The importance of discretion for welfare services to minorities: Examining workload and anti-immigration attitudes

Migration influx in Western countries resulting in increasingly diverse societies results in more complex situations for bureaucrats in their client interactions in welfare organizations. The role of discretion for services to clients has received much attention in the public administration research and therefore this study explores the relation among perceived workload, anti-immigration attitudes, perceived discretion, and perceived difficulty in working with migrants. The paper examines the function of perceived discretion as moderator or mediator variable in this constellation. The relations are examined by using structural equation modelling based on a survey among Swedish welfare bureaucrats (N = 1,319). The results show that heavier perceived workload increased the likelihood of experiencing work with migrants as difficult and that greater perceived discretion decreased the likelihood of experiencing work with migrants as difficult. The results suggest that perceived discretion functions as a mediator for the relation between perceived workload and difficulty in work with migrants: potentially functioning as a ‘buffer’ for organizational pressure. We also found that bureaucrats who hold negative attitudes towards migrants were more likely to express their work with migrants as more difficult. This paper contributes to the public administration literature by increasing our knowledge on how discretion has significance in relation to when bureaucrat's behaviour is determined by specific organizational and personal factors.     

城市反贫困:政策比较与中国关怀

随着农村贫困人口的空间转换,城市未来将成为贫困问题凸显的集中地,为完成城市减贫目标,必须回到城市反贫困的政策之中。当前中国在城市反贫困政策上存在定位偏差、目标偏差和执行偏差的情况,救助政策侧重于消极保护,救助对象范围较小,政策之间难以衔接。为解决这些问题,须结合国外发达国家和发展中国家反贫困实践的经验,从定位转型、目标扩展和政策衔接三个方面入手,建设以积极支持为主要内容、以城市居民和新贫困群体为主要对象、"网式"服务的反贫困政策体系。     

中国儿童社会福利需求探析

从某种意义上讲,我国目前儿童福利在政策、机制、社会意识等方面的需求已经超过了单纯物质上的需要,成为制约儿童福利发展的重要因素.构建现代中国儿童社会福利整体框架要从有中国特色的儿童福利理论建设、政策法规制定、专业队伍训练、发展社会性服务团体等多方面着手,将儿童社会福利纳入社会发展建设的总体布局中.     

Making Child Protection Policy: The Crime and Misconduct Commission Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Foster Care in Queensland

Internationally as well as in Australia, public inquiries have become one of the dominant means of scrutinising child protection services. As such, inquiries have become a policy mechanism for defining the problem of child abuse, and developing possible solutions. This article examines the 2004 Crime and Misconduct Commission Inquiry into the Abuse of Children in Foster Care in Queensland. It discusses both the problems and potential of public inquiries in promoting positive change in a contested policy field like child protection.     

论我国非物质文化遗产的立法保护

非物质文化遗产是世界遗产的重要组成部分,立法保护非物质文化遗产具有重要的意义。深入分析非物质文化遗产保护法律关系的客体、非物质文化遗产的立法保护模式及非物质文化遗产保护的司法救济制度,将有助于我国非物质文化遗产保护法的制定。     

布迪厄的"场域-惯习"理论在社会福利研究中的运用

布迪厄的“场域-惯习”理论在社会福利研究中具有重要的方法论意义。福利场域不仅是现代社会中一个相对独立的子场域,而且具有独特的惯习,即福利惯习,全面理解福利场域与福利惯习之间的辩证关系对于我国的社会福利制度建设实践具有重要的指导意义。     

A CASE FOR REFORM OF THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

There are more than half a million children in our nation's foster care system. While foster care is intended to provide a temporary safe harbor for abused and neglected children, too many of these youth spend years in foster care limbo—experiencing a turbulent life in motion as they move from placement to placement, community to community, and school to school. Youth in foster care commonly fail to receive basic health and psychological care, and nearly 20,000 youth age out of foster care every year to an adult path of homelessness, unemployment, and despair. Our entire community must work together to more responsibly parent these youth. This article will address how lawyers and child advocates can advocate for new approaches and enhanced support on behalf of the voiceless and most vulnerable members of our community. It will address existing hurdles and systemic challenges that have helped to create the current disheartening status quo. The article will then discuss strategies that advocates can employ to turn the corner on behalf of these youth at risk.     

斯堪的纳维亚模式终结了吗？——论北欧国家的福利改革

福利社会的斯堪的纳维亚模式在许多年来被看成是"蒂特马斯典范"①,即对社会政策制度化再分配模式实施的范例.然而,最近的改革趋势对这一假设提出了挑战.除了诸如削减开支之类的规则变化外,其他的变化尽管很多,如1990年代制度设置和福利国家目标的改变等;尽管和十几年甚至二十多年前比,斯堪的纳维亚福利国家的特征弱化了,且该模式正在趋于欧洲化,但其主要变化仍只是对现有模式的局部修正,而不是完全趋同于欧洲社会模式,因而并不意味着这一福利模式的终结,它仍然还是独树一帜的.一些新因素的出现仅仅是欧盟内部福利模式发挥着作用的表征.     

LESSONS LEARNED FROM A CHILD PROTECTION MEDIATION PROGRAM: If At First You Succeed and Then You Don't…

This article discusses the U.A.L.R. child protection mediation program as well as several other child protection mediation programs in order to examine what makes a program a continuing success. Child protection mediation programs have gone through a period of tremendous progress and growth over the past 20 years in the United States and Canada. Numerous studies have shown that child protection mediation helps families and courts by lowering the amount of time that children spend in foster care and the amount of costs for courts and agencies. Child protection mediation is an essential tool for juvenile courts and the families that have cases there. This article addresses the development of child protection mediation programs, their importance to juvenile courts, and some reasons that these programs succeed or fail. Although many of these programs have early accomplishments, they have not always been able to maintain their growth or to continue to exist. The U.A.L.R. Mediation Project has not sustained its early levels of cases or referrals from court for numerous reasons. Using the techniques of other thriving programs, we will attempt to restart and re-energize the program. It has been established that the people who have a role in the establishment of a program, the funding sources and especially the commitment of the parties to the program all have a significant long-term impact. This article points out how programs should begin and proceed if they are to be a long-term success.     

公共利益：一个需要界定的行政法原则

公共利益,作为一个行政法的基本原则,其特定的法律内涵有两个方面的层次,一个是相对于个体利而言所具有的内容,即机会均等、公平竞争、资源共享和社会福利;另一个是功能性内容,即通过行政管理调节利的再分配。与此相应,公共利益应当具有以例举式与概括式相结合为特点的法律形式和通过一定条件下的“博弈”程获得实现的方式。