This important sequel to Nordic Social Policy (Routledge 1999) compares welfare state development over the last twenty years in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden with that of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and other Western European countries. Topics covered include:
* income distribution, health inequalities and gender equality
* gender policies, health and social care services and policy reaction to family changes
* social security and employment policies
* financing of welfare states.
In the context of globalisation, ageing populations, changing employment patterns and rising inequalities, Nordic Welfare States in the European Context offers an empirical analysis of welfare adaptations and a lively discussion of the historical development of European social policy. It finds a greater ambiguity regarding variation and trends than is commonly suggested. Contrary to expectation, there is little evidence of the Europeanisation of Nordic welfare states, rather the reverse. The comparable and empirical data used in this study make it a unique contribution to understanding current trends in European social policy.

This important sequel to Nordic Social Policy (Routledge 1999) compares welfare state development over the last twenty years in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden with that of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and other Western European countries. Topics covered include:
* income distribution, health inequalities and gender equality
* gender policies, health and social care services and policy reaction to family changes
* social security and employment policies
* financing of welfare states.
In the context of globalisation, ageing populations, changing employment patterns and rising inequalities, Nordic Welfare States in the European Context offers an empirical analysis of welfare adaptations and a lively discussion of the historical development of European social policy. It finds a greater ambiguity regarding variation and trends than is commonly suggested. Contrary to expectation, there is little evidence of the Europeanisation of Nordic welfare states, rather the reverse. The comparable and empirical data used in this study make it a unique contribution to understanding current trends in European social policy.

Family foster care is supposed to provide temporary protection and nurturing for children experiencing maltreatment. Although it has long been a critical service for millions of children in the United States, the increased attention given to this service in the last two decades has focused more on its inability to achieve its intended outcomes than on its successes. However, as social and political trends and new legislation reshape child welfare, policymakers and service providers continue to offer innovative policy and practice options for this child welfare service. Though use of the service has changed, family foster care remains important.
Responding to a widespread sense of the "drifting" of children in care, Congress passed the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980. This legislation became a key factor shaping the current status of family foster care. Its goal was to reduce reliance on out-of-home care and encourage use of preventive and reunification services; it also mandated that agencies engage in planning efforts for permanent solutions for foster children. Yet, despite federal mandates and funding, the child welfare system has continued to struggle to provide the level of services needed for children to reduce the amount of time children remain in temporary foster care. The latest response to these problems, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, established unequivocally that safety, permanency, and well-being were national goals for children in the child welfare system. To comply with the law, public and private agencies are required to initiate significant program and practice changes in the coming years to improve permanency outcomes and child well-being in family foster care.
The central theme of the volume is accountability for outcomes, certainly a current driving force in child welfare as well as in other public and private service fields. This volume will be of interest to all concerned with the social welfare of children and families at the end of the twentieth century.
Kathy Barbell is director of Foster Care of the Child Welfare League of America, Washington, DC.
Lois Wright is assistant dean at the College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia.

A classic and long-trusted resource that provides short summaries of all the key theories, concepts and terminology associated with mental health. Each entry is neatly summarised and thoroughly referenced giving the reader an immediate and thorough entry point to the subject. Structured into four sections, the text starts with entries related to Mental Health and Mental Abnormality, before moving onto Mental Health Services and Society. The new edition offers: 70 concise chapters including new entries on social networks and loneliness Updates across all chapters to align with contemporary, critical debates in mental health Appropriate consideration of the intersection of Covid-19 and mental health An essential guide for students of mental health studies, health, nursing, social work, education, psychology, counselling and psychotherapy.

One of the most powerful ways we can care for our future is to create a Power of Attorney. This simple document allows an appointed person to make decisions for us in the case that we can no longer do so ourselves. But what does it mean to be someone's attorney? And how can it be set up? This book is designed to offer clear, practical advice for anyone making this decision, or needing to exercise their rights. Drawing on over two decades of professional and personal experience, Sandra McDonald explains everything that you need to know about Power of Attorney, including: - how to create the legal document - how to implement it - dealing with others and safeguarding The result is an invaluable resource for anyone who is, has or deals with a Power of Attorney.

