Child Abuse,Neglect, and Dependency Mediation Pilot Project

The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) established a goal of one year from removal to permanence for all children taken into protective custody. When the Family Court of Mecklenburg County (Charlotte), N.C., opened its doors in 1999, more than half of the children in the protective custody of the Department of Social Services had been in custody for 12 months or more. Innovative approaches were needed to provide children in Mecklenburg County with a safe and permanent home in a more timely manner. The Child Abuse, Neglect, and Dependency Mediation Pilot Project was one approach selected by the Mecklenburg County Family Court to help achieve ASFA's goal of one year to permanence. This article details the court's two‐year journey to make dependency mediation a reality.     

'FISHING FARMERS' OR 'FARMING FISHERMEN'? THE QUEST FOR HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY ON THE KENYAN SHORES OF LAKE VICTORIA

The paper considers the relationships between fishing and farmingin providing household income and nutritional security amongLuo communities on the shores of the Kenyan sector of Lae Victoria.In recent years the resources of Lake Victoria have come undersevere pressure due to a variety of economic and ecologicalfactors associated with over-fishing and a significant declinein fish species. Farming has increased in importance as householdsattempt to meet subsistence needs, but plot fragmentation, droughtand low investment have led to poor crop yields. Future developmentstrategies need to enhance the substainability of the resourcesof both lake and land, and possibly build upon traditional managementmethods and institutions.     

What are MPs for?

After the expenses scandal, it is time to ask what Members of Parliament are for. The traditional formal arguments are inadequate as they fail to engage with what MPs actually do. A typology is useful in illuminating the different ways in which MPs see their role: as Lickspittles, Loyalists, Localists, Legislators, Loners and Loose Cannons. Current trends in the performance of these roles can be identified, raising questions about the nature of politics and the vitality of Parliament.     

A NEW EPOCH OF INDIVIDUALIZATION? PROBLEMS WITH THE ‘PERSONALIZATION’ OF PUBLIC SECTOR SERVICES

The paper discusses the role of the concept of ‘personalization’ in New Labour policy on the reform of public sector services. The analysis points to the contradictory ways in which the concept has been used in both policy statements, in the work of various authors, and in the think tank Demos, which has been closely associated with the diffusion of the concept. The correlative uncertainties with respect to implementation are discussed and related to the use of ‘epochal’ forms of argument in the justification of this latest instalment of public sector reform in the United Kingdom.