Reflexivity

Just as the concept paradigmenergized the human sciences in spite of its manydefinitions and uses, so now does the conceptreflexive seem to be of increasingsalience, again with many definitions and uses. It is argued thatreflexivity, as a fundamental human quality underliesvarious attempts to understand and intervene in humanrelationships. By juxtaposing paradigms, reflexivity, and therapeutic progression it is possible toset out several types of reflexivity, some relativelyself-contained and others at the edge of our possibleknowledges.     

Implemented as intended? Recording family worker activities in a Families First program

In evaluating family preservation services, it is important not only to study the service outcomes and the family characteristics, but also what actually happens during the treatment. This requires a program model. This article describes how a program model works, prescribes how workers should carry it out, and describes how researchers should measure the program's characteristics. The authors use data from Families First in The Netherlands to test the model. Results show that the method of the program meets the specified characteristics. The results are important for treatment, policy, education, and evaluation research.     

Beyond termination: length of stay and predictors of permanency for legally free children

Despite growing awareness of the complex needs of legally free children in child welfare care, relatively little empirical investigation has been done of these children and their experiences. This article reports the results of a study of length of stay and predictors of permanency in a sample of 1,366 legally free children in state custody in Washington state. A Cox proportional-hazards event history model was developed to explore the effects of gender, race, and ethnicity, and age at initial placement, on the likelihood of achieving legalized adoption or guardianship. Results indicate that older children, boys, and African American children were all significantly less likely to achieve a permanent outcome than were Caucasian children. Hispanic children, in the other hand, were significantly more likely to achieve a permanent outcome. The implications of these findings for permanency planning practice and policy development are discussed.     

The role of theory in the assessment of sex offenders

No generally accepted theory of sex offender behavior exists at this point. As clinical experience and research findings interact within an evolving theoretical framework, the picture of what is important, as well as what is possible to know about a sex offender, is rapidly changing. It is vital that mental health professionals, the legal system, social service agencies, and other consumers and providers of sex offender assessments be aware of both what is possible to learn about an offender as well as the limitations on that knowledge and its application. Prominent theories that influence the assessment of offenders in North America and Europe are presented and examined. Uses and limitations of each theory are discussed. Several trends emerge which could influence the future of sex offender assessment, treatment, management, and policy.     

Women and Government Budgets

In recognition of the significant, but often unknown, impact of government budgets on the role and status of women, both Federal and State Labor government administrations have introduced ‘women's budget’ statements. It is important to recognise that the political motivation of governments in establishing women's budgets has been primarily political self interest. To some extent, however, the move also reflects the growing economic focus, and power, of the women's movement. This paper examines the content and limitations of women's budget programs.     

A response to M. Stone: 'How not to measure the efficiency of public services (and how one might)'

Summary.  This is a response to Stone's criticisms of the Spottiswoode report to the UK Treasury which was responding to the Treasury's request for improved methods to evaluate the efficiency and productivity of the 43 police districts in England and Wales. The Spottiswoode report recommended uses of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), which Stone critiqued en route to proposing an alternative approach. Here we note some of the most serious errors in his criticism and inaccurate portrayals of DEA and SFA. Most of our attention is devoted to DEA, and to Stone's recommended alternative approach without much attention to SFA, partly because of his abbreviated discussion of the latter. In our response we attempt to be constructive as well as critical by showing how Stone's proposed approach can be joined to DEA to expand his proposal beyond limitations in his formulations.