ERIC Number: ED180586
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1978-Oct
Pages: 32
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Trends in Foster Care and Adoption: Canadian Child Welfare Services 1959-1977.
Hepworth, H. Philip
This paper summarizes findings of a baseline study of Canadian child welfare services and provides a critique of current social policy in Canada. Presently, Canadians have the largest number ever of 15 to 19 year olds (n = 2,369,000). This record number of children born in the late 1950s and early 1960s is likely to affect the number of births in the near future. At the same time an increasing number of children over 15 years of age are receiving welfare service. The pressure of demand from this adolescent age group may lead to an overestimation of the degree of emotional disturbance among the adolescents in care. Adoptions, while more frequent than before, are now less supervised. The total number of children in any one generation in contact with child welfare services is very large and indicates a major child care problem in Canada. Although institutions are notoriously resistant to change, Canadians have to break down many traditions of specialization and compartmentalization, if children are to be cared for properly. Canadians should be engaging in a major debate about the so-called welfare state. A major responsibility of those concerned with the provision of social services is to point out to governments the social and demographic realities of society. Provisional statistical data concerning foster care and adoption are appended. (Author/RH)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A