Catching a Case : Inequality and Fear in New York City's Child Welfare System / Tina Lee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lee, Tina, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discrimination--New York (State)--New York.

Discrimination.

Family services--New York (State)--New York.

Family services.

Social service--New York (State)--New York.

Social service.

Low-income parents--New York (State)--New York.

Low-income parents.

Child abuse--New York (State)--New York.

Child abuse.

Child welfare--New York (State)--New York.

Child welfare.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (258 p.)

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Influenced by news reports of young children brutalized by their parents, most of us see the role of child services as the prevention of severe physical abuse. But as Tina Lee shows in Catching a Case, most child welfare cases revolve around often ill-founded charges of neglect, and the parents swept into the system are generally struggling but loving, fighting to raise their children in the face of crushing poverty, violent crime, poor housing, lack of childcare, and failing schools. Lee explored the child welfare system in New York City, observing family courts, interviewing parents and following them through the system, asking caseworkers for descriptions of their work and their decision-making processes, and discussing cases with attorneys on all sides. What she discovered about the system is troubling. Lee reveals that, in the face of draconian budget cuts and a political climate that blames the poor for their own poverty, child welfare practices have become punitive, focused on removing children from their families and on parental compliance with rules. Rather than provide needed help for families, case workers often hold parents to standards almost impossible for working-class and poor parents to meet. For instance, parents can be accused of neglect for providing inadequate childcare or housing even when they cannot afford anything better. In many cases, child welfare exacerbates family problems and sometimes drives parents further into poverty while the family court system does little to protect their rights. Catching a Case is a much-needed wake-up call to improve the child welfare system, and to offer more comprehensive social services that will allow all children to thrive.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. A History of Child Welfare in New York City

3. The Life of a Child Welfare Case

4. Fear and a System in Crisis

5. Policing versus Helping in Child Welfare

6. Defining Neglect and Risk Assessment in Practice

7. Power in Child Welfare: Compliance and Rights

8. Re-creating Stratified Reproduction and System Change

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 22. Okt 2019)

ISBN:

0-8135-7616-4

OCLC:

948512108