Suchergebnisse

The draft children's services regulation announced in April 2004 included a minimum standard staff child ratio of 1:5 for children aged under 2 years in centre-based and mobile children's services. The 2002 draft regulation proposed a better staff child ratio of 1:4. This research examined the likely impact of the 1:4 staff child ratio. The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report commissioned by the NSW Department of Community Services found that the balance of benefits and costs supported the 2002 draft regulation of 1:4 staff child ratio, even under worst case scenarios (PWC, 2003). National and international research on a minimum staff child ratio for care of children aged under 2 years supports a 1:4 ratio. It is consistent with NSW Government commitment to early childhood development, national and international recommended standards, outcomes for children and improving the availability of qualified and experienced early childhood staff.

Through the perspectives of young people themselves, this book reviews changes in policy and practices that affected the generation of young people who grew up in state care in China during the last 20 years.

1. Introduction to child disability in China -- 2. Rights of children with disabilities in China -- 3. Profile of children with disabilities and families in China -- 4. Welfare provision of children with disabilities -- 5. Right to life and protection -- 6. Right to care and protection : support for mothers -- 7. Right to care and protection : alternative family care -- 8. Right to economic security -- 9. Right to children's development : health and therapy services -- 10. Right to children's development : education policy -- 11. Right to children's development : education experiences -- 12. Right to social participation : social institutions of support -- 13. Interrelated rights and social exclusion -- 14. Child and family disability policy in China.

Abstract
Social workers with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) should assist them to have timely access to high-quality therapy services. This research addresses the gap between policy intention to improve the quality of therapy services and families' unmet needs by examining the policy implementation practices of therapy service organisations. A longitudinal study was conducted in Beijing from 2013 to 2022. Qualitative data were obtained from policy documents and interviews with the managers of therapy service organisations (n = 17), therapists (n = 19) and families of children with ASD (n = 35). It found that the government policies created service challenges for the organisations. Managers adopted a short-term focus on organisational survival due to inadequate resources to implement the policy, intensified competition for therapists and service users and pressure from performance measurement. They focused on improving the sites, facilities, publicity and documentation of the organisations rather than the effectiveness of therapy services. Consequently, families still felt they were unable to access good quality therapy. The implications reinforce the significance for social workers to work with the government to actively supporting the training of therapists, establishing meaningful service quality measurement and promoting practical guidance about service quality standards to families of children with ASD.

Purpose
As transition countries shift to a mixed welfare system, the accountability of non-government organizations (NGOs) becomes critical to quality services. Yet, poor financial and managerial practices of some NGOs in China have led to distrust from citizens. The purpose of this paper is to use a democratic accountability framework to examine citizen participation in NGOs as an approach to understand an angle of this distrust. Does the Chinese language academic literature about NGO accountability engage with concepts of participation in NGO governance, management and service use?


Design/methodology/approach
The method was content analysis of a search of words and concepts relating to NGOs, participation and accountability in the available Chinese language literature on NGO accountability through the newly developed search engine Wenjin Search of the National Library of China.


Findings
The analysis found that most Chinese literature only emphasizes problems of accountability, causes and regulatory solutions. When the literature includes participation, it refers to it as a platform for civil society, rather than a process of accountability within an NGO.


Research limitations/implications
Searching by keywords in one search engine may not be exhaustive. The results probably reflect most of the current research of Chinese scholars, considering the depth of the search engine.


Practical implications
Formal NGOs are relatively new in the Chinese political landscape; and government regulations are largely administrative and unenforced. At conceptual and political levels, the absence of discussion about other forms of accountability ignores questions about public dissatisfaction with NGO performance and the public's willingness to contribute to NGO effectiveness, and civic engagement.


Originality/value
An implication is that until Chinese NGO research also incorporates democratic accountability concepts, it will continue to ignore the internal and external drivers from citizens for NGO change. Transition country NGOs that encourage participation have the potential to engender greater accountability in the organization, community and in state relations.

Negative attitudes are a major barrier to the equality of people with disabilities. Governments and other organizations have implemented numerous programmes to change attitudes towards people with disabilities. We analyse published evidence about the effectiveness of such programmes using a framework of the interrelationship among three levels of policy intervention to change attitudes: personal level – directed at changing the attitudes of individuals; organizational level – concerning attitudinal barriers in domains such as employment, education and health; and government level – legally mandating behaviour change. The analysis finds that the following policy types can be effective if used together: policies that involve direct contact with people with disability; information and awareness campaigns; education and training about disability; and antidiscrimination enforcement. Policy characteristics that contribute to effectiveness include a positive programme experience for participants; multifaceted and prolonged interventions; and adequate programme resources. Policy effectiveness to change attitudes relies on corresponding reinforcement at all three policy levels.