People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia

People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia PDF Author: Leslie T. Foster
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774840978
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia traces the evolution of policies and programs intended to protect children in BC from neglect and abuse. Analyzing this evolution reveals that child protection policy and practice has reflected the priorities of politicians and public servants in power. With few exceptions, efforts to establish effective programs have focused on structural arrangements, staffing responsibilities, and rules to regulate the practice of child welfare workers. Contributors to this book conclude that these attempts have been unsuccessful thus far because they have failed to address the impact of poverty on clients. The need to respect the cultural traditions and values of First Nations clients has also been ignored. Effective services require recognizing and remedying poverty's impact, establishing community control over services, and developing a radically different approach to the day-to-day practice of child welfare workers. People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia provides a crucial assessment of the state of child welfare in the province. Practitioners, scholars, and students in social work, child and youth care, education, and other human-service professions will find this book particularly important.

People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia

People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia PDF Author: Leslie T. Foster
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774840978
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book

Book Description
People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia traces the evolution of policies and programs intended to protect children in BC from neglect and abuse. Analyzing this evolution reveals that child protection policy and practice has reflected the priorities of politicians and public servants in power. With few exceptions, efforts to establish effective programs have focused on structural arrangements, staffing responsibilities, and rules to regulate the practice of child welfare workers. Contributors to this book conclude that these attempts have been unsuccessful thus far because they have failed to address the impact of poverty on clients. The need to respect the cultural traditions and values of First Nations clients has also been ignored. Effective services require recognizing and remedying poverty's impact, establishing community control over services, and developing a radically different approach to the day-to-day practice of child welfare workers. People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia provides a crucial assessment of the state of child welfare in the province. Practitioners, scholars, and students in social work, child and youth care, education, and other human-service professions will find this book particularly important.

Children, Young People and Care

Children, Young People and Care PDF Author: John Horton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317416082
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
The very notions of childhood and youth are intimately connected to contemporary norms, practices and spaces of care, caring and care-giving. The provision of care is widely figured as both the primary responsibility of parents, carers and practitioners who work with children and young people, and the primary factor in shaping children and young people’s development, education, socialisation, wellbeing and contentment. However, children and young people themselves are rarely figured as key actors in the provision of care. An overwhelming presumption that children and young people are to be cared for has effectively marginalised their agency and responsibilities as carers, or in relation to practices and spaces of care. Bringing together a significant array of multidisciplinary work on children, young people and families, this collection draws together new research on the diverse lives and experiences of children and young people as carers, as cared for, and in relation to spaces and institutions of care. It is the first collection specifically devoted to the subject of care in relation to childhood and youth. As such, the book will be a key resource for academics, practitioners and students seeking leading-edge empirical and conceptual material on this topic.

Big Promises, Small Government

Big Promises, Small Government PDF Author: George M. Abbott
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774864893
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
When Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government won a massive majority in British Columbia in 2001, the premier immediately fulfilled his pledge to cut personal income taxes. Big Promises, Small Government reveals the consequences of dramatic tax policy changes on social programs. Campbell expected lower taxes to spur investment and growth. Instead, cutting taxes, while exempting health and education, left smaller ministries scrambling to absorb the cuts to maintain a balanced budget, with disastrous effects. This insider recounting of the real-world genesis, implementation, and consequences of a tax policy offers vital lessons to future governments and insight into the role of taxes in society.

Fostering Nation?

Fostering Nation? PDF Author: Veronica Strong-Boag
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 1554583195
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Fostering Nation? Canada Confronts Its History of Childhood Disadvantage explores the missteps and the promise of a century and more of child protection efforts by Canadians and their governments. It is the first volume to offer a comprehensive history of what life has meant for North America’s most disadvantaged Aboriginal and newcomer girls and boys. Gender, class, race, and (dis)ability are always important factors that bear on youngsters’ access to resources. State fostering initiatives occur as part of a broad continuum of arrangements, from social assistance for original families to kin care and institutions. Birth and foster parents of disadvantaged youngsters are rarely in full control. Children most distant from the mainstream ideals of their day suffer, and that suffering is likely to continue into their own experience of parenthood. That trajectory is never inevitable, however. Both resilience and resistance have shaped Canadians’ engagement with foster children in a society dominated by capitalist, colonial, and patriarchal power. Fostering Nation? breaks much new ground for those interested in social welfare, history, and the family. It offers the first comprehensive perspective on Canada’s provision for marginalized youngsters from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. Its examination of kin care, institutions, state policies, birth parents, foster parents, and foster youngsters provides ample reminder that children’s welfare cannot be divorced from that of their parents and communities, and reinforces what it means when women bear disproportionate responsibility for caregiving.

