Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century
Purchase
Description
With welfare reform at the top of the U.S. Congress agenda, the orphanage debate has resurfaced. The current child welfare system is flawed, operating to the detriment of tens of thousands of children. Foster care, intended to act as a temporary solution, has become inadequate permanent care. While adoption is a solution for some children, many children are difficult to place or legally unavailable for permanent placement. Editor Richard B. McKenzie contends that the resurgence of private orphanages or children's homes will become an option for those children. Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century reviews the policy reforms necessary for these homes to become reliable solutions for many of the nation's disadvantaged and abused children. This edited volume includes entirely new works and maintains continuity and cohesiveness as it explores a variety of topics ranging from judicial issues, child maltreatment, history of orphanages, regulation and funding, and solutions for reform. McKenzie, who grew up in an orphanage in the 1950s, includes the first and only large-scale survey of orphanage alumni, involving 1,600 respondents. He found that as a group, they outpaced their counterparts in the general population by significant margins on nearly all levels, including education, income, and attitude toward life.
Child welfare professionals, policymakers, sociologists, social workers, and family studies scholars will find this timely volume of great interest.
Contents
Foreword
Foreword
Rethinking Orphanages
- An Introduction
PART ONE: CHILD CARE IN THE UNITED STATES
- The State of Child Welfare
- The Nation's Child Welfare Problems as Viewed from the Bench
- Family Preservation and Child Maltreatment
PART TWO: THE HISTORY AND IMPACT OF ORPHANAGES
- The Rise and Fall of American Orphanages
- The 1994 Orphanage Debate
- A Study in the Politics of Annihilation
- Orphanage Alumni
- How They Have Done and How They Evaluate Their Experience
- Research on the Psychological Effects of Orphanage Care
- A Critical Review
- Fostering the Demand for Adoptions
- An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Orphanages and Foster Care on Adoptions in the United States
PART THREE: PROBLEMS IN BRINGING BACK ORPHANAGES
- Social Security, Social Workers and the Care of Dependent Children
- A Public Choice Analysis of Child Care Dollars
- The Political Bias in Favor of the Status Quo
- Who will Mow the Lawn at Boys Town
- Child Labor Laws in an Institutional Setting
- The Regulation of Orphanages
- A Survey and Critique
- Funding Our Children's Future
- The Interplay of Funding and Regulatory Philosophies on Private Children's Homes
- The Cost of Care in Institutions and Families
PART FOUR: THE PATH TO REFORM
- Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century
- A Search for Reform of the Nation's Child Welfare System
Description
With welfare reform at the top of the U.S. Congress agenda, the orphanage debate has resurfaced. The current child welfare system is flawed, operating to the detriment of tens of thousands of children. Foster care, intended to act as a temporary solution, has become inadequate permanent care. While adoption is a solution for some children, many children are difficult to place or legally unavailable for permanent placement. Editor Richard B. McKenzie contends that the resurgence of private orphanages or children's homes will become an option for those children. Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century reviews the policy reforms necessary for these homes to become reliable solutions for many of the nation's disadvantaged and abused children. This edited volume includes entirely new works and maintains continuity and cohesiveness as it explores a variety of topics ranging from judicial issues, child maltreatment, history of orphanages, regulation and funding, and solutions for reform. McKenzie, who grew up in an orphanage in the 1950s, includes the first and only large-scale survey of orphanage alumni, involving 1,600 respondents. He found that as a group, they outpaced their counterparts in the general population by significant margins on nearly all levels, including education, income, and attitude toward life.
Child welfare professionals, policymakers, sociologists, social workers, and family studies scholars will find this timely volume of great interest.
