Recent years have seen a revolution in the field of working with people who have learning difficulties - both professional understanding and user expectations about services and the ways they are provided have been completely transformed. This book offers up-to-date case studies, examples from practice and points for further reflection.

Recent years have seen a revolution in the field of working with people who have learning difficulties - both professional understanding and user expectations about services and the ways they are provided have been completely transformed. This book offers up-to-date case studies, examples from practice and points for further reflection.

This text provides an analysis of the EPA enforcement of the Clean Water Act and its amendments. The book uses extensive EPA data, including a survey of the EPA and state level environmental officials, to examine enforcement from the perspective of the enforcement personnel.

This text provides an analysis of the EPA enforcement of the Clean Water Act and its amendments. The book uses extensive EPA data, including a survey of the EPA and state level environmental officials, to examine enforcement from the perspective of the enforcement personnel.

Although scholars in the disciplines of law, psychology, philosophy, and sociology have published a considerable number of prescriptive, normative, and theoretical studies of animals in society, Pet Politics presents the first study of the development of companion animal or pet law and policy in Canada and the United States by political scientists. The authors examine how people and governments classify three species of pets or companion animals-cats, dogs, and horses-for various degrees of legal protection. They then detail how interest groups shape the agenda for companion animal legislation and regulation, and the legislative and administrative formulation of anticruelty, kennel licensing, horse slaughter, feral and roaming cat, and breed ban policies. Finally, they examine the enforcement of these laws and policies by agencies and the courts. Using an eclectic mix of original empirical data, original case studies, and interviews-and relying on general theories and research about the policy process and the sociopolitical function of legality-the authors illustrate that pet policy is a unique field of political struggle, a conflict that originates from differing perspectives about whether pets are property or autonomous beings, and clashing norms about the care of animals. The result of the political struggle, the authors argue, is difficulty in the enactment of policies and especially in the implementation and enforcement of laws that might improve the welfare of companion animals.

To the surprise of many, George W. Bush pledged $10 billion to combat AIDS in developing nations. Noted specialist Susan Hunter tells the untold story of AIDS in Africa, home to 80 percent of the 40 million people in the world currently infected with HIV. She weaves together the history of colonialism in Africa, an insider's take on the reluctance of drug companies to provide cheap medication and vaccines in poor countries, and personal anecdotes from the 20 years she spent in Africa working on the AIDS crisis. Taken together, these strands make it unmistakably clear that a history of the exploitation of developing nations by the West is directly responsible for the spread of disease in developing nations and the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Hunter looks at what Africans are already doing on the ground level to combat AIDS, and what the world can and must do to help. Accessibly written and hard-hitting, "Black Death" brings the staggering statistics to life and paints for the first time a stunning picture of the most important political issue today.

Co-Production is a model of practice in which service providers work with service users in the provision of social care services - in effect, a working partnership. This book explores the theory and practice of this developing innovative practice in social work and related fields. Examples of methods and services designed on co-production principles are given by the experienced contributors, including housing initiatives where the users, rather than professionals, provide support to each other, the development of local area co-ordination as a service response to dilemmas of geography, and whether restorative justice can provide a better direction in re-integration than traditional criminal justice. Drawing together key figures in the field of social care, this book will be essential reading for social care practitioners and service providers, academics, researchers and students. This topical series examines areas of particular interest to those in social and community work and related fields. Each book draws together different aspects of the subject, highlighting relevant research and drawing out implications for policy and practice. The project is under the editorial direction of Professor Joyce Lishman, Head of the School of Applied Social Studies at the Robert Gordon University.