With welfare reform at the top of the U.S. Congress agenda, the orphanage debate has resurfaced. The current child welfare system is flawed, operating to the detriment of tens of thousands of children. Foster care, intended to act as a temporary solution, has become inadequate permanent care. While adoption is a solution for some children, many children are difficult to place or legally unavailable for permanent placement. Editor Richard B. Mc Kenzie contends that the resurgence of private orphanages or children′s homes will become an option for those children. Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century reviews the policy reforms necessary for these homes to become reliable solutions for many of the nation′s disadvantaged and abused children. This edited volume includes entirely new works and maintains continuity and cohesiveness as it explores a variety of topics ranging from judicial issues, child maltreatment, history of orphanages, regulation and funding, and solutions for reform. Mc Kenzie, who grew up in an orphanage in the 1950s, includes the first and only large-scale survey of orphanage alumni, involving 1, 600 respondents. He found that as a group, they outpaced their counterparts in the general population by significant margins on nearly all levels, including education, income, and attitude toward life.
Child welfare professionals, policymakers, sociologists, social workers, and family studies scholars will find this timely volume of great interest.
Table of Content
Foreword – Heidi GoldsmithRethinking Orphanages – Richard B Mc Kenzie
An Introduction
PART ONE: CHILD CARE IN THE UNITED STATES
The State of Child Welfare – Conna Craig and Derek Herbert
The Nation′s Child Welfare Problems as Viewed from the Bench – Estella Moriarty
Family Preservation and Child Maltreatment – Richard J Gelles
PART TWO: THE HISTORY AND IMPACT OF ORPHANAGES
The Rise and Fall of American Orphanages – Marvin Olasky
The 1994 Orphanage Debate – Ross D London
A Study in the Politics of Annihilation
Orphanage Alumni – Richard B Mc Kenzie
How They Have Done and How They Evaluate Their Experience
Research on the Psychological Effects of Orphanage Care – John N Mc Call
A Critical Review
Fostering the Demand for Adoptions – William F Shughart II and William F Chappell
An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Orphanages and Foster Care on Adoptions in the United States
PART THREE: PROBLEMS IN BRINGING BACK ORPHANAGES
Social Security, Social Workers and the Care of Dependent Children – Karol C Boudreaux and Donald J Boudreaux
A Public Choice Analysis of Child Care Dollars – Dwight R Lee
The Political Bias in Favor of the Status Quo
Who will Mow the Lawn at Boys Town – Margaret Mc Farlane Wright
Child Labor Laws in an Institutional Setting
The Regulation of Orphanages – Michael De Bow
A Survey and Critique
Funding Our Children′s Future – Joseph L Maxwell III
The Interplay of Funding and Regulatory Philosophies on Private Children′s Homes
The Cost of Care in Institutions and Families – Donald Wyant, Del Bradshaw and Richard B Mc Kenzie
PART FOUR: THE PATH TO REFORM
Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century – Richard B Mc Kenzie
A Search for Reform of the Nation′s Child Welfare System
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