Social Policy for Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics

Question: Explore Contemporary Social Policy Debate. Answer: Contemporary Social Policy Debate The childcare centers came to Australia during the Second World War, when the mothers went to the war, and their children are being taken care of, by these centers. It was there to provide support to the children of the poor and the destitute family (Logan, Sumsion Press, 2013). During the 1950s, the childcare centers were there in Australia for those families in Australia, who could not access either the community program or the government programs. The childcare centers, although, was not that popular during that time because, during that time the childcare centers actually was not in demand, since most of the mothers are not working (Katz, 2014). The Childcare Act of 1972, which came during the reign of McMahon government, allows the federal government in Australia to get involved in the childcare sector (Logan, Press Sumsion, 2016). The particular act provided provisions to the federal government so that funds can be provided to the non-profit organization, so that they could h elp in providing childcare services to the people. During the years of Hawke and Keating the childcare policy, went through a positive change. During these years or rather during the years of the reign of the Hawke government, the childcare policies or the act received much support. During these years, subsidies are introduced for those families who are using the childcare services. The subsidies allowed the families to pay the fees of the childcare services, whether they are seeking the help of the profitable service centre or from the non-profit service centre. The state level organizations and the government used to regulate the minimum standard of the childcare centre and when the Keating government came to power, they introduced the quality accreditation approved by the federal governments. The accreditation actually helped in supervising those minimum standards that are being used by the state level government for the regulation of the childcare centers (Logan, Press Sumsion, 2016). In the present day, there is the National Quality Framework and this particular framework helped in the regulation of the system (Sugiyama,, Okely, Masters Moore 2012). The childcare policy is a debate that has the children at the center and this particular policy, helps in focusing on the funding and the provision issues of the childcare center (Newberry Brennan, 2013). Today the employment of the women have increased, thus the demand for the childcare centers have also increased and this has bring into the front the quality issue, where, the health, education and the nutrition of the children had to be taken better care (Wolfenden, Jones, Finch, Wyse, Yoong, Steele Williams, 2015). Therefore, the regulations are tightened, with respect to the staff qualification and with respect to the staff-to-child ratio as well. The fact that the staff qualification is being given utmost importance is something that is often being criticized by the human services professionals. According to these professionals, the women who most of the time in the family day care centers, especially those women who used to work during the 90s, most of the time have the overseas certificate. After the recession the women had lost their jobs but the experience they had in handling the children is not be taken into granted and only on the basis of their degree, they are not being provided with the jobs. Thus, this is something that is being seen a wrongdoing of the bureaucrats, and thus most of the people, who are the human service professionals criticize this thing. Impact of Social Policy in One Client Group The most important client group of the childcare center is the parents and the policies regarding the childcare centers and its development has a great impact on this particular client group. The government policies until the Keating government were such that the parents did not have to think much about the funds and the fees of the childcare centers (Andrews, Neopanay, Yaddehige Jorgensen, 2014). The scenario changed after the recession and the new policies that are being introduced by the government are such that it has actually provided an extra burden on the parents because the costs of the childcare centers have increased. The parents find it difficult to raise their children and at the same time carry on with the work they are doing (Allen Cowdery, 2014). They could not actually balance both the things, which created a huge problem for them. The financial assistance that is being provided by the federal government of Australia is divided mainly into two parts and these are th e, Child Care Benefits and the Child Care Rebate. The Child Care Benefits is being referred to those subsidies that are being directly provided, either to the parents or to the childcare centers. It accounts for per hour subsidy that is being provided to the parents and the childcare centers and this particular cost is the tested cost, and this particular thing is very beneficial to those who are belonging to those families that are the part of the low-income group. On the other hand, there is another kind of financial assistance, which is being provided to the parents of the childcare centers, by the federal group. The subsidy that is being provided to the families increases when there is an increase in the Cost Price Index or the CPI. The particular financial assistance is provided with the help of the Child Care Rebate or the CCR. The CCR, unlike Child Care Benefit or CCB is not tested and therefore, the 50% rebate is being provided to the childcare centers out-of-the packet (Brennan, Cass, Himmelweit Szebehely, 2012). The parti cular payment has inflation when there is inflation on the actual price of the cost of the childcare. Therefore, it can be said that the particular cost will be a part of the growing share of the federal budget, along with the increase in the strong demand and at the same time with the increase in the steep childcare price. Therefore, in the recent years the Australian women had not only face increase in the price of the growing childcare facilities, provided by the centers but at the same time there has been a loss of the benefits that are being provided by the federal government of Australia. Thus, it creates a pressure for the women earner or the single mothers and they have to increase their working hours because along with all these women had to pay the tax as well. Thus, all these have created pressure on this particular group of client, and this policy has he following impact on the particular group of client. Involvement of the Human Service Professionals The childcare professionals are the most important human service professionals who are involved in the childcare industry and the childcare policies had an effect on them as well. The childcare professional plays an important role, in the childcare centers and thus can be one of the major drivers who could influence the policies that are being introduced by the federal government (Pietrantonio, Wright, Gibson, Alldred, Jacobson Niec 2013). The childcare policies that are there are the ever-changing policies and the childcare professionals should make sure that there are able to cope up with the changes that are brought in the centers. The changes can be positively accepted by the childcare professionals and at the same time, the childcare professionals should be able to cope up with those changes as well. The childcare professionals could react in a positive way to the changes that are there in the organizations, although there are times when the childcare professionals could act in a negative