Book Review of “At Risk: Social Justice in Child Welfare and Other Human Services” by Karen J. Swift and Marilyn Callahan, 2009, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

The newest book by Canadian social work scholars Karen Swift and Marilyn Callahan is exemplary of how other disciplines can invigorate social work theory. “At Risk” uses child welfare practice as an entry point for exploring the continuing movement away from addressing needs and towards the management of risk in the human services.

People with Disabilities and the Role of Social Workers in Lesotho

Après Pachaka (2003: 109), l' assemblé générale des nations unies a ratifié le programme d' action mondiale concernant les personnes avec des handicaps dans leur 37ième session 1982. Le but de ce programme est de promouvoir des mesures de prévention des handicaps, de réhabilitation et la réalisation des buts de la participation intégrale des personnes handicapées dans la vie sociale et du développement de l' égalité. Ce programme a mis en valeur que ces concepts devraient s' appliquer avec la même ampleur et urgence a tous les pays, indépendamment de niveau de développement. Pendant cet ère, l' attention et la conscience publique a été directé envers la nécessité de munir les personnes handicapées avec les mêmes opportunités a disposition aux autres citoyens. De suite, la décennie des nations unies pour personnes handicapées (1983-1992) a été mise en place. Néanmoins, la situation des personnes avec handicaps ne s'est guère amélioré depuis lors et leur nombre est actuellement en croissance.

The Role of Social Work in National Development

The approach in this paper will be to define social work and national development first and then try to establish the relationship between the two. The various categories of social work and their presumed influence on the various aspects of development will then be discussed. Thereafter, the discussion will be directed to the overall effects of the process of social work, in its totality, on national development.

Implementing Swedish Models of Social Work in a Russian Context

The economic and social changes taking place in Russia in recent decades have implied a restructuring of the Russian society. Among other things, Russian leaders have expressed a need for the reorientation of social development. In the 1990’s, cooperation was initiated on a number of social work and social welfare projects with international support, a process further speeded up during President Jeltsin’s state visit to Sweden in 1997. Discussions between the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Russian authorities dealing with welfare issues started from the assumption that Russian professional social work was weak and needed to be strengthened. In the 1990's Sida was also given a stronger general mandate to work with other former Soviet countries in Eastern Europe, for example the Baltic States. The Russian-Swedish discussions resulted in projects aiming to raise social work competencies in public authorities, managements and among social workers in Russia. One of the areas chosen for these projects was Saint Petersburg, where several projects aiming to develop new models for social work were launched. The point of departure has been to transfer and adjust Swedish models of social work to the Russian context. The Stockholm University Department of Social Work became responsible for a number of such projects and besides using academic teachers also involved a number of practitioners, such as social workers in disablement services and reformatory staff who could meet and match Russian authorities and partners.