From Child Welfare to Child Protection (Special Issue: Understainding Risk Society from Criminological Perspectives)

Child Abuse in Neo-Liberal Risk Societies

Abstract

An indispensable vehicle of neo-liberalism, risk has been heavily debated in relation to social welfare practices and policies, especially in connection with penal systems. This article considers how the expert knowledge on which neo-liberal government depends provides guidelines by which populations are assessed against norms. Review of scholarly opinion about governance and power of risk leads to discussion of how risk assessment affects the policy shift from child welfare to child protection that is occurring in many western countries and in Japan. Of particular interest are poor and single mothers who are regulated by a risk assessment tool predicated on intensive maternal child care, a tool that causes high risk populations to conform to an inherent gendered norm. Evidence is presented to suggest that, instead of being factual, child abuse risk calculation merely excludes other possible interpretations. Child protection professionals are encouraged to reconsider risk policy that makes individuals and families responsible for assigned risk factors such as poverty, unemployment, single parenting and substandard housing. Key