Contents
Foreword
Foreword
Rethinking Orphanages
- An Introduction
PART ONE: CHILD CARE IN THE UNITED STATES
- The State of Child Welfare
- The Nation's Child Welfare Problems as Viewed from the Bench
- Family Preservation and Child Maltreatment
PART TWO: THE HISTORY AND IMPACT OF ORPHANAGES
- The Rise and Fall of American Orphanages
- The 1994 Orphanage Debate
- A Study in the Politics of Annihilation
- Orphanage Alumni
- How They Have Done and How They Evaluate Their Experience
- Research on the Psychological Effects of Orphanage Care
- A Critical Review
- Fostering the Demand for Adoptions
- An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Orphanages and Foster Care on Adoptions in the United States
PART THREE: PROBLEMS IN BRINGING BACK ORPHANAGES
- Social Security, Social Workers and the Care of Dependent Children
- A Public Choice Analysis of Child Care Dollars
- The Political Bias in Favor of the Status Quo
- Who will Mow the Lawn at Boys Town
- Child Labor Laws in an Institutional Setting
- The Regulation of Orphanages
- A Survey and Critique
- Funding Our Children's Future
- The Interplay of Funding and Regulatory Philosophies on Private Children's Homes
- The Cost of Care in Institutions and Families
PART FOUR: THE PATH TO REFORM
- Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century
- A Search for Reform of the Nation's Child Welfare System
September 1998 | 334 pages | Sage US
| Format | Published Date | ISBN | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 28/02/2026 | 9780761914433 | $235.00 |
| Paperback | 28/02/2026 | 9780761914440 | $169.00 |
| 180 Day Ebook | 28/02/2026 | 9781452264929 | $67.00 |
| Lifetime | 28/02/2026 | 9781452264929 | $97.00 |
With welfare reform at the top of the U.S. Congress agenda, the orphanage debate has resurfaced. The current child welfare system is flawed, operating to the detriment of tens of thousands of children. Foster care, intended to act as a temporary solution, has become inadequate permanent care. While adoption is a solution for some children, many children are difficult to place or legally unavailable for permanent placement. Editor Richard B. McKenzie contends that the resurgence of private orphanages or children's homes will become an option for those children. Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century reviews the policy reforms necessary for these homes to become reliable solutions for many of the nation's disadvantaged and abused children. This edited volume includes entirely new works and maintains continuity and cohesiveness as it explores a variety of topics ranging from judicial issues, child maltreatment, history of orphanages, regulation and funding, and solutions for reform. McKenzie, who grew up in an orphanage in the 1950s, includes the first and only large-scale survey of orphanage alumni, involving 1,600 respondents. He found that as a group, they outpaced their counterparts in the general population by significant margins on nearly all levels, including education, income, and attitude toward life.
Child welfare professionals, policymakers, sociologists, social workers, and family studies scholars will find this timely volume of great interest.
Table Of Contents:
- Foreword
- Rethinking Orphanages
- An Introduction
- PART ONE: CHILD CARE IN THE UNITED STATES
- The State of Child Welfare
- The Nation's Child Welfare Problems as Viewed from the Bench
- Family Preservation and Child Maltreatment
- PART TWO: THE HISTORY AND IMPACT OF ORPHANAGES
- The Rise and Fall of American Orphanages
- The 1994 Orphanage Debate
- A Study in the Politics of Annihilation
- Orphanage Alumni
- How They Have Done and How They Evaluate Their Experience
- Research on the Psychological Effects of Orphanage Care
- A Critical Review
- Fostering the Demand for Adoptions
- An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Orphanages and Foster Care on Adoptions in the United States
- PART THREE: PROBLEMS IN BRINGING BACK ORPHANAGES
- Social Security, Social Workers and the Care of Dependent Children
- A Public Choice Analysis of Child Care Dollars
- The Political Bias in Favor of the Status Quo
- Who will Mow the Lawn at Boys Town
- Child Labor Laws in an Institutional Setting
- The Regulation of Orphanages
- A Survey and Critique
- Funding Our Children's Future
- The Interplay of Funding and Regulatory Philosophies on Private Children's Homes
- The Cost of Care in Institutions and Families
- PART FOUR: THE PATH TO REFORM
- Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century
- A Search for Reform of the Nation's Child Welfare System