Sweet dreams are made of this: The need for narrowly tailored statutory protection for documented dreamers

The growing backlog of immigrant visa petitions and legal permanent resident adjustment applications is a harsh reality of the American dream. Dependent children of immigrants can wait decades for their parents' visas to become current, only to age out of dependent status before stepping foot on American soil. Dependent children of nonimmigrants seeking to become legal permanent residents age out before their parents' adjustment application is approved – leaving them at risk of removal. This Note proposes a temporary visa status for these dependents, allowing them to maintain legal status in America and remain with their parents.     

政府购买养老服务的公共政策分析

养老服务供需矛盾推动了养老模式的变革,政府购买养老服务实现了治理理念和服务模式的创新。政府购买养老服务政策要实现预期效果,离不开公共财政的投入、社会各方的支持,需要养老服务市场的培育、非政府组织的发展,也需要老人及其家庭转变养老服务消费观念。     

Psychometric Properties of the Trauma and Post-Trauma Well-Being Assessment Domains of the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale for General and Reunification Services (NCFAS G+R)

Two new domains of the NCFAS-G+R, trauma and post-trauma well-being, were tested for reliability and validity in relation to previous NCFAS-G+R domains. Three family preservation programs provided case level data on 170 in-home service families over six months. Domains were tested for reliability using Cronbach's alpha, factor structure was explored, and convergent validity was examined through correlations of new scale items with domain ratings on the NCFAS-G+R. Assessment ratings were cross tabulated with practice and outcome variables. Reliability of the new domains was established with Cronbach's alphas of .811 and .905, respectively, factor structure was confirmed, new scale items and domains correlated predictably and significantly with other NCFAS domains. Outcome variables were influenced by trauma assessment ratings. Displaying good psychometric properties, the trauma-focused assessment domains hold promise for assisting child welfare practitioners assess trauma symptomology, and post-trauma well-being following services.     

Supports for Families Affected by Substance Abuse

Using an in-home services program model, Project Connect works collaboratively with the child welfare system, substance abuse treatment providers, the courts, and other community agencies to support parental recovery, enhance safety and permanency, and strengthen family relationships. Results from the most recent evaluation of the program, which used a dosage level design to examine project outcomes for 415 families, are presented here. Data indicate that the program was particularly helpful in strengthening parenting capacity. Child safety and permanency were also positively correlated with program participation.     

Normative Stakeholder Theory in Local Public Services in Italy： Ethical Profiles and Effectiveness Management

It is well-known that stakeholder theory plays a unique role among management theories due to its focus on the moral foundations of business. Under this theory, managers should always act in the interests of the stakeholders, and their actions should reflect the liberal notions of autonomy, solidarity and fairness. Normative stakeholder theory is usually linked to philosophical ethics. Whereas some authors see stakeholder theory as applicable to the private sector alone, normative stakeholder theory has found its way into debate on the public administration, because a number of studies affirm that it can contribute to the effectiveness of public organization. On this basis, this work analyses local utilities that are now one of the areas where citizens can better assess government policy in terms of quality of life and the satisfaction of their basic needs by evaluating their ethical behaviour. Thus, it may well be interesting to analyse some of the behaviour patterns of local utility entities to verify the link between ethics and the efficient use of resources that assumes special significance in this context because the two elements have to coincide in order to obtain true fairness. Therefore, using a deductive-inductive methodological approach, the study begins by analysing the different normative concepts of stakeholder theory, to find the possible normative core best suited to this context. In the second part, it examines the ethical behavior of local utility entities to make a comparison with the previous normative stakeholder theory. This study will also be a useful starting point for future empirical research.     

Balancing domestic regulation and trade liberalisation under the GATS: universal access issues in South Africa's telecoms sector

The service sector increasingly has become the cornerstone of a great number of economies in both the developed and developing world. The main barrier to trade in services is the imposition of domestic regulations which are aimed at ensuring the affordability, availability and efficiency of services. Such domestic regulations are important for services and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) consequently recognises the right of countries to regulate in order to achieve these goals. The GATS, however, also seeks to discipline such regulations to ensure that they do not hinder trade in services. This article seeks to assess these seemingly competing interests in the context of South Africa's history and its burgeoning telecommunications sector.     

Carbon markets and the new ‘Carbon Violence’: A Ugandan study

Abstract

This article examines the expansion of the global carbon economy, including a critical evaluation of its local level impacts. The authors describe the growing international support for carbon markets amongst governments, international institutions and financial investors as a response to human-induced climate change. By putting a price on carbon, proponents argue that carbon markets represent a win-win-win scenario; delivering benefits to local landholders where ecosystem services occur, as well as conferring benefits to investors and the environment. Plantation forestry represents a rapidly expanding sector in the broader carbon economy, with plantations representing one of a number of ‘flex crops’ able to be variously sold on the basis of their value as fuel, timber and carbon storage. To examine the impacts of expanding plantation forestry carbon markets, we take the case of Green Resources, reportedly the largest plantation forestry operator on the African continent. Drawing from in-depth research in 2012-2013 with affected communities in Uganda, the article examines the diverse historical and contemporary structural violence on which expansion of plantation forestry allegedly relies. Building upon earlier literature on violence (for example, Galtung [1990] and Watts [2001]), the authors introduce a new term ‘carbon violence’ to frame the distinctive forms of reported violence occurring alongside the burgeoning plantation forestry industry.     

International Sanitation Management and Performance Measurement: Taking Out the Trash

Internationally, sanitation management has been a critical area of contention, especially in recent years with tightening budgets and resource reductions to public services. Our article reviews the management strategies, actions, and developments that have led to sanitation incidents of piling trash and public health concerns. These incidents will be reviewed from a public management perspective underscoring the role of performance measurement and management. The key influences associated with the varying cases are discussed. Both the negative and positive factors of international cases of sanitation management are reviewed.     

Demonstrating Access to Public Services Diagrammatically

The Nomogramma di Gandy is a practical analytical tool and presentational method that can be applied to the subject of access to public services, such as universities, prisons, and hospitals. Illustrative examples are provided. It is flexible, requires minimal data, and can compare access across many geographical areas in one presentation. It addresses the need to appreciate the dynamics that can exist behind summary statistical analyses that focus on net changes, and can show trends over time. Such visual scanning of multiple data points and their relative juxtapositions, enables many common thinking errors to be minimized, if not completely avoided.     

Delivering Community Services in a New World of Volunteering: A Case Study From Sydney,Australia

In a challenging contemporary environment of a mixed economy of welfare, volunteers are a resource much-needed for the delivery of critical community-based services. Yet the context is changing as a result of new state/non-profit sector relationships and increased government intervention. Little is known about how these changes impact on the capacity and commitment of volunteers. This article responds to this gap in understanding through a case study of existing volunteers across community services in Sydney, Australia. Findings highlight the critical importance of supportive management, and particularly coordinators who understand volunteers' escalating needs in the new volunteer world.