Operationalising children's participation: Competing understandings of the policy to practice ‘gap’
AbstractThere is widespread discourse and policy on children's participation in decision-making. This is not matched with an equal level of implementation in practice. This qualitative research explores the policy to practice gap with senior decision makers in the child protection system in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Their reflections on the challenges associated with translating the participation principles into practice are deconstructed to understand the complex and overlapping ways in which participation is perceived. The research data indicate there are competing understandings of participation at play, dependi...
Source: Children and Society - March 1, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Samia Michail,
Kelly Baird,
Tobia Fattore,
Rebekah Grace Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Who do you think you are? Children's definitions of being a ‘child’
AbstractWe asked 92 children in North West England, aged 2 –17,if they were children and what itmeant to be a child. Our findings show that not all children think they are a ‘child’. Although different age groups defined ‘childness’ in different ways, children reproduced normative Western discourses of childhood, including ideas which subordinate them. The children in our study seemed unable to articulate their capabilities and contributions. We argue that child ren and adults need to co-produce positive definitions of childness to facilitate adult acceptance of children's participation in society and continue th...
Source: Children and Society - February 27, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Kate Bacon,
Zoe O'Riordan Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Facilitation of adolescents' agency and hybrid integration
AbstractThis paper is based on a Horizon 2020 research project on the enhancement of migrant children's ability to contribute to the change of their conditions of integration in the education system in seven countries (Children Hybrid Integration: Learning Dialogue as a way of Upgrading Policies of Participation, CHILD-UP; GA 822400). The paper draws on data collected in vocational schools, with adolescents aged 14 –16, in Italy. It draws on transcribed interactions to analyse activities in school classrooms in which facilitators support migrant adolescent's agency in producing narratives of their personal cultural traje...
Source: Children and Society - February 25, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Claudio Baraldi Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Maternal perceptions of infant's body weight and childhood obesity in South Africa: A qualitative study in Soweto
AbstractFrom a socio-anthropological study focusing on maternal body weight perceptions and dietary practices towards infants living in Soweto (South Africa), we studied how lay sociocultural traits may lead to early childhood obesity. Most mothers tended to socially value and normalize fatness. This propensity led mothers, particularly older women at home, to adopt high-calorie feeding practices towards infants, although some mothers tended to question these lay norms. Further works must consider how lay (emic) sociocultural norms in African townships can contradict biomedical (etic) messages, conveying for the community ...
Source: Children and Society - February 20, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Emmanuel Cohen,
Wiedaad Slemming,
Stephanie V. Wrottesley,
Alessandra Prioreschi,
Shane A. Norris Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Narratives of child sexual abuse —Conceptualizing relational complexities
AbstractThis qualitative study consisted of 14 in-depth, retrospective interviews with Norwegian participants over the age of 18 who experienced child sexual abuse. Through narrative analysis, study findings shed light on three analytical ideas: ‘confusing closeness and ambivalent feelings’, ‘relational complexities’ and ‘relationally trapped’. The results illustrate participants' views, feelings and understandings regarding child sexual abuse and their relationship with the perpetrator. Findings suggest that the narratives brou ght forward for the interviewees included current views, but also past experiences ...
Source: Children and Society - February 19, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Mari Dalen Herland Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Free school meals for all poor children in Europe: An important and affordable target?
AbstractOne of the objectives of the newly adopted European Child Guarantee is to ensure effective and free access to at least one healthy meal each school day for all children at risk of poverty and social exclusion in Europe. However, little is known about the starting point of Member States in terms of school meal provision. This paper aims to fill this information gap. It maps the current free school meal provision in the 27 Member States, reviews existing relevant evidence to illustrate the expected impact and presents estimates of the public budget needed to meet the Child Guarantee's objective. (Source: Children and Society)
Source: Children and Society - February 19, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Anne ‐Catherine Guio Tags: POLICY REVIEW Source Type: research
How can a researcher minimise causing harm when conducting interviews with particularly vulnerable children in longitudinal research?
This article seeks to answer the question: ‘How can a researcher minimise causing harm whilst conducting intervi ews with particularly vulnerable children’? Formerly, the fear of causing harm to vulnerable children has at times led ethics review boards to be overly cautious about vulnerable children participating in empirical research. Yet conversely this caution has denied these children their participatory rights and their opportunity to contribute to expanding our knowledge about particularly vulnerable children. The article considers the ethical issues that arosebefore data collection especially in relation to deal...
