Children, Families, and Public Policy in the 90s

Charlotte Neff is an associate professor of law at Laurentian
University.

This is a collection of essays designed to stimulate research on public
policy issues relevant to children, youth, and families, in the hope
that policies affecting such people will in future be more informed. It
will be of interest primarily to academic researchers and government
policy-makers concerned about the issues discussed. The contributors
come from a variety of backgrounds, including psychiatry, sociology,
law, and education, but all are from Ontario, and all the studies
concern Ontario and provincial policy-making. Some of the studies
provide background information necessary for those embarking on policy
analysis. For example, Chapter 1 analyzes the provincial budget over
approximately the last decade, while Chapter 6 looks at family income
from 1970 to 1985. Other chapters review and assess existing services
and illustrate the need for new policies and services in areas like
child care, children’s mental health, and children in care. Some of
the studies highlight the need for research to determine what policies
should be. Others suggest key policy goals—for example, with relation
to justice issues, youth employment policies, and policies concerning
Native children. Some of the writers go so far as to make detailed
proposals for reform (for example, of the education system).

A useful feature is that all books, articles, etc., referred to
(excluding cases and statues) are accumulated in one bibliography at the
end, providing a fairly extensive list of references for the interested
reader.