title: My cheque and my children: the long road to empowerment in child welfare.
abstract: This article is based upon a two-year research project in a government child welfare agency in British Columbia involving frontline child welfare workers and women who are single parents. Based upon previous research with public child welfare workers, the authors developed several principles that emphasized the importance of female clients and frontline workers having the power to shape practice according to their joint plans. The article reports on the achievements of women who are single parents and of workers once they are given the freedom to redevelop services. The underlying concept--empowerment--is reviewed and a comprehensive definition of the term, based upon client and worker empowerment, is proposed.
authors.affiliation: University of Victoria School of Social Work, BC.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Callahan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lumb
mesh_terms: D001955:British Columbia; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011203:Poverty; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012649:Self Concept; D015406:Single Parent / Q000523:psychology*; D014933:Women's Rights