Child Welfare Systems and Migrant Children

A Cross Country Study of Policies and Practice

Edited by Marit Skivenes, Ravinder Barn, Katrin Kriz, and Tarja Pösö

International Policy Exchange

Hardly any academic work on this topic.
Hardly any comparative research.
A unique survey material of 900 child welfare workers.
A controversial and hotbed topic.

Child Welfare Systems and Migrant Children

A Cross Country Study of Policies and Practice

Edited by Marit Skivenes, Ravinder Barn, Katrin Kriz, and Tarja Pösö

Description

Child Welfare Systems and Migrant Children examines where, why and to what extent immigrant children are represented in the child welfare system in different countries. These countries include Australia/New Zealand, Belgium/the Netherlands, England, Estonia, Canada, Finland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Norway, and the United States--all of them having different child welfare philosophies and systems as well as histories and practices in immigration. By comparing policies and practices in child welfare systems (and welfare states), especially in terms of how they conceptualize and deal with immigrant children and their families, we address an immensely important and pressing issue in modern societies. Immigrants in the child welfare system are a critical issue and they seem to face serious challenges that are evident across countries. These are challenges related to lack of language proficiency, lack of knowledge about cultural and social aspects and about the public systems of the destination country. Perhaps most relevantly, the challenges may include collisions of ideas and beliefs about how to raise children, about children's place in the family and society, and about children's rights.

Child Welfare Systems and Migrant Children

A Cross Country Study of Policies and Practice

Edited by Marit Skivenes, Ravinder Barn, Katrin Kriz, and Tarja Pösö

International Policy Exchange

Contents

Chapter 1
Child Welfare Systems and Migrant Families: An Introduction

Part I. Family service oriented child welfare systems within social democratic welfare states
Chapter 2
How the Finnish child protection system meets migrant families and children

Chapter 3
How the Norwegian child welfare system approaches migrant children

Chapter 4
Immigrant Children and Families in the Child Welfare System: The Netherlands

Chapter 5
Immigrant Children and Families in the Child Welfare System in Austria

Part II. Family service oriented child welfare systems within conservative (and Latin) welfare states
Chapter 6
Child Welfare Systems and Immigrant Families: The Case of Spain

Chapter 7
Public services and migrant minors in Italy: A new path for social work

Part III. Child protection oriented child welfare systems within liberal welfare states
Chapter 8
The United States: Child Protection in the Context of Competing Policy Mandates

Chapter 9
Child Welfare Systems and Immigrant Families: Canada

Chapter 10
Child welfare and migrant families and children: A case study of England

Chapter 11
Child protection of migrants in Australia

Chapter 12
Immigrant Children and Families in Estonian Child Protection System

Part IV. Concluding remarks
Chapter13
Migrant Children and Child Welfare: A Contested Challenge

Appendix - Survey method overview
Index

Child Welfare Systems and Migrant Children

A Cross Country Study of Policies and Practice

Edited by Marit Skivenes, Ravinder Barn, Katrin Kriz, and Tarja Pösö

International Policy Exchange

Author Information

Marit Skivenes, PhD, is Professor of Social Sciences in the Department of Administration and Organization Theory at the University of Bergen in Norway.

Ravinder Barn, PhD, is Professor of Social Policy, Royal Holloway, at the University of
London.

Katrin Kriz, PhD, is Associate Professor of Sociology at Emmanuel College.

Tarja Pösö, PhD, is Professor of Social Work at the University of Tampere.

Contributors:

RAVINDER BARN
Centre for Criminology and Sociology
Royal Holloway
University of London, UK

ROBERTA T. DI ROSA
Department of Culture & Society
Area of Sociology
University of Palermo, Italy

ILZE EARNER
School of Social Work
Hunter College
New York,

HANS GRIETENS
Centre for Special Needs Education & Youth Care
Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences
University of Groningen, The Netherlands

ILAN KATZ
Social Policy Research Centre
The University of New South Wales
Kensington, Australia

DEREK KIRTON
School of Social Policy
Sociology and Social Research
University of Kent, UK

KATRIN KRIZ
Department of Sociology
Emmanuel College

BRUCE LESLIE
Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto
and Factor-Inwentash
Faculty of Social Work
University of Toronto, Canada.

MERLE LINNO
Faculty of Social Sciences and Education
University of Tartu, Estonia

SARAH MAITER
School of Social Work
York University, Toronto, Canada

ANTONIO LÓPEZ PELÁEZ
Department of Social Work
Faculty of Law
National Distance Education University (UNED), Spain

TARJA PÖSÖ
School of Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Tampere, Finland

CHRISTOPH REINPRECHT
Department of Sociology
The University of Vienna, Austria

SAGRARIO SEGADO SÁNCHEZ-CABEZUDO
Department of Social Work
Faculty of Law
National Distance Education University (UNED), Spain

MARIT SKIVENES
Faculty of Health and Social work
Bergen University College &
Department of Administration and Organization Theory
Bergen University, Norway

JUDIT STRÖMPL
Faculty of Social Sciences and Education
University of Tartu, Estonia

Child Welfare Systems and Migrant Children

A Cross Country Study of Policies and Practice

Edited by Marit Skivenes, Ravinder Barn, Katrin Kriz, and Tarja Pösö

International Policy Exchange

Reviews and Awards

"The authors of these international perspectives on government policies for child-welfare-involved migrant children and families present an outstanding summary of current practices and problems. Organizing the 11 country chapters into three parts according to welfare state typologies, the editors overlay a convincing frame that global migration has political, economic, and social roots. Each country's narrative introduces readers to the history and scope of the problem of migrant children and offers an overview of its child protection system, including professional training of its workforce. This [is a] clear and comprehensive cross-national comparison of a growing issue of global concern to social work. Recommended." --J. C. Altman, CHOICE Magazine