Karen Swift
Professor Emeritus
Office: Ross Building, S863
Phone: 416-736-2100
Email: kswift@yorku.ca
Primary website: http://www.atkinson.yorku.ca/~sowk/faculty/kswift.html
Research Interests
Current Research Projects
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Description:
Social policy in Canada. Research on current policies, programs and trends.
Graham, J., Swift, K. and Delaney, R. 2008. Canadian Social Policy: An Introduction. Third Edition. Toronto: Prentice Hall.
Graham, J., Swift, K. and Delaney, R. 2000. An Swift, Karen. 1995. Manufacturing "Bad Mothers": A Critical Perspective on Child Neglect. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Swift, Karen. 1995. Manufacturing "Bad Mothers": A Critical Perspective on Child Neglect. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Swift, K. and Callahan, M. 2006. Problems and Potential in Canadian Child Welfare. In Nancy Freymond and Gary Cameron (Eds.). Towards Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare: International Comparison of Child Protection, Family Service, and Community Caring Systems, pp. 118-147. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Callahan, M. and Swift, K. 2007. Risk Assessment and Managerial Practices in Child Welfare. In Foster, L. and Wharf, B. (Eds.) . People, Politics and Child Welfare. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Goodman, D., Callahan, M. and Swift, K. 2007. The contradictions of risk assessment in child welfare for mothers who use substances. In Freymond, N., and Greaves, L. (Eds.) . Highs and Lows: Canadian Perspectives on Women and Substance Use. Toronto: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
Swift, K. and Callahan, M. 2006. Problems and Potential in Canadian Child Welfare. In Nancy Freymond and Gary Cameron (Eds.). Towards Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare: International Comparison of Child Protection, Family Service, and Community Caring Systems, pp. 118-147. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Swift, Karen. 2005. Child Welfare (Canada). In John M. Herrick and Paul H. Stuart (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Social Welfare in North America, pp. 52-55. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Swift, Karen and Birmingham, Michael. 2000. Caring in a Globalizing Economy: Single Mothers on Assistance. In Durst, D. (Ed.) . Canada's National Child Benefit: Phoenix or Fizzle? Halifax: Fernwood Publishing: 84-102.
Swift, Karen and Birmingham, Michael. 2000. Location, Location, Location: Restructuring and the Everyday Lives of 'Welfare Moms'. In Neysmith, S. (Ed.) . Restructuring Caring Labour: Discourse, State Practice and Everyday Life. Toronto: Oxford University Press: 93-115.
Evans, Patricia M. and Swift, Karen J. 2000. Single Mothers and the Press: Rising Tides, Moral Panic, and Restructuring Discourses. In Neysmith, S. (Ed.) . Restructuring Caring Labour: Discourse, State Practice and Everyday Life Toronto: Oxford University Press: 73-92.
Swift, Karen. 1998. Contradictions in Child Welfare: Neglect and Responsibility. In Baines, C., Evans, P. and Neysmith, S., (Eds.). Women's Caring: A Feminist Perspective on Social Welfare. Second Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press: 160-87.
Swift, Karen. Child Abuse Reporting Systems in Canada. 1997. In Gilbert, Neil, (Ed.)., Combatting Child Abuse: An International Perspective on Reporting Systems. New York: Oxford University Press: 38-71.
Swift, Karen. 1996. An outrage to common decency: Historical Perspectives on Child Neglect. In Smith, E. and Merkel-Holguin (Eds.). A History of Child Welfare. New Brunswick, USA: Transaction Publishers: 61-81.
Swift, Karen and Lyle Longclaws. 1995. Foster care Programming: Themes, Policy Implications and Research Agenda. In Hudson, Joe and Galaway, Burt, (Eds.) Child Welfare in Canada: Research and Policy Implications. Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.: 245-51.
Swift, K. and Parada, H. 2004. Child welfare reform: Protecting children or policing the poor? Journal of Law and Social Policy. Vol. 19: 1-17.
Swift, Karen. 2001. The Case for Opposition: An Examination of Contemporary Child Welfare Policy Directions. Canadian Review of Social Policy. 47, Spring. In press.
Stainton, T. and Swift, K. 1997. Difference and Social Work Curriculum. Canadian Social Work Review. Vol. 13, 1: 75-87.
