THE ETHICS AND POLITICS OF HUMAN SERVICE TECHNOLOGY: THE CASE OF PREDICTIVE RISK MODELING IN NEW ZEALAND'S CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
NEIL BALLANTYNE
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
The Political ◽  
Risk Modeling ◽  
Descriptive Case Study ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Technology Applications ◽  
Future Child ◽  
Predictive Risk

This article reviews the political and ethical dimensions of technology applications in social work by focusing on a descriptive case study. The case study is of an initiative undertaken by the New Zealand government between 2011 and 2015 to develop an algorithm that would allow child protection services to predict future child maltreatment at the point of birth and to pre-empt it before it occurs. The paper explores the new threats to human rights and social justice associated with the rise of algorithmic governance and explores the sources of algorithmic injustice. It also outlines some of the key ethical issues and political challenges associated with algorithmic governance.

scholarly journals Protection of Children in Difficulty in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Fang Zhao ◽  
Ning Zhu ◽  
Juha Hämäläinen
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Protection System ◽  
Political Awareness ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
The Media ◽  
Professional Systems ◽  
Depth Interviews

This study investigated the resilience of the Chinese child protection system in responding to the special needs of children in difficulty under the specific circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study applied qualitative document analysis of child protection administrative documents, in-depth interviews with 13 child protection professionals, and an in-depth case study of 14 children living in difficulty, complemented by relevant information available in the media. The results indicate that there are good policies in China’s child protection services but the organizational and functional fragmentation complicates implementation, suggesting a need for the development of bottom-up practices. The essential conclusion supported by these results is that the child protection system should be regarded and developed as a systematic project combining the legal, policymaking, and professional systems of child welfare services as well as governmental and non-governmental forces. As the COVID-19 pandemic has raised awareness of the need to develop the field of child protection holistically as an integrated system in terms of social sustainability in China, an international literature-based comparison indicates that the pandemic has also raised similar political awareness in other countries.

Ethics of journalistic translation and its implications for machine translation

Babel ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 829-846
Author(s):  
Yonsuk Song
Keyword(s):  
Machine Translation ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political News ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Sociopolitical Context ◽  
Korean And English

Abstract Journalistic translation is governed by a target-oriented norm that allows varying degrees of intervention by journalists. Given the public’s expectations for the fidelity of translated news, this norm entails ethical issues. This paper examines the ethical dimensions of journalistic translation through a case study of political news translation in the South Korean context. It investigates how newspapers translated a US president’s references to two South Korean presidents in accordance with the newspapers’ ideologies and then came to apply the translations as negative labels as the political situation evolved over time. The study demonstrates how even word-level translation can require an intricate understanding of the sociopolitical context and cumulative meanings of a word. It then draws its implications for machine translation by comparing the human translations with machine translations of the references in question. It concludes by discussing why machine translation cannot yet replace human translation, at least between Korean and English, and what translation studies should do regarding the ethics of journalistic translation.

scholarly journals CORRUPTION, TRANSPARENCY, AND REPUTATION: THE ROLE OF PUBLICITY IN REGULATING POLITICAL DONATIONS

2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 398-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Rowbottom
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Disclosure ◽  
Undue Influence ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Disclosure Requirements

AbstractThis article looks at the public disclosure of political donations as a case study to examine the role of transparency in addressing concerns about undue influence and corruption. The article will explore three issues. The first is to understand what it means to say that a political donation is corrupt. There is considerable disagreement on the ethics of political fundraising and this article will show how public opinion has a role in setting the standards expected of politicians. The second issue is what role the public disclosure of political donations plays in deterring and detecting corruption. While the disclosure requirements were introduced to promote greater trust in politics, it will be argued that increases in transparency have fed a growing culture of mistrust. The logic of the transparency requirements also requires the free public discussion of particular political donations and related ethical issues. The third issue is how that process of free discussion can come into tension with rights to privacy and reputation. The article will explore how the attempts to reconcile the different areas of law both reflect and shape the political culture.

scholarly journals Bekymring for det ufødte liv og omsorgsovertakelse ved fødsel: Posisjoner, verdikonflikter og spenninger i tverrfaglig arbeid

