Structured risk assessment procedures: instruments of abuse?

Child protection services in Australia and elsewhere face increasing internal and external demands. As a response to these pressures, in part at least, services are increasingly implementing some form of risk assessment procedures. This article examines the practice implications of the increasing use of risk assessment instruments in child protection services. It highlights the complexity of the concept of risk as the basis for a future‐oriented assessment activity. The authors suggest that this change of time frame (from what has happened to what might happen) may be detrimental to children. Through a critical review of the literature, the authors question whether risk prediction is possible and discuss the limitations of risk assessment instruments which omit some risk factors and may ignore the perspective of the child. The authors challenge the validity of risk assessment instruments in statutory settings and suggest that the protection of the organization may be a major objective in their implementation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Macro impacts on caseworker decision-making in child welfare: a cross-national comparison

This paper focuses on the factors impacting on decision-making in child and family social work through a cross-national comparison. In doing so, the larger arena of the political and social contexts of both the United States and Northern Ireland are examined. For each of the countries we describe the historical and political context of child welfare, particularly the tension between child safety and family support, and how children's rights are attended to and interpreted in each country. This discussion also examines the extent to which decision-making in each jurisdiction is influenced by constitutional imperatives, with particular reference to the US Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. From this general comparison we conclude with observations about child welfare decision-making within the national context and offer suggestions for further theoretical development in this area whilst also examining where the practices in each jurisdiction may benefit from review.     

Working toward effective anonymization for surveillance data: innovation at South Africa’s Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance Site

Linking people and places is essential for population-health-environment research. Yet, this data integration requires geographic coding such that information reflecting individuals or households can appropriately be connected with characteristics of their proximate environments. However, offering access to such geocoding greatly increases the risk of respondent identification and, therefore, holds the potential to breach confidentiality. In response, a variety of “geographic masking” techniques have been developed to introduce error into geographic coding and thereby reduce the likelihood of identification. We report findings from analyses of the error introduced by several masking techniques applied to data from the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System in rural South Africa. Using a vegetation index (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)) at the household scale, comparisons are made between the “true” NDVI values and those calculated after masking. We also examine the tradeoffs between accuracy and protecting respondent privacy. The exploration suggests that in this study setting and for NDVI, geomasking approaches that use buffers and account for population density produce the most accurate results. However, the exploration also clearly demonstrates the tradeoff between accuracy and privacy, with more accuracy resulting in a higher level of potential respondent identification. It is important to note that these analyses illustrate a process that should characterize spatially informed research but within which particular decisions must be shaped by the research setting and objectives. In the long run, we aim to provide insight into masking’s potential and perils to facilitate population-environment-health research.

     

Product selection and costs in a partially unionized industry

This paper examines differences in costs among union and nonunion firms operating in the multiple and competitive lumber markets; develops a model of output and product selection decisions; and then estimates the cost function implied by the model for a sample of sawmills that produce green and dry lumber. Overall, the average variable costs for the green technology are about 67 percent higher for union mills and, for the dry technology, costs are about 30 percent higher. However, differences inminimum average variable costs are negligible in the dry market but are significant in the green market. The results suggest that some union mills may be able to coexist with nonunion mills in a competitive industry by specializing in market niches determined by comparative cost advantages. The authors gratefully acknowledge comments from James Bennett, Jo Anna Gray, Chris Ellis, Stephen Haynes, Joe Kerkvliet, and an anonymous referee.     

“I Amn Not a Utistivc on Thje Typ” (“I'm Not Autistic on the Typewriter”)

Facilitated communication involves hand-over-hand or hand-on-forearm support of students as they communicate through pointing at pictures, letters or other objects. Over time, it is expected that the hand and arm support can be faded back. This observational study describes an effort to introduce facilitated communication to 22 students, ranging in age from 3 years 10 months to 21 years, in several US public schools. The students are all labeled autistic and do not speak or speak only with echolalic phrases. The findings include observations of the students communicating with facilitation, language samples, and conversations by the students. The students reveal unexpected literacy and numeracy skills. The appearance of these abilities raises a number of questions concerning prior assumptions about autism, communication, independence and interdependence, and the education of students with and without disabilities.     

Evaluating economic theories of NPOs: A survey, a case study and some new directions for socio-economics

The contribution economists have made to the multidisciplinary field of non-profit studies is remarkable when one considers that non-profit organizations (NPOs) have traditionally been regarded as “non-economic” institutions that lie outside the scope of economic analysis. However, despite its achievements there has been concern about the emergence of “theoretical inertia” in the economics of NPOs. This paper suggests some ways in which the revisionist approach reflected in economic theories of the supply-side of the voluntary sector could be augmented. In particular it focuses on the emotional basis for stakeholder commitments and the consequent dependence NPOs have on their organizational leadership to foster the development of shared hopes that can sustain these commitments in the face of disappointments. These ideas are discussed in relation to the provision by NPOs of supported employment services to the disabled.