Family-Centered Policies and Practices

International Implications

Katharine Briar-Lawson, Hal Lawson, Charles Hennon, Alan Jones

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2001
• ISBN:
  9780231504362
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Lavoro in ambito sociale

Analyzing the critical juncture of family-centered policy and practice, this book places the universal institution of the family in a global context. By including a conceptual framework as well as practice components, the authors offer an original multimodal approach toward understanding family-centered policy practice from an international perspective. It provides grassroots strategies for activists and practical guides for both students and practitioners and includes cutting-edge interpretations of the impact of globalization on families, social workers, and other helping professionals and advocates.

CHAPTER 1

The Meaning and Significance of Families and Threats to Their Well-Being

Katharine Briar-Lawson, Hal A. Lawson, and Charles B. Hennon, with Alan R. Jones

As a new century begins, the world community faces unprecedented challenges and changes (e.g., Bruce, Lloyd, & Leonard, 1995; Leidenfrost, 1992; Mason, Skolnick, & Sugeraman, 1998; Stoez & Saunders, 1999; United Nations, 1995e). For example, individuals and families are migrating and fleeing at unprecedented rates (Cohen & Deng, 1998), and families are affected as people move (Henderson, 1996; UNDP, 1999). Some families are becoming fragmented, and others are becoming destabilized (e.g., Booth, Crouter, & Lanvale, 1997). This unprecedented number of migrants, immigrants, and refugees challenges nations, especially ones that were once more culturally homogeneous. These nations now face the challenges of growing ethnic and cultural diversity. Families are affected as their nations address these new cultural and social geographic challenges, along with other new social, economic, political, and cultural realities. Social, cultural, and economic inequalities impose special difficulties and cause stress.

Life is certainly better for some families, especially some nations in the northern half of the globe (e.g., McMichael, 1996). Questions remain, however, about the sustainability of these families’ lifestyles. Moreover, there are increasing insecurities about employment and growing inequities among individuals and families (Blau, 1999).

Three-quarters of the world’s families are struggling to survive, especially families in the southern half of the globe (McMichael, 1996). As their well-being is threatened, families experience stress. Others experience violence, terror, and death. For example, new parents may wonder whether their baby will survive. Other family members may worry about the burdens of caregiving for their frail elders and children. Parents may worry about whether there will be enough jobs that provide sufficient income and important health benefits. Women may agonize over domestic violence and child abuse in their homes (Van Soest, 1997).

Vulnerable families may wonder whether concerned citizens, helping professionals, and policy makers are aware of their needs and will help address them. Their question is: Does anyone care about my plight? Stressed families often despair, because they assume that nobody cares. As families experience stress, there are ripple effects. A plethora of related challenges and problems arise, and they affect family members, other families, communities, states, provinces, entire nations, and regional alliances among nations.

What exactly is a family? Why are families so important? What is family well-being? How is family well-being threatened? Why are family rights important? These basic questions frame the following discussion. The purposes of this chapter are to enhance readers’ understanding of families and family systems; to alert them to threats to families’ well-being; to foster their understanding of the need for family-centered policies and practices; and to explore beginning parameters for pro-family policy and practice agendas.

The chapter begins with a sketch of some of the threats to family well-being. Then several definitions of families and family systems are presented. After individual and family rights are identified, the discussion turns to the special needs of girls and women under a system of hierarchical power relations called patriarchy. The chapter concludes with indices of individual and family well-being. These indices serve as goals for family advocates, helping professionals, and policy makers.

INDICES OF THREATS AND HARMS TO THE WORLD’S FAMILIES

Family well-being is threatened in many communities of the world. Many families are in crisis (United Nations, 1995e). To facilitate understanding of threats and harm, selective categories and indices are provided below. These indices also reflect how integral families are to many other societal institutions and service sectors. For example, health planning is also family-related planning.

Indices Related to Health, Well-Being, and Life Expectancy

• Conflicts in fifty-six countries where UNICEF works make it impossible for workers to deliver vaccines and provide immunizations to children in need (UNICEF, 1999).

• Every day, 35,000 children die from hunger and preventable-treatable diseases (Bradshaw & Wallace, 1996, p. 15).

• Every day, 11,000 children die, one every eight seconds from hunger and malnutrition (New York Times, November 13, 1996).

