ABSTRACT

There is an obvious but perhaps sometimes forgotten difference between the child welfare worlds of developed northern and western countries and the developing majority in the southern and eastern continents. A more obvious tension in child welfare relates to choice for service investment and, particularly, between funding for early years services compared to resources for youth work. There is an ongoing debate in the academic, policy and practice arena on the distinction between, and merits of, a child protection over a Family Support approach. Not too far way in the past – a century ago, in the 1920s – the Child Welfare League in the USA sought to achieve better life conditions and prosperity for children who experience adversity; their original mission has core global messages for the future. The world children and their families may be dissatisfied with service provision while in the other they are more simply unsatisfied.