Child Protection and Child Welfare draws on the knowledge of child protection experts and social care professionals to provide an authoritative international overview of child protection strategy and policy. Devoting particular attention to the role played by culture in determining child welfare issues and child protection responses, this book illustrates the impact of both long-term influences, such as the legacy of the caste system in India, and more recent global events, such as the development of international trade in Ghana and shrinking budgets in Italy on national approaches to supporting families and children. The international perspective aims to enhance our understanding of the range of possible approaches, encouraging researchers, policymakers and practitioners to think critically about current models, and providing insights for developing practice. This important book will be essential reading for social workers, policy makers, child protection service workers, commissioners and managers across child and family welfare services, as well as researchers and academics in the field.

This title was first published in 2000: This text provides international perspectives on examples of best practice in child welfare and proposes organizational structures and policies to support this practice. Practice innovations span the range of child welfare services, including prevention, protection and out-of-family care. The contributors describe the child welfare context in each of their particular jurisdictions, producing an addition to the literature comparing child welfare in different countries. Moreover, existing books on the subject are primarily descriptive and examine overall child welfare legislation and policy. The work adopts an analytical approach, proposing policies and focusing on the largely unexamined topic of excellence in child welfare practice.

Child abuse policy in the United States contains dangerous contradictions, which have only intensified as the public slowly accepted it as a middle class problem. One contradiction is the rapidly expanding child abuse industry (made up of enterprising psychotherapists and attorneys) which is consuming enormous resources, while thousands of poor children are seriously injured or killed, many while being "protected" by public agencies. This "rediscovery" has also led to the frenzied pursuit of offenders, resulting in the sacrifice of some innocent people. Moreover, the media's focus on the sensational details of high-visibility sexual abuse cases has helped to trivialize, if not commercialize, the child abuse problem. As such, child abuse has gone from a social problem to a social spectacle. By the 1980s the child welfare system had become a virtual "nonsystem," marked by a staggering turnover of staff, unmanageable caseloads, a severe shortage of funding, and caseloads composed of highly dysfunctional families (many with drug-related problems). To make room for these families, public agencies rationed services by increasingly screening-out child abuse reports which contained little likelihood of serious bodily harm. In The Politics of Child Abuse in America, the authors argue that child abuse must be viewed as a public safety problem. This redefinition would make it congruent with other family-based social trends, including the crackdown on domestic violence. Children must have the same legal protection currently extended to physically and sexually abused women. This can be done by creating a "Children's Authority," which would have the overall charge for protecting children. Specifically, Children's Authorities would have the responsibility for providing the six main functions of child protection: investigation, enforcement, placement services, prevention and education, family support, and research and development. Offering a unique perspective on the cold reality of this crisis, The Politics of Child Abuse in America will be a provocative work for social workers and human service personnel, as well as the general reader concerned with this timely issue.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Understanding and Supporting 'Families with Complex Needs'" that was published in Social Sciences

Social Work and Minorities examines the new challenges presented to Social Workers throughout Europe by the complex problems occasioned by increased migration and settlement and the growing awareness of the specific needs of refugees and asylum seekers. Contributors use illustrative examples from throughout Europe to examine key concepts such as: globalization, assimilation, visibility, multi-culturalism, racism, marginalization and social exclusion. Social Work and Minorities will be an essential resource for social work students, practitioners and educators working with migrant communities throughout Europe.