Work

The bureaucratic ecosystem of poverty governance and the difficulty of reform: the case of the progressive era juvenile court

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Why do reform efforts fail even when individual agencies are given more power, broader mandates, and greater resources? This paper addresses this question by introducing the concept of a bureaucratic ecosystem of poverty governance. Drawing on resource dependency theory and fragmented state perspectives, the concept highlights how state actors working in a common policy area are simultaneously fragmented and interdependent, and how this structure shapes the capacity for system-level reform. Using the historical case of the Los Angeles Juvenile Court in the 1920s and 1930s, I examine how the court’s reform goal of keeping dependent children in their homes or the most homelike environment was constrained by resource dependencies on actors it could not control. On the input side, police, probation officers, and the City Mother’s Bureau diverted families away from the court. On the output side, state oversight bodies responsible for funding and monitoring foster homes lacked the resources to ensure adequate care. The result was that foster homes came to resemble the impersonal institutions the reform had set out to replace. The findings demonstrate that systemic reform efforts fail not only due to conflict but through structural dependency, with implications for contemporary child welfare and poverty governance reform.

Source: Social Problems

DOI: 10.1093/socpro/spag078

Author: Amanda Sheely

Institution: University of Toronto

Language: English

Topic: Public Policy and Administration Research

Subfield: Public Administration

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, No poverty, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,073