The number of children affected by family dissolution is increasing worldwide. Beneficially, a growing number of both parents desire to remain active in their children’s lives, favouring the practice ...of shared care. Unfortunately, this has introduced new dilemmas that can negatively impact children’s well-being. One example is the controversial topic of travelling children, who have become ‘visitors’ traversing between their parent’s households. The bird’s nest arrangement, a child-centred shared parenting system wherein the child resides in a single home while the parents rotate living with them, can resolve this problem. Despite its unique focus, few studies have investigated its application or the effects of the arrangement. To identify factors related to the child’s best interests, this work qualitatively explored the experiences of Estonian parents who chose a bird’s nest arrangement. Parents recruited through purposive sampling underwent in-depth, semi-structured interviews from March 2020 to January 2021. Bird’s nest parenting was found to be guided by the parents’ desire to act in the best interests of their children, holding the view that children should not suffer due to parents’ separation. The post-divorce physical setting was found to impact the child’s health and well-being as the preservation of a single familiar home was associated with multiple advantages like avoiding adjustment problems, ensuring stability and improving relations. While also viable for long-term solutions, nesting was considered particularly useful for the transitional period following separation, as it minimised sudden, harmful changes. The arrangement was perceived as beneficial for both children and parents.
As highlighted in recent studies, children could have a relevant role to play in seeking help in cases of gender-based violence at home, contributing to early detection and empowering them as rights ...holders and masters of their own lives. Notwithstanding, multiple obstacles to them doing so have been detected.
To find out expectations of help among children, seeking the differences between those who have experienced gender-based violence at home and those who have not, by gender and age.
Participants and Setting.
3664 schoolchildren from 8 to 18 years old (Meanage = 13.16, girls = 50.7 %, secondary school = 64.6 %, primary school = 35.4 %) in Catalonia (Spain).
Quantitative study. Children responded to an on-line questionnaire. Bivariate analysis and binary multiple logistic regression were used.
Children would like to take an active role in seeking help, but were afraid of the consequences and did not know how, or who to ask. Older children and those who had experienced gender-based violence at home were less likely to ask for help (β = −0.66, −0.99 - -0.34, p < .001 and β = −0.67, −1.04 - -0.27, p < .001, respectively), and were less trusting of adults.
In seeking help, children demand safe services, with clearly identifiable helpers available, able to protect them and their family. Training adults they can trust such as teachers is key. Educating children about what gender-based violence is and where they can seek help is also important.
The article is devoted to an evaluation of school staff teaching and education experiences in an intercultural environment. A part of the MiCREATE project is presented, consisting of forty four ...interviews and six focus group interviews with thirty-seven teachers and other school staff from educational institutions across Poland, and more consistently in Krakow. A brief overview of the findings is presented, focused on contemporary shortcomings in diversity teaching, opportunities to enhance intercultural perspectives in education and child-centered approach. The findings are then compared with past and other existing studies to identify similarities and differences. This will be helpful in planning further research activities and shaping intercultural policy in Polish education.
Awareness of young carers’ experiences and needs is low on governmental and societal levels in Denmark. This article presents findings from the first evaluation of a Danish respite programme, the ...Buddy Programme, which aims to provide support to young carers aged 5–15 years who experience serious, chronic or mental health problems and/or death of a parent or sibling. Over a four‐six month period, volunteer students from University College Copenhagen offer young carers the opportunity of respite through participating in ordinary activities such as play and sports. In 2017–2018, based on a child‐centred approach, we conducted a qualitative study with interviews focusing on how the Buddy programme affected the children. The interviews took place at programme start, halfway through, and after completion with 22 children and 21 parents, as well as single interviews with 20 Buddies assigned to families after completion. Three main themes were identified: (1) the Buddy programme as an activity, (2) how the Buddy Programme affected the children and (3) ending the Buddy programme and wanting to continue the friendship. Our findings emphasise the importance of fun and cosy activities that provide children with respite from the serious concerns that otherwise fill the lives of young carers. Being with a Buddy created a free space, allowing children to play undisturbed and to temporarily keep concerns and a guilty conscience at a distance. By offering friendship, Buddies provided opportunities for young carers to feel special, be seen, acknowledged and taken seriously as a child with valid and specific needs and interests. Our findings may help increase awareness of the needs and interests of young carers on governmental and societal levels.
A gap exists between the EU’s professed guarantees of the rights of migrant children and Member States’ individual practices concerning integration. The EU promotes policies claiming to be based on ...the rights of the child, children’s best interests, and a child‐friendly integration system. Both theory and the EU framework also insist that integration should be understood as a two‐way process. Yet national practices and policies shift responsibility for integration from the reception community to newcomers. Pressures on immigrants, hate speech, and the closure of borders have become the main features of migration policy. The article points out inconsistencies between the EU and its Member States’ own policy frameworks regarding the integration of migrant children in education. Drawing on interviews with stakeholders, we look at the primary triggers for these inconsistencies to learn what they reveal about the EU and its Member States’ integration policies for migrant children. We argue that nationalism and the denial of rights prevent policy processes from becoming a two‐way process and we demonstrate the consequences this has for child‐centred approaches to integration.
•Children’s active participation, as right-holders, enriches research processes.•Children have a broad and comprehensive understanding of gender-based violence.•Schools could be privileged spaces for ...children to disclose gender-based violence.•Most children identify teachers as trustworthy people who can help.•Teacher training on gender-based violence is an unmet challenge.
