Ilan Katz – författare

The Welfare of Children with Mentally Ill Parents examines theinterventions made by professional workers from a range ofdifferent disciplines in families with dependent children and amentally ill parent. The authors compare responses of professionalsin ten European countries and one state in Australia. The analysisof the differences sheds new light on both the inherent andsystem-determined difficulties in helping families to manage theirsituation effectively. * Features the only comparative study of mental health socialservices and the law governing compulsory hospital admission * Covers a current "hot-button" topic that is growing in importanceas the impact of social policy developments on children over timebecomes more apparent * Offers a unique perspective due to the focus on the impact ofchildren of mentally ill parents and the international systems thatdeal with child protection

The delivery of effective family support is a key global childwelfare issue, yet there is little consensus on what constitutesfamily support or what the best ways are to evaluate it. Evaluating Family Support: Thinking Internationally, ThinkingCritically offers a full review of the conceptual andoperational problems involved in this complex and topicalfield. Ilan Katz and John Pinkerton have brought together a team ofexperienced child care policy analysts and evaluators to presentthe current state of critical thinking alongside detailedinternational case studies. The chapters offer revealing glimpsesinto the nature of family support across the world, as well as anoverview of the challenges facing both practitioners andresearchers.

The delivery of effective family support is a key global childwelfare issue, yet there is little consensus on what constitutesfamily support or what the best ways are to evaluate it. Evaluating Family Support: Thinking Internationally, ThinkingCritically offers a full review of the conceptual andoperational problems involved in this complex and topicalfield. Ilan Katz and John Pinkerton have brought together a team ofexperienced child care policy analysts and evaluators to presentthe current state of critical thinking alongside detailedinternational case studies. The chapters offer revealing glimpsesinto the nature of family support across the world, as well as anoverview of the challenges facing both practitioners andresearchers.

The Welfare of Children with Mentally Ill Parents examines theinterventions made by professional workers from a range ofdifferent disciplines in families with dependent children and amentally ill parent. The authors compare responses of professionalsin ten European countries and one state in Australia. The analysisof the differences sheds new light on both the inherent andsystem-determined difficulties in helping families to manage theirsituation effectively.* Features the only comparative study of mental health socialservices and the law governing compulsory hospital admission* Covers a current "hot-button" topic that is growing in importanceas the impact of social policy developments on children over timebecomes more apparent* Offers a unique perspective due to the focus on the impact ofchildren of mentally ill parents and the international systems thatdeal with child protection

For several decades the issues of race, identity and child development have been of major concern to policy makers and practitioners in social services. This book is a major contribution to this literature, and offers a radically new way of looking at some of these issues. Based on intensive research on interracial families with young children, the book reviews the previous literature relating to racial identity development, especially relating to biracial children, and shows it to be based on flawed assumptions.Using intensive observations and in-depth interviews with parents of biracial children the author shows the many ways in which inter-racial families deal with issues of identity and difference. He concludes with a discussion of alternative conceptions of identity, race and development which will provide both practitioners and policy makers with new ways to think about these issues.

Documenting experiences representative of all those involved in the adoption process - adoptee, adoptive and birth parent and professional, and informed by psychoanalytic and social and cultural theory perspectives, this important addition to the literature on adoption highlights a new dimension in social policy, welfare work and personal accounts in this field.The Dynamics of Adoption shows that fantasy and emotion are integral parts of the experience and affect the nature of thought itself. Applying this to the complexity of the adoption experience, it combines personal accounts with chapters by professionals. The personal accounts present detailed reflection on the feelings expressed, shedding new light on the problems of loss, feelings of abandonment and the dynamics of attachment. Using a more conceptual and clinical framework the viewpoints of the professionals are also used to explore the feelings and fantasies of the families involved producing new insight into the vexed dynamics involved in adoption.This book will enable practitioners, policy makers and families themselves to appreciate the many layers of the difficult process of adoption, and to apply this understanding creatively to their own decisions and experiences.

This book is about development, reform and sustainability in child protection systems. Tackling deep and enduring challenges that confront child protection and child welfare systems across international jurisdictions, the book addresses two critical questions – why is it so difficult to develop and sustain responsive systems of child protection? And what can be done to support effective system reform?  Informed by universally applied concepts of child protection typology-building within a systemic framework, this book brings together a team of international authors who take a fresh look at the concept and realities of change in country-specific child protection systems. Exploring these experiences, the editors identify three broad approaches to change: Development-Focused Change; Reform-Focused Change; and System-Improvement Change. Based on this analysis, they argue that stable and enduring solutions that are culturally responsive to the needs of diverse populations will not be found through repetitive processes of critique, review and reform. What is needed, whether the system is newly or well established, is an in-depth understanding of systemic change itself and the practical ways in which this influences a system trajectory in both positive and negative ways. This book addresses this need.The challenging environment within which child protection exists and the significant costs of developing, reforming and maintaining child protection systems, creates a critical imperative in contemporary systems of child protection for an understanding of effective reform, and a need to learn from other systems about how effective reform can be sustained. Given the ubiquitous nature of welfare reform, there has never been a more important time to apply a systemic lens. Mapping trajectories of change, the authors of the 15 country-specific-chapters of this contributed volume provide a uniquely different approach to the task of developing, reforming and maintaining child protection systems.Trajectories of Change in Child Protection Systems is relevant reading for child welfare policy and practice workers, managers and activists, as well as scholarly audiences and students interested in child and family welfare and children's rights.