• In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, one woman dies for every fifty live births (versus Scandinavia where the death rate is one per 20,000 births).

• Of the 100 million children between the ages of seven and twelve who are not in school, two-thirds are girls (United Nations, 1993b). This inequitable access harms individuals and families because the schooling, education, and support of girls and women is one of the best ways to combat excessive poverty, population growth, and environmental destruction (Dasgupta, 1995).

• One-seventh of the world (840 million people) does not get enough to eat (Bender & Smith, 1997).

• 11 million young people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four are suffering from AIDS (UNICEF, 1999).

• Each day some 6,000 persons die from AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in an estimated 10.4 million orphans (Masland & Norland, 2000).

• Approximately 540 million children—one in every four—live in dangerous situations (UNICEF, 1999).

Poverty Indices

• Profound poverty affects at least 1 billion people; many earn less than a dollar a day (Kung, 1991).

• 35,000 children die each day because of poverty and the lack of access to life-saving technologies (United Nations, 1993j).

• The poorest three-quarters of humankind face growing malnutrition, starvation, resource depletion, unrest, enforced migration, and armed conflict (Hoogvelt, 1997; McMichael, 1996).

• The stresses of poverty and the associated demands of survival are responsible for rapid and uneven population expansions in areas already impacted by too many people and high poverty. Adults may have more children than usual to expand their labor pool; and as food-producing lands decline, more and more families migrate to cities already impacted by poverty (Bender & Smith, 1997; Dasgupta, 1995; Ray, 1998).

• Nations with the highest levels of social, political, and economic inequalities—many associated with poverty rates—tend to have the lowest average life expectancies (Sen, 1999; Wilkinson, 1996).

Environmental Degradation Indices Associated with Family Poverty

• Population pressure in many developing countries is depleting local agricultural resources, while more farm output is needed for feeding growing numbers of people (Dasgupta, 1995; Kennedy, 1993, pp. 12–13). Examples include the overgrazing of the African savannas, the erosion of the Amazon rain forests, and the salinization of land from India to Kazakhstan.

• Every year, huge sections of tropical forest are destroyed, some lost forever (Kung, 1991); in turn, deforestation causes the erosion of precious soils necessary for plant growth. Food and oxygen production are reduced.

• If present global warming trends continue, the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere could rise dramatically each succeeding decade—between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees Celsius—with a resultant rise in sea levels. Global warming presents disastrous consequences, particularly for the coastal areas of all the earth’s landmasses (Kung, 1991, p.2).

Economic and Technological Indices of Need and Misplaced Priorities

• In 1992, world military spending totaled $815 billion, equaling the combined income of 49 percent of the world’s people. Developing countries spent $125 billion. By allocating 25 percent of this $125 billion, the developing nations could have met many of their needs for health, education, and family planning. Twelve percent of this amount would have provided basic health care, immunization, and safer drinking water; and it would have reduced malnutrition. Four percent would have halved adult illiteracy, provided universal public education, and addressed educational inequities between girls and boys. Eight percent would have provided all men and women with a family planning pack, contributing to the stabilization of the world’s population (Goldthorpe, 1996, p. 82).

• Every month, the world’s economic system adds more burdens to the catastrophic debt that debilitates people of the developing nations. As debts increase, social and health services are reduced, currencies are devalued, and the purchasing power of individuals and families declines. So does their well-being. (Bradshaw & Wallace, 1996; Goldthorpe, 1996; McMichael, 1996).

• The technology revolution involving computers is taking place overwhelmingly in economically advanced nations. These nations have slow-growing or declining populations. At the same time, developing nations with burgeoning populations lack resources, trained personnel, needed funding, and appropriate investment strategies. In some cases, nations most in need have governing elites and ideological prejudices oriented against technological change (Kennedy, 1993). The result is a growing gap between the “have” nations and the “have-not” nations (Athanasiou, 1996; Reich, 1993). Individuals and families in have-not nations—many in the global south—are disadvantaged, and as technology growth and development continue, their disadvantaged position is exacerbated.

• The gaps between “have” and “have-not” nations are growing—and so are the gaps between “have” and “have-not” families within some of these nations (e.g., Hoogvelt, 1997; Jordan, 1998; Reich, 1993; UNDP, 1999). As these gaps grow, the well-being of millions of the world’s families will continue to deteriorate, absent appropriate policy changes (Kennedy, 1993).

