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Many Family Homes: In Search of Suburbia
We are all familiar with the suburbs.
We all know what we mean by suburbia.
For many family homes of us it is summed up by the 1930s semi-detached family house with front and back gardens.
And many family homes of us have strong feelings about it, whether positive, quiet, safe, leafy, and family-oriented or -negative- think Mike Leigh snobbery and Desperate Housewives undercurrents.
But in fact the suburbs are incredibly varied, both in date and in the type of homes provided.
So why do we have such a strong tendency to homogenise this vast diversity?
Is there really such a place as suburbia or are there many family homes different and changing suburbias?
There is no easy rule of thumb for a child welfare worker to use in deciding between individual foster family homes and family care or some form of specialized group care. Nor are there clear-cut "rules" for helping the child and adults involved to make full use of the substitute care opportunity. Years of training and experience plus special sensitivity are required. People of this kind with skills and knowledge needed to provide or supervise such services are in short supply. Good foster care facilities of all kinds are also lacking and there is a particular need for facilities for the growing numbers of already seriously damaged children for whom neither family nor community has yet been able to provide adequate service.
In the United States, child welfare services are offered under a variety of governmental and voluntary auspices, whether or not there is a concurrent need for financial assistance. One of the most descriptive and comprehensive definitions found in the Social Security Act as amended in 1962 states that "child welfare services means public social services which supplement, or substitute for parental care and supervision for the purpose of (1) preventing or remedying, or assisting in the solution of problems which may result in the neglect, abuse, exploitation, or delinquency of children, (2) protecting and caring for homeless, dependent, or neglected children, (3) protecting and promoting the welfare of children of working mothers, and (4) otherwise protecting and promoting the welfare of children, including the strengthening of their own homes where possible or, where needed, the provision of adequate care of children away from their homes in foster family homes or day care or other child care facilities." |
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