way and could affect or influence the childcare policies that are there. The childcare professional could act in a negative way about the policies of the state, because of several reasons and among them; one can be that the childcare professionals, become too cautious (Coyne, 2015). There can be policies regarding caring about the behavioral development of the child and the childcare professional can react to this in a negative w ay because, they may feel uncertain about the challenging behavior of the children in the day care or in the childcare center. In these cases there are chances of the childcare professionals becomes less confident about their role and they could also lose their confident, when they are interacting with the children in the childcare center (Essa, 2013). In many day cares or in the childcare center there are male professionals who are being hired to look after the children. The parents sometimes accept the particular things and there are times when the parents do not accept such kind of things. The childcare center on the other hand feels that the people should feel that the males are equally responsible to everyone and those who are good they could actually carry out all the work, even they could care for the child at the same time. The male and female workers or the professionals working in the childcare center could actually, help in building the trust that is there in the children regarding their families. Thus, this particular thing or rather the inclusion of the male professionals in the childcare centers could actually affect the policies related to the childcare centers. Moreover, if the women with experience turn out to be a good childcare professional then that could also have an effect on the policies that are being laid d own by the state. The state policies could then could come up with those things that could allow the women with experience but not that much of qualification to be a part of the childcare center. It would helpful specially for the outstation women or for those women who do not have the qualification degree of the country, rather they carry the degree of the other country and thus most of the times are not allowed to be a part of the childcare center. Utilization of the Policy Positively in Service Provision The human service professionals, who work for these centers, could utilize the policies that are for the development and the growth of the childcare centers that are there in a positive way. The positive utilization of the policy could result in: Children who belong to the financially backward family, getting better opportunities and thus they could easily go through the transition of the early childhood to the late childhood period (Fenech, 2013). Most of the time the children who belong to the financially backward family, do not have such an environment that will help them to get ready for the better transition and succeed effectively in the late childhood period. Thus, the policies effectively influence the growth and the development of the children and at the same time could help them to live a better life at the same time (Brennan Fenech, 2014). Thus, it is important that the policies related to the childcare centers are there, this is one of the positive effects of the policy, and the effect work of the childcare professionals could actually help in the positive utilization of this particular policy. Helping the students with disability to go through the transition period and the childcare center and the professional working there could help in that. The children with disability, is more demanding than the children those are not having any disabilities, The children with disabilities, are more stressful to handle than the children without, especially in an environment of transition (Crawford, Stafford, Phillips, Scott Tucker, 2014). Thus, the childcare professional could take care of this demand and stress effectively and the policies and the find structure of the state are such that children of different social background could be a part of it. Thus, in this way, there can be a positive utilization of the policies, laid by the state and the childcare professionals could help in achieving it without any problem or trouble. Development of those children, who belongs to various religious, ethnic and linguistic background, and the childcare professionals play an important part in it (Henderson, Grode, OConnell Schwartz, 2015). The childcare center consists of children of various backgrounds and the religious values along with the Western philosophy, which are being implied in these centers helps the children to remove all the caste and the racial barrier. The children later on in life could fight incidents like being bullied because of the skin color or because of their race (Lamb, Sternberg, Hwang Broberg, 2014). Most of the time the people of other linguistics are not proficient with the English language, the childcare centers help the students to overcome this shortcomings and childcare professionals are important driver in bringing this particular positive outcomes (Nielsen, Mushin, Tomaselli Whiten, 2016). Therefore, these are the following ways, which could help in positive utilization of the policies and the childcare professionals could help in achieving that without any problem. Critical Reflection I think that the childcare centers that are there in Australia are helpful for the working parents and the working parents as well as the single parents receive many benefits from these centers. The subsidy that is being provided by the government, and which is the part of the social policy related to the childcare centers, because these funding is there for the childcare centers, therefore, the centers have not only increased in numbers but it has been diversified at the same time. Today there is not only the childcare center but there is also the long day care center and at the same time, there is the Community based and the family day care centers. All the centers have really being helpful for the growth of these centers and along with the growth of these centers things have changed for the people living in the country. Unlike the nineteenth and the twentieth century, the demand for the childcare center is there in the country because the number of working women and the number of single mother has increased in the country. Thus, the demand has increased and with the increase in demand, there is both the profit, non-profit childcare centers. Along with these two kinds of center there is also the community based childcare center, all these centers helps in the growth and the development of the children and at the same time it has provided jobs to the unemployed youth at the same time (Tayler, Ishimine, Cloney, Cleveland Thorpe, 2013). The policies although, that are there gives less importance to the caring attitude of the people but more importance to the qualification or the degrees that are being hold by the people. I believe this particular thing is a hindrance for the policy, but at the same time, it is true that to interact with the children having challenging behavior at times the qualificatio n of the childcare professionals are required. Thus at times, the issue that whether an experienced or a qualified person would be employed as the childcare staff becomes a debatable issue. The debate could be easily resolved by recruiting such a person who is capable, of handling almost all kind of children in the childcare center. The recruitment of the male staff in the childcare center in my opinion is something to, which the policy makers should give a thought. The male childcare professionals actually could help in the overall growth of the child. 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