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It is estimated that around 200,000 children in the UK experience the imprisonment of a parent. Imprisonment has been described as a family affair, as families suffer the brunt of the punishment supposedly directed at the offender. Despite an awareness of this impact there is a distinct lack of community-based support services for families affected by parental imprisonment, and no central support strategy from government. This practitioner-researcher study aimed to discover how ‘whole-families’ affected by parental imprisonment (children, parents/carers and parents who are/have been prisoners) experience community-based support. A collective case study approach was utilised. Eight families who were supported by the UK based charity, Person Shaped Support (PSS) contributed their experiences; this comprised 18 participants; 5 children, 8 parents/carers, and 5 parents who had been in prison. All participants took part in one audio-recorded in-depth interview, either at PSS or in their own home. Some participants offered further insights via conversations with the researcher, which were recorded in the form of handwritten notes. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis; they were analyzed individually and then considered as part of their family grouping. Early themes from each family were then compared and contrasted from family to family. Four major themes were identified: (1) ‘Isolation and Someone to Talk To’; (2) ‘Feeling Understood and Being Judged’; (3) ‘Power, Secrets and Lies and Fighting Back’; and (4)’ Loss, Contact and Change’. Participants spoke of feeling isolated and marginalized, which some described like ‘being in bubbles’; they also described the ‘brick walls’ they experienced which reflected their frustrations of being judged and their conflict with statutory services, members of their communities and members of their own families. A tentative model centered on ‘Personal Connectivity’ is presented in which personal connectivity is seen to be the over-riding support need for these families. With enhanced personal connectivity, the families reported being able to form and maintain meaningful relationships, which helped them to better cope. Some participants also reported personal growth. Recommendations are that practitioners who aim to help families affected by parental imprisonment should adopt a ‘whole-family’ systemic approach to practice and provide support through non-judgmental listening, conveying understanding, sharing knowledge (of the criminal justice system), providing opportunities for safe family contact, and opportunities for affected families to meet peers.

老年期是人生歷程中的最後一個階段，不但收入減少、開支增多，而且精 神及物質生活皆易成問題。以往在農業社會中，社會變遷遲緩，尚傳統， 重經驗，對老人非常敬重，所以，當時老年人尚沒有太多的問題。可是， 到了今日由於工商業的高度發展與社會各層次的顯著變遷，不僅老年人口 快速的增加，而且其生活素質亦受影響，以致老人問題已演變為世界各國 普遍的問題。中韓兩國近四十年來的社會變遷是相當急遽的，都市化和工 業化的結果使兩國社會中的老人開始體驗地位上的變遷。雖然，老年人在 社會上所享有的地位仍然崇高，而且家庭也還未完全放棄對老年人的照顧 ，但是老年人受社會變遷衝擊的情形已逐漸明顯。因此，中韓兩國老人問 題的嚴重性亦將日益明顯。而欲改善此現象所帶來的問題，並協助老人能 成功地調適其晚年生活，一個追求社會正義與經濟利益均衡發展的老人福 利政策之推動與落實，實屬當務之急。中韓兩國具有相類似的社會條件和 情況以及相同的文化，因此在推行老人福利政策的過程上，若全盤接受西 方國家，似乎不妥，倒是中韓兩國相互參照比較乃最為可行。正因如此， 中韓兩國老人福利政策之比較實在比與其他任何國家的比較更具意義。故 本研究是藉著分析、比較兩國老人福利政策之過去歷史與發展過程及目前 實施的現況，發掘其優點與缺點，並且試著尋覓較合適的未來老人福利政 策之方向。本篇論文共分六章，茲將各章要點分述如下：第一章：緒論， 略述本文研究的目的、研究方法及其範圍。第二章：老人福利政策的理論 基礎，探討對老人問題的基本認識、老人福利政策的意義與基本原則。第 三章：中華民國的老人福利政策，先說明老人福利政策的歷史與其發展過 程，觀察並分析中華民國現行老人福利政策的現況，並找出問題及提示之 。第四章：韓國的老人福利政策，先說明老人福利政策的歷史與其發展過 程，觀察並分析韓國現行老人福利政策的現況，並找出問題，提示之。第 五章：針對第三、四章所分析提示之中韓兩國老人福利政策的現況及問題 ，相互參酌比較，並探討未來老人福利政策的改善方向。第六章：結論及 建義。

