Child welfare strategy in the coming years

438

Book Reviews

stantive interpretations of research findings. socio-historical events and intervention strategies. This is the sense in which Bronfenbrenner embraces Kurt Lewin’s maxim that, “There is nothing so practical as a good theory.” In this $%‘a?the ecology of human development is “limited” in its scope and purpose to improving the quulitJ of our knowledge (something the human service field so desperateI> needs). If \ve recognize that qualitative issues outr\,eigh quantitative ones, the significance of this becomes even more apparent. But it goes further to embrace Dearborn’s Dictum: “If you tt’ant to underhas tried this stand something tr!; to change it.” Bronfenbrenner t\ith our view of child development and its relation to social police and practice. I think he has succeeded. References

Bronfenbrenner. U. Earl) deprivation: A cross-species anal\sis. In S. Levine k G. Sewton (Eds.), Early rxprrimcr rind brhclor. Springfield, IL.: Charles C. Thomas. 1968. geneticallv determined? In Ir$uil~rncr or1 Bronfenbrenner. U. Is 80% of intelligence human development. Hinsdalr. Illinois: The Drvden Press, 197’1. Bronfenbrenner. U. Developmental research. public policy and the ecologx of childhood. Chdd Dtwlopmrrrt, 1974, fi, l-5. in) Bronfenbrenner. U. Is early mterwntmu rftrctltv? L\‘ashinqton. D.C.: Office ot Child Development. 1974. (b)

Child Welfare Strategy in the Coming Years Edited by Frank Ferro U.S. Department of Health, Education and LVelfare, Office of Human Development, Administration for Children, \I’outh and Families, Children’s Bureau. D.H.E.I\‘. Publication No. (OHDS) 78-30158. Social changes occurring over the past tlvo decades ha1.e had a significant impact on the field of child welfare. For reasons as di\,erse as the availability of abortion on demand and the grotcing social acceptance of unrt.ed motherhood to the diversion of status of-

Book Reviews

439

fenders from the juvenile justice system to the child welfare system and the increased wiliingness of parents to turn their hard-to-handle adolescents over to public agencies. the age of the population of children receiving child Lvelfare services is increasing. In addition. there is a noticeable shift from a medical model to a legal or rights biological and foster model for practice. CVith increasin g frequency, parents and child advocates are successfully challenging the right of child caring agencies to make unilateral decisions for the youngsters in their care. And federal and state legislatures are taking an active role in defining the content of social tvork practice in child welfare. How does the field of adoption. long a \\.hite, middle-class infant placing service, accommoday itself to the fact that the popuiation of children available for adoption is becoming s~-non~I?l~)lls with the population of children in foster home care-a-not-so-young, notAnd what of foster care? How is a group of so-white population? largely untrained workers (Sote 1) to cope with the contradictor> demands that they decrease the incidence of placements (~.ithout sufficient resources), move chiidren from placement to permanent family homes and, at the same time. find placetnents for adolescent status offenders and other “deinstitutionalized” young people rt,hen the development of group homes has not kept pace k\.ith the movement to deinstitutionalize and I\.hen the universe of foster home applicants is decreasing? A greater number if issues can be identified and a longer list of questions posed. Such aixxits the reader of Cizild ~~.~~~ff~e Stratep in thr Corning ZLurs. The authors of each of the tn.elve policy papers that comprise this volume direct attention to a variety of issues that should concern child welfare personnel and social jvork educators. they offer tentative suggestions to resolve sotne of the iclentified issues and raise some as yet unansr~~erable questions. This book is not an edited anthology and suf-fers somewhat from that fact. Chapters are organized by areas of service [fosret care and adoptions, for example. but not protective serFices], b> populations such as minority group children ancl children of divorce (but scant attention is paid to the ph!-sicaily or emotionally disturbed child), and by issues, including the rights of neglected children and national family poIicy. How.ever. the implications for practice of the shift to a rights model are not clealt IAth. Thus. an introductorl chapter in rvhich the organization of- the book is described and tht rationale for the inclusion and exclusion of material is discussecl. $vould have been helpful. \Vithout such a chapter. the naive reader may be led to the erroneous conclusion that the contents of this volume include the major issues confronting the fielcl.

