Abstract
The focus of the book Child Protection Systems. International Trends and Orientations is to examine the organizational character and types of interventions that characterize child welfare systems in 10 countries – the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. The book aims at analysing and discussing how child protection systems have developed since the mid-1990s. At that time, nine countries participated in the study ‘Combatting Child Abuse: International Perspectives and Trends’. The chapters in this book include the same countries, with the addition of Norway. One of the key issues in the mid-1990s study was the extent to which each country implied a child protection or a family service orientation in their child abuse reporting system. These two perspectives are also addressed in this contemporary study – each country chapter accounts for how the child protections systems use these perspectives. Additionally, the aim is to look at the development of child welfare policies in each country, such as movements towards privatization and devolution of child welfare service delivery. Another objective of the book is to review the current legislative reforms related to child abuse prevention, the definitions of maltreatment, legal criteria for intervention and administrative processes of referral.
After an introductory chapter, researchers from each of the 10 participating countries account for, and discuss, the situation in their own country. These 10 chapters are divided into three parts, using Esping-Andersen’s (1990) well-known topology of welfare systems. Thus, the first three chapters present descriptions from countries characterized by a liberal welfare system – the United States (Jill Duerr Berrick), Canada (Karen J. Swift) and England (Nigel Parton and David Berridge). The second part covers countries from the Nordic social democratic welfare systems – Sweden (Madeleine Cocozza and Sven E.O. Hort), Finland (Tarja Pösö), Denmark (Anne-Dorthe Hestbæk) and Norway (Marit Skivenes). The third and last part contains countries representing conservative/corporatist welfare systems – Germany (Reinhart Wolff, Kay Biesel and Stefan Heinitz), Belgium (Kristof Desair and Peter Adriaenssens) and the Netherlands (Trudie Knijn and Carolus van Nijnatten). All chapters provide background information of the welfare regime in each country, as well as basic information about the national child welfare system. Furthermore, the chapters provide information about policy trends in child welfare, information about how maltreatment is defined and measures taken in maltreatment cases, information about patterns of out-of-home placements and major trends in the child welfare system. In some of the chapters, references are made to national ‘atrocity tales’; specific fatal cases which has attracted a lot of attention, due to the death of children exposed to neglect and maltreatment.
In the concluding chapter, the editors (Neil Gilbert, Nigel Parton and Marit Skivenes) analyse and discuss how the changes over the intervening 15 years have impacted the structure and functioning of child welfare arrangements, and if – and how – these changes have influenced the previous orientation towards a family service orientation or a child protection orientation. The authors also ask if it is possible to identify new orientations that are not limited to either of the abovementioned perspectives,
In this chapter, it is made clear that all participating countries have experienced a general expansion in the child welfare system since the previous study was made. However, the United States shows a decline in the number of children in out of home care, whereas Canada has had a great increase in the number of placements. One notable issue is the age differences in out-of-home placements in the different countries. The United States, England and Canada have a greater number of younger children placed in care, compared to the Nordic countries, where children in care are older.
In my opinion, the most interesting issue discussed is the change in the representations of the concepts of ‘child protection’ and ‘family service orientation’. ‘Countries previously identified with the child protection orientation have taken on some of the elements of the family service orientation’ (p. 252). Thus, countries such as the United States and England are less focused on ‘risk’, and involve family support in their child welfare practices, whereas the previously clear family service orientation in the Nordic countries (with the exception of Sweden) has changed towards an increasing concern about harm to children.
The authors notice an alternative approach, which they choose to denominate as a child-focused orientation, where the child is regarded as an individual with an independent relation to the state. This perspective makes the child welfare practice potentially opposed to the family. ‘It is not restricted to narrow concerns about harm and abuse; rather, the object of concern is the child’s overall development and well being’ (p. 252). Such a child-focused orientation makes it possible for the state to provide a wide range of early interventions and preventive services, puts children’s rights above parents’ rights, and emphasizes parents’ obligations as caregivers.
This book provides extensive information about the child protection systems in the 10 participating countries, and the concluding chapter addresses the changes and trends in national policies. The approach to child welfare systems makes the book very useful both for teaching and research purposes. My only critical comment concerns the structure of the chapters. It would have been helpful if the national chapters to a higher extent had followed a ‘template’ – a similar structure would have facilitated comparisons between the countries. However, this is a minor comment and I would highly recommend the book, especially for teaching in classes where there is a wide spread of international students.