‘You have to choose your childcare to fit your work’: Childcare decision-making among low-income working families

Regardless of their economic background, most working parents face the task of arranging childcare at some point. The decision-making process they experience is often complex, and this complexity is intensified for particular groups of families with limited financial and social resources. In this paper, we present findings from a three-year qualitative study of the childcare choices of low-income working families, many of whom were immigrants, had limited English proficiency, were parents of children with special needs, or represented some combination of these factors. The study explored families' current care arrangements, their reasons for selecting a particular form of childcare, and the characteristics of their ideal arrangements. Data were coded to identify themes in parental preferences, decision factors, and the barriers families faced in accessing their preferred care arrangements. Most significantly, the parents studied described their preferences for an environment where their children could learn and be in the presence of caring and trustworthy caregivers. About a third of the families said they preferred relatives as caregivers, and selected relatives to provide childcare. Other parents selected care according to cost, location, and availability of the provider; they described the challenges of locating affordable, high-quality care that met their nonstandard schedules. These findings have important implications for childcare policy.     

The Relations between Infant Negative Reactivity,Non‐maternal Childcare,and Children's Interactions with Familiar and Unfamiliar Peers

The present study examined the influence of children's experiences during non‐maternal childcare on their behavior toward unfamiliar peers. Participants included children classified as negatively reactive at four months of age (N = 52) and children not negatively reactive (N = 61), who were further divided into those who experienced non‐maternal care and those who did not. Children were observed during childcare at 24 months of age and in the laboratory with an unfamiliar peer at 24 and 36 months of age, where their wariness, dysregulation, and social engagement were assessed. Within the negatively reactive childcare group, children's positive interactions with peers during childcare at 24 months predicted lower levels of wariness toward an unfamiliar peer at 36 months. This relation was not significant for children not classified as negatively reactive. The findings suggest that the influence of non‐maternal childcare is dependent on a child's temperament and on the nature of peer interactions during care.     

社区“养老+育幼”照料模式：现实逻辑、融合机制与实现路径

在国家全面二孩政策落地与三孩政策启动以及人口老龄化的社会背景下,照料服务多元化需求催生出社区养老与育幼 服务的新思路。社区服务的现实困境、“养老+育幼”的现实诉求、已有养老与育幼服务的整合实践以及当前社区服务的转型 升级需求成为“养老+育幼”融合照料的现实逻辑。“共建、共治、共享”的治理理念、服务需求的拟合性、服务对象的同质性及服 务资源的可整合性成为“养老+育幼”照料的融合机制。遵循上述逻辑,社区“养老+育幼”照料模式可通过政府主导、制度建 设、社区协同、专业提升及技术支持等途径得以实现。     

继续推动我国农业保险的发展进程

从2007年我国启动政策性农业保险试验至今,农业保险分别在覆盖面、市场运作、供给主体方面取得突破性进展。但在农业保险立法、政府财政支持、农业保险经营机构的管理、逆向选择和道德风险以及巨灾风险管理方面仍存在不足之处。为了让农业保险成为一种有效的风险转移和社会管理机制,推进社会主义新农村建设,今后发展我国农业保险应在完善农业保险立法、加大政府财政支持、建立与社会各方协作机制、降低逆向选择以及道德风险以及改进农业保险巨灾风险分散方法方面做出进一步的努力。     

中国城乡最低生活保障制度：回顾与评析

中国城乡低保制度的发展已经有18年的历史。18年来,城乡低保制度对保护中国的贫弱群体与构建和谐社会发挥了巨大的作用。回顾中国城乡最低生活保障制度的历史演进,对这项制度的优点和缺陷进行评估,就当前城乡低保制度存在的问题提出改进和完善的政策建议。     

跨国双向供应链政府补贴退出策略的路径选择

“一带一路”战略指引了中欧班列开行数量爆发性增长,但规模化和平衡性的目标背后是政府补贴策略。本文刻画中欧班列的跨国双向供应的运作特征,研究了政府补贴策略的退出路径选择问题,对比分析了政府直接补贴、激励补贴与物流平台合作的策略差异性。研究发现,市场化的物流平台合作是政府补贴退出的可能路径选择,其本质是提升了跨国供应链的运作效率。同时,我们发现：追求运量规模化与平衡性的激励目标存在降低供应链效率的隐忧;跨国双向供应链合作成员之间的责任分配,也会影响供应链效率。     

Addiction Problems,Addiction Services,and Social Work in the Republic of Ireland

SUMMARY

The aim of this paper is to review policy and practice in relation to the management of alcohol and drug problems in Ireland, with a specific focus on the role of professional social work. There is a high prevalence of alcohol and drug problems in the caseloads of social workers that work within the statutory childcare and criminal justice services. Professional social work in Ireland is of comparatively recent origin and there are few social workers employed in specialist addiction posts or settings in Ireland. The profession as a whole, moreover, has not actively lobbied for a greater role in specialist services. While formal social policy on addictions has shifted in recent decades towards broad public health strategies, which reflect a pragmatic European perspective, the disease model from the United States of America continues to have popular appeal.     

New Child–Caregiver Attachment Relationships: Entering Childcare When the Caregiver Is and Is Not an Ethnic Match

The goal of the research reported in this article was to examine the process of forming attachment to caregivers in children new to childcare. We examined child and adult behaviors and the adult's perception of the child at entry, and the ethnic/racial match between the child and caregiver as predictors of attachment relationship quality measured six months later. Adult perceptions of the child did not predict attachment security. Children who did not share an ethnic heritage with their caregiver and had conflictual interactions with her at entry or at Time 2 had the lowest attachment security at Time 2. Children who shared an ethnic heritage with their caregivers and either did or did not engage in conflictual interaction and children who did not share an ethnic heritage and had low conflict at entry and at Time 2 were similar in security.     

Peer Contacts of 15-Month-olds in Childcare: Links With Child Temperament, Parent–Child Interaction and Quality of Childcare

Seventy 15‐month‐old children were observed during 90 minutes of free play with their peers in childcare centers. The study aimed to describe individual differences in the children's contacts with peers and to explain the individual differences in relation to: (1) child temperament, (2) the quality of parental behavior toward the child and (3) the quality of the professional childcare environment. Three distinct peer contact factors emerged from our analyses; one reflects children's involvement in peer contacts initiated by peers and two reflect the positive and negative contacts initiated by the target children themselves. Children in groups with more children per caregiver were found to be involved in more contacts initiated by peers. Children with a relatively difficult temperament were less involved in contacts initiated by peers although only in cases of lower quality childcare, as assessed using the infant/toddler environment rating scale. Boys initiated significantly more negative contacts with peers than girls. In addition, more peer‐directed negative initiatives were observed in lower quality childcare.     

The Economic Consequences of Divorce for Women in the European Union: The Impact of Welfare State Arrangements

Increasing divorce rates and growing concerns on welfare dependency urge the question whether welfare state arrangements moderate the negative economic consequences of divorce. In this study, the question is answered by comparing the short-term economic consequences of divorce for women across 14 Member States of the European Union. Using longitudinal data from the 1994–2000 European Community Household Panel survey, I demonstrate that the Member States differ in the extent to which women suffer economically from divorce. Multivariate analyses show that welfare state arrangements temper the economic consequences of divorce for women. Income-related arrangements reduce the economic strains of divorce most, then employment-related arrangements. These welfare state effects cannot be attributed to country differences in the composition of divorced women.