Child Welfare in the Legal Setting: A Critical and Interpretive Perspective

by O'Brien; Thomas M

• ISBN13: 9780789023513
• ISBN10: 0789023512
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-11-02
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Explore legal issues that often hinder the work of child welfare practitioners! Child Welfare in the Legal Setting: A Critical and Interpretive Perspective is a revolutionary study of the child welfare system that is essential for practitioners, educators, and students interested in public child welfare work. It examines the legal system surrounding child welfare workers and highlights their need for agency-specific training. This insightful book challenges the traditional rules of child welfare and paves the way for alternate methods of conceptualizing and organizing child protection. It explores why many family interventions fail and others never even occur. By identifying incongruities between the philosophy of child welfare and its function, this book advocates a more individualistic and efficient technique for assisting clients. Addressing issues and challenges from the initial identification of problems to navigating the legal system, this book is also thorough enough for public child welfare workers who want to take their skills to the next level. The large-system perspective in this book uses the concentric circle model, the rational legal model of legal and court action, and the ritualized process model to examine child welfare practice. Learn why terms such as child abuse” and neglect” have become social constructions that vary depending on the values of social workers, judges, attorneys, agencies, and communities. Child Welfare in the Legal Setting: A Critical and Interpretive Perspective examines the standardization of the organizational activities of child welfare systems and how this limits professionals' ability to accurately recognize unique problems and intervene in the most beneficial manner. Child Welfare in the Legal Setting also provides controversial opinions on emerging issues including: family investigations sanction for Child Protective Services intervention the legal setting as a host environment the function of the child welfare system rationalization of child welfare intervention trained incapacity” of social workers Title IVE programs the court system Child Welfare in the Legal Setting: A Critical and Interpretive Perspective identifies vital issues by analyzing the ethical and moral foundations of the child welfare system. This insightful book also takes a close look at how practitioners inadvertently devalue their clients by using language that creates stigmatized social categories such as victim” and convicted felon.” Supervisors, managers, social workers and child welfare practitioners will benefit from this information. The vignettes that supplement the narrative also make the book an important resource in any child welfare course.

Author Biography

Thomas M. O'Brien, MSW, MBA, DPA, LCSW, is Assistant Professor at California State University, Chico

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	xi
Beginnings	1	(26)
Introduction	1	(1)
The Book: An Overview	1	(3)
Some Important Concepts or Assumptions	4	(6)
The Individual As Constructing Meaning	10	(2)
Abstract Systems	12	(4)
Social Institutions As Abstract Systems	16	(3)
The Social and Cultural World	19	(4)
Conclusion	23	(4)
SECTION I: SANCTION, AUTHORITY, AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM
The Institutional Context of Child Welfare	27	(18)
Global Perspectives	27	(6)
Child Well-Being at Societal, Institutional, and Family Levels	33	(4)
International Perspectives on Protecting Children from Parents/Caretakers	37	(1)
Child Abuse and Neglect As Social Categories	38	(3)
The American Child Welfare System	41	(2)
The Organization of Child Welfare Programs	43	(1)
Conclusion	43	(2)
Governance, Legitimacy, and Trust	45	(22)
Introduction	45	(1)
The American System: A Focus on Parental or Caretaker Behavior	46	(1)
Child Protective Services As Child Welfare	46	(1)
Child Welfare As an Industry	47	(1)
Prevention	48	(2)
American Child Welfare As Intervention into Family Life	50	(8)
Constitutional Rights	58	(7)
Conclusion	65	(2)
Multiple Dimensions of Child Welfare Governance	67	(22)
Introduction	67	(1)
The Constitution and Fragmented Authority	67	(1)
The Federalist Structure	68	(7)
The Administrative Structure	75	(4)
Law and Policy by Appellate Decisions	79	(2)
Legislation by Oversight	81	(5)
Conclusion	86	(3)
The Organizational Context of Practice	89	(22)
Introduction	89	(1)
The Community As a Context for Child Welfare	89	(2)
The Industrialization of Child Welfare	91	(7)
The Effects of Industrialization: Alienation, Trained Incapacity, and Case Production	98	(9)
The Social Worker's Role As Mediating Levels of Organization	107	(3)
Conclusion	110	(1)
The Legal System As Host Setting: Context and History	111	(14)
Introduction	111	(1)
Practice in a Host Setting	111	(3)
Tensions: Social Workers in Court Settings	114	(4)
History of the Social Work Profession	118	(6)
Conclusion	124	(1)
Images and Realities of the Legal System: Metaphor, Myths, and Stereotypes	125	(18)
Introduction	125	(1)
Stereotypes: Their Nature and Action	125	(5)
Understanding Conflict Between Social Workers and Attorneys	130	(9)
Social Work in Public Child Welfare	139	(1)
Conclusion	140	(3)
SECTION II: COURTS, MODELS, AND RITUALS
The Courts	143	(24)
Introduction	143	(1)
The Varieties of Courts	144	(2)
Child Welfare Courts: Nonvoluntary Interventions	146	(7)
Voluntary Child and Family Courts	153	(5)
Ancillary Courts and Legal Issues	158	(3)
Litigation: Social Work Liability, Forensic Responsibility, and Agency Action	161	(3)
Administrative Reviews: Schools, Welfare, Social Services, Etc.	164	(1)
Conclusion: Courts As a Labyrinth	165	(2)
The Concentric Systems View of Child Welfare	167	(24)
Introduction	167	(1)
Background or Theoretical Underpinnings	168	(1)
The Concentric Systems Model	169	(5)
Dynamics of the Model	174	(5)
Applying the Model	179	(2)
A System Overview Using the Concentric Systems Model	181	(8)
Summary	189	(2)
The Rationalization of Child Welfare Intervention	191	(20)
Introduction	191	(1)
The Rational Model	192	(12)
The Court Personnel	204	(2)
The Social Service	206	(4)
Conclusion	210	(1)
Life in Narrative and Drama: Meaning, Self, and Identity	211	(18)
Introduction	211	(1)
Behavior As Drama and Narrative	211	(3)
Child Welfare As Intervention in Social Dramas	214	(14)
Conclusion	228	(1)
Social Intervention As Ritualized Action	229	(16)
Introduction	229	(1)
The Ritual Process Model	229	(13)
Conclusion	242	(3)
SECTION III: ETHICS, VALUES, AND CONCLUSIONS
Ethics, Values, and Integrity	245	(22)
Introduction	245	(1)
Self-Determination and Paternalism	246	(5)
Informed Consent	251	(2)
Fiduciary Relationships	253	(3)
The Social Worker's ``Double Agentry''	256	(1)
Competing Institutional Loyalties Within Child Welfare	257	(2)
The Network of Forces Providing the Context of Child Welfare Practice	259	(6)
Conclusion	265	(2)
Conclusion	267	(18)
Child Welfare As ``Child Saving Twenty-First-Century Style''	267	(3)
The Production and Reproduction of Child Abuse and Neglect	270	(1)
The Industrialization of CPS: Turning Stones	270	(1)
The Practice of Social Work: Who Staffs Child Welfare?	271	(2)
Child Welfare As Practice in a ``Host Setting''	273	(4)
Children's Protection As Taking Place in an Institutional Environment	277	(3)
Criminalization	280	(1)
Summary	281	(4)
References	285	(10)
Index	295