Children who receive child welfare services are a vulnerable group, and their numbers are growing. All who care about them need to be fully informed about current outcomes, indicators of success and failure, and best practices. This second edition of Child Welfare: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice has a special focus on Canadian child welfare and contains entirely new material on these important themes.
The book highlights major developments in child welfare and shows how these inform directions taken in research, policy, and practice. The book includes new sections on Indigenous issues and best practices, and several of its chapters review efforts to increase supports for families in need. Contributions from new and international authors illustrate the endemic nature of child welfare challenges and how we can learn from these experiences.
Contributors provide recommendations for promoting best practice and enhancing resilience among children and families. Closing chapters within each section and at the end of the book summarize key theoretical and practice issues along with recommendations to improve the research, policy, and practice continuum in child welfare. The challenge is to translate good research into policy and practice in ways that enhance the life chances of children who need our care and protection.

Brad McKenzie is professor of social work at the University of Manitoba, where he teaches social policy and program evaluation. His most recent book is Connecting Policy to Practice in the Human Services (2010), with Brian Wharf. He has conducted research and published extensively on Aboriginal Child Welfare. His international work includes a leadership role in the development of a new social work program in Ukraine.

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Kathleen Kufeldt is an adjunct professor in the Department of Sociology, University of New Brunswick. Her former positions include assistant dean of the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary and chair in child protection at Memorial University in St. John’s. She developed the International Foster Care Organization’s Training and Development Bureau to respond to international training needs and organized the first Canadian conference for youth in care in 1979. Her research and publications on children’s rights, foster care, and runaway and homeless youth are extensive.

Brad McKenzie is professor of social work at the University of Manitoba, where he teaches social policy and program evaluation. His most recent book is Connecting Policy to Practice in the Human Services (2010), with Brian Wharf. He has conducted research and published extensively on Aboriginal Child Welfare. His international work includes a leadership role in the development of a new social work program in Ukraine.

Kathleen Kufeldt's profile page