The author thanks Ms Yang Jing, for her assistance in pilot testing the survey questionnaire among social workers in Shenzhen, and Ms Fok Siu Ling for administering the survey questionnaire in one of her training workshops. Ms Fok also kindly gave permission to the author to administer the same questionnaire in another workshop, organized by her. The author also acknowledges with grateful appreciation the mainland Chinese workshop participants for their voluntary participation in the survey.

This article discusses a missing but emergent role of social work with unemployed young people. The authors highlight the transitional and structural factors of youth unemployment. Using a social work lens, the ''Youth Employment Network'' (YEN) is discussed and the International Labour Organization's ''4Es'' (employability, equal opportunity, employment creation, entrepreneurship) framework is elaborated. This article adds a fifth ''E'' (Ecological connection) and proposes a ''5Es'' model for social workers to support unemployed young people to overcome transitional and structure barriers for employment. Findings: Limited social work programs, studies, or evaluations are targeted for unemployed young people despite historical concern with employment conditions of workers

This paper reports on a survey of providers of caregiver support services in Singapore (N = 36). The overall aim of the survey was to provide feedback to service planners and programme staff on the delivery of services to caregivers and opportunities for improvement. A questionnaire, comprising both closed and open‐ended questions, was used to collect data. The results showed that most health and social service providers offer counselling, case management, caregiver assessment, financial assistance and information. A minority provide emergency, short‐stay respite care and day care. About one in three provide transportation services, which featured as a barrier to service utilisation. Other barriers identified were time commitments, lack of awareness of services, cost of care, caregivers’ sense of responsibility, lack of alternate care arrangements and distrust. The survey also characterises the hard‐to‐reach caregivers as homebound, illiterate, socially shy and isolated, of low income and poorly educated. Most service providers emphasise that financial support is necessary in order to improve the prospects of family caregivers.

Current thinking suggests that evidence-based practice (EBP) is a key to unlocking the potential for social work development in mainland China. But Chinese social workers may be confronted by the challenges of EBP in using research evidence, exercising expert judgment, as well as considering client characteristics, as social work is a relatively new enterprise in China's unique social-economic-political context. There is little indigenous research evidence for Chinese social workers to refer to. There are few experienced social workers and researchers since social work practice, education and research were reinstated only in the late 1980s. Mainland Chinese may not be aware of what social workers can do and may prefer authority-based practice. This paper aims to first review the definition of EBP, followed by a discussion of the challenges and opportunities in applying EBP to social work in China. It then highlights the usefulness of collaboration between academics, practitioners, and clients in implementing EBP. A recent research project on ex-offenders and their family members in Singapore is used to illustrate the feasibility of collaboration between academia and the field.

This is the Pre-Published VersionPost-disaster school relocation 2 AcknowledgementsWe are indebted to the school that kindly gave permission for our research work to be carried out and to our Chinese collaborator, SONG Jun, and the two social workers, LIU Xiao and YANG Qian, who helped to administer the survey questionnaire. This piece of research work was made possible by funding from the Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (grant no. G-YH66). Post-disaster school relocation 3 AbstractThis paper reports on the results of a survey of 540 Chinese school children's adjustment in temporary school relocation after the Wenchuan earthquake. The overall results depicted a positive picture of functioning. The findings were contrary to expectations, as earlier observational reports suggested that pupils had adjustment difficulties. Post-disaster school relocation4

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In 2010 the China Journal of Social Work published two special issues, one on social security and development in East Asia (volume 3, number 1) and the other on productive ageing and China: perspectives from East Asia and abroad (volume 3, numbers 2-3). This volume is a return to an eclectic mix of papers, written by scholars from different disciplines: philosophy, anthropology, political sciences, social work, and social gerontology. The papers cover wide geographical areas, spanning mainland China, Hong Kong, and Chinese communities in the United States of America. Discussion of cultural values is inevitable and the authors question, in varying intensity, the applicability of Western values, practices, and approach to social problems, social welfare, and social-economic development.

This paper reports on the results of a qualitative study on the responses of Chinese school children in one junior middle school and their parents to China's post-disaster school relocation policy. The sample comprised 22 pairs of parent-child dyads and two pupils whose parents could not be contacted. The study results were reported using Chambers and Wedel's (2009) conceptual framework, which delineates the fundamental elements of a policy. Content analysis was used to generate themes related to policy elements, such as goals, benefits and services. Both repetitive themes and idiosyncratic perspectives were reported so as to present a diversity of views. Despite adjustment difficulties and administrative problems reported by the study participants, the policy attention given to the rapid restoration of formal schooling for children was generally appreciated. The move back to the new school was greeted with cheer.