The Central Asian republics represent the poorest area of the former Soviet Union and this book contains the first rigorous analysis of household living standards in the region. Part I deals with methodological issues of measuring household welfare in transition, Part II quantifies living standards in various ways, and Part III looks at support given by the state, firms, other households and NGOs - the 'mixed economy' of welfare provision. The book is characterised by analysis of newly available survey data.

This text is a clear and thorough introduction to political philosophy and political thought. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of a major political thinker and clearly introduces one or more of their most influential works. The reader is then introduced to key secondary readings, aiming to complement and further their understanding of the thinker and text in question. Key features of the book also include clear exercises, reading notes and guides for further reading. The book is structured around eight major works including Machiavelli's "The Prince"; Hobbes - "Leviathan"; Locke- "The Second Treatise of Government"; Rousseau - "The Social Contract"; " Two Concepts of Liberty' by Isaiah Berlin'; Marx and Engels - "The German Ideology (Part 1)"; and Mill - "On Liberty". This text provides students with the skills necessary to understand the main thinkers, texts and arguments of political philosophy. It requires no previous knowledge of philosophy or politics and is suitable to anyone coming to political philosophy and political thought for the first time.

This book examines the paradoxical position of irregular migrants in European society, who are often labelled as 'illegal' residents but who in fact provide much needed, essential support to welfare systems. Focusing on care work at home for the elderly, the book argues that increasingly restrictive immigration policies directly contradicts the growing need for care-givers since the majority of those employed are a result of illegal immigration. The book also explores the personal issues faced by these irregular migrants such as their concerns for family members that are left behind and the pressures that migration imposes on these relationships as migrants struggle to improve the daily conditions of their lives.

This work serves as an introduction to both the theoretical and practical aspects of using computers to improve the delivery of social services. Though many practitioners believe that computerization dehumanizes clients and should be avoided, John Murphy and John Pardeck demonstrate how, through a holistic approach to computer use, this problem, and others like it, can be averted. By providing practitioners the opportunity to sharpen their conceptual skills in computer technology, this book promotes a rational understanding of the possible uses and limitations of computers in social service agencies.

Unlike other, technically-oriented works in this field, Murphy and Pardeck's work focuses on the philosophical justification of computer use, along with the conceptual or symbolic nature of computerization. They fully illustrate how to create the organizational conditions necessary for computers to improve social-service delivery, and they do so in a manner that is easily accessible for both general classroom and professional use. Among the topics addressed are the technological world-view, Western philosophy, and knowledge; computer mediated therapy; ethical issues related to computerized service delivery; and construction of a socially responsible technology. This work will be a unique and important resource for courses in computer applications, policy analysis, and social service administration, as well as a useful reference source for human service agencies and practitioners. Public and academic libraries will also find it to be a valuable addition to their collections.

The changing political landscape requires new understandings of the social conditions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people for which the term 'homophobia' is inadequate. Julie Fish develops a theory of heterosexism to conceptualize this kind of oppression and provides examples from everyday health and social care environments. This timely study engages with current debates, including intersecting identities, and presents a coherent analysis of the health and social care needs of this group of people. It provides a unique critical overview for an international readership.

Family Group Conferencing indicates a large-scale shift in assumptions about the way child welfare services are planned and delivered--away from models that emphasize pathology, and toward those seeking an ecological understanding of the families and social networks involved. The contributors also present a wealth of information on related approaches, such as community conferences, circles, and wraparound services. The British Journal of Social Work noted that "there are issues relating to both process and outcome. This book offers some answers that are intelligent and passionate."

The papers gathered together in this collection show that neither the market nor the state alone offers solutions to efficiency and equity problems commonly encountered in social sectors in poor nations. Innovative ways to address these important problems are explored, favouring an integrative approach to social provision. This approach involves the efforts of many providers, and avoids the inefficiencies of public supply and the social exclusion of the market mechanism.

