Howard Jacob Karger

David Stoesz

This best-selling text provides a balanced and comprehensive overview of social welfare policy in the United States while examining cutting-edge issues, including: information on the 2008 presidential election, the economy, the housing bust, the passage of Proposition 8 in California, nd much more.

A Pluralist Approach

American Social Welfare Policy

Lela B. Costin

Child abuse policy in the United States contains dangerous contradictions, which have only intenstified as the public slowly accepted it as a middle class problem. One contradiction is the rapidly expanding child abuse industry (made up of enterprising psychotherapists and attorneys) which is consuming enormous resources, while thousands of poor children are seriously injured or killed, many while being "protected" by public agencies. This "rediscovery" has also led to the frenzied pursuit of offenders, resulting in the sacrifice of some innocent people. Moreover, the media's focus on the sensational details of high-visibility sexual abuse cases has helped to trivialize, if not commercialize, the child abuse problem. As such, child abuse has gone from a social problem to a social spectacle. By the 1980s the child welfare system had become a virtual "nonsystem," marked by a staggering turnover of staff, unmanageable caseloads, a severe shortage of funding, and caseloads composed of highly dysfunctional families (many with drug-related problems). To make room for these families, public agencies rationed services by increasingly screening-out child abuse reports which contained little likelihood of serious bodily harm. In The Politics of Child Abuse in America, the authors argue that child abuse must be viewed as a public safety problem. This redefinition would make it congruent with other family-based social trends, including the crackdown on domestic violence. Children must have the same legal protection currently extended to physically and sexually abused women. This can be done by creating a "Children's Authority," which would have the overall charge for protecting children. Specifically, Children's Authorities would have the responsibility for providing the six main functions of child protection: investigation, enforcement, placement services, prevention and education, family support, and research and development. Offering a unique perspective on the cold reality of this crisis, The Politics of Child Abuse in America will be a provocative work for social workers and human service personnel, as well as the general reader concerned with this timely issue.

The Politics of Child Abuse in America

James Midgley

This volume is an edited collection of contemporary social policy debates argued between some of the foremost thinkers in the field of social work as well as prominent authors in other fields. The 18 debate topics included were selected to cover a wide range of professional interests in the field of social policy and are divided into three parts. The book stresses the importance of critical and independent thought in the educational process. Designed for anyone interested in social welfare policy, public policy and contemporary issues at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the book features contemporary, up-to-the-minute debates by some of the top thinkers and policy analysts both inside and outside social work; and jargon-free debates that make the text easily accessible and interesting for students.

Controversial Issues in Social Policy

The author explores the economic strata of predatory lending and high interest rates that surround many poor communities in the U.S., focusing on the pawnshops, payday lenders, check cashers, and credit card companies who target the economically vulnerable.

Life and Debt in the Fringe Economy

Shortchanged

Controversial Issues in Social Policy is an edited collection of contemporary social policy debates argued between some of the foremost thinkers in the field of social work as well as prominent authors in other fields. Its 16 debate topics were selected to cover a wide range of professional interests in the field of social policy and are divided into three parts: Part I: Social Policy and the American Welfare State Part II: The Culture Wars: Discrimination, Stigma and Social Policy Part III: Social Work and Social Service Delivery Issues It is a great text for anyone interested in social welfare policy, public policy and contemporary issues at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It stresses the importance of critical and independent thought in the educational process.

Drive through just about any low-income neighborhood and you're sure to see streets lined with pawnshops, check cashers, rent-to-own stores, payday and tax refund lenders, auto title pawns, and buy-here-pay-here used car lots. We're awash in "alternative financial services" directed at the poor and those with credit problems. Howard Karger describes this world as an economic Wild West, where just about any financial scheme that's not patently illegal is tolerated. Taking a hard look at this fringe economy, Karger shows that what seem to be small, independent storefront operations are actually part of a fully-formed parallel economy dominated by a handful of well-financed corporations, subject to little or no oversight, with increasingly strong ties to mainstream financial institutions. "It is a hidden world," Karger writes, "where a customer's economic fate is sealed with a handshake, a smile, and a stack of fine print documents that would befuddle many attorneys." Filled with heartbreaking stories of real people trapped in perpetual debt, Shortchanged exposes the deceptive practices that allow these businesses to prey on people when they are most vulnerable. Karger reveals the many ways this industry has run amok, ruining countless people's lives, and shows that it's not just the poor but, more and more, maxed-out middle class consumers who fall prey to these devious schemes. Balancing compassion with a realistic awareness of the risks any business faces in working with an economically distressed clientele, Karger details hard headed, practical recommendations for reforming this predatory industry.

Howard Jacob Karger

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