Paper Example on Phenomenon of Child Welfare Systems
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It should be accepted that the phenomenon of child welfare systems has been widely argued about from both empirical and academic perspectives on both local and international levels. This allowed the researchers to consider the strengths and weaknesses of specific systems of child wellbeing in chosen regions (Gilbert, Parton, & Skivenes, 2011a, p. 42). One of the most important benefits of such international analyses can be explained by the additional opportunities to change or amend local policies and management approaches towards child welfare systems aiming to prevent the cases of child mistreatment and protect the interests of children with previous experience of neglect and abuse. In other words, such analyses allow the practitioners to evaluate foreign practices and procedures related to managing the child welfare system and further use their assessments as benchmarks in relation to their local systems of child wellbeing (Cameron & Freymond, 2006, p. 32).
However, it should also be mentioned that child maltreatment (abuse and neglect) has received less attention [than child well-being in international comparisons] (OECD, 2011, p. 246. Thus, it should be concluded that such approach towards analysis has clearly shown a considerable practical and theoretical gap emphasizing the importance of each particular case of child mistreatment. In other words, the systems of child welfare need to focus on each specific situation where maltreatment has taken place.
In this regard, it should be stated that one of the most effective procedures in realizing the child protection purposes is the continuous usage of administrative sets of data related to childrens welfare. These datasets are also combined with the corresponding reports from private and state institutions offering the child care and protection services. These sources of information are relatively cheap and accessible being at the same time convenient and sufficient for assessing the questions/issues/trends in relation to child welfare from cross-national perspective. Further, such sets of data clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of management approaches shown by the respective child welfare systems (Yampolskaya & Banks, 2006, p. 348).
Thus, having defined the importance of administrative datasets in evaluating the effectiveness of child welfare systems management, it is worth discussing brief information regarding the management approaches towards child welfare services in Norway, the United States and the United Kingdom. For example, Norway represents a leader in designing, implementing and improving practices and policies protecting the welfare of children and ensuring their rights. The development of child protection and care system in Norway began in 1991 with the ratification of the UNs Convention of the Rights of the Child; furthermore, the provisions of that legislation were proclaimed obligatory to follow for all the providers of child care services. Since then, the countrys legislation system has been changing in order to reflect the issues and challenges imposed by the changes in countrys social and political system along with the changes of international legislation (SOS Childrens Villages International, 2013, p. 4). As for the typically Norwegian legal provisions ensuring the fulfillment of childrens rights and offering them respective protection, these are The Child Welfare Law and The Childrens Act (Ministry of Children and Equality, 2007, p. 8). The same is applicable for the child welfare systems in the UK and in the USA, as they are functioning in accordance with both international and local legal provisions.
What is more important for the current research, the differences between the child welfare systems in the UK, the USA and Norway are more than significant and therefore, the effectiveness of these systems from both management and social perspectives is different from one country to another. Thus, the purpose of the further study is to analyze the effectiveness of child welfare systems in these countries from both political and management perspectives offering the description and analysis of both state and private child care providers.
Therefore, having defined the major purpose of the study that will be conducted further, it should also be stated that it will be correspondingly realized through the process of answering the research questions specifically defined for that purpose. These will include the following questions:
What is the current status of research in relation to the systems of child welfare within previously defined countries from political and management perspectives?
What are the differences and similarities in theoretical and practical procedures associated with the child welfare in these countries and how does this reflect the differences in managerial approach within child welfare sector there?
What is the reaction of state and private child welfare services providers in these countries towards the cases of child maltreatment and how effective are these measures?
Correspondingly, the research questions are focusing on comparing and contrasting different approaches towards managing the child welfare systems in different countries through the evaluation of legal, theoretical and practical aspects of child welfare systems functioning in the UK, the USA and Norway. Specific attention will also be given to the effectiveness of management procedures and methods in adjusting these systems in order to react to emerging issues within the systems. This effectiveness will be evaluated by analyzing the exact procedures of both legal and management origin aiming to reflect the needs of children with mental disorders or at least reflect the psychiatric aspect of mistreatment previously experienced by children in the chosen countries. In other words, both state and private institutions providing child welfare services will be evaluated in terms of providing adequate and sufficient assistance to such children. The effectiveness of addressing the mental needs of children with previous experiences of mistreatment by the respective institutions will be evaluated, as well.
