THE FOSTER CARE OMBUDSMAN: APPLYING AN INTERNATIONAL CONCEPT TO HELP PREVENT INSTITUTIONAL ABUSE OF AMERICA'S FOSTER YOUTH

Children today are often abused while in foster care, undermining the theoretical goal of the modern foster care system: to create a temporary, safe, homelike setting to protect and nurture children who are unable to live with their biological parents due to various reasons such as abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Often this abuse is worse than the type for which they were removed from their parents’ care in the first place. First examining the reasons why this complex problem exists, this Note recommends an internationally based, innovative concept as a partial solution: the foster care ombudsman. This Note explains the concept of an ombudsman and demonstrates how it can be particularly helpful to foster children, highlighting existing child welfare ombudsman offices in California, Rhode Island, and New Jersey, as well as international approaches. It also illustrates how a foster care ombudsman can complement class action litigation of foster care abuse claims.     

浅谈我国行政问责的对象

2008年,伴随着一系列重大公共安全事故的发生,风暴般的行政问责再次进入人们的视线,公众一方面因雷厉风行的行政问责而欣慰,同时开始质疑：被问责的领导人是否真正做到了职责相当？问责程序不公开是否存在暗箱操作？为此,正在进行制度化建设的行政问责,必须在明确问责对象的基础上,确立清晰的职责权限范围,完善问责对象的责任认定与追究。     

Public Service Neutrality in Hong Kong: Problems and Prospects

Before 2002, Hong Kong's higher civil servants were required to play the dual role of quasi-ministers and civil servants. In such a context, can we make sense of the claim that Hong Kong's civil service has all along been politically neutral? What role has neutrality played in the governance of Hong Kong? Informed by Kernaghan's model of political neutrality and Oakeshott's idea of civil association, this article argues that the public service should not be regarded solely as an effective instrument of the government in power. In conclusion, this article proposes some institutional measures to strengthen the neutrality of the public service in Hong Kong and argues that properly understanding this will help prevent excessive or illegitimate partisan political power.     

行政问责制度刍议

行政问责制就是一种特定的问责主体针对各级政府及其公务员承担的职责和义务的履行情况,要求其承担否定性后果的一种责任追究制度。其功能在于防止和阻止行政人员“滥用或误用公共权力”。行政问责制在中国已经初步建立并运行,但依然存在问责主体单一、职责不清、问责程序不明确及公开透明度不高等问题。在未来制度建设与完善方面,要完善行政问责制,就要从严格职责划分、问责的主体多元化和规范问责程序及推行“阳光问责”制度这些方面作出努力。     

中国官员问责发展实证研究

本文根据我国官员问责实践过程中所发生的问责事件,采用定量分析方法,以2003—2006年四年间《人民日报》和《中国青年报》中所报道的73个官员问责事件和212个问责对象为样本,在统计分析的基础上总结我国官员问责的一般特点,即问责属性主要是行政问责、问责一直保持较强的力度、处理措施总体上保持较严厉的状态,官员问责事件中81%的发起者和99%的启动者是上级党政部门。认为我国官员问责中存在内容单一、原因单一、处理形式起伏较大、问责的时间周期较长等问题,并提出了我国官员问责制度构建中的若干思考和建议。     

An Examination of Oversight and Review in the Child Welfare System

Abstract

Child welfare agencies are accountable to the community not only because they spend public dollars, but also, most critically, because they are charged with protecting vulnerable children. Over the past three decades multiple oversight processes have been initiated as part of an effort to improve accountability in public child welfare. In agencies around the country an array of advocates and monitors regularly review the performance of individual caseworkers. While caseloads grow in number and complexity the ranks of the workforce have not kept pace. The result is too many people watching too few workers serve too many vulnerable children and families.

This paper examines the cumulative effect of five groups of “watchers” that oversee child welfare services. It suggests that every group of watchers should be able to demonstrate that their activities contribute directly to the achievement of system goals.     

Achieving and Managing Equality in the Criminal Justice Process: Do the New Equality Measures Go Far Enough?

Abstract: This article will explore some of the legal and organisational challenges facing the various agencies involved in the delivery of criminal justice, in the UK, in adhering to the Equality Act 2006, Equality Duties and the forthcoming Single Equality Act (which, proposes a Single Equality Duty). We will consider the impact of these changes with reference to European legislation. Of particular interest will be the themes of effective implementation of the current Duties, equality of access and equality of outcome for both victims and offenders to appropriate services to tackle offending behaviour and the prevention of crime. This article will highlight issues surrounding impact assessment and the role of agency discretion and regulation. We offer some comments on future directions and the role of the regulatory bodies including the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).     

The Balanced Approach [Revisited]

The authors of the original Balanced Approach, Dennis Maloney, Dennis Romig, and Troy Armstrong, outlined a philosophy of balanced attention to the principles of community protection/public safety, youth accountability, and competency development through individualized assessment and treatment and holding the system accountable to the community and the youth served. A majority of states’ juvenile code purpose clauses reflect this approach, later known as Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ). Presented here are excerpts from the 1988 Juvenile & Family Court Journal issue 39 (3) that first presented the Balanced Approach and a brief overview of key features of juvenile justice at the time to lay a foundation for the other articles in this special issue.     

政治与行政两分理论的跨文化对话

政治与行政二分法是西方国家行政学中一个有经久影响力和讨论价值的理论,被专家们认为是行政管理实践的核心要点。本文运用这一理论的基本原理来考察中国的国家管理实践,揭示其分析价值,沟通东西方管理思想的对话。笔者提出,如果理解正确、运用恰当,西方政治与行政两分的讨论可以为中国进一步的行政和公共政策改革提供十分有益的视角和思路,即：注重政治与行政的专业化分工、加强独立问责、以民主政治和精细化管理的精神改革中国的政治决策程序和提高政府机关的行政能力,综合提高现代国家治理能力。     

Controlling the Police in Buenos Aires: A Case Study of Horizontal and Social Accountability

The article analyses the interaction between various forms of accountability on the basis of a case study of responses to the Federal Police of Argentina's practice of framing innocent victims. The failure of classic agencies of balance to establish accountability was compensated in this case by the creation of an ad hoc agency of oversight, an investigative commission established by the Attorney General, that interacted with social agents of accountability. The analysis points to the ambivalent role of the media in both supporting and exposing illegal police practices and shows that the cooperation between the commission and social actors was crucial to its success.