results from a UK survey of non‐heterosexuals

Recent legislation in the UK has extended many of the legal and financial rights and responsibilities of heterosexual marriage to same‐sex couples who register their partnerships. Prior to the Civil Partnership Act (2004) however, little was known about financial arrangements in same‐sex couples, nor the extent to which these mirrored those of married or cohabiting heterosexuals. This paper reports the findings from the first large‐scale survey in the UK to investigate finances and civil partnership beliefs in a convenience sample of non‐heterosexuals: 510 individuals, of whom 386 were currently in a same‐sex relationship, participated in the survey. Our findings showed less merging of finances (such as in pooling, allowance, and whole wage systems) than is typical in heterosexual married couples. The results of a series of multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that rating CP as more important, and having both names on the mortgage, significantly reduced the odds of independent (ie, separate) management of finances. Participants were almost unanimous in their endorsement of CP as a form of legal recognition, with a large majority saying that they would also consider it for themselves.     

The effectiveness of nonprofit lead‐organization networks for social service delivery

Public agencies increasingly contract with nonprofit organizations to lead community‐based networks for social service delivery. We explore the role that partnership characteristics play in the effectiveness of these networks. Using data on children and family services in Los Angeles County, we consider the impact of both the motivations for forming partnerships and the nature of the resulting partnerships on perceived outcomes for clients, interorganizational relationships, and organizational learning. We find that client outcomes and interorganizational relationships are enhanced when partnerships are formed to meet certain programmatic and organizational goals. Organizational learning, however, is affected only when partnerships are formed to enhance organizational legitimacy. Partners selected because they share common vision increase effectiveness, while those selected because there are few alternative partners decrease effectiveness. Finally, when partnerships use an interorganizational coordination mechanism, client outcomes are improved. The managerial implications of these impacts for the nonprofit sector are developed. The results lend considerable support to the role of partnership motivation and partner selection in the effectiveness of nonprofit lead‐organization networks, and specificity about the nature of that role.     

Understanding Collaborative Value Creation by Environmental Nonprofit and Renewable Energy Business Partnerships

Many environmental nonprofit organizations (ENPOs) seek to create sustainability value by promoting environmental principles and influencing policymakers to support pro-environmental legislation. One strategy used by ENPOs to enhance the value creation process is the development of partnerships with businesses. Semi-structured interviews with leaders of six national ENPOs in the United States were conducted to examine the sources and types of value created by collaborations with renewable energy businesses, and the partnership processes and outcomes that are most desirable. The goal was to understand how and why ENPOs seek partnerships, what the potential benefits are, and whether or not ENPO leadership orientation, as characterized by their perceptions of the political opportunity structure, political ideology, and environmental philosophy, led to different views of partnerships for sustainability value creation. The finding that differences in the partnership perspectives of the ENPO leadership did not directly link to differences in the leadership orientations suggests that none of the orientations precluded partnering in general and may even have been enablers in some cases.     

Stress,satisfaction and role conflict in dual-doctor partnerships

Stress in doctors has major implications for themselves, their family and patients. In dual-doctor partnerships, stress may or may not be compounded. Previous studies have suggested that demands of work have a greater impact on home life than vice versa, and that there may be a gender difference in stress between work and home. This study compared perceived stress, satisfaction and conflict for professional males and females working in dual-doctor partnerships investigating the bi-directional relationship between work and home roles. A sample of 244 male and female doctors in dual-career partnerships working in the National Health Service in Scotland completed a self-report questionnaire. Male doctors perceived their work as more stressful and less satisfying than females. Work stress had a greater impact on home life than vice versa, but there were no gender differences in levels of stress from work to home (WH) or home to work (HW). However, more males than females, particularly younger males, reported that work was a source of conflict with their partner. WH stress predicted marital conflict for both male and female doctors, whereas HW stress predicted marital conflict only for females. Time on call out of hours, the ethical commitment to medicine, and work encroaching into family time were identified as major sources of conflict. These findings have implications both for the well-being of doctors and their families, and for patient care, and for other professionals in dual-career partnerships.     

Greater Synergy and Improved Collaboration: Do Complex Partnerships Deliver on the Promise in Countries Emerging From Armed Conflict?

Complex or multi-stakeholder partnerships—those that include several actors of different types, i.e. public, private or civic—are becoming increasingly popular in different contexts and across policy domains. This is also the case in countries emerging from armed conflict, where many donors are actively promoting partnerships of different kinds that are seen as a solution to a number of concerns from efficiency and effectiveness to empowerment, trust building and local ownership. However, the actual evidence supporting these assumptions remains scarce. This article focuses on several core characteristics of intra-partnership dynamics through original empirical research on complex partnerships operating in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and the DRC. It concludes by showing that real existing complex partnerships in countries emerging from armed conflict demonstrate compositional characteristics typically attributed to complex partnerships but not the modes of governance expected of such partnerships, failing to exploit their added value as a result.     

Educational and Financial Institutions Partnering to Implement CSAs: Evaluation of Financial Partners’ Perspectives from the 2011 GEAR UP Invitational Priority

Educational and financial institutions are increasingly partnering to open Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs); however, little is known about these partnerships’ effectiveness for planning and implementing CSAs. A 2011 invitational priority from the Department of Education encouraged partnerships between Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) programs and financial institutions to open CSAs for low-income students, which provided an opportunity to evaluate these partnerships. In-depth interviews with 10 personnel from 6 financial institutions who partnered with 4 GEAR UP programs revealed that partnerships with stakeholders, time spent on planning, and strategies for overcoming barriers were important for implementing CSAs. Lessons for practice and policy are discussed.     

Reunifying families, cutting costs: housing-child welfare partnerships for permanent supportive housing

In the absence of an adequate supply of affordable, quality housing, child welfare agencies are placed in the unenviable position of separating families to protect children from the debilitating effects of homelessness. This article presents recommendations for costeffective housing-child welfare partnerships that will shift the burden of providing adequate housing back to housing agencies. These partnerships have the potential to move child welfare agencies closer to achieving permanence and well-being for all children.     

Area-based partnerships in rural Poland: The post-accession experience

The paper examines the characteristics of area-based partnerships in rural Poland. It is based on the study of partnerships created after the accession to the European Union in 2004. Partnership structures have been rapidly adopted in rural Poland due to opportunities provided by the LEADER+ Pilot Programme. However, the research showed that partnerships are frequently subject to elite domination by local authorities and hence fail to fully engage a range of community and private sector actors. Funding rules for LEADER, most notably the condition that money will only be paid on the completion of projects, has been particularly significant in perpetuating the domination of partnerships by organisations with existing access to financial and human capital. Hence funding arrangements can undermine the ability of Polish partnerships to operate in ways which harness the endogenous capacities of local communities. To date power differentials between notional ‘partners’ have been experienced to a greater extent than in advanced liberal democracies. The research found that overt domination of partnership structures by state agencies limited the possibilities for community led development initiative in rural Poland.