Network governance among actors involved in the government’s contracting out of foster care services: A case study in China

The government's contracting out of foster care services in Guangzhou, China, introduced the possibility of partnerships between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government-led human services. To understand network governance among actors involved in contracting out foster care services, service funders, service providers, and service users were interviewed. A thematic analysis of interviews combined with a critical review of archival data was conducted. Drawing from the policy network governance analytic framework, we found that network governance conditions in contracting out foster care services were characterized by close interdependence among actors, moderate standardization in work duties, but nonreciprocal patterns of interactions, and low to modest levels of autonomy, along with strong power in the government but limited self-governance among NGOs and foster families. Our findings indicate that network governance was not fully achieved among actors involved in the contracting out of foster care services. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

高端生产性服务业视角下南京的世界城市地位提升策略研究

南京作为江苏省省会,地处“一带一路”的交汇点和长江经济带、长三角一体化等重大战略叠加区,提升高端生产性服务业的全球服务能力对提高南京综合竞争力与城市国际化发展意义重大。基于城市 企业服务价值矩阵,厘清世界城市排名的计算方法与分级标准,分析南京不同高端生产性服务行业发展的优势与不足。在此基础上,对标世界级一线与二线的中国境内城市,挖掘南京高端生产性服务业国际化发展的潜力,并通过情景模拟预测各种策略对提升南京城市地位的作用,以期为南京高端生产性服务业发展与世界城市建设提供参考。     

循环经济法视角下“限塑新政”探讨

国家公布的《关于进一步加强塑料污染治理的意见》,旨在通过规范我国塑料废物的回收利用活动建立塑料污染长效治理机制。这是我国历史上第二次大规模应对塑料污染的国家行动,标志着我国在限塑方面步伐继续加大。以循环经济法为视角,重点分析“限塑新政”的立法背景与政策内涵,探寻该政策在我国塑料污染治理中发挥的独特作用。通过对“限塑令”的再审视,探讨其在塑料污染治理方面尚存的缺陷;通过对德国部分立法经验的分析借鉴,从设定塑料具体回收率、推行EPR制度等方面提出完善我国限塑法律制度的对策建议。旨为走可持续发展之路,化解我国“白色污染”难题,实现塑料废物的循环再生利用。     

健康战略下卫生和社会服务一体化的加拿大经验——以加拿大魁北克省为样本

随着工业化、城镇化和人口老龄化进程的加速,慢性病成为影响我国经济社会发展的重大公共卫生问题。慢性病的发生和流行与经济、社会、人口、行为、环境等因素密切相关,慢性病的预防、治疗、照护需要卫生和社会服务机构的紧密协作。加拿大魁北克省于20世纪80年代开始探索卫生与社会服务发展,于2005年建立了集预防、治疗、照护为一体的公立医疗机构和社会服务为主导的三级服务体系架构,慢性病防治效果显著。通过对加拿大魁北克省卫生与社会服务一体化供给的架构体系的介绍,提炼卫生与社会服务一体化成因,为我国健康战略下卫生与社会服务一体化提供借鉴。     

长江经济带工业集聚与生态环境脱钩时空分析

工业集聚在推动我国经济增长的过程中,不时伴随资源浪费、能源高耗、污染物直排等生态问题,而长江经济带作为生态文明建设的先行示范带,其生态环境保护一直是重中之重。本文以2006—2015年为时间界限,以T1、T2、T3、T4和T55个时期为时间尺度,以长江经济带108个地级以上城市为空间尺度,从长江经济带、区域和市域视角,运用区位熵、熵值法,构建Tapio脱钩指数模型和追赶脱钩指数模型研究工业集聚与生态环境的脱钩关系,并结合空间分析方法使用ArcGIS10.4得出二者脱钩关系的空间分布图。     

The quality of service: An overall performance assessment for water utilities

Over the last decades, the delivery of water supply services has changed among regions and actors, in order to meet the changing needs. Those services can be balanced based on the relation between the obligations they must fulfill, the quality offered, and the associated price/value for money. Furthermore, due to the water services inherent characteristics, they are prone to poor quality of service (in general terms). Thus, global performance assessments are of paramount relevance under those constraints. In Portugal, the water regulator has developed a system of performance indicators (partial measures of performance) and, therefore, it is not possible to achieve the desired holistic performance evaluation (global measure). To enable such assessment, we propose an application based on the ELECTRE TRI-nC method to define quality of service categories and aggregate performance indicators. To obtain a coherent family of criteria (i.e., exhaustive, cohesive, and non-redundant) we apply an iso-preference logic. The results obtained are presented through a geographical information system allowing for a clearer visualization of the overall performance of water utilities. The method proposed can be considered a suitable decision support system and useful regulatory tool able to provide policy relevant outputs.     

Post Adoption Service Need and Use as Predictors of Adoption Dissolution: Findings From the 2012 National Adoptive Families Study

Data from the 2012 National Adoptive Families Study (NAFS) were used to examine the relationships between adoptive parents' need for and utilization of post-adoption services and adoption dissolution. NAFS was an online survey administered to adoptive parents (N = 437) who had adopted a child from the United States foster care system. The study found that needing and accessing post-adoption services predicted 26% of the variance in dissolution. Substance abuse treatment, educational advocacy, and parent support groups were the only significant predictors of adoption dissolution. Both needing and accessing substance abuse treatment increased the likelihood of adoption dissolution. Needing educational advocacy increased the likelihood of dissolution, but actually accessing it decreased the likelihood of dissolution. Accessing parent support groups similarly decreased the likelihood of dissolution. Policy and practice implications of the findings are discussed.     

Psychosocial Differences in Post-Institutionalized,Internationally Adopted Children and Other Groups of Children Referred for Clinical Services

Thousands of children are adopted into the United States each year, many of whom have spent a significant portion of their pre adoptive lives in an institutional setting. Post-institutionalized (PI) children adopted into the United States are often referred for mental health services at higher rates than other groups of children. There is a lack of research examining differences in clinically referred PI children and other groups. The purpose of this study was to address this gap in knowledge. Results from multiple analysis of covariance and follow-up pairwise contrast analyses found significant differences only between PI and domestic adoptees (DA). Specifically, DA exhibited poorer functioning in the areas of attention problems and social problems. Mean scores were above the 85th percentile for all indicators for all groups, indicating the severity of psychosocial problems for the sampled group of clinical referrals. More research is needed that compares the psychosocial problems of PI children to other adopted youth.     

Effect of Brief Staff‐Assisted Career Service Delivery on Drop‐In Clients

Brief staff‐assisted career counseling services based on cognitive information processing theory were evaluated using 138 drop‐in clients who completed pre‐ and postintervention self‐report measures of knowledge about next steps, confidence in making next steps, and anxiety about career concerns. Significant changes occurred in each dimension and were significantly associated with the quality of career adviser interaction. Participants rated the experience as highly positive. Decreases in anxiety about career concerns were unrelated to the intervention. Implications include that a brief service delivery model yields positive outcomes for many clients but requires adjustments in organizational culture, physical environment, practitioner approaches, and client expectations. Future research should examine relational variables related to decreased anxiety with a brief service delivery model, the degree to which this approach works with specific career needs, and client attributes leading to successful versus unsuccessful outcomes with this model.     

服务业空间集聚的实证分析与对策思路——以重庆为例

对研究样本服务业空间集聚情况的实证分析结果表明,服务业集聚区与地区经济规模有一定关系,但并不紧密相关;服务业集聚存在明显的行业间非均衡发展特征,但这一特征有逐步缓解的态势。基于此,应在发展理念、政策引导和行业分工等方面入手,逐步推进服务业集聚式发展。