Lela B. Costin's Books

Two Sisters for Social Justice

A Biography of Grace and Edith Abbott

By: Lela B. Costin

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Two Sisters for Social Justice

A Biography of Grace and Edith Abbott

By: Lela B. Costin

During the first half of the twentieth century Grace Abbott (1878-1939) and her sister Edith (1876-1957) worked tirelessly to correct many of our nation's most serious problems. In this vividly detailed and balanced biography, Lela B. Costin has given these two remarkable women their due. From the Progressive Era through the New Deal, the Abbott sisters were an integral part of the debate that raged around the issues of suffrage, workers' rights, child labor laws, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, the "immigrant problem," tenement housing, social security, emergency relief programs, and the peace movement. Refusing to claim any of the special "feminine" insights often attributed to their contemporary Jane Addams, the Abbotts assumed the role of social engineers and strove for a specialized competence with which to understand the entire social system. Individually their achievements were many. Grace was best known for her work with the U.S. Children's Bureau and Edith for her role in the founding and development of the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. As Costin shows, their lives and careers were inextricably woven into a dramatic partnership of ideas and action that challenged the prevailing norms of American society.

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Page Count

348

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252071557

ISBN 13

9780252071553

The Politics of Child Abuse in America

By: Lela B. Costin,Howard Jacob Karger,David Stoesz

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The Politics of Child Abuse in America

By: Lela B. Costin,Howard Jacob Karger,David Stoesz

Child abuse policy in the United States contains dangerous contradictions, which have only intensified as the public slowly accepted it as a middle class problem. One contradiction is the rapidly expanding child abuse industry (made up of enterprising psychotherapists and attorneys) which is consuming enormous resources, while thousands of poor children are seriously injured or killed, many while being "protected" by public agencies. This "rediscovery" has also led to the frenzied pursuit of offenders, resulting in the sacrifice of some innocent people. Moreover, the media's focus on the sensational details of high-visibility sexual abuse cases has helped to trivialize, if not commercialize, the child abuse problem. As such, child abuse has gone from a social problem to a social spectacle. By the 1980s the child welfare system had become a virtual "nonsystem," marked by a staggering turnover of staff, unmanageable caseloads, a severe shortage of funding, and caseloads composed of highly dysfunctional families (many with drug-related problems). To make room for these families, public agencies rationed services by increasingly screening-out child abuse reports which contained little likelihood of serious bodily harm. In The Politics of Child Abuse in America, the authors argue that child abuse must be viewed as a public safety problem. This redefinition would make it congruent with other family-based social trends, including the crackdown on domestic violence. Children must have the same legal protection currently extended to physically and sexually abused women. This can be done by creating a "Children's Authority," which would have the overall charge for protecting children. Specifically, Children's Authorities would have the responsibility for providing the six main functions of child protection: investigation, enforcement, placement services, prevention and education, family support, and research and development. Offering a unique perspective on the cold reality of this crisis, The Politics of Child Abuse in America will be a provocative work for social workers and human service personnel, as well as the general reader concerned with this timely issue.

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Page Count

208

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190283459

ISBN 13

9780190283452

Two Sisters for Social Justice

A Biography of Grace and Edith Abbott

By: Lela B. Costin

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Two Sisters for Social Justice

A Biography of Grace and Edith Abbott

By: Lela B. Costin

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

348

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252071557

ISBN 13

9780252071553

Book's by Lela B. Costin

Two Sisters for Social Justice

Two Sisters for Social Justice

The Politics of Child Abuse in America

The Politics of Child Abuse in America

Two Sisters for Social Justice

Two Sisters for Social Justice

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