Chapter 13: Policy Flashcards
What does government policy seek to improve?
the lives of families
What is social policy?
A set of planned actions to solve a social problem or attain a social goal
What is public policy?
Government-based social policy is often referred to as public policy
What are the purposes of social policies?
- Provide information
- Provide funding to achieve goals (i.e., child protection services)
- Provide services to prevent or reduce problems
What historical changes have taken place in child policy priorities?
- Late 1800s - Working conditions for children
- Current concerns: Poverty, health, education, child care, teenage parenthood, and child abuse, among others
to what extent are social policies effective?
Social policies are effective only to the extent funds are available to support them
What are primary prevention policies?
A set of planned actions designed to alter environmental conditions and prevent problems before they develop
What are secondary prevention policies?
A set of planned actions targeted at children who are already at risk of developing serious problems
Types of public policy: What is parent directed intervention?
Supports parents psychologically and improves their child-rearing skills
Types of public policy: What is intervention with parents and children?
- Children are helped through preschool education, child care, and healthcare
- Parents are assisted through education, job training, and parenting-skills training
Types of public policy: How can programs target children directly
Improve the quality of schools in impoverished areas or funding after-school programs
Types of public policy: What do Policies that focus on ameliorating or “fixing” problems after they have developed focus on
- Programs to reduce gang violence
- programs to encourage pregnant teens to stay in school
What are the disadvantages and consequences of poverty? (A social policy challenge)
Disadvantages:
-Powerlessnes
-Lack of information and education
-Lack of resources and restricted options
-Cycle of disadvantage
Consequences:
-Psychological distress, feel helpless, insecure, and controlled by external forces; inability to support and nurture their children
What are poor children more likely to experience compared to affluent children?
(especially when poverty is experienced in early childhood)
- Have low birth weight
- Spend time in the hospital
- Die during childhood
- Suffer from emotional or behavioral problems
- Suffer from child abuse or neglect
- Encounter violent crime
- Drop out of school
Through which routes does poverty affect children?
- Quality of the home environment
- Parents’ physical and emotional problems
- Neighborhoods with high crime and unemployment, little supervision of children, and limited resources
- Family disruptions
What are the qualities that characterize effective programs for poor families?
- Begin early in life and continued over a long period of time
- Involve parents as well as children
- Focus on improving both parent-child relationships and families’ natural support systems
- Involve community resources
What are the reasons we need childcare?
- Rise of maternal employment (maternal employment is often a necessity due to single parenthood, divorce, or difficult economic times)
- Geographic mobility: Families live farther from extended family who might have cared for children
- Changing views about what children need for social and cognitive development
Childcare is a program that lacks a unified policy
In choosing child care, what 3 things do parents balance?
Cost, convenience and quality
What determines childcare quality?
- Expert opinion: Small size group of children, a low child-adult ratio, and a high level of caregiver training
- Parent priorities: Safe and secure with a warm caregiver and opportunities for the child to learn
What are the 3 types of child care?
- Nanny
- Family child care home
- center care