According to the United Nations' latest data, the United States has more children living in poverty than any other industrialized nation in the world. More than a fifth of all children grow up in ...poverty. The poverty rates for African American and Latino children often exceed 40 percent. Furthermore, the United States — a country that once pioneered strategies to prevent child abuse and which now spends more money fighting child abuse than any other industrialized country — also has the highest rate of child abuse in the industrialized world. Against this background, the author, an authority on child welfare, takes a critical look at the current welfare system. He traces the transformation of child welfare into child protective services, arguing that the current focus on abuse has produced a system which is designed to protect children from physical and sexual abuse, and therefore functions as a last resort for only the worst and most dramatic cases in child welfare. In a close analysis of the process of investigating child abuse, the author finds that there is no evidence that the transformation into protective services has reduced child abuse fatalities or that it has provided a safer environment for children. He makes an argument for the criminal justice system to assume responsibility for the problem of child abuse in order for the child welfare system to be able to adequately address the wellbeing of a much larger number of children now growing up in poverty. This new edition of The Welfare of Children takes into account a major legislative change since the publication of the first edition: the welfare reform legislation of 1996. This legislation has fundamentally altered the public child welfare system as broadly understood, and the author of this book examines its implications on policy and practice, refuting the claim that welfare reform has actually reduced child poverty. The Welfare of Children, 2nd Edition is a blueprint for the comprehensive reform of the current child welfare system to one that administers to the economic security of the larger number of disadvantaged and impoverished children.
Child maltreatment occurs in the Black community at higher rates than any other racial group. Given the prevalence of child maltreatment risk factors in the Black community, such as being in a ...low-income family, single parent family, greater exposure to physical discipline, and less access to services and resources, it is not surprising but nonetheless concerning that Black children are at greater risk for abuse and/or neglect. Unearthing the cause and effect between the challenges faced by the Black community and the life outcomes for Black children is key to making positive changes happen. Through a feminist and womanist lens, the authors unpack the range of factors that intersect and impact the Black community that are necessary to address to effectively protect Black children. Understanding how to prevent maltreatment and promote health and wellness are essential to adequately address maltreatment so as to protect and empower Black children.
Each year, more than half a million migrant children journey from countries around the globe and enter the United States with no lawful immigration status; many of them have no parent or legal ...guardian to provide care and custody. Yet little is known about their experiences in a nation that may simultaneously shelter children while initiating proceedings to deport them, nor about their safety or well-being if repatriated.Migrant Youth, Transnational Families, and the Stateexamines the draconian immigration policies that detain unaccompanied migrant children and draws on U.S. historical, political, legal, and institutional practices to contextualize the lives of children and youth as they move through federal detention facilities, immigration and family courts, federal foster care programs, and their communities across the United States and Central America.Through interviews with children and their families, attorneys, social workers, policy-makers, law enforcement, and diplomats, anthropologist Lauren Heidbrink foregrounds the voices of migrant children and youth who must navigate the legal and emotional terrain of U.S. immigration policy. Cast as victims by humanitarian organizations and delinquents by law enforcement, these unauthorized minors challenge Western constructions of child dependence and family structure. Heidbrink illuminates the enduring effects of immigration enforcement on its young charges, their families, and the state, ultimately questioning whose interests drive decisions about the care and custody of migrant youth.
The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Childhood should be free of violence, and victims of childhood maltreatment should be entitled to participate as ...expert informants in research about these experiences. Placing children and adult survivors at the heart of research efforts on child maltreatment is critical to effective response and prevention measures in fighting this form of violence. Embedded in the European context, Participatory Research on Child Maltreatment with Children and Adult Survivors presents a mosaic of contexts, theories, and methods relating to children’s and adult survivors’ participation in research about their adverse experiences. Contributors demonstrate how research can mobilize children and adult survivors to become agents in constructing and disseminating reliable, evidence-based knowledge about child maltreatment. Enriching ongoing debates about ethical concerns and challenges of participatory research in the field of child maltreatment, this contribution to Emerald Studies in Child Centred Practice highlights the advantages that participation as a human right and as a valued endeavour of scientific knowledge accumulation can bring to communities of researchers and helping professionals. The authors of this book are members of a designated working group of the pan-European network on Multisectoral Responses to Child Abuse and Neglect in Europe (Euro-CAN), supported by the European Cooperation on Science Technology (COST Action 19106), that promote children’s and child abuse survivors’ participation in research on violence.
