Adoption and permanence planning in Scotland: Impact of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 on key processes and timescales

Adoption and permanence planning has been a key feature of Scotland's policy in relation to children and young people who are “looked after.” Although policy and law has significantly developed in recent years, there has been comparatively little research on permanence processes in Scotland. This paper outlines key findings from the first comprehensive study of permanence planning in Scotland. It examines the process for two cohorts of children where adoption or other types of permanence orders were made. The children were selected under the long standing Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 and the more recent Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007. In total, 300 cases were examined, analysing data from the children's first contact with services through to the order made by the Scottish Courts. This paper pays particular attention to the timescales found at key stages under the two sets of legislation and asks what difference the change in legislation has made.     

Does unemployment lead to isolation? The consequences of unemployment for social networks

Popular accounts in both social science and society claim that unemployment goes together with social withdrawal. However, empirical support for this conclusion is largely derived from cross-sectional studies or indirect measurements of social contacts. In this study, we argue that consequences of unemployment for personal networks differ across social groups and by length of unemployment. Using longitudinal data from the Swiss Household Panel (1999–2010), we focus on three frequently employed social network statistics: network size, contact frequency, and perceived support by friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances. We estimate how short (<1 year) and long term (>1 year) unemployment relates to these network characteristics for men and women, people below and above 50 years of age, and lower and higher educated individuals. Our results provide a more-nuanced perspective on the commonly assumed social withdrawal following unemployment.     

Harmful care. To what extent is terminology from medicine and clinical psychology applicable to out‐of‐home care?

Research concerning outcomes for children who have been placed in out‐of‐home care has indicated that the care may have unwanted consequences. However, there has been no coherent terminology for differentiating between different types of such unwanted consequences. In this article therefore, we attempt to disentangle different aspects of potentially harmful care for looked after children, as well as to discuss potential pathways to more systematically approach and report adverse events for this group. In this endeavour, we turn to two adjacent disciplines, medicine and psychology, where these issues have received more interest. The applicability of the concepts used in these fields is discussed, and it is concluded that although they provide some help in categorizing different aspects of harmful care, the complexity of out‐of‐home care makes existing models difficult to adopt without adjustments. This has consequences for the possibility of evaluating care in research, as well as for monitoring adverse events in practice. Importantly, the causality will often be unknown. We therefore suggest that it is essential to shed more light on how decisions should be made about when to intervene or not in out‐of‐home care, despite limited information.     

“Helping teenagers in care flourish: What parenting research tells us about foster care”

In this article, I review a range of theoretical and practical issues that are relevant to the foster care of teenagers. I argue that topics such as the recent research evidence from neuroscience regarding brain development in adolescence, as well as control, the promotion of autonomy, and resilience, all have major implications for the provision of appropriate care for teenagers. I outline some of the key conclusions reached by researchers on these pertinent topics and then go on to consider the implications from this evidence for the training of foster carers.     

战时媒介管制与媒介功能“让位”——太平洋战争中的日本灾害新闻报道研究

以日本东南海大地震（1944）和三河地震（1945）两次地震为研究背景,通过对报纸和广播对地震的报道情况分析,得知媒体对这两次地震未能展开详细、深入的报道,媒介在灾害中应发挥的功能让位于战争宣传需要。结合两次地震发生时的社会背景,得出媒介对于灾害事件功能失灵的原因在于受当时媒体管控体制限制的结论。相关新闻检阅史料,有力地佐证了在强有力的媒介管制体系之下,媒体面对灾害事件的发生"让位"功能,完全成为服务于战争的舆论工具,揭示出太平洋战争中日本媒体报道的军国主义本质。     

包头5.3地震建筑物结构震害原因分析

本文对内蒙古包头市５．３地震建筑物结构震害原因进行了分析。     

“80后”农民工的社会认同与城市融入

在经济社会加速转型和利益结构加快调整的背景下,农民工群体步入代际转换的重要时期,“80后”农民工逐渐成为农民工的主力军和生力军。“80后”农民工的社会认同包括身份认同、对城市的认同、对乡土社会的认同和未来归属认同四个方面。应从政府、企业、市民和农民工自身四方面努力来推动新生代农民工融入城市社区,建构出一个基于公平机会之上的城乡一体化的社会管理制度。     

票据期后背书刍议

期后背书是票据法中的一个理论难点。对于期的规定,世界上就存在三种不同的标准,但它们的相同之处都是对期后背书的法律效力加以限制。本文从考察期后背书的效力出发,探讨了期后背书持票人的权利。笔者认为,我国票据法第36条存在诸多漏洞,建议直接借鉴大陆法系的做法,对其进行修改,不失为一条有效的途径。     

陈云与新中国的水利建设

陈云高度重视水利建设对于农业发展和国民经济恢复和增长的作用,强调兴修水利以防治水旱灾害、保障人民的生命财产安全,实现水资源的综合利用和开发。他还提出要节约、保护水资源,防止水资源的污染和破坏。陈云关于水利建设的思想,对于我们总结建国后中国共产党水利建设和水利事业发展的历史、更好地建设中国特色现代化水利具有重要意义。     

抗战后国民政府在北平城区的基层建政

抗战胜利后,国民政府在北平市城区建立了基层政权,形成了党、政两套控制体系。国民政府在北平建设的基层政权,其主要有四个组成部分：力量薄弱的区公所;背离初衷的保甲制度;相对完整的警察系统;虚弱的党务系统。