“We felt completely left to ourselves.” Foster parents' views on placement disruption

The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for unintended placement disruptions in foster care. Based on a semistructured survey, the paper presents the views of 132 Norwegian foster parents who have experienced placement disruption between 2013 and 2015. Foster parents rated several relevant causes of placement disruption: the child's behaviour, the need for care, concern for the well‐being of their biological children, and lack of support from the Child Welfare Service (CWS). Although the child's behaviour was the cause most frequently reported in the quantitative data, CWS‐related factors such as poor collaboration, not being valued and listened to, insufficient support and follow‐up, and a mismatch between the child's needs and the foster carers' capacity were reported most frequently in the qualitative data. Placement disruption appears to be caused by the sum and interaction of several coexisting causes. It may not be the child's behaviour per se but rather the combination of challenging behaviour, concern for one's biological children, and insufficient support from CWS that lead to disruption. Good collaboration with the CWS in the form of respect, recognition, support, and follow‐up appears to be of the utmost importance in reducing the risk of placement disruption.     

Adapting the Friends of the Children programme for child welfare system‐involved families

Research has shown the importance of long‐term, caring adults for children in foster care. This paper reviews the Friends of the Children (FOTC) long‐term mentoring programme and how it was adapted to serve children and families with child welfare system involvement. This study's two research questions are (1) How do Friends (FOTC's paid professional mentors) currently work with, and in turn, have an impact on, child welfare‐involved families? and (2) How can Friends better support child welfare system‐involved caregivers and families to promote family stability, permanence, and child well‐being? Data were collected from 21 caregivers (foster and biological), 24 FOTC Friends, five child welfare workers, and five teachers. Qualitative analyses of focus group, interview, and open‐ended survey data revealed a wide variety of ways Friends currently support children and families. In addition, several recommendations were made for strengthening programming. These findings provide valuable insights into providing long‐term mentoring to child welfare system‐involved children and families.     

Income inequality,welfare regimes and aggregate health: Review of reviews

Wide income inequality in a society has been associated with worse aggregate health. Regarding the relationship, often termed as ‘the Wilkinson Hypothesis’, a number of empirical findings and related systematic reviews have reached inconsistent conclusions. In addition, the Scandinavian welfare regime is expected to have better aggregate health indicators in comparison with the other welfare regimes. The expectation is largely based on the Wilkinson Hypothesis because the regime has relatively narrow income inequalities. Again, related empirical findings and systematic reviews have produced inconsistent conclusions. This article reports on two rounds of ‘review of reviews’ (RR) over six previous (systematic) review articles. The first round of RR found that the review articles reached divergent conclusions. The second round of RR over another set of three review articles also demonstrated that their conclusions did not reach a consensus. Neither the hypothesised Scandinavia's good health nor the Wilkinson Hypothesis was given solid empirical backing.     

Patchwork of promises: A critical analysis of immigration policies for unaccompanied undocumented children in the United States

In 2014, the United States saw a greater than 50% increase in the number of unaccompanied children from Mexico and Central America arriving at the U.S./Mexico border, and unaccompanied children continue to migrate to the United States in consistent numbers. The dramatic increase of 2014 exposed gaps in policies aimed at supporting unaccompanied children as they await legal adjudication. This paper begins with a historic review of immigration policies in the United States aimed at supporting unaccompanied migrant children. An analytic review is provided of existing immigration policies in the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, highlighting the competing paradigms created by missions of security‐focused policy versus child‐centred policy. A close examination of the values that influenced policy development in this area is included, along with a discussion of how social work practice can infuse elements of social justice into immigration policy reform. Areas for future research to reform immigration policy focused on supporting unaccompanied undocumented minors are highlighted.     

Public support for the social rights and social obligations of the unemployed: Two sides of the same coin?

In light of the ever‐growing shift towards activation in European welfare states, the present article examines the relationship between citizens’ welfare generosity (i.e., support for social rights) and welfare conditionality (i.e., support for social obligations) with regard to the unemployed. Using data from the 2014 Belgian National Elections Study, we found that generosity and conditionality appear to be two sides of the same coin. The two factors are negatively correlated, and most of their respective attitudinal drivers are quite similar in strength, yet opposite in direction. In addition to self‐interest and conventionally recognised ideational beliefs, such as egalitarianism and individualism, beliefs about welfare deservingness – an explanatory factor that has remained understudied in the field – are particularly influential in shaping people’s welfare preferences. A stronger emphasis on criteria of deservingness such as control, attitude and reciprocity considerably lowers support for social rights and strengthens support for social duties.     

