Child Protection Law as an Independent Variable

Child protection professionals work in a multidisciplinary system in which the law and the family court play central roles and which collects an increasing amount of data. Yet we know little about what impact the law has on whether a child is removed by child protective services, is deemed neglected by a family court, or reunifies with a parent. Do state‐to‐state variations in child protection laws, or changes by individual states to their laws, lead to different outcomes for children and families? The dramatic variations in child welfare practice from one state to another suggest that legal variations do matter. Yet empirical research on these questions is scarce both because we collect too little data to measure all such issues, and, because we have failed to study the data we do have. This article is a plea for researchers to rectify that problem and for policymakers to improve data collection. Doing so would facilitate a more clear understanding of the law's effect on child protection outcomes and aid policymakers and advocates in identifying both promising and problematic practices and legal reforms.     

The Nature and Determinants of Child Representation Practice in Child Welfare Cases

The representation of children in dependency cases is an emerging legal specialty. Although scholars have attempted to articulate the duties that should characterize best practices, there has been little, if any, research concerning what child representatives actually do in practice. Using a sample of 168 child representatives in Georgia and Washington State, this study examines the relative significance of various case‐related activities and how these vary as a function of case‐ and attorney‐level characteristics. Based on the findings, we conclude that attorney activities are influenced by a combination of case and attorney characteristics, suggesting several distinct avenues for improving legal representation for children in dependency cases.     

试论我国残疾人综合福利改革

残疾人作为弱势群体,面临着社会排斥。为了帮助残疾人战胜各种社会排斥,必须从各方面保障我国残疾人生活综合福利,其途径包括:转变观念,认清残疾人的社会价值;完善法律,维护残疾人的合法权益;健全机制,提高残疾人的综合福利;加大投入,放开残疾人的福利事业等。     

浅析国外有关社会和谐的理论

国外在理解社会团结、社会整合、社会公正、社会福利等与社会和谐的关系上产生出诸多重要理论,它们与社会和谐之间存在着坚实的内在逻辑关系：社会团结既是一种社会结构状态,也是一种社会和谐状态;社会整合是社会和谐的实现过程和方式;社会公正是实现社会和谐的理念保证;社会福利是实现和谐社会的一个重要方式和政策手段。国外的这些理论与政策实践,对中国构建和谐社会具有重要的借鉴意义。     

论公共文化的基本特性

公共文化是包括公共文化设施、文化场所、文化活动在内的概念,具有文化性、公益性、社会性、民族性和地域性。准确把握公共文化的基本特性,对于卓有成效地开展城市公共文化建设,促进经济社会发展,具有十分重要的意义。     

Welfare Performance in Southern Europe: Employment Crisis and Poverty Risk

The Great Recession has had a deep impact on employment levels and on income inequality in the Southern European countries (Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy). It has given rise to a new stage in the discussion on the distinctiveness of a possible ‘Mediterranean’ variant of welfare capitalism. This paper analyses the performance of the Mediterranean cluster during the Great Recession period in its two main dimensions, labour market participation and poverty risk, and to what extent that performance has evolved in a divergent or convergent manner. Firstly, it portrays the main changes in this variant of welfare capitalism during the last two decades. The second and third sections, respectively, provide a comparative profile of the employment crisis suffered by these countries and of its impact on poverty risks. Finally, the main institutional traits are discussed, explaining the relative performance of welfare capitalism in this cluster of countries.     

日本生活保护制度的经验、困境及对我国的启示

日本生活保护制度遵循无差别平等原则,强调社会福利专业化、规范化,以实现帮助救助者自力更生为目的。中国在最低生活保障制度方面应借鉴日本经验,加强系统性、规范化、法制化管理。     

清末天津县地方自治的社会学考察

天津县自治机构与近代行政体制有十分重要的关系,它不仅成为天津县行政机关链条上的重要一环,而且兼具调节司法的功能。从天津县议事会通过的议案看,天津县自治机关不仅关注公款公产的调查,而且干预经济政策的制定。同时,在天津城市建设等地方公益活动中发挥了极大的作用。     

New York State of Mind: Parental Incarceration and Children's Visitation in New York State

The incarceration of a parent has a variety of negative effects on a child's psychological, academic, and developmental success. Children can end up in foster care as a result of the state terminating parental rights due to the parent's incarceration. Despite imprisonment of their parent(s), maintenance of visitation with the parent(s) is still important for their children. However, not all prisons have visitation programs that are suitable to visiting children. This Note proposes a model state statute that will recognize the importance of visitation, implement “child friendly” visitation programs, facilitate training for prison staff, and provide transportation for children in major cities to the prison facilities.     

Let's have more Russian babies. How anti-immigrant sentiment shapes family leave policy in Russia

This paper builds on scholarship of welfare chauvinism in Europe to present evidence of the relationship between xenophobia and family leave policies in contemporary Russia. I argue that popular anti-immigrant moods pressure government into providing more generous family benefits to Russian families while proposing restrictions to migrants. Findings are based on elite interviews, as well as content analysis of mass media, policy documents, public speeches, and party manifestos. I show that xenophobia is widespread in Russia among the public and policymakers alike, and find that xenophobia is embraced by policymakers to guide decisions regarding the allocation of social benefits.