The legislature and agenda politics of social welfare: a comparative analysis of authoritarian and democratic regimes in South Korea

The article mainly seeks to explain the legislature’s preferences in social welfare before and after democratization using South Korea as a case study. Based on an original dataset that consists of all executive and of legislative branch-submitted bills between 1948 and 2016 – roughly 60,000– legislative priority on social welfare is compared over time, and tested using logistic regressions. The key focus of analysis is whether and how the level of democracy affected the degree and universality of social welfare priority. The findings show that the promotion of social welfare is positively related to higher levels of democracy in a continuous fashion, which clearly points to the need to avoid applying a simple regime dichotomy – authoritarian or democratic – when seeking to understand social welfare development. Going further, the article examines the legislature's priority in welfare issues within a presidential structure and under majoritarian electoral rule, at different levels of democracy. The result shows that the higher levels of democracy are, the more the legislative branch contributes to the overall salience of social welfare legislative initiatives as compared to the executive branch. Moreover, the legislative branch itself prioritizes a social welfare agenda – alongside democratic deepening – over other issues.     

Screening for Substance Use Disorders as a Supplement to Caseworker Assessment Among Foster Care–Involved Families

Parental substance abuse is a major factor in families experiencing foster care placement, yet little is known about the potential of screening in determining risk or identifying subpopulations for which elevated risk occurs. One Midwestern state recently implemented screening. This research uses information gathered as part of the screen's implementation to conduct a latent class analysis. The research was extended to provide a detailed examination of differences in child and family characteristics across classes, and to compare the screen results with caseworker impressions. Three distinct typologies emerged, with the high-risk and moderate-risk designations comprising only one quarter of the cases.     

Navigating the System: A How-To Guide for Implementing a Kinship Navigator Program

This article describes key programmatic and evaluation elements that guided the implementation of the San Diego County YMCA Kinship Navigator Program. A 3-year demonstration project funded by the Administration on Children Youth and Families designed to build a regional navigator system in collaboration with the local child welfare agency to support kinship caregivers. Kinship caregivers (relatives and non-relatives) play a significant role in the well-being of the children in their care. The findings suggest that successfully implemented kinship navigator models are a viable preventive intervention for addressing the needs of kinship families.     

Using Cost Analysis to Examine Variability in Replications of an Efficacious Child Neglect Prevention Program

This article reports on a program- and case-level cost analysis of five replication sites of an efficacious child neglect prevention program. Approximately one-third of all sites' total labor hours were expended on direct family services and casework support for a specific family, with the remainder spent on indirect implementation support and program administration activities. Including non-personnel costs, the all-site mean total cost per family was $6,276, ranging across sites from $2,245 to $10,260. Costs varied greatly among individual families within sites. More research is needed to understand factors associated with differences in cost.     

Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships in State Child Welfare Systems: Results of a Multi-State Strategic Planning Process

Dramatic growth in health and human service contracting over the past two decades has increased the need for managerial competency in the development and sustainment of effective cross-sector partnerships. Although the quality of relations between partnering agencies can affect client outcomes, few macro-level interventions for strengthening cross-sector partnerships have been described or tested in the literature. This article describes a facilitated, strategic planning process implemented in five different states and presents pre-post test results of its effect on different factors known to affect partnership success. Implications for child welfare administrative practice and research are discussed.     

欧洲主权债务危机分析

继美国在2007-2009年处于世界经济震荡中心之后,自2009年9月开始,欧洲多国相继爆发主权债务危机,危及欧元区乃至欧盟的发展和存在,并且祸延世界.危机最主要的成因是福利过度化、产业空心化和欧元区在结构上的缺陷——财政政策和货币政策不匹配.应对危机的举措,一是以受援国实行财政紧缩为条件,提供援助贷款;二是在欧元区内缔结政府间条约,建设财政联盟,实行统一的财政政策的解决危机方案.2013年第2季度终于迎来了欧元区走出了历史上最长衰退期的消息.     

劳动刑法:理念转变与立法完善

从劳动法治意义上说,劳动刑法是法律理念与法律制度融合的产物。在劳动法治之下,劳动刑法的基本理念应实现从法治国家理念到福利国家理念、从形式法治理念到实质法治理念、从国家优位理念到社会优位理念、从强式公平理念到弱势公平理念的根本转变。以这些更新的理念为根基,劳动刑法立法随之而来也应该发生一些基本变化,即理性定位工会在刑法中的合法地位;协调刑法与劳动法律之间的冲突以及理顺不同劳动犯罪之间的罪责矛盾。     

ARE WE REALLY LOOKING OUT FOR THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD? APPLYING THE NEW ZEALAND MODEL OF FAMILY GROUP CONFERENCES TO CASES OF CHILD NEGLECT IN THE UNITED STATES

This Note advocates for state laws to be amended to implement family group conferencing (FGC) as the first step in cases of alleged child neglect. FGC was developed in New Zealand nearly twenty years ago and have since become a realistic method of balancing the best interests of the children, families, agencies, courts, and communities involved in the child welfare system. A FGC is a meeting among family members and professionals that is conducted in order to develop a plan for a child who is the victim of neglect. FGC places the family at the center of the welfare proceedings and empowers them to reach a solution without having to resort to the often lengthy and expensive adversarial court system. If FGC is incorporated into the child welfare systems throughout the United States, communication between the parents, social services, and the courts could increase, helping families adequately address the problem of neglect and getting the children out of the child welfare system quickly and more efficiently.     

论检察机关提起民事公益诉讼制度的构建

目前我国的法律没有规定检察机关可以进行民事公益诉讼,随着法治进程的不断深入,公益纠纷的不断出现,急需通过法律设定代表公共利益的法律主体并赋予其相应的诉权。在此背景之下,确立检察机关作为国家利益和社会公共利益的原属主体资格,建立检察机关提起民事公益诉讼制度,已是当务之急。     

公物概念及其在我国的适用——兼析《物权法草案(征求意见稿)》相关条款

公物是行政主体所直接管理的、用于维护与促进社会公共利益的财物,它包括公用物与共用物,前者是直接供诸行政机关及其工作人员执行公务时使用的物品,后者是直接供诸社会民众生活或生产时使用的物品。公物虽然由国家及地方政府、公共团体管理,但是其相关权利属于公法上的权利,与国家对于国有企业的权利殊为不同。我国现有《物权法草案(征求意见稿)》在一定程度上混淆了公物上所有权的法律性质。