Swift, Karen. 1995. An Outrage to Common Decency: Historical Perspectives on Child Neglect. Child Welfare, 74, 1: 71-91.
Swift, Karen. 1995. Missing Persons: Women in Child Welfare. Child Welfare. 74, 2: 486-502
Swift, K. Risky women: The role of risk in the construction of the single mothers. Paper delivered at the Law and Society Association Conference, Montreal, May 31, 2008.
Swift, K. 2006. Cultural contradictions in child welfare risk assessment. The Foster Care Operators’ Association of Ontario. Toronto, ON. May 3, 2006.
Swift, K. The Cultural Contradictions of Risk Assessment in Child Welfare. XVI International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect. September 3-6, 2006. York, UK. With M. Callahan.
Swift, K. Variations in child maltreatment rates: Epidemiological reality or changing standards? Association canadienne francaise pour l’avancement des sciences. Montreal, QC. May 17, 2006.
Swift, K. Keynote speaker. Mothering in Social Work Theory and Practice: Conference sponsored by the Association for Research on Mothering. February 25, 2005.
Swift, K. Forging Social Futures: Illuminating the interaction of housing and risk assessment in child protection. Canadian Social Policy Conference. Fredericton, NB. June, 2005. Marilyn Callahan, Karen Swift and Henry Parada.
Swift, K. Institutional Alchemy: From Social Problem to Individual Responsibility. British Sociological Association Annual Conference. University of York. March, 2005. With H. Parada.
Swift, K. Institutional Alchemy. Institutional Ethnography Network Conference. Toronto, September, 2004. With H. Parada.
Residence, mobility and risk assessment in child welfare. May 11, 2004. Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work, Winnipeg, May, 2004. M. Callahan and K. Swift.
Swift, K. Developing Transformative Practice: Practical Applications of Institutional Ethnography. Workshop: Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work, Toronto, May 2002.
Swift, K. Institutional Ethnography and the Welfare State: A Case Study of Risk Assessment. Institutional Ethnography Network Conference. Victoria, BC, June 28-30, 2002. With M. Callahan.
Swift, K. Problems and Potential for Canadian Child Welfare. Paper presented with Marilyn Callahan at Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare Conference, an international conference, Wilfrid Laurier University, June 20-22, 2002.
Swift, K. The Challenge to Risk and Risk Assessment in Child Welfare and Other Human Services. Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work. Toronto, May, 2002. With M. Callahan.
2001 A Feminist Analysis of Child Welfare. Speech given at a meeting of the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses. June 25, 2001, Swift, K.
Swift, K. Conference on Canadian Social Welfare Policy. Calgary, June 17-20, 2001. Can Child Welfare policy promote Social Inclusion? The Case of Substance Abuse. With Xiaobei Chen.
2000 Risk Policy in Child Protection. Paper presented at the Institutional Ethnography conference. Toronto. May, 2000, Swift, K.
1999 Trends and Issues in Canadian Child Welfare. Developing Child Welfare Curriculum Across Borders. Victoria, BC. May, 1999, Swift, K.
1998 Constructing Single Mothers: Rising Tides and Moral Panic. Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. Presented with P. Evans at the Seminar series, Canadian Families Transformed: Toward the Millennium. October 28, 1998, Swift, K.
1998 New Perspectives on Neglect. International Workshop sponsored by Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Seattle, Washington, February, 1998, Swift, K.
1997 International Implications of Manufacturing 'Bad Mothers'. Symposium on women and violence at the Inter American Congress of Psychology. Sao Paolo, Brazil. July, 1997, Swift, K.
Swift, K. 1996 Cross Cultural Practice Skills: Research Results. Centre for Applied Family Studies, McGill University.
1996 Manufacturing 'Bad Mothers': The Experience of Research and Writing on Women. Women's studies students, McGill University:
1995 Canadian Child Abuse Reporting Systems. Paper presented to the International Working Group on Child Abuse. Amsterdam, May 20-22, 1995.
Swift, Karen. 1996. "Child Welfare Across Cultures: The Development of Practice Skills". In Proceedings of the Second Symposium on Child Protection, St. John's Newfoundland.
Swift, K. The legal tender of gender: International perspectives on welfare law, state politics and the regulation of women’s poverty. International Institute of the Sociology of Law. Onati, Spain. May, 2007.
