Suchergebnisse

Reports one aspect of research conducted about a year ago into the operation of tribunals hearing appeals on supplementary benefit matters. Concentrates on the role of tribunal members in the public part of the hearing. Suggests that while most members contribute during this part of the hearing, such as by questioning appellants, representatives or presenting officers, a minority very rarely do so. (Abstract amended)

Section 12 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 gave social work departments in Scotland the power to offer financial aid to any member of the community to 'promote social welfare'. Although a major break with past practice and theory, it seems that these new powers have been used to different extents by social work departments. The aim of this paper is to show how an explanation of these variations might be attempted, first, the paper reviews such ways of accounting for the variations as the extent to which financial aid is used as a substitute for payments by the SBC, the possibility that financial aid is being used as a substitute for other services, and the way that decisions are made in social work departments and variations in staffing. Secondly, it looks at the correlation between variables which might be seen as a measure of these items and variations in the provision of financial aid. In conclusion, it is suggested that a fairly high proportion of the variations in the provision of financial aid can be explained by two variables: the total expenditure on social work by the authority and the number of children under eighteen multiplied by the proportion of the authority's population in Socio-Economic Grouping II.

The ABS surveys of 1981 and 1988 show that within the total population of handicapped persons a number of families with dependents have one or both parents who are handicapped. Also included within this group are lone handicapped parents and families who have in addition some other non-dependent handicapped person living with them. Besides the usual socio-economic problems surrounding disabling conditions this group are also faced with the difficulties associated with the everyday tasks of parenting. Yet, judging by the professional and research literature, they have received scant attention here in Australia or elsewhere.This paper reports the results of a small qualitative pilot study of 19 families in which one of the parents had some physical handicap and which examined the everyday parenting tasks faced by them. It reports on some of the difficulties they experienced and also the affirmative action they took to overcome those difficulties.