Autism has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years, thanks to dramatically increasing rates of diagnosis, extensive organizational mobilization, journalistic coverage, biomedical ...research, and clinical innovation. Understanding Autism, a social history of the expanding diagnostic category of this contested illness, takes a close look at the role of emotion--specifically, of parental love--in the intense and passionate work of biomedical communities investigating autism.
Preventing Child Maltreatment: Multicultural Considerations in
the United States is the first book in a concentrated series
that examines child maltreatment across minoritized, cultural
groups. ...Specifically, this volume examines core multicultural
concepts (e.g., intersectionality, acculturation, spirituality,
oppression) as they relate to child maltreatment in the United
States, while the other books take a closer look at particular
ethnic or racial communities in this country. Additionally, this
book examines child maltreatment through the intersection of
feminist, multicultural, and prevention/wellness promotion lenses.
Recommendations for treatment in each book build on a foundation of
prevention and wellness promotion, along with multicultural and
feminist theories. Throughout this book, five case studies, which
are introduced in Chapter One, are revisited to help the readers
make important and meaningful connections between theory and
practice.
The Children of Immigrants at Schoolexplores the 21st-century consequences of immigration through an examination of how the so-called second generation is faring educationally in six countries: ...France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States. In this insightful volume, Richard Alba and Jennifer Holdaway bring together a team of renowned social science researchers from around the globe to compare the educational achievements of children from low-status immigrant groups to those of mainstream populations in these countries, asking what we can learn from one system that can be usefully applied in another.Working from the results of a five-year, multi-national study, the contributors toThe Children of Immigrants at Schoolultimately conclude that educational processes do, in fact, play a part in creating unequal status for immigrant groups in these societies. In most countries, the youth coming from the most numerous immigrant populations lag substantially behind their mainstream peers, implying that they will not be able to integrate economically and civically as traditional mainstream populations shrink. Despite this fact, the comparisons highlight features of each system that hinder the educational advance of immigrant-origin children, allowing the contributors to identify a number of policy solutions to help fix the problem. A comprehensive look at a growing global issue,The Children of Immigrants at Schoolrepresents a major achievement in the fields of education and immigration studies. Richard Alba is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York's Graduate Center. His publications include Remaking the American Mainstream (with Victor Nee) and Blurring the Color Line Jennifer Holdaway is a Program Director at the Social Science Research Council, where her work has focused on migration and its interaction with processes of social change and stratification.
This book is part of a concentrated series of books that
examines child maltreatment across minoritized, cultural
groups.Specifically, this volume addresses American Indian and
Alaska Native ...populations. However, in an effort to contextualize
the experiences of 574 federally recognized tribes and 50+ state
recognized tribes, as well as villages, the authors focus on
populations within rural and remote regions and discuss the
experiences of some tribal communities throughout US history. It
should be noted that established research has primarily drawn
attention to the pervasive problems impacting Indigenous
individuals, families, and communities. Aligned with an attempt to
adhere to a decolonizing praxis, the authors share information in a
strength-based framework for the Indigenous communities discussed
within the text. The authors review federally funded programs
(prevention, intervention, and treatment) that have been adapted
for tribal communities (e.g., Safecare) and include cultural
teachings that address child maltreatment. The intention of this
book is to inform researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and
advocates about the current state of child maltreatment from an
Indigenous perspective.