Abstract The study aims to understand the policy development of elderly welfare subsidy. This issue was firstly proposed at end of 1991 during the election of Parliament Representatives. After 10 years development, by conducting propaganda, publishing reports and sharing experiences with local governments, the Legislative Yuan has finally established the Temporary Provision of Elderly Welfare Subsidy in May 2002 and the act is then legalized and nationalized. The related amendment has been continuing till today. Since 1991 the researcher has started the long and coherent observation; in between the history and literature analysis were applied in order to collect relevant documents. After ascertaining its historical periods and generalization, the esearch concluded that there¡¦s significant correlation between this policy development and the democratic election. As a result, simple democratic mold is taken as the theoretic foundation and the framework is then built up. The study result shows that the election plays an important role for the formation and development of elderly welfare subsidy. The mplementation guarantees certain economic safety for the silver citizens but some ¡§free-cost¡¨ measure did cause some fair and financial burden to the authority. It also gives a cognitive bias against social welfare. Yet the increasing silver citizens may cause financial burden to the government, the distribution of social welfare should then be well considered. A complete system of national pension has to be set up soon.

Much attention has been devoted in the social sciences to the reorganisation of the moral order of society (Smart, 1999). This reorganisation means that responsibility for welfare is now located with the individual. In spite of the salience given to privately held responsibility for welfare in social policy, little work has been carried out on the discourses underpinning this way of distributing responsibility (Finch and Mason, 1993, Duncan and Edwards, 1999, Rowlingson, 2002). Work on this issue is especially timely as New Labour continues the privatisation of responsibility for welfare in a way that, many people believe, neglects a moral dimension. Instead, New Labour favours a more ethical construction that exhorts the individual to do her duty by which they mean she should work for her own betterment and well-being (Levitas, 1998, Giddens, 1998, Jordan, 1998, Lund, 1999). This work begins by situating responsibility as a historically variable and discursive construction, uncovering how the understanding of responsibility changed as the problem focusing the minds of social engineers altered from one of poverty to one of security in the 1970s. While responsibility has only recently been identified as a particular issue for social policy academics (Roche, 1992, Dwyer, 1998, Dean et aI., 2004) philosophers and sociologists have paid close attention to responsibility over the past decade (Bauman, 1993, 1995, Habermas, 1990, 1995, Apel, 1989, 1996, Etzioni, 1995, Schmidtz, 1998, Goodin, 1998). Building on the issues raised by these authors, this work presents a qualitative study of government press releases, interviews with benefits recipients, members of the general public, welfare advisors and welfare benefits administrators to explore the rational structure of the discourses of responsibility for welfare. As a result, I develop the argument that while the reconfigured moral order promotes a private acceptance of responsibility for welfare, people still want a way of interpreting responsibility taking in a more public way.

Since 2010 when the previous Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government came into power, major alterations have been introduced to the welfare state in the UK. The policy, commonly known as 'the bedroom tax' (BT) has received widespread public and media attention for its controversy and perceived attack on the finances and living conditions of low-income, working age households in need of welfare support. The implementation of this particular policy has reduced housing benefits for social housing tenants who are deemed to be under-occupying their homes according to the policy criteria. Families therefore, who are deemed to have a 'spare room' are required to make up the short-fall in rent or downsize to smaller properties. Research has shown that this policy has pushed vulnerable social housing tenants further into poverty and debt. This thesis has been designed to understand the everyday psychosocial effects of this policy further. It is a unique case study exploring life from a lone mother's experience of the policy. Data was collected from two interviews and over a ten-month period to assess whether time would be a factor that would affect the story told by one lone mother as she lives with the impacts of the policy. Both interviews were subject to critical narrative analysis. Murray's (1999) 'levels of narrative analysis' were drawn upon to analyse the multiple narratives occurring within this participant's experience of the BT, shedding light on stories told at the personal, interpersonal, positional and ideological level. The critical narrative analysis then looked at how these stories at each level connected to highlight the psychosocial implications of living with the BT policy as a single mother. The eight plotlines discovered in the analysis demonstrate the complicated areas, which contribute to the story as a whole. Time showed that pervasive feelings of stigmatisation and enforced social isolation occurred due to reduced economic resources and dominant cultural ideologies directed at welfare recipients. Overall, the present case study findings provide an example of the interrelatedness of wellbeing and wellness in the context of public policy changes. Moreover, it shows that the current social and political conditions are challenging the lives of those who find themselves in vulnerable socio-economic positions. The case study poses a number of challenges for counselling psychology, especially as there are ongoing debates on how the profession can engage effectively with wider social and political issues.

