Policy & Practice articles from March 2000

Policy & Practice archives from March 2000

Letter from the Executive Director.
March 1, 2000... The year 2000 marks a crossroads in national public human services policy. A new president and a new Congress will be elected and confronted with the challenge of reauthorizing such core programs as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families...

Inside Story.
March 1, 2000... Every day child protection workers must find the "right" family for a child. Yet, that's not an easy task. Increasingly, child welfare agencies are placing children with relatives and friends, rather than strangers. Known as kinship care,...

Work to Be Done: Designing Publicly Funded Jobs to Meet Community Needs.
March 1, 2000... A central premise of public job creation initiatives is that there is useful work to be done in every community. When public funds are used to create wage-paying jobs in public or nonprofit agencies, the possibilities for undertaking useful...

NEW YORK Coordinated Services Address Caseload Overlap.
March 1, 2000... A seven-year-old child has poor attendance at school. A domestic violence victim lives in fear for her life and the lives of her children. A child enters foster care because of abuse or neglect. A mother is fired from her job as a result of...

Child Protective Services Improve, Report Says.
March 1, 2000... Delaware State News The state's Division of Child Protective Services got passing marks from its oversight commission in a report issued by the Child Protection Accountability Commission. According to the commission's report, lowered...

Georgia Bureau of Investigations Seizes Welfare Agency's Files.
March 1, 2000... Atlanta Journal-Constitution Signaling a criminal investigation is under way, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation seized state files of 13 children who died after their families had been reported for abuse or neglect. In a coordinated sweep...

Maryland Advocates Present a $90 Million Wish List.
March 1, 2000... Baltimore Sun With practically everyone in Annapolis talking about how to spend a $1 billion surplus, advocates for the needy urged legislators not to forget the working poor, the disabled, and the elderly. The Maryland Alliance for the...

Program Recognized People Working Their Way Off Welfare.
March 1, 2000... Booth Newspapers Michigan is spending about $1 billion a year on welfare reform, paying for day care, transportation, and jobsearch programs. But one of the state's most well-regarded welfare programs costs little. It's the Achiever of the...

Help Our Children.
March 1, 2000... Washington Post In a letter to the editor, APHSA Executive Director William Waldman pointed out that, as much as the public may want and demand government action, government agencies alone cannot be responsible for preventing all incidents...

Wisconsin Welfare Errors Called Isolated Instances.
March 1, 2000... Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Wisconsin officials acknowledged instances in which Wisconsin Works clients who do not speak English were not provided interpreters, an issue under investigation by federal civil rights officials. Jean Rogers,...

"Why Don't Kids Have a Voice?".
March 1, 2000... ABC News ABC News documented how judges and child welfare authorities routinely give more weight to the claims of biological parents, even in situations where children have clearly stated their preference to live with others. Child...

Faces & Places.
March 1, 2000... APHSA's Board of Directors appointed four new private-sector board members in December. In this issue of POLICY & PRACTICE, we feature short profiles of these new members who began their terms in January. Barrett A. Toan is president and...

In the Interest of Children:.
March 1, 2000... Rethinking Federal and State Policies Affecting Kinship Care The extended family has long played a role in caring for children whose parents were unable to do so--a practice commonly referred to as kinship care. In contrast, child welfare...

New Directions for Child Support Agencies.
March 1, 2000... When Domestic Violence is an Issue There is little doubt that many low-income women suffer from domestic violence. According to a 1996 Bureau of Justice Statistics report (Craven, 1996), women living in households with annual incomes below...

A CONVERSATION with Maria Foscarinis.
March 1, 2000... Homelessness is an issue that has plagued our nation for more than two decades. Across the country, cities have taken increasingly punitive approaches to homelessness, with police crackdowns the rule rather than the exception. To learn...

The Unnecessary Tragedy of Fatherless Children: Welfare Reform's Response.
March 1, 2000... As government officials, community groups, religious organizations, social service agencies, and advocates grapple with the dire situation of America's poor children, they are gaining insight into the ramifications of the absence of fathers...

Our Do'ers Profile.
March 1, 2000... In "Our Do'ers Profile," we highlight some of the hard working and talented individuals in the public human services field. This issue features Joe Leean, secretary of the Department of Health and Family Services in Madison, Wisconsin. ...

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND WELFARE REFORM.
March 1, 2000... Welfare reform is widely touted as the reason welfare caseloads have declined rapidly the last few years. Apparently, say a group of researchers, reforms have contributed to this decline, but so has the booming economy. If this is true, what...

Outcome Initiatives in Child Welfare.
March 1, 2000... Examines initiatives recently undertaken to promote outcome measurement and performance management in the field of child welfare. This book also provides information on national initiatives, university-based initiatives, state initiatives,...

Outsourcing State and Local Government Services: Decision-Making Strategies and Management Methods.
March 1, 2000... Advises readers of the services that are most suitable for contracting out. Based on extensive interviews and other research, the author takes managers through the intricacies of contract outsourcing and administration. This book is not an...