A comparison of systems and outcomes for safeguarding children in Australia and Norway

Using aggregated national data, this paper compares outcomes of Australian ‘child protection’ (CP) and Norwegian ‘child welfare services’ (CWS). We highlight each nation's context and key elements of their CP/CWS organizations, with emphasis on policy and programme orientation. System outcomes are examined along with the implications of their different approaches. The main policy focus in Australia is protection and risk, while Norway's systemic approach stresses prevention, early intervention and support. These differences influence practitioner's intervention strategies and how the needs of children and parents are met. In Norway, approximately 80% of the children in the CWS receive some sort of supportive services. In contrast, Australian services for supporting families are narrowly targeted. Both countries share the ‘best interest of the child’ principle and an increased focus on children's rights, and have experienced increased service demands and rates of children in out‐of‐home care. The paper explores the relative merits of these systems.     

Loss of Life Caused by the Flooding of New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina: Analysis of the Relationship Between Flood Characteristics and Mortality

In this article a preliminary analysis of the loss of life caused by Hurricane Katrina in the New Orleans metropolitan area is presented. The hurricane caused more than 1,100 fatalities in the state of Louisiana. A preliminary data set that gives information on the recovery locations and individual characteristics for 771 fatalities has been analyzed. One-third of the analyzed fatalities occurred outside the flooded areas or in hospitals and shelters in the flooded area. These fatalities were due to the adverse public health situation that developed after the floods. Two-thirds of the analyzed fatalities were most likely associated with the direct physical impacts of the flood and mostly caused by drowning. The majority of victims were elderly: nearly 60% of fatalities were over 65 years old. Similar to historical flood events, mortality rates were highest in areas near severe breaches and in areas with large water depths. An empirical relationship has been derived between the water depth and mortality and this has been compared with similar mortality functions proposed based on data for other flood events. The overall mortality among the exposed population for this event was approximately 1%, which is similar to findings for historical flood events. Despite the fact that the presented results are preliminary they give important insights into the determinants of loss of life and the relationship between mortality and flood characteristics.     

Paradigms,Theories, and Methods in Contemporary Rural Sociology: A Critical Reaction to Critical Questions

Abstract The content analysis by Falk and Zhao (1989) of theoretical orientations shown in Rural Sociology articles during the span 1976–1985 is critically evaluated as to its methodological adequacy and substantive conclusions. The former is shown as suspect and, therefore, the latter become moot. Discussion is particularly focused on the elaboration by Falk and Zhao on the wisdom of the metatheoretical underpinnings of the field in the decade explored. While they are less critical in judgment of rural sociology's performance than was the earlier study being “replicated” (Picou et al. 1978a), the assertion made by Falk and Zhao is still fundamentally misdirected. Until rural sociology faces the issue of data quality, its improvements in “theory” activity will not be substantial.     

Do People with a Mental Handicap Have Rights?

The notion of 'rights' in relation to people with a mental handicap has become increasingly fashionable in policy statements in Britain and elsewhere. However, the concept has rarely been used in a clear way, and the application of it has been weak. This article distinguishes between 'claim rights' and 'moral rights' and relates each to specific discriminatory domains. It is argued that in Britain, people with a mental handicap are routinely denied both types of rights, and that this is a sobering context within which to set policies structured upon 'normalisation' principles. It is suggested that more conceptual analysis is needed, alongside a clearer commitment to enforcement through a code of practice and the application of adult rights.     

Access and Child Contact Centres in England and Wales: An Ethnographic Perspective

SUMMARY. Access centres are a recent development in service provision for families facing difficulties over child contact following divorce or separation. The author has worked for over two years as a volunteer at an access centre and provides a personal view of key issues in the organisation and operation of access centres. Discussion of detailed case material throws light on the paradoxes which arise when a pro-access ideology is exercised in an informal setting.     

Reviews

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou: Cathars and Catholics in a French Village, 1294–1324, translated by Barbara Bray (1978), xvii+383 (The Scolar Press, £12.50).

Alan Macfarlane, The Origins of English Individualism. The Family, Property and Social Transition (Oxford, 1978), xvi+216 (Basil Blackwell. £8.50).

Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Ruling Class, Régime and Reformation at Strasbourg 1520–1555 (1978), xxi+458 (Brill, Leiden, 124 guilders).

Andrew B. Appleby, Famine in Tudor and Stuart England (1978) x+250 (Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, £10.75). Victor Skipp, Crisis and Development. An ecological case study of the Forest of Arden, 1570–1674 (1978) xii+132 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £6.50).

Patricia Branca, Women in Europe since 1750 (1978), 233 (Croom Helm, £8.95, paperback £3.95).

John W. Blassingame (ed.), Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies (1977), lxv+777 (Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, paperback £7.50).

Jonas Frykman, Horaa i bondesamhället (1977), 230 (Liber Läromedel, Lund, 24 Sw. cr.). (The Whore in Peasant Society)

Helmut Bleiber (ed.), Bourgeoisie uad bürgerliche Umwälzuagin Deutschland 1789–1871 (Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR: Schriften des Institute für Geschichte, 50, 1977) xii+525 (Akademie‐Verlag, East Berlin, 48M). (Bourgeoisie and Bourgeois Upheaval in Germany 1789–1871)

A. P. Donajgrodzki (ed.), Social Control in Nineteenth‐Century Britain (1977)! 258 (Croom Helm, £8.50).

Anthony S. Wohl (ed.), The Victorian Family (1978), 224 (Croom Helm, £7.95).

M. J. Daunton, Coal Metropolis Cardiff 1870–1914 (1977), 260 (Leicester University Press, Leicester, £12.00).

W. A. Speck, Stability and Strife: England 1714–1760 (1977), viii+311 (Edward Arnold, £9.95, paperback £3.50).

Howard Newby, The Deferential Worker: a study of farm workers in East Anglia (1977), 462 (Allen Lane, £9.00).

John Stevenson and Chris Cook, The Slump: Society and Politics during the Depression (1977), 348 (Jonathan Cape, £8.95).