Swift, K. Keynote speaker, Homecoming event. School of Social Work, University of Manitoba. September 22, 2005.
Swift, K. Speaker. Risk Assessment in Child Welfare. Conference sponsored by Foster Care Operators Association of Ontario, University of Toronto, April 19. 2005.
Swift, K. Child Welfare Reform: Protecting children or policing the poor? Presentation given at the Law Clinic Conference, Hamilton, ON, June 23, 2003.
Canadian Association Schools of Social Work, Quebec City. June, 2001, Swift, K.
Conference on Canadian Social Welfare Policy. Calgary, June 17-20, 2001. Can Child Welfare policy promote Social Inclusion? The Case of Substance Abuse, Swift, K.
Conference, Ontario Association of Health Centres. Workshop: Rockin' and Rollin' with Research Workshop. Focus Group Research: Methodology and Beneifts. June 9, 2001, Swift, K.
Constructing the Single Mother 'Problem'. Paper presented with P. Evans at the Ninth Social Welfare Policy Conference, Montreal. June, 1999, Swift, K.
Failure to Protect: Child Welfare Work and Changing Families. Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work, Sherbrooke, PQ. June, 1999, Swift, K.
Failure to Protect: Child Welfare Work in Context. International Sociological Association, Professions Group. Montreal. August, 1998, Swift, K.
Do Mothers Work? Relations between Globalization and Welfare. Society for the Advancement of Socioeconomics. Montreal. July, 1997, Swift, K.
Ideologies of Work: Single Mothers in the Post Welfare State. Eighth Social Welfare Policy Conference. Regina, Sask. June, 1997, Swift, K.
The Effective Cross Cultural Social Worker: Research on Knowledge and Practice. Paper presented at the Social Work Learned Societies. Brock University, June, 1996, Swift, K.
"Child Welfare Across Cultures: The Development of Practice Skills". Paper presented at the Second Symposium on Child Protection, Memorial University, St. John's Newfoundland, June, 1995, Swift, K.
"Hiding Poverty: The Example of Child Neglect". Paper presented at the Social Work Learned Societies. Montreal, June, 1995, Swift, K.
Research Interests
Current Research Projects
-
Description:
Social policy in Canada. Research on current policies, programs and trends.
Role: Principle ResearcherAll Publications
Swift, K. and Callahan, M. 2006. Problems and Potential in Canadian Child Welfare. In Nancy Freymond and Gary Cameron (Eds.). Towards Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare: International Comparison of Child Protection, Family Service, and Community Caring Systems, pp. 118-147. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Callahan, M. and Swift, K. 2007. Risk Assessment and Managerial Practices in Child Welfare. In Foster, L. and Wharf, B. (Eds.) . People, Politics and Child Welfare. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Goodman, D., Callahan, M. and Swift, K. 2007. The contradictions of risk assessment in child welfare for mothers who use substances. In Freymond, N., and Greaves, L. (Eds.) . Highs and Lows: Canadian Perspectives on Women and Substance Use. Toronto: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
Swift, K. and Callahan, M. 2006. Problems and Potential in Canadian Child Welfare. In Nancy Freymond and Gary Cameron (Eds.). Towards Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare: International Comparison of Child Protection, Family Service, and Community Caring Systems, pp. 118-147. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Swift, Karen. 2005. Child Welfare (Canada). In John M. Herrick and Paul H. Stuart (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Social Welfare in North America, pp. 52-55. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Swift, Karen and Birmingham, Michael. 2000. Caring in a Globalizing Economy: Single Mothers on Assistance. In Durst, D. (Ed.) . Canada's National Child Benefit: Phoenix or Fizzle? Halifax: Fernwood Publishing: 84-102.
Swift, Karen and Birmingham, Michael. 2000. Location, Location, Location: Restructuring and the Everyday Lives of 'Welfare Moms'. In Neysmith, S. (Ed.) . Restructuring Caring Labour: Discourse, State Practice and Everyday Life. Toronto: Oxford University Press: 93-115.
Evans, Patricia M. and Swift, Karen J. 2000. Single Mothers and the Press: Rising Tides, Moral Panic, and Restructuring Discourses. In Neysmith, S. (Ed.) . Restructuring Caring Labour: Discourse, State Practice and Everyday Life Toronto: Oxford University Press: 73-92.
