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Influenced by news reports of young children brutalized by their parents, most of us see the role of child services as the prevention of severe physical abuse. But as Tina Lee shows inCatching a Case, most child welfare cases revolve around often ill-founded charges of neglect, and the parents swept into the system are generally struggling but loving, fighting to raise their children in the face of crushing poverty, violent crime, poor housing, lack of childcare, and failing schools. Lee explored the child welfare system in New York City, observing family courts, interviewing parents and following them through the system, asking caseworkers for descriptions of their work and their decision-making processes, and discussing cases with attorneys on all sides. What she discovered about the system is troubling. Lee reveals that, in the face of draconian budget cuts and a political climate that blames the poor for their own poverty, child welfare practices have become punitive, focused on removing children from their families and on parental compliance with rules. Rather than provide needed help for families, case workers often hold parents to standards almost impossible for working-class and poor parents to meet. For instance, parents can be accused of neglect for providing inadequate childcare or housing even when they cannot afford anything better. In many cases, child welfare exacerbates family problems and sometimes drives parents further into poverty while the family court system does little to protect their rights. Catching a Caseis a much-needed wake-up call to improve the child welfare system, and to offer more comprehensive social services that will allow all children to thrive.

The decentralised provision of social services raises concerns about cn'ailability of sendees in different geographical areas, particularly in low- and middleincome countries with weak governance and fiscal redistributive capacities. Yet the interconnection of different decentralisation regimes and territorial inequalities in the provision of social services remains underexplored. This article engages with one aspect of this puzzle, the implications of the fiscal conditions on exacerbating (or overcoming) territorial inequalities in services provision. Using the Croatian system of early childhood education and care (data for the 2005-2018 period) as an empirical lens, the article shows that in the absence of a well-established policy andfiscal framework sensitive to regional inequalities in administrative and fiscal capacities, decentralised systems can only institutionalise territorial inequalities in services provision. Next to the legal entitlement to a certain service, inter-territorial fiscal equalisation policies are crucial in overcoming fragmentation in social rights along territorial lines.

The purpose of this paper is to present research carried out as part of the monitoring of the operation of the housing specula-tive law after five years of its implementation. This work was prepared for the Ministry of Development and Technology and isbased on an analysis of statistical data from Statistics Poland for the whole of Poland targeted surveys addressed to selectedlocal governments, and detailed comparisons and compilations of selected projects. The results show that the spatial effectsof the special law to date are far from the statutory assumptions. The special act has had a marginal impact on the country’shousing market. Instead, it has significantly changed Polish spatial planning, where it has undermined the “institutions” of thelocal plan as a guarantor of development and socio-economic order. Resolutions on the location of investments adopted onits basis fit poorly into the spatial policy pursued so far by municipalities and do not guarantee local communities’ influenceon the shaping of space. The special act has also not led to the socially anticipated participation of private entities in the im-plementation of public infrastructure and a more economically equitable distribution of costs and profits from investments.Was it therefore necessary for us to meet Poland’s housing needs? Given the extremely modest spatial results and the ensu-ing chaos in the planning system, this is clearly doubtful.

After Russia attacked Ukraine, it became a challenge to create a base of temporary housing for refugees, with particularemphasis on people with individual needs, including people with disabilities. The article continues the author’s previous re-search on architectural audits as tools for creating the accessibility of university facilities on the example of selected studentdormitories of the Lodz University of Technology. The analysis aims to show whether selected facilities that play a key role inthe organisational and functional structure of the academic community are prepared for situations such as the urgent needto provide housing for people in crisis.Qualitative research consisted of conducting an original survey on the needs related to temporary accommodation and ana-lysis of technical documentation of selected student dormitories. Architectural audits were performed following the checklistdeveloped for the study. The adopted work methodology made it possible to demonstrate the degree of compliance of theexisting architectural space with the actual needs of refugees from Ukraine.

