4th Edition
The Child Welfare Challenge Policy, Practice, and Research
Using both historical and contemporary contexts, The Child Welfare Challenge examines major policy practice and research issues as they jointly shape child welfare practice and its future. This text focuses on families and children whose primary recourse to services has been through publicly funded child welfare agencies, and considers historical areas of service—foster care and adoptions, in-home family-centered services, child-protective services, and residential treatment services—where social work has an important role.
This fourth edition features new content on child maltreatment and prevention that is informed by key conceptual frameworks informed by brain science, public health, and other research. This edition uses cross-sector data and more sophisticated predictive and other analytical processes to enhance planning and practice design. The authors have streamlined content on child protective services (CPS) to allow for new chapters on juvenile justice/cross-over youth, and international innovations, as well as more content on biology and brain science. The fourth edition includes a glossary of terms as well as instructor and student resource papers available online.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1:
Purpose, Goals, Objectives and Key Policies of Child and Family Social Services, With a Special Focus on Child Welfare
Chapter 2:
Child Maltreatment: Nature, Prevalence and the Implications for Social Policy
Chapter 3:
Protecting Children from Child Abuse and Neglect by Strengthening Families and Communities
Chapter 4:
Strengthening Families through Anti-Poverty Efforts
Chapter 5:
Family Foster Care and Kinship Care
Chapter 6:
Achieving Permanency through Family Reunification, Adoption and Guardianship
Chapter 7:
Juvenile Justice and Crossover Youth in Child Welfare
Chapter 8:
Specialized Treatment Services for Children and Families
Chapter 9:
Leadership, Staffing and Other Organizational Requisites for Effective Child and Family Services
Chapter 10:
International Innovations in Child and Family Services
Biography
Peter J. Pecora is Professor of Social Work at the University of Washington and Managing Director of Research Services for Casey Family Programs.
James K. Whittaker is the Charles O. Cressey Endowed Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Work at the University of Washington.
Richard P. Barth is Dean of the School of Social Work and Professor of Social Work at the University of Maryland.
Sharon Borja is Assistant Professor of Social Work at the Graduate College of Social Work at The University of Houston.
William Vesneski is Assistant Professor of Social Work at Seattle University.
Protecting children and strengthening families is complicated. The Child Welfare Challenge does not shrink from that complexity. It continues to be an indispensable tool for policy makers and practitioners alike. This edition is further strengthened by its examination of trauma and early adversity on well-being and development, and the use of evidence-based strategies to increase parenting skills. As a child welfare leader, I struggled to manage all of the demands of the job and often looked for literature to supplement my own training and experience. The Child Welfare Challenge is an important contribution to our collective efforts to support families and keep children safe.—Bryan Samuels, Executive Director, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
Pecora and colleagues have topped previous editions by adding new and cutting-edge information about the status of one of the nation’s most complex human service systems. The book is a must read for students, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers interested in improving the lives of children and families who come into contact with the child welfare system. Highly recommended!
—Jeff Jenson, PhD, Philip D. and Eleanor G. Winn Endowed Professor for Children and Youth, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver
This book offers an evidence-rich examination of both the cutting edge of child welfare practice and the critical policy and program design context and challenges. Their analysis goes beyond traditional frameworks to employ public health, economic and global lenses through which child welfare’s present and future are viewed.
—Crystal Collins-Camargo, MSW, PhD, Associate Dean for Research and Professor, Kent School of Social Work, University of Louisville
