Privatization and prayer : the challenge of charitable choice
By: KENNEDY, Sheila Suess
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ArticlePublisher: Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications, March 2003Subject(s): Privatization; Prayer; Welfare ReformThe American Political Science Review 33, 1, p. 05-19Abstract: The "Charitable Choice" provisions of 1996 welfare reform legislation inaugurated a policy debate that continues with President George W. Bush´s "faith-based initiative". Proponents of greater religious involvement in social service provision argue that faith-based organizations have untapped resources, have encoutered unncessary barriers to participation, and are more effective than are government or secular contractors. Oponnents note the abscene opf evidence of greater efficacy, the historic involvement of religious provides such as Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, and the Salvation Army, and the abscence of additional funding, and charge that the new rules are merely an effort to erode the constitucional separation of church and state. Public administrators left with a number of thorny questions: how to identify and recruit the faith-based organizations targeted by these initiatives, how to evaluate and augment their capacity to deliver services, and how to encourage their increased participation while adhering to constitutional principles.
The "Charitable Choice" provisions of 1996 welfare reform legislation inaugurated a policy debate that continues with President George W. Bush´s "faith-based initiative". Proponents of greater religious involvement in social service provision argue that faith-based organizations have untapped resources, have encoutered unncessary barriers to participation, and are more effective than are government or secular contractors. Oponnents note the abscene opf evidence of greater efficacy, the historic involvement of religious provides such as Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, and the Salvation Army, and the abscence of additional funding, and charge that the new rules are merely an effort to erode the constitucional separation of church and state. Public administrators left with a number of thorny questions: how to identify and recruit the faith-based organizations targeted by these initiatives, how to evaluate and augment their capacity to deliver services, and how to encourage their increased participation while adhering to constitutional principles.
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