Bureaucratic Neglect and Oppression in Child Welfare: Historical Precedent and Implications for Current Practice

Historically, child maltreatment has been seen as an issue warranting the involvement of the American government. However, over time, the definition of child maltreatment has changed; typically, maltreatment is often understood as a violation of the parental right to care for and protect a child. Consequently, the government, through systems such as child protective services is expected to be the acceptable parental alternative. As illustrated by the numerous negative outcomes experienced, it is clear that the system is not meeting the needs of abused and neglected children. This bureaucratic neglect is allowed to occur because of population primarily served by the child welfare system, the poor and families of color. In this way, dynamics of power and privilege manifest in the differing expectations of appropriate care between biological parents and the foster care system.     

Optimal control strategies for dividend payments and capital injections in compound Markov binomial risk model with penalties for deficits

We consider the compound Markov binomial risk model. The company controls the amount of dividends paid to the shareholders as well as the capital injections in order to maximize the cumulative expected discounted dividends minus the discounted capital injections and the discounted penalties for deficits prior to ruin. We show that the optimal value function is the unique solution of an HJB equation, and the optimal control strategy is a two-barriers strategy given the current state of the Markov chain. We obtain some properties of the optimal strategy and the optimal condition for ruining the company. We offer a high-efficiency algorithm for obtaining the optimal strategy and the optimal value function. In addition, we also discuss the optimal control problem under a restriction of bounded dividend rates. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the algorithm and the impact of the penalties.     

乡村文化变迁视野下的农村留守儿童教育

乡村文化对留守儿童具有较大教育功能,能够在一定程度上弥补留守儿童家庭教育的缺失,丰富留守儿童的精神生活。但是,乡村本土文化被边缘化,乡村家庭文化失序,乡村学校教育文化衰弱,乡村邻里关系逐渐陌生化等变迁对农村留守儿童的身心发展产生了深刻影响。在乡村文化变迁背景下,需要重视乡村文化建设,通过家庭、学校、邻里社区,树立留守儿童对乡村文化的认同,提高内在精神修养,促进健全人格的塑造,推进社会化发展。     

战后国民政府涉港事务处置个案研究——以张添祥事件为例

太平洋战争期间,国民政府争取香港主权的努力遭遇挫折,战后英国重返香港,中国在涉港事务中试图积极应对,争取国家利权。1946年12月3日,中国内地与香港边境的文锦渡发生一起英军越界开枪事件,造成宝安县居民张添祥死亡,即＂张添祥事件＂。事件发生后,广东地方当局和民意机构主张强硬外交,积极组织援助;国民政府外交当局亦介入善后,在民意舆论的压力下展开外交维权。最终,张添祥事件不了了之。     

心语沸腾王吉有

王吉有让人备感新鲜。 这股浓烈的新鲜感，缘自王吉有的话语。 王吉有今年70岁了，似乎前69年始终都闷着，直到今年才开了口似的，他的话就多得一塌糊涂。王吉有若进了人群，人群中就再难听到别人的声音，所有时间都将被他给霸占，所有空间都将被他的话语给充斥，     

朝向人性化改变的理论 ——《受压迫者教育学》的解读及对社会工作的启示?

《受压迫者教育学》是一本为从事改变工作的人提供的一个理论指南和一个变到哪里的标准，因为没有标准，我们很难辨识那些借用多元和不同而采用的非人性化改变的手段和目的。尤其对于社会工作来说，它提醒社会工作者改变世界的手段、方法和最终目的都要朝向人性化，警惕在改变过程中的假慈悲和假慷慨、宿命论和双重人格等这些非人性化手段，改变绝不能用意识灌输而是用对话，而且是一个教育过程，这个过程中改变的相关方一起受教育和一起变。该书为社会工作提供了一个将社会工作核心价值观—实现社会公正公益能够落地的更切实的理论和实践指南。     

近三十年钱锺书诗学方法论研究述评

自1979年至今，中外学界关于钱锺书诗学方法论的研究走过了30多年。这段研究史大致可以“四个阶段”和“两大主潮”加以概括:“四个阶段”即研究的初始期(1979—1986)、发展期(1987—1999)、论争期(2000—2007)和沉潜期(2008至今)；“两大主潮”指的则是“打通说”和“阐释循环说”两大宏观研究的趋势。对这一研究史的考察有助于整理、吸收前人的研究成果，也可藉此发现当前“钱学”方法论研究的三大困境，即比重失调、概念危机和问题意识的欠缺。寻求一个新的研究视角成为实现钱锺书诗学方法论研究新进展的当务之急。     

Housing hardship and energy insecurity among native-born and immigrant low-income families with children in the United States

The costs for rent and utilities account for the largest share of living expenses, yet these two critical dimensions of material hardship have seldom been examined concurrently in population-based studies. This paper employs multivariate statistical analysis using American Community Survey data to demonstrate the relative risk ratio of low-income renter-occupied households with children experiencing ‘rent burden', ‘energy insecurity', or a ‘double burden’ as opposed to no burden. Findings suggest that low-income households are more likely to experience these economic hardships in general but that specific groups are disproportionately burdened in different ways. For instance, whereas immigrants are more likely to experience rental burden, they are less likely to experience energy insecurity and are also spared from the double burden. In contrast, native-born African Americans are more likely than all other groups to experience the double burden. These results may be driven by the housing stock available to certain groups due to racial residential segregation, decisions regarding the quality of housing low-income householders are able to afford, as well as home-country values, such as modest living and energy conservation practices, among immigrant families. This paper also points to important policy gaps in safety net benefits related to housing and energy targeting low-income households.