Convergence of family policy across welfare regimes (1990 to 2010): Different connotations of family policy expansion

Using multiple indices of family policy efforts – work/family reconciliation, gender equality and income protection, this study offers a nuanced understanding of family policy expansion in 14 OECD countries across three welfare regimes from 1990 to 2010. Findings suggest an overall convergence of family policies, particularly in gender equality and work/family reconciliation. Convergence has occurred simultaneously with distinctive family policy changes across welfare regimes. Conservative welfare states have experienced the most profound family policy alterations, shifting from a traditional gender model to one that encourages women's employment, but have, nevertheless, maintained policy efforts that sustain the traditional gender role. Despite an increase in their family policy efforts, liberal welfare states have continued to maintain minimal state action regarding family policy. Changes in social democratic welfare states have been less substantial, as they seem to continue to pursue a dual‐earner model with high degree of gender equality and work/family reconciliation.     

人口老龄化对积极财政政策有效性的影响——兼析延迟退休的宏观经济效应

人口老龄化不但影响到宏观经济的稳定,也会对财政政策的有效性产生影响。将人口老龄化引入动态随机一般均衡模型,分析人口老龄化对4种积极财政政策工具(扩大政府支出、提高劳动所得税起征点、提高劳动所得税累进性和增加公共投资)有效性产生的影响以及延迟退休的动态宏观经济效应,结果表明:人口老龄化扩大了政府支出和政府公共投资对消费产生的挤出效应,降低了4种积极财政政策工具对产出、消费、就业的促进效应,也强化了其对通胀和工资膨胀的提升效应;延迟退休未对私人消费产生挤出效应,有利于就业、产出和消费增长,并有助于稳定通胀和工资膨胀;与财政政策工具相比,延迟退休引致的整体社会福利损失较小。人口老龄化降低了积极财政政策的有效性,基于稳定宏观经济和降低社会福利损失的考虑,延迟退休是一个较优的政策选择。     

现代伊斯兰经济学说及其伦理特征

现代伊斯兰经济学说是在继承传统伊斯兰经济思想和吸收现代经济理念的基础上发展起来的.通过对伊斯兰经济学说中的利息、资源短缺和人的需求的关系、利润最大化的经济原则和竞争等几个争论较为激烈的焦点问题进行分析后可以看出,现代伊斯兰经济学说既有着强烈的现代性,又凸显出浓厚的宗教伦理内涵及其特征.从此意义上说,现代伊斯兰经济学说实际上为现代社会提供了一种福利经济或可持续发展经济的发展模式,这无论对伊斯兰社会还是对国际社会而言都具有重要的意义.     

Civil criticism and the welfare state

This article is a report on a Finnish survey on criticism of the welfare state. The research questions are: 1) How commonly do people see the negative sides of the welfare state? 2) What background variables correlate with critical attitudes? Data for the study were gathered in a representative Finnish mail survey (N=2, 949). The main results show that criticism against the welfare state is rather widespread in Finland. The most critical people are those who support the Rightist parties. However, different socio-economic groups express diverging forms of criticism. People with a lower position in stratification hierarchies are critical of the alleged bureaucracy of the welfare state. The middle classes are more critical about the redistributive effects of the welfare state. However, the widespread criticism cannot be interpreted as a sign of a legitimation crisis. People both support and criticize the welfare state at the same time.     

先秦儒家的富贵道义观与市场经济伦理

长期以来,人们一直认为儒家是重义轻利的,并把某些时期中国经济发展的落后归结为儒家重义轻利思想的影响。其实,儒家思想虽有重义轻利的一面,也有肯定现世的功利主义和相信财富作为道德完美的一种普遍手段的价值观念,特别是在先秦儒家那里。本文从分析先秦儒家富贵道义观提出的时代背景和人性基础出发,对先秦儒家的富贵道义观进行初步分析,意在为我国市场经济伦理的确立提供传统资源。