Source: Children and Society - February 19, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Denise Buchanan Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Enabling Children's participation: Putting the ‘good dialogues’ model into practice
AbstractA growing interest in children's participation has led to an increased need for methods for communicating with children. Empirical knowledge on ways to secure children's participation in encounters with welfare professionals and in decisions regarding their life is, however, scarce. One example of a practice model intended to enable children's participation is ‘Good Dialogues’. Presenting results from an evaluation study of the feasibility and practical use of the Good Dialogues model, this article explores the ways in which practitioners manage to put the agenda of child-centred and child-guided dialogues with...
Source: Children and Society - February 13, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Maria Eriksson Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Dragged kicking and screaming: Agency and violence for children entering secure accommodation
AbstractChildren entering secure accommodation, also known as ‘secure care’, are prevented from exercising free choice over most aspects of everyday life. This paper focuses on the relationship between agency and violence during transference to and early time in secure accommodation. Sharing interview extracts from 11 young people with experience of secure care as children, we explore how the routine processes of ‘suppressing’ children's agency supports the emergence of violence. We argue that the manner of transfer to secure accommodation creates a violent encounter that forces children's emotion and agency to re...
Source: Children and Society - February 13, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Jen Lyttleton ‐Smith,
Hannah Bayfield Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Problematizing law, rights and childhood in Israel/Palestine. By Hedi Viterbo. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021, ISBN: 978 ‐1‐316‐51 999‐8, 356 pp., £85 (hardback) and £23.99 (paperback)
(Source: Children and Society)
Source: Children and Society - February 12, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Sunaina Maira Tags: BOOK REVIEW Source Type: research
“I always think about tomorrow what I'll eat” an exploration of the experiences of adolescents in poor urban contexts in Accra, Ghana
AbstractPoverty deprives children and adolescents of good sanitation, nutrition, shelter, education, quality water, health services and negatively lead to poor physical and mental health. However, limited studies exist on the experiences of adolescents in poor urban contexts in Ghana. Using 20 adolescents from James Town, Accra, findings show adolescents look beyond money when conceptualizing poverty. They also encounter both pleasant and negative experiences in their context while remaining determined to pursue education for a better future. Implications are discussed considering the need to promote communal support becau...
Source: Children and Society - February 11, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Diana Ade, Joana Salifu Yendork, Ernest Darkwah Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
A content analysis of South Korean newspaper coverage of adolescent cyberbullying
This study aims to understand the changing frameworks, perspectives and contents of cyberbullying over the years of enactment and amendments made to the School Violence Act. A total of 172 news articles published from 2004 to 2021 were first analysed by content and with a chronological segmentation strategy. In the early years, newspapers reported mostly verbal/written and sexual/visual cyberbullying, while exclusion/extortion emerged only recently. The causes of cyberbullying changed from more individual-oriented ones to societal factors. Physical and psychological harms were consistently reported, but few indicated relat...
Source: Children and Society - February 8, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: JongSerl Chun,
Jinyung Kim,
Serim Lee Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Participatory budgeting for young people as democratic socialisation: An approach to the case of Spain
This article analyses participatory budgets for young people (children and adolescents) held in Spanish municipalities during the period 2015 –2021. A questionnaire was made and 35 valid responses were obtained after it was distributed by UNICEF Spain during July–September 2021. The data were processed using MAXQDA 2022 software, and the study characterised the language, strategy, objectives, phases and participants. From these last t hree variables, a document map was made to generate clusters and find affinities between cases. The main findings reveal the importance of the role of municipal officials and politicians,...
Source: Children and Society - February 7, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Gonzalo Pardo ‐Beneyto,
María Angeles Abellán‐López Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
‘I wish that COVID would disappear, and we'd all be together’: Maintaining Children's friendships during the Covid‐19 pandemic
AbstractFriendship is a central focus in children's lives and is important for healthy development. During the Covid-19 pandemic, children experienced restrictions on their interactions with friends. This research heard the voices of 10 children (7 –11 years) in England regarding their friendships, drawing on data collected through creative participatory methods including drawings, photography and collages, and accompanying unstructured interviews. Findings provide new insights into how children endeavoured to maintain their friendships th rough virtual interactions, street/doorstep visits, and artwork, and how friends...
Source: Children and Society - February 5, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Caron Carter,
Ruth Barley,
Arwa Omar Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Issue Information
(Source: Children and Society)
Source: Children and Society - January 31, 2023 Category: Child Development Tags: ISSUE INFORMATION Source Type: research