• Technologies employed by multinational corporations based in economically advanced nations may exacerbate harm to poorer countries and their families. Although these technologies may promote industrialization and employment initiatives, they also promote monetarized economies in substitution for indigenous, cooperative exchange networks (Bradshaw & Wallace, 1996; Goldthorpe, 1996; Kennedy, 1993; McMichael, 1996).

• As companies become “exporters” in a global economy, and as production technologies eliminate needs for semiskilled workers, middle-income workers (often men) lose their jobs and an informal employment sector grows, usually employing women and children. Families often lack living wages and health benefits.

• Rapid population growth, diminishing resources, insufficient food and inadequate food supplies, unemployment, poverty, and lack of education are responsible for significant migrations to cities (Dasgupta, 1995; McMichael, 1996; Ray, 1998). Forced migration may detract from well-being. It fragments families, and it contributes to environmental deterioration and destruction.

• In turn, these problems may trigger conflict and war over boundaries, water, and grazing rights. In fact, more armed conflicts among nations may be expected, including the prospect of another world war (Kennedy, 1993).

• Sufficient amounts of food are being produced, and there is potential to produce more. All of the world’s people, especially its children, can be fed. The problem lies in the distribution and use of food, not in its availability (Bender & Smith, 1997).

• Four-fifths of the world’s 5 billion people produce food and consumer goods for the well-to-do one-fifth, but the majority lack the income and resources to enjoy the food and goods they produce (McMichael, 1996).

Indices of Family Stress, Safety, and Security

• At least 26 million refugees experience stress, destabilization, and related health and mental health problems (Henderson, 1996).

• In addition to individuals, many refugees are families; 80 percent of refugees are women and children (United Nations, 1995d).

• The social and economic development agendas of developed nations often compete with the cultural and religious factions of developing nations. Resistance follows, including rising terrorism (Barber, 1996).

• In world conflicts, families—especially women and children—are the targets and victims of violence. Since World War II, 20 million people have died and 60 million have been wounded. Eighty percent have been civilians, most of them women and children. Children have been conscripted into military and paramilitary forces. Sometimes they have been required to kill members of their own families. Land mines have been disguised as toys and placed on playgrounds and schools.

• 1.5 million children have been killed by wars, and 4 million others have been disabled (United Nations World Conference on Human Rights Preparatory Committee, 1993).

• Caregiving responsibilities are increasing worldwide as the “graying of wealthy nations” increases—that is, as the number of elders grows (United Nations, 1993f). Caregivers, usually women, may have responsibilities for as many as four or five generations of family members. In brief, aging issues also are family concerns and women’s issues. Stress increases because women caregivers also are required to work outside their home full-time.

Indices of Governmental Capacities and Willingness to Invest in Families

• The number of industrialized nations dismantling their social welfare programs is growing (Geyer, Ingebritsen, & Moses, 2000; Goldthorpe, 1996; Jordan, 1998; Pierson, 1996). In their joint quests to attract and maintain multinational corporations and promote economic development, industrialized nations are revoking the policies that once supported poor and vulnerable individuals and families.

• Global economic development and exchange networks, in combination with loans through international monetary bodies, create long-term dependency patterns in developing nations. Faced...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents 
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. The Meaning and Significance of Families and Threats to Their Well-Being
• 2. Families as Comprehensive Social Welfare Institutions and Preventive Systems
• 3. Meaningful, Gender-Equitable Work and Family Well-Being
• 4. Key Sensitizing Concepts, a Family Policy Continuum, and Examples from the IYF
• 5. Analyzing Policy Impacts and Making Strategic Policy Choices for Families and Helping Professions
• 6. Families as Experts and Partners in the Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of Family-Centered Policies and Practices
• 7. Developing Family-Centered Policy and Practice Discourses
• 8. Introducing Policy-Practice Skills for Family-Centered Change Agents
• 9. Promoting New Alliances Among Families, Family Advocates, and Helping Professionals
• 10. Introducing Globalization’s Challenges and Opportunities and Analyzing Economic Globalization and Liberalization
• 11. Globalization, Flows of Culture and People, and New-Century Frameworks for Family-Centered Policies, Practices, and Development
• 12. New-Century Investment Strategies and Social Action Agendas for the World’s Families
• Appendix: Key Web Sites
• Bibliography
• Index