Towards Empowerment in Child Protection Work

SUMMARY. The authors argue in this paper that the dominance of legal and professional approaches that individualise and pathologise child abuse has left welfare workers ill-equipped to respond to the emergent interest in parent's and children's rights. They suggest that such approaches fail to take adequate account of inequalities based on class, gender and race and the socially-constructed aspects of adult-child relationships. They develop a concept of empowerment, informed by radical traditions within welfare work, which can be applied in the context of state intervention to protect children. The applicability of the model is then examined through the use of two case studies.     

Research Review

Championing Children: A Report on Manchester City Council's Services For Children. John Rea Price Gillian Pugh     

Book reviews

Clinical Social Work Journal -     

Bridging the Gender Gap in Criminology: Liberation and Gender-Specific Strain Effects on Delinquency*

This study explores the empirical grounds for bridging the gender gap between liberation theories of female crime by integrating selected concepts from strain and liberation theses to explain female delinquency and gender differences in delinquency. Additive and interactive analyses were conducted with a sample of 1,613 adolescents. The findings provide little support for combining liberation and strain, primarily because of the inadequacy of liberated attitudes for strongly and consistently differentiating female delinquency. Strain, however, differed for males and females but was consistently and positively related to delinquency for both groups.     

The Relationship Between Work-to-Family Conflict and Family-to-Work Conflict: A Longitudinal Study

The relationship between work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict was tested using a longitudinal research design with 234 dual-earner couples caring for both children and aging parents. Two waves of mailed survey data were collected. The mediating effects of role-related satisfaction were hypothesized to link these two forms of work-family conflict. The analytical steps for determining mediating effects followed suggestions by Baron and Kenny (1986). The results failed to show significant mediating effects of role-related satisfaction between the two forms of conflict over time for both husbands and wives, contrary to suggestions by Frone, Yardley, and Markel (1997). Instead, positive, direct relationships between the two types of work-family conflict were found. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

A Study of Abortion and Problems in Decision-Making*

This paper is directed to people who, sufficiently disturbed by the complex realities of problem pregnancies, are prepared to think beyond the confines of ideology. It is a challenge to people who tend to reduce the problem of unwanted pregnancies either to “abortion on demand” or to “right to life” ideologies, thereby ignoring the relationship dynamics that impact, shape, and enable the process of decision-making with its implications for mutual caring and for long-term trust. Rebalancing the emphases on ideologies and individual rights, this article is multidirectional in approach. It surfaces a concern for the unborn fetus, for the woman and the man involved, and for future human relatedness in which the capacity for trust and accountability are actualized rather than forced to stagnate.     

Utilizing fuzzy compatibility of skill sets for team selection in multi-phase projects

In this paper, a model is developed for the selection of personnel for a multiple phase project which takes into account the match between the skills possessed by each individual, the skills needed for each phase, and rather flexible budget considerations. The algorithm uses the fuzzy construct of compatibility to measure the fit of a person’s skill set to the goal set for each project phase. Based on the individual fuzzy compatibility measures, the team is formed from combined levels of compatibility and acceptable levels of quality defined for the goal set. 1 and 2 present the background information necessary to an understanding of project management phases and compatibility of skills. The development of the model and subsequent algorithm in 3 and 4, respectively rely on fuzzy measures of compatibility. Finally, an application is presented in Section 4 with conclusions stated in Section 5.     

When training and prevention meet

This article explores the intended and unintended consequences of CiN/child protection training when this training is offered to parents and grandparents who live in the community. It asks whether training can fulfil a preventative function on behalf of children and child protection systems. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.