<p>A critical anti-racist feminist analysis is used to examine the City of Toronto's current approach to gender equity and to consider how the City can move forward based on the discussion of Toronto's issues and challenges and other cities' successes. Written from the perspective of one member of a 14-member City of Toronto women's advisory committee, it examines the City's approach to diversity in general and gender equity in particular. The analysis finds serious flaws in the City's current approach, related to a lack of gender equity structures and mechanisms, a lack of interest in, and resources allocated to, such structures and mechanisms, and a lack of civic engagement of women, which forms a part of the City's overall democratic deficit. Structures and mechanisms implemented in other cities in order to promote gender equity are explored in order to provide the City with successful possibilities to consider. A proposed six-stage model categorizes various levels of commitment that cities have demonstrated towards achieving gender equity. This model allows cities, such as Toronto, to assess their individual progress on gender equity relative to other cities and to better understand the need to increase their efforts. Lastly, recommendations to the City of Toronto to enhance its gender equity approach are discussed. Despite the limitations of this study, the author believes it was highly necessary to document and disseminate the issues related to the City of Toronto's approach to gender equity in order to open up productive dialogue between the City and the community and to motivate effective, equity-enhancing change in a timely manner.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

A dissertação apresenta um estudo sobre a constituição do Fundo Público no capitalismo contemporâneo, a partir das três grandes crises do capital do século XX. Realizaremos, para tanto, uma incursão histórica e analítica, percorrendo o início do século XX até os dias atuais, demonstrando a importância e imprescindibilidade do Fundo Público para a reprodução do capital e do trabalhador. Neste contexto, de expansão e retração da economia em nível mundial, analisaremos os rebatimentos no Brasil, a partir da contrarreforma do Estado, na apropriação e composição do fundo público brasileiro. Ao garantir a reprodução do trabalhador, o Fundo Público o faz por meio das políticas sociais, e em especial, trabalharemos a Política de Assistência Social. O objetivo deste trabalho é realizar análise sobre todos os recursos destinados ao Fundo Municipal de Assistência Social do município de Campos dos Goytacazes, que servirão para o financiamento da rede socioassistencial em âmbito municipal no período de 2004 a 2012. Analisaremos, portanto, os recursos municipal, estadual e federal, tendo como base os segintes documentos: Demonstrativo da Evolução Orçamentária e de Despesas, Relatório de Receitas Geral, Lei de Diretrizes Orçamentária e a lei Orçamentária Anual, que serão transferidos para o fundo e de que forma o poder executivo prioriza a gestão destes recursos, por meio de suas despesas. O resultado da pesquisa nos mostrou que a Política de Assistência Social é cofinanciada pelos três entes federativos, no entanto, evidenciamos grandes dificuldades para a gestão compartilhada. O município é o maior financiador desta política, entremente, seus recursos são alocados prioritariamente nos Programas de Transferência de Renda municipais e nas entidades filantrópicas, enquanto os programas federais ficam sob a responsabilidade majoritária da União. O estado neste processo, quase que esquecido, se mostra com um financiamento extremamente pontual, descontínuo e ínfimo. Dos recursos direcionados a esta política, identificamos um grande montante que não são executados, o que consideramos hoje um dos grandes desafios para a efetivação desta Política em Campos dos Goytacazes. / The dissertation presents a study on the constitution of the Public Fund in contemporary capitalism, from the three major crises of the capital of the XX century. We will conduct for both a historical and analytical foray, covering the early XX century to nowadays, demonstrating the importance and indispensability of the Public Fund for reproduction of capital and the worker. In this context, of expansion and retraction of the economy worldwide, we will analyze the repercussions in Brazil, from the counter-reform of the State, in appropriating and in composition of the Brazilian public fund. The Public Fund guarantees the reproduction of the worker by social policies, and in particular we will work on the Social Welfare Policy. The objective of this study is to perform analysis of all resources allocated to the Municipal Social Assistance Fund of the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes which will serve to finance the social assistance network on the communitarian sphere in the period 2004 to 2012. We will analyze therefore, the municipal, state and federal resources, based on the following documents: Demonstration of Evolution Budget and Expenses, Report General Revenue, Budget Guidelines law and the Annual Budget law, which will be transferred to the fund and how executive power prioritizes the management of these resources through their expenses. The research result showed us that the Social Assistance Policy is co-financed by the three federal agencies, however, we saw great difficulties for the shared management. The city is the largest financier of this policy, however, its resources are allocated primarily on municipal income transfer programs and the philanthropic entities, while federal programs are under the responsibility of the majority Union. The state in this process, almost "forgotten", is shown with an extremely punctual, discontinuous and negligible funding. From the resources allocated to this policy, we identified a large amount that is not accomplished, what we consider today a major challenge to the effectuation of this Policy in Campos dos Goytacazes.

