Patterns of entry to community‐based services for families with children with developmental disabilities: implications for social work practice

The purpose of the present study was to understand, from parents' perspectives, the process of entry to community‐based services for children with developmental disabilities and to explore the relationship between patterns of entry and parent‐reported needs and priorities for service. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 43 mothers and 29 fathers of children with developmental disabilities approximately 6 months after the families entered community‐based childhood disability support services in Manitoba, Canada. Analysis of the coded interview data resulted in the identification of three process factors influential in the entry of families to community‐based support services: recognition of problems in child development, formal diagnosis of child disability and linkage between diagnostic services and the community‐based support system. Analysis of these processes identified four patterns of service entry associated with differing family needs for service: early entry, prompt entry, delayed entry and atypical entry. The results can be understood as a typology useful for social workers in the assessment of family needs and priorities at the point of entry to community‐based services.     

Freud reconsidered: bisexuality, homosexuality, and moral judgement

This article examines methodological problems and unacknowledged moral judgements in Freud's theory of homosexuality. Freud raises the issue of bisexuality in connection with the origins of homosexuality. When critically examined, the theory of bisexuality reduces to a theory of the capacity to be attracted to either females or males, and in that sense explains little about the origin of exclusive homosexual orientation. Freud's further investigations into the origin of homosexuality, strictly speaking, do not provide a clear explanation of sexual exclusivity. Finally, it is argued that Freud's moral assumptions color the nature of his conclusions. At the very least, without morally justifying his procedure, he transforms the course of psychosexual development as determined by psychoanalysis into a moral imperative against which homosexuality is judged a fixated and immature state.     

A Gompertz fit that fits: Applications to canadian fertility patterns

In this paper an attempt is made to refine the method of fitting the Gompertz function to the cumulative fertility rates by using iterative techniques. The method is tested with the historical data series for the Canadian population. The demographic implication of the parameters of the Gompertz function as fitted to the fertility distribution is examined, and the usefulness of the method in projecting future fertility trends is studied. The Makeham function is also fitted to the fertility distribution by the same iterative technique, and the relative efficiency of this function is compared with that of the Gompertz.     

Change, continuity or cycles: The population turnaround in New South Wales

This study examines population flows from Sydney and other regions to perimetropolitan and coastal areas of New South Wales, the two main foci of the population turnaround since 1971. It uses census internal migration statistics for the five intercensal periods between 1971 and 1996, and estimated resident population statistics between 1997 and 2000. Fluctuating trends are described with respect to variations in age structures of migration flows and net migration gains by SLAs in coastal areas over time. Evidence of fluctuating trends is evaluated in relation to population structure change and local socio-economic multipliers in turnaround areas. The turnaround is far mor than a net migration gain from large metropolitan areas; it is also associated with interregional migration which avoids metropolitan areas, and which is at least in part environment- and amenity-related. The experience of some other countries, such as the USA where net migration reversals in population turn-around regions have occurred, has not been replicated in Australia. While elements of explanation for the complex cumulative causation process of the population turnaround in Australia are discussed, including the issues of fluctuating or cyclical trends, much more understanding of the economic and social factors involved is required.     

Intergenerational Mobility in Relative Educational Attainment and Health-Related Behaviours

Social Indicators Research - Research on intergenerational social mobility and health-related behaviours yields mixed findings. Depending on the direction of mobility and the type of mechanisms...     

Modelling Households: A Synthesis

The 1973 U.S. National Survey of Family Growth is used to examine the effects of removing number and timing failures from the reproductive histories of various cohorts of white and black married women. Blacks are more fertile than whites primarily because of their greater unwanted fertility. Removing number and timing failures from the past reproductive histories of American women would have reduced their fertility considerably. These reductions would have been greater for blacks than for whites and would be greater if some wanted pregnancies had continued to terminate in foetal loss.     

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE IN SECURING COMPLIANCE: A STUDY OF TAX SCHEME INVESTORS

Throughout the 1990s, tens of thousands of Australian taxpayers invested in mass‐marketed tax effective schemes. They enjoyed generous tax breaks until the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) told them in 1998 that they abused the system. This study examines the circumstances surrounding taxpayers' decision to invest in scheme arrangements. It also explores investors' perceptions of the way the ATO handled the schemes issue and, perhaps more importantly, why such a large number of investors defied the ATO's demands that they pay back taxes. Data were taken from in‐depth interviews conducted with 29 scheme investors. Consistent with the procedural justice literature, the findings revealed that many scheme investors defied the ATO's demands because the procedures the ATO used to handle the situation were perceived to be unfair. Given these findings, it will be argued that to effectively shape desired behaviour, regulators will need to move beyond enforcement strategies linked purely to deterrence. A strategy that aims to emphasise the procedural justice aspects of a regulatory encounter will be discussed.