Swift, Karen. 1998. Contradictions in Child Welfare: Neglect and Responsibility. In Baines, C., Evans, P. and Neysmith, S., (Eds.). Women's Caring: A Feminist Perspective on Social Welfare. Second Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press: 160-87.
Swift, Karen. Child Abuse Reporting Systems in Canada. 1997. In Gilbert, Neil, (Ed.)., Combatting Child Abuse: An International Perspective on Reporting Systems. New York: Oxford University Press: 38-71.
Swift, Karen. 1996. An outrage to common decency: Historical Perspectives on Child Neglect. In Smith, E. and Merkel-Holguin (Eds.). A History of Child Welfare. New Brunswick, USA: Transaction Publishers: 61-81.
Swift, Karen and Lyle Longclaws. 1995. Foster care Programming: Themes, Policy Implications and Research Agenda. In Hudson, Joe and Galaway, Burt, (Eds.) Child Welfare in Canada: Research and Policy Implications. Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.: 245-51.
Graham, J., Swift, K. and Delaney, R. 2008. Canadian Social Policy: An Introduction. Third Edition. Toronto: Prentice Hall.
Graham, J., Swift, K. and Delaney, R. 2000. An Swift, Karen. 1995. Manufacturing "Bad Mothers": A Critical Perspective on Child Neglect. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Swift, Karen. 1995. Manufacturing "Bad Mothers": A Critical Perspective on Child Neglect. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Swift, K. and Parada, H. 2004. Child welfare reform: Protecting children or policing the poor? Journal of Law and Social Policy. Vol. 19: 1-17.
Swift, Karen. 2001. The Case for Opposition: An Examination of Contemporary Child Welfare Policy Directions. Canadian Review of Social Policy. 47, Spring. In press.
Stainton, T. and Swift, K. 1997. Difference and Social Work Curriculum. Canadian Social Work Review. Vol. 13, 1: 75-87.
Swift, Karen. 1995. An Outrage to Common Decency: Historical Perspectives on Child Neglect. Child Welfare, 74, 1: 71-91.
Swift, Karen. 1995. Missing Persons: Women in Child Welfare. Child Welfare. 74, 2: 486-502
Swift, K. Risky women: The role of risk in the construction of the single mothers. Paper delivered at the Law and Society Association Conference, Montreal, May 31, 2008.
Swift, K. 2006. Cultural contradictions in child welfare risk assessment. The Foster Care Operators’ Association of Ontario. Toronto, ON. May 3, 2006.
Swift, K. The Cultural Contradictions of Risk Assessment in Child Welfare. XVI International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect. September 3-6, 2006. York, UK. With M. Callahan.
Swift, K. Variations in child maltreatment rates: Epidemiological reality or changing standards? Association canadienne francaise pour l’avancement des sciences. Montreal, QC. May 17, 2006.
Swift, K. Keynote speaker. Mothering in Social Work Theory and Practice: Conference sponsored by the Association for Research on Mothering. February 25, 2005.
Swift, K. Forging Social Futures: Illuminating the interaction of housing and risk assessment in child protection. Canadian Social Policy Conference. Fredericton, NB. June, 2005. Marilyn Callahan, Karen Swift and Henry Parada.
Swift, K. Institutional Alchemy: From Social Problem to Individual Responsibility. British Sociological Association Annual Conference. University of York. March, 2005. With H. Parada.
Swift, K. Institutional Alchemy. Institutional Ethnography Network Conference. Toronto, September, 2004. With H. Parada.
Residence, mobility and risk assessment in child welfare. May 11, 2004. Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work, Winnipeg, May, 2004. M. Callahan and K. Swift.
Swift, K. Developing Transformative Practice: Practical Applications of Institutional Ethnography. Workshop: Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work, Toronto, May 2002.
Swift, K. Institutional Ethnography and the Welfare State: A Case Study of Risk Assessment. Institutional Ethnography Network Conference. Victoria, BC, June 28-30, 2002. With M. Callahan.
Swift, K. Problems and Potential for Canadian Child Welfare. Paper presented with Marilyn Callahan at Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare Conference, an international conference, Wilfrid Laurier University, June 20-22, 2002.