There are now nearly four million children born in the United States who have undocumented immigrant parents. In the current debates around immigration reform, policymakers often view immigrants as ...an economic or labor market problem to be solved, but the issue has a very real human dimension. Immigrant parents without legal status are raising their citizen children under stressful work and financial conditions, with the constant threat of discovery and deportation that may narrow social contacts and limit participation in public programs that might benefit their children. "Immigrants Raising Citizens" offers a compelling description of the everyday experiences of these parents, their very young children, and the consequences these experiences have on their children's development. "Immigrants Raising Citizens" challenges conventional wisdom about undocumented immigrants, viewing them not as lawbreakers or victims, but as the parents of citizens whose adult productivity will be essential to the nation's future. The book's findings are based on data from a three-year study of 380 infants from Dominican, Mexican, Chinese, and African American families, which included in-depth interviews, in-home child assessments, and parent surveys. The book shows that undocumented parents share three sets of experiences that distinguish them from legal-status parents and may adversely influence their children's development: avoidance of programs and authorities, isolated social networks, and poor work conditions. Fearing deportation, undocumented parents often avoid accessing valuable resources that could help their children's development--such as access to public programs and agencies providing child care and food subsidies. At the same time, many of these parents are forced to interact with illegal entities such as smugglers or loan sharks out of financial necessity. Undocumented immigrants also tend to have fewer reliable social ties to assist with child care or share information on child-rearing. Compared to legal-status parents, undocumented parents experience significantly more exploitive work conditions, including long hours, inadequate pay and raises, few job benefits, and limited autonomy in job duties. These conditions can result in ongoing parental stress, economic hardship, and avoidance of center-based child care--which is directly correlated with early skill development in children. The result is poorly developed cognitive skills, recognizable in children as young as two years old, which can negatively impact their future school performance and, eventually, their job prospects. "Immigrants Raising Citizens" has important implications for immigration policy, labor law enforcement, and the structure of community services for immigrant families. In addition to low income and educational levels, undocumented parents experience hardships due to their status that have potentially lifelong consequences for their children. With nothing less than the future contributions of these children at stake, the book presents a rigorous and sobering argument that the price for ignoring this reality may be too high to pay. The following chapters are contained in this book: (1) Emiliana, Elena, and Ling Raise Citizens in New York City; (2) The Hidden Face of New York: Undocumented Immigrant Parents' Routes to the City; (3) Life Under the Radar: Legal and Illegal Authorities and Public Programs; (4) Documentation Status and Social Ties: Households, Networks, and Organizations in the Lives of Undocumented Parents and Their Children; (5) The Worst Jobs in Urban America: Undocumented Working Parents in the New York Economy; (6) How Parents' Undocumented Status Matters for Children's Early Learning; and (7) Providing Access to the American Dream for the Children of Undocumented Parents. "Overview of Study Design and Methods" is appended.
The bodies and minds of children--and the very space of children--are under assault. This is the message we receive from daily news headlines about violence, sexual abuse, exploitation, and neglect ...of children, and from a proliferation of books in recent years representing the domain of contemporary childhood as threatened, invaded, polluted, and "stolen" by adults. Through a series of essays that explore the global dimensions of children at risk, an international group of researchers and policymakers discuss the notion of children's rights, and in particular the claim that every child has a right to a cultural identity. Explorations of children's situations in Japan, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, England, Norway, the United States, Brazil, and Germany reveal how children's everyday lives and futures are often the stakes in contemporary battles that adults wage over definitions of cultural identity and state cultural policies. Throughout this volume, the authors address the complex and often ambiguous implications of the concept of rights. For example, it may be used to defend indigenous children from radically assimilationist or even genocidal state policies; but it may also be used to legitimate racist institutions. A substantive introduction by the editor examines global political economic frameworks for the cultural debates affecting children and traces intriguing, sometimes surprising, threads throughout the papers. In addition to the editor, the contributors are Norma Field, Marilyn Ivy, Mary John, Hae-joang Cho, Saya Shiraishi, Vivienne Wee, Pamela Reynolds, Kathleen Hall, Ruth Mandel, Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, and Njabulo Ndebele.
