ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the application of neoliberal principles to an arena of society and policy that has always had an awkward relationship to these ideas: human services in general and child welfare services (CWS) in particular. It illustrates, with observations gained through many years of work as a professional consultant in the field and the work of other social scientists, that global neoliberalist ideology has introduced both dramatic and subtle shifts in the seemingly very local concerns of CWS. The chapter shows that anthropology, applied anthropology, and the scholar-practitioner perspective have distinct contributions to make to the body of knowledge about the impacts of neoliberal ideology in human services. One key contribution has been to show how such ideologies become "standard operating procedure" and how they are spread through an organizational culture. Privatization and other neoliberal trends in human services are an important opportunity for practicing anthropologists.
