SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY

Assessment of US Social Welfare Policy Project

Assessment of US Social Welfare Policy Project

Child Welfare and Diversity

History

From the earliest historical documents, children appear as a commodity to be bought, sold or even put to death, and they are considered the property of their father. The tendency of the state to intervene in child care is a relatively recent phenomenon. At the time of the "child support" starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, various charities, religious and charitable organizations undertake to help the abandoned children, orphans and neglected children. These organizations run orphanages, training schools and asylums for the poor, seeking to ensure that the education of children of citizens will be disciplined, industrious and literate (Miller, 1999).

Children are primarily the responsibility of the family. Provincial governments provide facilities such as prisons, remand homes and trade schools, and support orphanages run by churches and private organizations. They also establish a system of apprenticeships that a child can be given to an employer in exchange for room and board, and sometimes pay. At that time, most Canadians live on farms, and family survival relies heavily on child labor.

The problem of social children at work is, however, linked to the rise of industrialism and capitalism. This phenomenon occurs with the development of the domestic system, which is replaced by the industrial system. In America, child labor does not then a situation as serious as in England or Europe, because the country remains predominantly agricultural well into the twentieth century. However, when poverty and indigence, promoted by industrialization and urbanization are beginning to take its toll, few public health services and public assistance are available (Hallett and Prout, 2003). The growing number of poor children and homeless in urban centers, increased youth crime and changes in the practices of child labor are forcing governments to respond to the plight of children.

Impacts

The impacts on children are diverse. Children of the poor in particular suffer from the deteriorating provision of welfare by the state, becoming increasingly dependent on the resources of their (increasingly impoverished) families. Where other factors such as the AIDS pandemic intervene, and families' capacities to cope are stretched, children are confronted with particularly challenging situations, moved from family to family, and often bearing the brunt of their relatives' frustrations. However, it is not only orphan hood that parts children from their parents (Sanders, 2004). While rendered the responsibility of their families, many children are separated from parents who are forced to work to provide for them, sometimes travelling overseas in search of decent work. It is not only the children of the poor that affected by these changes in the ways in which the welfare of the young is delivered (Parton, 2006).

Children are increasingly removed from social environments, which are becoming more and more the preserve of adults. Moreover, their private environments are increasingly exposed to surveillance through, for instance, nanny cams and child monitors that allow absent parents a sense that they are securing ...