RT Article
T1 Faith in welfare: the origins of the Open Home Foundation
JF Journal of beliefs and values
VO 34
IS 2
SP 220
OP 234
A1 Troughton, Geoffrey
LA English
PB Routledge
YR 2013
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1837736944
AB This article analyses the origins of the Open Home Foundation (OHF), a Christian social service provider that commenced in New Zealand in 1977. It interprets the Foundation’s appeal, paying particular attention to the role of religious values and spirituality within the organisation. The article argues that OHF emerged and flourished from the late 1970s due to a confluence of personal, social, political and religious factors. Specifically, it reflected and benefited from post-war concerns about family life, renewed emphasis on policies of deinstitutionalisation, and a mobilisation of disparate conservative Christian interests. The latter factor concerning the religious context is particularly significant. On the one hand, it helps to explain the values and ethos of the organisation, and the social implications of a particular set of spiritual commitments. On the other, it complicates commonly held interpretations of conservative Christian engagement with social issues during this period.
K1 Child Welfare
K1 Conservative Christianity
K1 Family
K1 Foster care
K1 social service agencies
DO 10.1080/13617672.2013.801672