Child guidance centres in Japan : alternative care, social work, and the family / Michael Rivera King.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Series Editor's Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations and Technical Terms -- Part I: Introduction -- 1 Introduction -- Part II: The Context of Alternative Care -- 2 Alternative Care -- 3 Child Guidance Centres -- 4 The Family-Bond -- Part III: Regional Variation of Policy Implementation -- 5 Regional Variation of Resources -- 6 Regional Variation of Norms -- 7 Regional Variation of Organisational Cultures -- Part IV: Conclusion

8 Conclusion -- Appendix One -- Appendix Two -- Index

In contemporary Japan, 85% of children in alternative care remain housed in large welfare institutions, as opposed to family-based foster care. This publication examines how Japan has been isolated from global discourse on alternative care, urging a shift in social work and alternative care policies. As the first ethnographic account from inside child guidance centres, it makes a key contribution towards understanding the closed world of Japan's social services; including the decision-making processes by which a child is removed from the family and placed into care. In addition, regional variation in policy implementation for alternative care is outlined, with reference to detailed case studies and a discussion around organisational cultures of the child guidance centres. Where foster care is constructed as anything other than professional, it is often seen as a threat to the child's family-bond with their natal parent and therefore not used. Child Guidance Centres in Japan destabilises this construction of the family-bond as singular and discrete, highlighting new practices in alternative care. Child Guidance Centres in Japan: Alternative Care and the Family will be a vital resource for students, scholars of social work and Japanese studies, as well as practitioners and lobbyists involved in alternative care.

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