What should be the roles and behavior of administrators to meet the challenges facing social service agencies today? Here is a thought-provoking book that provides a great deal of insight into administrative leadership, an essential component in the survival and effectiveness of social service agencies.In response to the enormous challenges that social service agencies are facing, including justification of their mission, mobilization of resources, and responsiveness to new social needs, experts present theoretical and empirical studies on administrative leadership in the social services, reviewing the most recent theories and research on the relationship between leadership and service effectiveness. They also focus on emerging issues in social work administration, including a description of the role of women in social work administration and an assessment of a feminist model of macro practice; the rise of for-profit social service agencies; management-union relations; and entrepreneurship as a new model for administrators.Administrative Leadership in the Social Services is especially useful for administrators of social service agencies by providing them with insight into their own practice and giving them guidance to improve their administrative effectiveness. To students and scholars, this outstanding new volume presents a review of theories and research on current and emerging issues in social work administration.

With the passage of the 1996 welfare reform, not only welfare, but poverty and inequality have disappeared from the political discourse. The decline in the welfare rolls has been hailed as a success. This book challenges that assumption. It argues that while many single mothers left welfare, they have joined the working poor, and fail to make a decent living. The book examines the persistent demonization of poor single-mother families; the impact of the low-wage market on perpetuating poverty and inequality; and the role of the welfare bureaucracy in defining deserving and undeserving poor. It argues that the emphasis on family values - marriage promotion, sex education and abstinence - is misguided and diverts attention from the economic hardships low-income families face. The book proposes an alternative approach to reducing poverty and inequality that centers on a children's allowance as basic income support coupled with jobs and universal child care.

Current welfare reforms -- including recently enacted federal legislation -- are largely symbolic politics, argue two experts in this important new book. According to Joel F. Handler and Yeheskel Hasenfeld, the real problem we face is not the spread of welfare but the spread of poverty among the working poor, a group that includes most welfare recipients. The surest way to solve the problem is to create jobs and supplement low-wage work. The authors offer proposals that would make it possible for individuals to support themselves and their families through working and that would establish a safety net for those relatively few individuals who arc unable to do so.

The authors discuss current policies, efforts, and programs designed to deal with the poor and analyze what works, what does not work, and why. Instead of income maintenance strategies, they promote policies that would facilitate leaving welfare for work -- particularly in the case of single mothers. Their proposals range from creating jobs and supplementing income through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to raising the minimum wage to providing health insurance and child care support. These are not inexpensive solutions, but they must occur if we truly wish to live in a society that strives to provide opportunities for all.

"A substantial contribution to the critical debate occurring in the states about structuring 'welfare reform.'" -- Lucy A. Williams, School of Law, Northeastern University

"This book contributes in innovative and significant ways to the ongoing discussion of poverty and welfare reform". -- Gary D. Sandefur, University of Wisconsin-Madison

With the passage of the 1996 welfare reform, not only welfare, but poverty and inequality have disappeared from the political discourse. The decline in the welfare rolls has been hailed as a success. This book challenges that assumption. It argues that while many single mothers left welfare, they have joined the working poor, and fail to make a decent living. The book examines the persistent demonization of poor single-mother families; the impact of the low-wage market on perpetuating poverty and inequality; and the role of the welfare bureaucracy in defining deserving and undeserving poor. It argues that the emphasis on family values - marriage promotion, sex education and abstinence - is misguided and diverts attention from the economic hardships low-income families face. The book proposes an alternative approach to reducing poverty and inequality that centers on a children's allowance as basic income support coupled with jobs and universal child care.

The proliferation of regional and subregional conflicts around the world underscores the need for effective conflict resolution strategies. This book examines the place and role of voluntary organisations dedicated to the promotion of peace and the resolution of intractable social conflicts. Focussing on the work of nongovernmental organisations (NGOS)in Northen Ireland, South Africa, and Israel/Palestine, the contributors investigate the nature of these organisations, their accomplishments, and how the various social systems in which they operate their functions and structures.