A dissertação apresenta um estudo sobre a constituição do Fundo Público no capitalismo contemporâneo, a partir das três grandes crises do capital do século XX. Realizaremos, para tanto, uma incursão histórica e analítica, percorrendo o início do século XX até os dias atuais, demonstrando a importância e imprescindibilidade do Fundo Público para a reprodução do capital e do trabalhador. Neste contexto, de expansão e retração da economia em nível mundial, analisaremos os rebatimentos no Brasil, a partir da contrarreforma do Estado, na apropriação e composição do fundo público brasileiro. Ao garantir a reprodução do trabalhador, o Fundo Público o faz por meio das políticas sociais, e em especial, trabalharemos a Política de Assistência Social. O objetivo deste trabalho é realizar análise sobre todos os recursos destinados ao Fundo Municipal de Assistência Social do município de Campos dos Goytacazes, que servirão para o financiamento da rede socioassistencial em âmbito municipal no período de 2004 a 2012. Analisaremos, portanto, os recursos municipal, estadual e federal, tendo como base os segintes documentos: Demonstrativo da Evolução Orçamentária e de Despesas, Relatório de Receitas Geral, Lei de Diretrizes Orçamentária e a lei Orçamentária Anual, que serão transferidos para o fundo e de que forma o poder executivo prioriza a gestão destes recursos, por meio de suas despesas. O resultado da pesquisa nos mostrou que a Política de Assistência Social é cofinanciada pelos três entes federativos, no entanto, evidenciamos grandes dificuldades para a gestão compartilhada. O município é o maior financiador desta política, entremente, seus recursos são alocados prioritariamente nos Programas de Transferência de Renda municipais e nas entidades filantrópicas, enquanto os programas federais ficam sob a responsabilidade majoritária da União. O estado neste processo, quase que esquecido, se mostra com um financiamento extremamente pontual, descontínuo e ínfimo. Dos recursos direcionados a esta política, identificamos um grande montante que não são executados, o que consideramos hoje um dos grandes desafios para a efetivação desta Política em Campos dos Goytacazes. / The dissertation presents a study on the constitution of the Public Fund in contemporary capitalism, from the three major crises of the capital of the XX century. We will conduct for both a historical and analytical foray, covering the early XX century to nowadays, demonstrating the importance and indispensability of the Public Fund for reproduction of capital and the worker. In this context, of expansion and retraction of the economy worldwide, we will analyze the repercussions in Brazil, from the counter-reform of the State, in appropriating and in composition of the Brazilian public fund. The Public Fund guarantees the reproduction of the worker by social policies, and in particular we will work on the Social Welfare Policy. The objective of this study is to perform analysis of all resources allocated to the Municipal Social Assistance Fund of the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes which will serve to finance the social assistance network on the communitarian sphere in the period 2004 to 2012. We will analyze therefore, the municipal, state and federal resources, based on the following documents: Demonstration of Evolution Budget and Expenses, Report General Revenue, Budget Guidelines law and the Annual Budget law, which will be transferred to the fund and how executive power prioritizes the management of these resources through their expenses. The research result showed us that the Social Assistance Policy is co-financed by the three federal agencies, however, we saw great difficulties for the shared management. The city is the largest financier of this policy, however, its resources are allocated primarily on municipal income transfer programs and the philanthropic entities, while federal programs are under the responsibility of the majority Union. The state in this process, almost "forgotten", is shown with an extremely punctual, discontinuous and negligible funding. From the resources allocated to this policy, we identified a large amount that is not accomplished, what we consider today a major challenge to the effectuation of this Policy in Campos dos Goytacazes.

This dissertation analyses discourse on benefit fraud in Sweden between 1990 and 2010. First, it maps general trends in public discourse about benefit fraud. This is done through a content analysis of news reporting about benefit fraud in four Swedish newspapers. This part of the dissertation shows that the number of published news articles about benefit fraud have increased significantly since 1990. Particularly large numbers of articles were published during the middle of the 1990s, and between 2002 and 2006.  Second, a qualitative discourse analysis of talk about benefit fraud in news texts, political debates and government reports is conducted. During periods of intense news coverage about fraud, reporting is often clearly marked by traits generally associated with moral panics; constructing the phenomenon as seemingly more common than it in reality is, constructing cheaters as a threat to the moral fiber of society, and also claiming the need for counter-measures. The qualitative analysis furthermore focuses on how the relation-ships between different subject positions are constructed in the collected material. This part of the analysis shows that fraud discourse in Sweden during the past twenty years have shifted from a dominant focus on alleged cheating among immigrants in the early 1990s, to claims of abuse within the sickness insurance program after 2002. The analysis also shows that benefit fraud is constructed as a political problem using neoliberal discursive strategies that [1] reduce welfare policies to financial costs, [2] constitute benefit claimants as individually responsible for their inability to support themselves through regular work, and [3] articulate the welfare state as an instrument for the moral regulation of citizens.