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Consuming Crisis is a crucial account of how consumer culture capitalized on Coronavirus (COVID-19). Sobande explores how brands claim to care while they encourage people to 'keep calm and consume'. This critical analysis of the power and politics of marketing examines an eclectic mix of campaigns, content, and experiences. Such work outlines the societal significance of fast-fashion adverts, banana bread's pandemic 'moment', university social media strategies, and how digital technology mediates memories and work. Based on the belief that brands cannot be activists, Sobande creatively considers how brands construct care, camaraderie, culture, and so-called 'normal' life during times of crisis. Francesca Sobande is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media Studies at Cardiff University

"The freshest, deepest, most optimistic account of human nature I've come across in years."
-Bill McKibben
The most startling thing about disasters, according to award-winning author Rebecca Solnit, is not merely that so many people rise to the occasion, but that they do so with joy. That joy reveals an ordinarily unmet yearning for community, purposefulness, and meaningful work that disaster often provides. "A Paradise Built in Hell" is an investigation of the moments of altruism, resourcefulness, and generosity that arise amid disaster's grief and disruption and considers their implications for everyday life. It points to a new vision of what society could become-one that is less authoritarian and fearful, more collaborative and local.

What happened when people went mad in the fledgling colony of New South Wales? In this important new history of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, we find out through the correspondence of tireless colonial secretaries, the brazen language of lawyers and judges and firebrand politicians, and heartbreaking letters from siblings, parents and friends. We also hear from the mad themselves. Class, gender and race became irrelevant as illness, chaos and delusion afflicted convicts exiled from their homes and living under the weight of imperial justice; ex-convicts and small settlers as they grappled with the country they had taken from its Indigenous inhabitants, as well as officers, officials and wealthy colonists who sought to guide the course of European history in Australia. This not a history of the miserable institutions built for the mentally ill, or those living within them, or the people in charge of the asylums. These stories of madness are woven together into a narrative about freedom and possibilities, and collapse and unravelling. The book looks at people at the edge of the world finding themselves at the edge of sanity, and is about their strategies for survival. This is a new story of colonial Australia, cast as neither a grim and fatal shore nor an antipodean paradise, but a place where the full range of humanity wrestled with the challenges of colonisation. The first book-length history of madness at the beginning ofEuropean Australia Original and evocative, it grapples seriously with the place ofmadness in Australia's convict history The book's intimate descriptions of madness and the response to itgive a unique picture of life in the early colony through the lens ofmental illness Awareness of mental health continues to rise globally. This bookexplores efforts to understand and to treat madness before asylums,hospitals and doctors made madness a medical problem. Meticulously researched by James Dunk, a young emerginghistorian of medicine and colonialism

Consisting of both shorter pieces and reprints of entire books, this set restores to circulation a number of key texts from the debate about the future of welfare that took place in Britain following the depression.
The collection covers the following areas:
* The period during which the country felt the full impact of the world depression. A number of solutions were put forward during this time to address the arising issues - in particular the consequences of mass unemployment. The approaches ranged from orthodox Marxism to modified conservatism and "middle opinion"
* A key feature of the debate was the concept of planning as a device to enable governments to cope with economic and social problems. * A range of different ideas were widely canvassed during the war years. It was considered that successful conduct of war could then be applied to the problems of peace. This set resurrects certain proposals, influential in the climate of the times, which have subsequently dropped out of circulation
* Early assessments dealing with the implications of Welfare State legislation are also included. Although the implementation of the welfare programme was in effect a bipartisan process it did not take long for doubts to be expressed - some of which were directed at the principles on which the Welfare State was being constructed

Family Policy focuses on the main family activities that are of concern in social policy and social work. This book explores how families behave and questions the implications for policies and practice. Perceptions of and responses to family 'pathologies' - teenage pregnancies, family breakdown, family poverty and violence - are examined. Core issues in family policy are considered, to help students to understand and evaluate the family policies at the hear of Labour's welfare reforms. This will be a valuable text, particularly for HE students with little previous knowledge of family policy.

