Welfare Reform on the Web (April 2000): Child Welfare - Overseas

PERCEPTIONS OF CHILD CARE CENTRE OWNERS IN CHICAGO: IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY

A.A. Mohamed, H.A. Conley, and B. Yoo

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 19, no. 718, 1999, p.101-113

It has been suggested that the success of welfare reform in the US may depend on the availability of child day care. However, the day care industry suffers from problems related to the availability, quality and affordability of its services. Present study attempts to estimate the supply and demand for day care centres in Chicago, and seeks to identify centre owners' plans for expansion and their perceptions of environmental carriers. Results showed that demand for day care centre services was three times higher than supply. In spite of this, only 12% of owners had any plans for expansion. Both the shortages of labour and state regulations were perceived as barriers.

'PLAYING SIMULTANEOUS GAMES OF CHESS': THE IMPLICATIONS OF RECENT CHANGES IN DUTCH YOUTH CARE

F.J. Kauffman and H.M. Pijnenburg

Social Work in Europe, vol. 6, no. 3, 1999, p.44-52

Current Dutch youth care policy is based on the following objectives:

• youth care should be offered as quickly and as closely to the home as possible, and should be as non-invasive as possible;
• existing institutions should be merged into larger-scale multifunctional organisations offering a comprehensive range of care programmes;
• the currently fragmental care practice should be replaced by an integrated systems;
• Youth Care Offices should be established at local level to act as single gateways to all forms of care;
• there should be a system for on-going monitoring and quality control.