Swift, K. The Challenge to Risk and Risk Assessment in Child Welfare and Other Human Services. Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work. Toronto, May, 2002. With M. Callahan.
2001 A Feminist Analysis of Child Welfare. Speech given at a meeting of the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses. June 25, 2001, Swift, K.
Swift, K. Conference on Canadian Social Welfare Policy. Calgary, June 17-20, 2001. Can Child Welfare policy promote Social Inclusion? The Case of Substance Abuse. With Xiaobei Chen.
2000 Risk Policy in Child Protection. Paper presented at the Institutional Ethnography conference. Toronto. May, 2000, Swift, K.
1999 Trends and Issues in Canadian Child Welfare. Developing Child Welfare Curriculum Across Borders. Victoria, BC. May, 1999, Swift, K.
1998 Constructing Single Mothers: Rising Tides and Moral Panic. Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. Presented with P. Evans at the Seminar series, Canadian Families Transformed: Toward the Millennium. October 28, 1998, Swift, K.
1998 New Perspectives on Neglect. International Workshop sponsored by Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Seattle, Washington, February, 1998, Swift, K.
1997 International Implications of Manufacturing 'Bad Mothers'. Symposium on women and violence at the Inter American Congress of Psychology. Sao Paolo, Brazil. July, 1997, Swift, K.
Swift, K. 1996 Cross Cultural Practice Skills: Research Results. Centre for Applied Family Studies, McGill University.
1996 Manufacturing 'Bad Mothers': The Experience of Research and Writing on Women. Women's studies students, McGill University:
1995 Canadian Child Abuse Reporting Systems. Paper presented to the International Working Group on Child Abuse. Amsterdam, May 20-22, 1995.
Swift, Karen. 1996. "Child Welfare Across Cultures: The Development of Practice Skills". In Proceedings of the Second Symposium on Child Protection, St. John's Newfoundland.
Swift, K. The legal tender of gender: International perspectives on welfare law, state politics and the regulation of women’s poverty. International Institute of the Sociology of Law. Onati, Spain. May, 2007.
Swift, K. Keynote speaker, Homecoming event. School of Social Work, University of Manitoba. September 22, 2005.
Swift, K. Speaker. Risk Assessment in Child Welfare. Conference sponsored by Foster Care Operators Association of Ontario, University of Toronto, April 19. 2005.
Swift, K. Child Welfare Reform: Protecting children or policing the poor? Presentation given at the Law Clinic Conference, Hamilton, ON, June 23, 2003.
Canadian Association Schools of Social Work, Quebec City. June, 2001, Swift, K.
Conference on Canadian Social Welfare Policy. Calgary, June 17-20, 2001. Can Child Welfare policy promote Social Inclusion? The Case of Substance Abuse, Swift, K.
Conference, Ontario Association of Health Centres. Workshop: Rockin' and Rollin' with Research Workshop. Focus Group Research: Methodology and Beneifts. June 9, 2001, Swift, K.
Constructing the Single Mother 'Problem'. Paper presented with P. Evans at the Ninth Social Welfare Policy Conference, Montreal. June, 1999, Swift, K.
Failure to Protect: Child Welfare Work and Changing Families. Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work, Sherbrooke, PQ. June, 1999, Swift, K.
Failure to Protect: Child Welfare Work in Context. International Sociological Association, Professions Group. Montreal. August, 1998, Swift, K.
Do Mothers Work? Relations between Globalization and Welfare. Society for the Advancement of Socioeconomics. Montreal. July, 1997, Swift, K.
Ideologies of Work: Single Mothers in the Post Welfare State. Eighth Social Welfare Policy Conference. Regina, Sask. June, 1997, Swift, K.
The Effective Cross Cultural Social Worker: Research on Knowledge and Practice. Paper presented at the Social Work Learned Societies. Brock University, June, 1996, Swift, K.
"Child Welfare Across Cultures: The Development of Practice Skills". Paper presented at the Second Symposium on Child Protection, Memorial University, St. John's Newfoundland, June, 1995, Swift, K.
"Hiding Poverty: The Example of Child Neglect". Paper presented at the Social Work Learned Societies. Montreal, June, 1995, Swift, K.