At Risk

At Risk PDF Author: Karen Swift
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442697296
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 594

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Book Description
In At Risk, Karen J. Swift and Marilyn Callahan examine risk and risk assessment in the context of professional practice in child protection, social work, and other human services. They argue that the tools, technologies, and practices used to measure risk to the individual have gone unquestioned and unstudied and that current methods of risk assessment may be distorting the principles of social justice. Central to this study is an examination of the everyday experiences of workers and parents engaged in risk assessment processes in Canadian child welfare investigations. Going beyond theory, Swift and Callahan highlight how risk evaluations play out in actual interactions with vulnerable people. Pointing out that standardized risk assessment tools do not take factors such as class, race, gender, and culture into account, At Risk raises important questions about the viability of risk management plans that are not tailored to individual situations.

Child Welfare

Child Welfare PDF Author: Kathleen Kufeldt
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 1554583497
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 696

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Book Description
Children who receive child welfare services are a vulnerable group, and their numbers are growing. All who care about them need to be fully informed about current outcomes, indicators of success and failure, and best practices. This second edition of Child Welfare: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice has a special focus on Canadian child welfare and contains entirely new material on these important themes. The book highlights major developments in child welfare and shows how these inform directions taken in research, policy, and practice. The book includes new sections on Indigenous issues and best practices, and several of its chapters review efforts to increase supports for families in need. Contributions from new and international authors illustrate the endemic nature of child welfare challenges and how we can learn from these experiences. Contributors provide recommendations for promoting best practice and enhancing resilience among children and families. Closing chapters within each section and at the end of the book summarize key theoretical and practice issues along with recommendations to improve the research, policy, and practice continuum in child welfare. The challenge is to translate good research into policy and practice in ways that enhance the life chances of children who need our care and protection.

Sociology of Home

Sociology of Home PDF Author: Gillian Anderson
Publisher: Canadian Scholars
ISBN: 1551309394
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
This collection explores sociological analyses of home in Canada, drawing upon studies of family, urban and rural communities, migration and immigration, and other areas to discuss the idea of “home.” This volume, organized across three parts, moves from the micro-level of personal homemaking, to the meso-level of neighbourhood community, to the macro-level of political ecology. The contributors, both new and established scholars, draw upon a plurality of standpoints, including gendered, class-based, racialized, and Indigenous voices. It is the first Canadian collection of readings on the sociology of home.

Canadian Social Policy

Canadian Social Policy PDF Author: Anne Westhues
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 1554581435
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
The objective of this new edition is the same as that of previous editions: to help students understand social policy from a Canadian perspective, and to stir them to discussion and debate. Part One provides a general overview of social policy and Part Two discusses the policy-making processes, from the international factors that influence them to the ways in which a social worker can become part of this process. Part Three focuses on current social policy issues, and Part Four offers a look to the future. Each chapter of this best-selling book has been thoroughly updated for this new edition with regard to current policy, debated issues, and resources cited. Three new chapters have been added, including an overview of adult mental health policy and a critical look at risk assessment in child welfare. There is also a discussion of current challenges to the Charter of Rights and Canadians increasing use of the justice system to shape social policy. As a result, the reader gains an informed perspective of policy development and evaluation. Although designed primarily for use by social workers, the book will benefit anyone who is involved in the policy-making process.

Canadian Social Policy, Fifth Edition

Canadian Social Policy, Fifth Edition PDF Author: Anne Westhues
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 1554584108
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 699

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Book Description
Social policy shapes the daily lives of every Canadian citizen and should reflect the beliefs of a majority of Canadians on just approaches to the promotion of health, safety, and well-being. Too often, those on the front lines—social workers, nurses, and teachers—observe that policies do not work well for the most vulnerable groups in society. In the first part of this new edition of Canadian Social Policy, Westhues and Wharf argue that service deliverers have discretion in how policies are implemented, and the exercise of this discretion is how citizens experience policy—whether or not it is fair and reasonable. They show the reader how social policy is made and they encourage active citizenship to produce policies that are more socially just. New material includes an examination of the reproduction of systemic racism through the implementation of human rights policy and a comparative analysis of the policy-making process in Quebec and English Canada. The second part of the book discusses policy issues currently under debate in Canada. Included are new chapters that explore parental leave policies and housing as a determinant of health. All chapters contain newly updated statistical data and research and policy analysis. A reworked section on the process of policy-making and the addition of questions for critical reflection enhance the suitability of the book as a core resource in social policy courses. The final chapter explores how front-line workers in the human services can advocate for change in organizational policies that will benefit the people supported.

House Rules

House Rules PDF Author: Erez Aloni
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774867426
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
The paradigm of family has shifted rapidly and dramatically, from nuclear unit to diverse constellations of intimacy. At the same time, some norms resist change, such as women’s continuing role as primary care providers despite their increased uptake of paid work. This tension between transformation and stasis in family arrangements has an impact on economic, emotional, and legal aspects of daily life. House Rules critically explores the intertwining of norms and laws that govern familial relationships. This incisive collection provides tools to analyze those difficulties and, ultimately, to design laws to better respond to ongoing change and avoid entrenching inequalities.