2020 ◽  
pp. 131-151
Author(s):  
Kerstin Söderström
Keyword(s):  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Positioning Theory ◽  
Maternity Ward ◽  
Collaborative Process ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Practical Experiences

Separating a mother and newborn at the maternity ward is a challenging, potentially traumatic, and value-laden intervention. Cross-disciplinary collaboration in this tense and intense situation ideally assists child protection services in reaching well-founded decisions. However, differing opinions, professional stances and values can jeopardize the decisional process and threaten the quality of care and rights of the client(s). The main aim is to describe and analyse cross-disciplinary teamwork during pregnancy and the process towards a child protection decision. Participant observation and interviews provided data and descriptions of the case study, analysed according to positioning theory. The results show how two main storylines, a medical-therapeutic and a child protection storyline, each with a set of professional positions, create friction and tension in cross-disciplinary collaboration. The case describes the initial tensions, how they were overcome, and how they finally resulted in a planned removal at birth. This gave the mentally ill mother-to-be the opportunity to participate and prepare for the separation. The study demonstrates how a supervised, structured and reflective collaborative process enabled the participants to deal with conflicts and uncertainties stemming from positions and the dynamics of positioning. Further research and practical experiences, e.g. through simulation training, are needed to inform safe and caring removal practices and validate the usefulness of positioning theory to illuminate interprofessional conflict.

scholarly journals Changes in the social work profession as responses to institutional multiplicity

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Olejasz Lyneborg
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Sociology Of Professions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Use Of Assessment

PurposeAdopting the perspective of “institutional work” within neoinstitutionalism and “organizational professionalism” from the sociology of professions, this article contributes to current theoretical discussions on agency in settings of institutional multiplicity.Design/methodology/approachThis article investigates how social workers in Danish child protection services respond to the implementation of technologies of government targeted at shaping the conduct of conduct to achieve certain results. The article draws on a qualitative case study in a child protection agency and centers on the use of assessment committees as a case of technologies of government.FindingsThe article identifies divergent ways that social workers manage and make sense of contradiction, e.g. by means of detachment of accountability, expansion of practice and internalization of logics in professionalism. Thus, the article sheds light on how social workers cope with discrepant requirements fostered by technologies of government.Originality/valueAs research has focused on the potential constraining effects of technologies of government and discrepancy of logics, limited attention has been given to how the potential discrepancy is nevertheless reconciled, negotiated and handled in the everyday run-of-the-mill practice. Adopting the perspective of “institutional work” within neoinstitutionalism and “organizational professionalism” from the sociology of professions, this article contributes to current theoretical discussions on agency in settings of institutional multiplicity. Additionally, the article sheds light on how social workers manage and make sense of discrepant requirements fostered by technologies of government, reflecting empirical examples of a profession in transition.

Doing Good Versus Avoiding Harm

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan G. Green
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Work Setting ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Ethical Quandary

This case explores the issues involved in avoiding harm/nonmaleficence, and minimising danger to the client in the context of reporting a case to Child Protection Services. The chapter presents a discussion of the key ethical issues, a summary of the primary ethical conundrums prevalent in the work setting, and a final reflection in retrospect regarding how the ethical quandary was handled.

A Practical Framework for Considering the Use of Predictive Risk Modeling in Child Welfare

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-181
Author(s):  
Brett Drake ◽  
Melissa Jonson-Reid ◽  
María Gandarilla Ocampo ◽  
Maria Morrison ◽  
Darejan (Daji) Dvalishvili
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Current Practice ◽  
Risk Modeling ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Child Welfare Agencies ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Predictive Risk ◽  
Core Questions ◽  
Welfare Agencies

Predictive risk modeling (PRM) is a new approach to data analysis that can be used to help identify risks of abuse and maltreatment among children. Several child welfare agencies have considered, piloted, or implemented PRM for this purpose. We discuss and analyze the application of PRM to child protection programs, elaborating on the various misgivings that arise from the application of predictive modeling to human behavior, and we present a framework to guide the application of PRM in child welfare systems. Our framework considers three core questions: (1) Is PRM more accurate than current practice? (2) Is PRM ethically equivalent or superior to current practice? and (3) Are necessary evaluative and implementation procedures established prior to, during, and following introduction of the PRM?

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