In an era of changing demographics and values, this volume provides a cross-national and interdisciplinary perspective on the question of who cares for and about the elderly. The contributors reflect on research studies, experimental programmes and personal experience in Japan and the United States to explicitly compare how policies, practices and interpretations of elder care are evolving at the turn of the century.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203464478

Bringing together essays, research studies and other material written over the past two decades, this book traces through them a history of political and intellectual debates on the left and in cultural studies, around central issues of education, labour and the youth question. An argument is made for linking the cultural, structural and autobiographical dimensions of the youth question in order to engage educationally with the burden of representation which young people are made to carry via race, class and sexuality in the postmodern world. The book includes three major unpublished pieces and an introduction which discusses the nature of the collection, and sets it in both a personal and political context.

Therapeutic Intervention with Poor, Unorganized Families: From Distress to Hope offers you integrated theories, practice, and research to provide you with the tools to be more effective when dealing with families in crisis. Therapeutic Intervention with Poor, Unorganized Families explores the decline of families into extreme distress and helps you to determine the best intervention for that particular family, as no one single method can be prescribed for all families. Therapists as well as clients favor the joint-goal intervention you will discover through this book, which is carried out mostly in the family home where the therapist can delegate authority as a means of strengthening and preserving the family. Through Therapeutic Intervention with Poor, Unorganized Families, you will receive a plethora of ideas which consist of multiple intervention techniques and alternatives for intervention, including: learning to organize institutions in the community to participate in getting families in extreme distress out of their long and perpetual predicament teaching you how cooperation between various government organizations, public and private, can be solicited for the welfare of these families offering you an anthro-psycho-social model of intervention that you will find effective in your own practice examining case studies so you can see how the new model works in real-life settingsTherapeutic Intervention with Poor, Unorganized Families is unique because not only does it offer you help with supervision and training aspects, but because it also ends with a qualitative and quantitative research evaluation of this new model. Comprehensive and thorough, this book deals with the difficulties that may arise to interfere with the effectiveness of the intervention so you can learn from it and prevent further crisis. Therapeutic Intervention with Poor, Unorganized Families is a must for anyone working with families in crisis.

Traditional models of childhood need reconstructing, especially as children become more active in negotiating the boundaries between themselves and adults. Wyness argues for new, more effective conceptions of childhood, derived from analysis of recent social policy. He interprets legislation and reveals that recent children acts and educational reform exhibit a strengthening of the socialising power of adults over children. Most importantly, this book challenges a prevalent underlying conception of children as 'lesser' or 'inferior' versions of adults, a flawed understanding that still influences policy.

Through Social Work Practice in Home Health Care, social workers will discover a unique "how-to" approach to social work practice in home health care agencies. You will find a historical perspective on home health care and clinical interventions to help you improve home health care for your patients. A wide range of clients, such as the developmentally disabled, post-hospitalization patients, the physically disabled and chronically impaired of all ages, the mentally ill, the terminally ill, newborn infants and their mothers, abused older adults, and abused children are in need of appropriate services that lead to positive and helpful results. Through Social Work Practice in Home Health Care, you will discover how to tailor your practice to meet the needs of individual clients and improve their quality of life.Current and comprehensive, Social Work Practice in Home Health Care provides you with successful methods and suggestions to find resources that clients need in order to face certain life challenges, such as abuse, neglect, poverty, malnutrition, uninhabitable housing, dysfunctional family situations, sensory deprivation, isolation, caregiver stresses, and alcohol and drug abuse. This unique book offers you techniques that can be used with any client base, including: learning from the successes and failures of others through case studies of twelve home health care agencies understanding problem areas of home health care and how clinical interventions can be used to help you make a difference in challenging situations analyzing staffing trends and clinical patient care policies regarding social work services to better assist individuals and their families in identifying, resolving, or minimizing the problems that often accompany an illness screening your clients who are in need of social work interventions, such as individuals suffering from depression over an amputation or debilitating heart attack implementing educational programs that provide systemic knowledge about medicare to improve your services to the elderlySocial Work Practice in Home Health Care provides you with insightful information on everything from staffing, recruiting, and training home health care workers to obstacles that you may encounter, such as the lack of knowledge about social workers among physicians and the public, to help you provide better services to your clients. You will discover how to improve your skills in psychosocial assessment, counseling and decision making, discharge planning, community resources, and supervision to help you adjust your practice and offer positive and effective suggestions to each individual client.