440

Book Reviews

Sei.ertheless. each of’ the papers stands on its OKII as a useful. at time escellent, review of the state-of-the-art in each of the areas covered. As a basis for discussing strategies. each of the authors revie1t.s available demographic and service relatecl data. Alfred Kadushin, in an overview chapter \l.hich bears the title of the book, concludes that bvhile social changes are reclucing the uni\,erse of potential service recipients, the population of children at-risk can be expected to increase clue to factors such as increases in the rate ot divorce and the grolling numbers of children IiGng in povert!.. Sogt.here L\.ill the effects of demographic and ideological chnnzes be felt so strongly as in the field of adoptions. Elizabeth Cole prokles an excellent overview of these changes and she discusses their implications for administration and practice. The paucity of data severelv constrains future planning in all areas but is more limiting in some than in others. l‘his is macle apparent b!. 1Inrtin It’olins. in his paper titled. “Observations on the Future of Institutionalized Care of Children in the United States.” for Children of by Shirley Jenkins in her cliscusison of “Planning Divorce.” and by ~I‘eresea Ramirez Boulette. in her chapter- on “The Spanish Speaking/Su~.nanle~l Poor.” to Limited descripti\,e statistics are not the ant\- impediment “The Deli\-er\ of‘ (Child \\‘elf’Are planning. Leon Chestang. discussing Services to LIinority C;roup C;hildrerl antI .l’heir Families.” reminds us that an uncterstanding of’ t\-h\ the child \velf’arr s\stem has failecl minoritv children in general. and black chilclren in particular, m11st proceecl i\.ith an examination of social attitudes to~\.;irtl blacks and an understanding of black families. .Antl Robert Kite‘s paper on “Keducing Substitute Care Through Sational Famil> t’olic\ .” directs our attention to the fact that most ot t\.hat \\-e knot\. regarclin~ chanlges in famiI\ life cleals \\.ith structural charges. \\‘r kno~v little regarding changes in farnil\- functioning. Rosemary Sat-r-i ancl Clarion Ho~\xrtl focus our attention on Parent Familie\” I Ho\\-ard). adolescents in their chapters on “\‘oung and “;\clolescent Status Offenders-.A Satio~lal Problem” ikrri). In the same manner that Chestang lais rhe problen~~ ot rhe black that family on society’s doorstep. so do Sarri and Ho~\xrtl sugqxt societv is culpable for III;II~L’ OF the dit’liculties confl-ontin< xtolescents. Simple stated. \k-e do not know \\.liat to do I\.ith ,itiolescent5. Our failure ‘to articulate a \.i;ible role tar young people mav be instrumental to increases in the number of adjutlicatetl \tatus c)f’fenders as l\.ell as to an increasetl birth rate in the \ounge\t wynlent> events which effecti\-eli c.losr off tt1t11re optic)n\ of the population. for manv ! 0u1ig people.

Book Reviews

441

Ideological changes, particularly with regard to the rights of various client groups are noted in a number of chapters and given extensive coverage in Joan Fitzgerald’s paper on the “Rights of Neglected Children and Attempts by the State to Regulate Family Relationships.” Fitzgerald makes a plea for limiting coercive intervention to situations where there is evidence of harm to a child (an issue that Kermit Wiltse reinforces in his thorough review of “Current Issues and New Directions in Foster Care) and in so doing, to strengthen out commitment to family autonomy. Research, including but not limited to the collection of descriptive data, and the development and implementation of information systems to facilitate access to data for both planning and the deliver) of services, are recommended by the majority of authors. The need for additional services, both “hard and soft” is highlighted throughout these papers. Kermit \t’iltse offers one of the most provocative and no doubt controversial of the recommendations found in this volume. He suggets that “The main business of the foster care agency is decision making about children’s lives. not child care or treatment or therapy” (p. 61). tl’iltse argues persuasively that the current treatment orientation of child lvelfare agencies prolongs the tenure of children in foster home placement. Treatment, he suggests, should be in “the service of decision making” (ibid). not an end in itself. (The logic of this argument can be easily extended to the entire continuum of services from child protection through adoption). The importance of identifying esact \;vorker skills is highlighted by Kadushin and discussed in some detail by L\‘illard Richan in his paper titled, “Personnel Issues in Child \l‘elfare.” Richan reviews a number of areas in which skills must be developed and he argues for the use of service delivery teams and ~rapr(~fess~(~rl~~l aides. The absence of a sumnxny chapter identif>-ing issues and strategies that are common to the areas reviewed lessens the value of this book. Also, a review of strategies that does not explore the educational and practice implications of the movement tou,ard a rights model for practice is, in this revietver’s opinion, incomplete. That social work practice in child trelfare is becoming legal in nature cannot be disputed. U*hile the elements of a legal framework are most evident in protective services. thev are apparent also in foster care and adoptions. The increased use of judicial review\, of f’ostel care cases, legislation which contains time frames for decision making to facilitate permanency planning and which outlines the information that $%.orkers must present to the court (Sate 2). a spate of model adoption acts that deal \\.ith issues ranging from the termina-

442

Book Reviews

tion of parental rights to the interstate adoption of children, the increased formalitv of juvenile court proceedings, and the “constitutionalization” of children’s rights clearlv indicate this trend. Social \\.ork educators must address themselves to the challenge this represents by developing new curricula and by modifying course content. If \\;e fail to take this challenge seriously. \se ivill surely contribute to further deprofessionalization.

Human

Advocacy

and PL 94-142:

The Educator’s

Roles

Edited by Leo F. Buscaglia and Eddie H. I\‘illiams Thorofare, N.J.: Charles B. Slack, Inc.. 1979. 117 pp. S8.95 Reforming Special Street Leuel

By Richard Cambridge,

Education:

A. il’eather-le! &lass.: MIT Press,

Policy

Implementation

1979,

186 pp. Sl3.00

from

State

to

i\*hen social reform is the goal, implementing legislation is more of a problem than securing passage. PL 94-14’1 I\-hich mandates a “free children” is no esand appropriate education fol all handicapped ception to this rule. The t1t.o books under consideration here provide contrasting perspectives on w.hat is in\.ol\ ed irl making Coqressional mandates work. In Refvrmirlg Special Educcttrorl: Pdiq Itnf,lPrrrrlctcltt,,,r /).oltI Sttrtc, to Street Leilel Richard X. IVeatherlL provicles a concise and readable in .\IassactitIsetts. account of how special education I\YIS reformed This \vas an important precursor of PL CM-14’1. In Iltltt/ntl .Adi’oct/(.Y