Both official data and scientific evidence have shown that gender violence and the impact it has on children is an important social problem and ways of preventing it do not appear to be working. As this is an issue that affects children, it was decided to involve children in this research from the outset. To this end, six children's advisory groups were formed. Focus groups were then organised to explore children’s perspectives on gender-based violence and the best ways for them to seek help and information in order to enhance early disclosure. Twelve focus groups were conducted with a total participation of 45 children aged 10–16 from Catalonia (Spain). The focus group discussions were transcribed verbatim and analysed through Theoretical Thematic Analysis. The results demonstrate the importance of children’s active participation in research processes. It is clear that their understanding of the term is fairly comprehensive, wide-ranging and associated with the patriarchal system. The results point out that gender-based violence occurs in many spheres of social relations and schools are highlighted as privileged spaces for disclosure. The figure of the teacher is particularly highlighted as a key agent, and seen as one of the professionals closest to the children and identified as a person of trust. Teacher training is a pending challenge in addressing the prevention and intervention on gender-based violence.
Friendships play a key role in supporting a successful transition to a new school for autistic children and young people. However, little is known about how these relationships have been impacted by ...restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to explore how parents perceived the impact of COVID-19 on their autistic child’s friendships during transition to a new school. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 14 parents of autistic children in the United Kingdom. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Parents discussed a variety of experiences, which differed between and within school types and age groups. Several factors influenced children’s friendships during transition including support from their new school and others’ understanding of their needs. Parents described the differing expectations of what friendship was and how that affected their children’s existing and new relationships. For some, COVID-19 negatively impacted on friendships by reducing contact with existing and new friends. Others experienced positive or neutral experiences due to lockdown restrictions. This study highlights the diversity of needs among autistic children and calls for a personalised approach to transition support beyond the pandemic as one way of supporting autistic children to develop positive peer relationships.
Lay abstract
Research shows that moving schools can be a challenging time for autistic children and young people. One factor that has been found to support successful transition is friendships. However, there is little research exploring how transition between schools affects autistic children’s friendships, and even less on how children’s relationships during transition have been impacted by COVID-19. Fourteen parents of autistic children and young people were interviewed about their child’s move to a new school and the impact they felt this had on their friendships. Parents described how moving with existing friends helped some children to find the transition less challenging. Others had differing experiences, with their children’s friendships playing a much smaller role in the move. Differences were also seen with regard to the impact of COVID-19, with some parents speaking of how hard being away from friends was for their child, while others found the social restrictions a welcome break from interacting with peers. The study highlights how different the experiences of autistic individuals, and their parents, can be and the importance of a child-centred approach to transition support.
PurposeThis article explores how newly-arrived children with a refugee background describe their everyday lives in the Netherlands, with a focus on how they perceive their peer relations and the ...broader social climate in the host country. MethodsIn this case study, focus groups were conducted with 46 Syrian-born children with a refugee background, ranging between the ages of 8 to 17 years old. All participants have a temporary residence permit and live in Rotterdam together with (part of) their family. A board game was developed as a research tool to stimulate children to share their perspectives on their friends and experiences with inclusion and exclusion. ResultsAn important finding is that all of the children have friends in the Netherlands. The majority of their friends have an Arab background, and different reasons for this composition are discussed. Furthermore, although all of the children expressed that they feel welcome in Dutch society, they had also encountered exclusion, which generates emotional responses. ConclusionUsing a theoretical boundary perspective, we show that children are involuntarily subjected to symbolic boundary drawing by others, while taking part in boundary work themselves too. Within the domains of the children's social networks and the broader social climate in the Netherlands, we further examined the relations between symbolic and social boundaries.
Children's participation in health care is one of the most important components in the management of their disease. Electronic health (eHealth) services that are adapted to the needs of children have ...the potential for restructuring how children and professionals work together. Therefore, a digital interactive assessment and communication tool, Sisom, was developed to give children aged between 6 and 12 years a voice in their own health care. However, the implementation of eHealth services such as Sisom in daily practice in pediatric health care is rarely investigated.
The aim of this study was to explore the process of implementing Sisom for children in pediatric care in Sweden. More specifically, the study aimed to (1) evaluate whether the implementation strategy was conducted as planned, (2) understand the barriers and facilitators of the implementation strategy in pediatric care settings, (3) gain insight into how professionals work with the specific intervention, and (4) gain insight into the usefulness and effects of the intervention from the professionals' perspectives.
A process evaluation design was used to study the implementation of Sisom at 4 pediatric care centers in Sweden. An extensive amount of qualitative and quantitative data was collected before, during, and after the intervention through self-report checklists, memos, and interviews with professionals. In total, 46 children, aged between 6 and 13 years, participated. The children used Sisom on two occasions during 6 months. When they used Sisom, a printed report formed the basis for a forthcoming dialogue between professionals, children, and their parents.
To our knowledge, this is the first implementation study of an eHealth communication tool aimed at strengthening children's participation in pediatric health care. Key factors for successful implementation were alignment of the solution with the values and goals of the organization, health care professionals' beliefs in the usefulness and usability of the solution, and health care professionals' willingness to change their professional roles guided by the solution.
The results from the study show that it is possible to restructure health care delivery toward a child-centered approach, if there is a willingness and preparedness in the organization to implement an eHealth solution with the aim of restructuring the way of working with children's participation.
Based on field research with asylum-seeking children in reception centres, the article looks at the situation of unaccompanied minor migrants in Slovenia through the lens of the child-centred ...approach and from a procedural justice perspective. Initially it highlights the commonalities between procedural justice and the child-centred approach in terms of voice, dignity and respect and impartial decision-making, and thereafter describes migrants' perceptions and experiences of asylum reception and determination procedures from the perspective of the child-centred approach and procedural justice. Interviews with unaccompanied migrant minors revealed that their experiences of reception and the asylum process were most influenced by respect for dignity and voice. Finally, the article discusses the relevance of the child-centred approach to the inclusion of non-citizen children at the intersection of different rights regimes.
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