This paper describes an attempt to implement the New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles, using the design of a modularhousing estate in Lviv for refugees from war zones as an example. The study, conducted using the Research by Designmethod, found that the analysed housing complex aligns with the four thematic axes of the NEB: ‘reconnecting with nature,’‘regaining a sense of belonging,’ ‘prioritizing the places and people that need it the most,’ and ‘the need for long-term, lifecycle thinking in the industrial ecosystem.’ This alignment was observed at all three scales: the entire housing estate, thequarter, and the individual housing segment. In the description of the thematic axes, the three core values of the NEB – be-auty, sustainability, and togetherness – were addressed unevenly. Specifically, aesthetic considerations received marginaltreatment compared to natural and social issues.

The lived experiences of child protective services (CPS)–involved parents is rarely considered from a social justice perspective. Parents and children endure the oversight of the child welfare system in myriad ways, and these experiences usually vary based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. This article explores how CPS interactions affect family dynamics and well-being and how family members view their experiences with CPS, including their sense of autonomy and empowerment. I focus on the inherent power dynamics between CPS workers and parents, race and ethnicity, and family. I highlight the perspectives of parents and their intended (rather than unintentional) parental behaviors (e.g., providing healthy food choices) to understand ways in which their socioecological contexts impact the well-being of their children. I report results of a pilot study designed to enhance the voices of parents in the literature and provide recommendations for policy and practice that inform innovative solutions to better support CPS-involved families.

This article presents a new approach to residential space of the seniors who in the nearest future will represent 20% of our society and refers to a concept conceived in the United States, called hospital without walls. A revolutionary at the time idea of transferring certain elements of diagnostics or therapy into the space of a house or apartment has a chance to become an efficient solution for the seniors to enjoy ageing in place. Increased demand for medical services urgently requires a redefi- nition of the current health care system and the transfer of certain functions to the residential space that has to respond to a wide range of health care needs of the future seniors. Innovative technologies and widely accessible tools can effectively support the process. The fact that the future seniors will have other skills and competencies than those that the seniors have today, especially as it comes to the use of digital devices, cannot be disregarded. The future seniors will also have different needs as regards their housing space. Thus, healing architecture deriving from the hospital without walls concept stands a chance to prove an efficient housing model.

Existential threats, such as pandemics, wars and illegal migration, are classified as high-impact threats because they destabilise welfare systems, endanger national security and threaten societal cohesion. The effects of these threats are first felt by socially vulnerable individuals, necessitating the transformation of social support systems to meet the needs of these groups. This article delves into the concept of system resilience by focusing on the characteristics of personal social services systems, based on a literature review. Using J. S. Coleman’s insights on social systems, the general concept of resilience derived from ecological systems, and the interaction between the micro, meso and macro levels of social systems, the article constructs an evaluation concept for the resilience of personal social services systems in the face of threats. The developed analytical framework for assessing the resilience of personal social services to threats enables the identification of different configurations of the system’s ability to adapt and the factors that determine these configurations.

Child maltreatment is a complex problem affecting millions of children in the United States every year. This article examines existing knowledge on the scope, nature, and causes of child abuse and neglect. First, we review the discordant definitions and conceptualizations of child maltreatment and consider the implications of broad and narrow definitions for the size and scope of the child welfare system and for child safety. Second, we provide an assessment of the quality and comprehensiveness of existing data for understanding the incidence rates and trends in child abuse and neglect. Third, we review theory and evidence on the causes of child maltreatment, with particular attention to whether and how social policy can reduce its prevalence. Last, we provide recommendations for improving the use of data and scientific evidence in child welfare policy and systems.

This volume of The ANNALS aims to increase awareness among scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners of the size, scope, and functions of child welfare services in the United States. We aim to promote a wider understanding of the broad impacts of child welfare policies and point to ways in which child welfare services can be better incorporated into cross-cutting social policy debates. The articles in this volume offer concrete recommendations for policies and practices that can reduce child maltreatment, and for systemic approaches—both within the purview of child welfare services and across the broader community and social policy landscape—that can better identify and respond to the needs of children and families in which maltreatment has already occurred or where there is a risk of abuse and neglect. This introduction sets a foundation for understanding the contents of the volume: we provide an overview of child welfare services in the United States and highlight current challenges that the U.S. child welfare systems face.