More importantly, the currently offered study represents one of the least number of studies considering the effectiveness of child welfare services provided by the respective institutions within chosen countries. This is so due to the simple fact that such topic is severely under-researched and under-evaluated by the scholars. In particular, this includes both psychological and managerial aspects of the topic, having taken into account strictly limited number of scholarly publications reflecting the effectiveness of child welfare services. Furthermore, the number of publications considering the effectiveness of mental care given by the child welfare services in all the aforementioned countries is even more limited. Such surprisingly negative tendency shown by the academic researches is also demonstrated by the legal provisions of the chosen countries, which will be explicitly demonstrated by the following chapters and paragraphs of the project.
Having defined the research questions of the study, it is worth stating that they will be realized through the following procedures. In other words, the author of the study will:
Exhaustively and comprehensively review the academic publications related to the systems of child wellbeing in the UK, the USA and Norway combined with the legal/administrative provisions regulating them;
Define and highlight differences and similarities between the approaches towards defining and reacting to the child mistreatment in those countries through the interpretation and analysis of the administrative/academic sets of data available in the chosen countries;
Compare and contrast managerial approaches towards child welfare services in the chosen countries in relation to addressing the mental issues of the children with previous experiences of mistreatment.
Regardless of the previously defined number of researches that is more than limited to address the services received by the children in respective child welfare facilities, it is still worth admitting that the issues related to child wellbeing are receiving increasing attention from both theorists and practitioners in previously mentioned countries. This specific trend correspondingly increases the value and significance of cross-national evaluations of child welfare and care systems in all the countries of the world, including the countries chosen for the current study (Gilbert, Parton and Skivenes, 2011). The importance of the current study is also complemented by the fact that the cross-national studied associated with the child welfare services and child maltreatment have been proved to serve as effective benchmarks for checking the effectiveness of policies and practices within the chosen environments. More importantly, the overall comparative approach of the current study is expected to facilitate further research in developing both theoretical and practical policies and procedures enhancing the services provided to children and improve their wellbeing as a result (Freymond and Cameron, 2006).
In any case, it should also be stated that a wide array of forms of child neglect and abuse has been receiving considerably less attention from governmental authorities and scholars compared to evaluating general wellbeing of the children. Furthermore, the respective mental issues of the children receiving care from the respective facilities has been considered by governments and researchers even less. Such theoretic and practical gap between the general evaluation of child welfare services and actual state of affairs needs to be resolved both with political, theoretical and practical methods (OECD, 2011, p. 246).
As for the studys methodology in general, it should be noted that previously defined and discussed countries, the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway has been specifically selected by the author of the current study. Such choice for countries is explained by the previously defined statement that these countries are the global leaders in providing sufficient and adequate child welfare services and protecting the rights of children. Moreover, the official publications of these countries related to their child welfare systems are offering more than adequate and sufficient data to compare and contrast them between each other. Moreover, both state and private child welfare facilities have been evaluated by the international organization as providing the highest levels of child care services (OECD, 2011, p. 248).
The analysis of the gathered information from the further defined sources will be performed in accordance with the provisions of hermeneutic phenomenology also serving as the theoretic framework for the overall study. This theory presupposes the sources will be interpreted by the studys authors in accordance with his own perceptions and points of view considering the trends, issues and questions discussed in chosen sources of data. The scholars are defining this theory equivalently (Rickman & Bleicher, 1982, p. 284). Due to the secondary nature of the current study, it is worth accepting that such theoretical framework allows the author to both express his own opinions and interpretations considering the discussed phenomena and further complement them by the reports and findings of the respectful studies. From the aspect of methodology, the current study will both provide subjective information given by the author and information from the outside sources directly making the whole analysis more objective and theoretically valid.
However, just like any other study, the current one has its own limitations coming from the methodology and overall nature of...
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