Critical Social Welfare Issues

Critical Social Welfare Issues is a collection of lectures by noted social welfare experts that addresses paramount issues facing society and suggests recommendations for positive change. It is a useful handbook for social workers, psychologists, educators, health professionals, and human service administrators and a valuable text for students studying social welfare policy and social work in health care.The result of the Distinguished Lecturers Series instituted at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Critical Social Welfare Issues brings nationally recognized and outstanding social work and allied health care scholars and practitioners together for their views on topics such as: - welfare reform and homelessness in the U.S. - crisis in child welfare and women as victims - the changing structure of African-American families - the growing Hispanic population and the unique challenges they face - mandatory vs. voluntary HIV testing for newborns - the infrastructure of the social work profession - the for-profit market system for social work and health care - the future for health care professionals - de-professionalization in health care - professionals and the political processAs the Editors explain, Critical Social Welfare Issues addresses "the rapidly changing context in the various fields of practice of professional social work and other health care areas. The crises that are identified are newly emerging and part of a long historical process which has been exacerbated by current political and economic changes and events. . . . The threat currently seems to be coming not only from governmental political forces focused to tax reductions and right wing ideologies but for the first time from the non-government sector, the for-profit market system which is projecting huge profits from health care, education, and corrections among other social welfare arenas."

Arthur J Katz, Abraham Lurie, Carlos Vidal

Contents Foreword - Introduction - Chapter 1. Class War and Welfare Reform - Chapter 2. Revisiting the Unseen: Some Unresolved Issues in Homeless Advocacy and Research - Chapter 3. The Crisis in American Child Welfare - Chapter 4. Mandatory versus Voluntary HIV Testing of Newborns - Chapter 5. The Changing Structure of African-American Families - Chapter 6. From the Tenement Class to the Dangerous Class to the Underclass: Blaming Women for Social Problems - Chapter 7. Health and Human Services for Profit - Chapter 8. Legal Regulation and Accreditation: Obstacles to Practice - Chapter 9. Challenges of Managed Care for Health Professionals: Implications for Social Work Practice - Chapter 10. The Substitution Phenomenon of Professionals in the Health Care Industry - Chapter 11. Troubled Preschoolers Making Trouble Later: Is There a Solution? - Chapter 12. Cultural Diversity Among Hispanic Families: Implications for Practitioners - Chapter 13. Power Issues in Social Work Practice - Index - Reference Notes Included