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Children's Rights (children + right)
Selected AbstractsTHE FIFTH WORLD CONGRESS ON FAMILY LAW AND THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN AND YOUTHFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 3 2010Hon. Joseph V. Kay Editor's note on the 5th World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights held in Halifax Nova Scotia, August 23,26, 2009 [source] Enduring Freedom: Globalizing Children's RightsHYPATIA, Issue 1 2003CONSTANCE L. MUI Events surrounding the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States raise compelling moral questions about the effects of war and globalization on children in many parts of the world. This paper adopts Sartre's notion of freedom, particularly its connection with materiality and intersubjectivity, to assess the moral responsibility that we have as a global community toward our most vulnerable members. We conclude by examining important first steps that should be taken to address the plight of children. [source] Adolescents' and Mothers' Understanding of Children's Rights in the HomeJOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 3 2002Martin D. Ruck Adolescents' and mothers' understanding of children's self-determination and nurturance rights was examined in the context of the home. In individual interviews, 141 sixth, eighth, and tenth graders and their mothers responded to hypothetical vignettes in which a child story character wished to exercise a right that conflicted with parental practices. For each vignette, participants were asked to judge whether the story character should have the right in question and to provide a justification for their decision. Generally, eighth and tenth graders were more likely than their mothers to endorse requests for self-determination and less likely than their mothers to support requests for nurturance. Mothers of tenth graders were more likely to support requests for self-determination and less likely to favor adolescents' request for nurturance in the home than were mothers of sixth and eighth graders. In terms of reasoning, adolescents and mothers were more likely to consider the individuals' rights when discussing self-determination situations, whereas nurturance situations elicited responses pertaining to participants' understanding of familial roles and relationships. Furthermore, mothers' reasoning about childrenÃ,s rights reflected sensitivity to the developmental level of their children. The findings are discussed in terms of previous research on the development of children's understanding of rights and adolescent autonomy. [source] The Rights of Children, the Rights of Nations: Developmental Theory and the Politics of Children's RightsJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 4 2008Colette Daiute The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), U.N. General Assembly (1989) is a major breakthrough in defining children as fully human and working to ensure them the attendant benefits worldwide. While children's rights as equal human beings may seem obvious in the 21st century, the politics of establishing and ensuring such rights are contentious. The CRC is a brilliant negotiation of conceptions of the child and international relations, yet certain tensions in the children's rights process lead to a lack of clarity in a global situation that continues to leave millions of children at risk. Analyzing the CRC and related practices from a developmental perspective can help identify obstacles to the advancement of children's rights, especially those related to opportunities for rights-based thinking and the exercise of self-determination and societal-determination rights. In this article, I offer a qualitative analysis of children's rights in the context of what I refer to as the CRC activity-meaning system. I present a theoretical framework for considering this system of policy and practice as enacted in the CRC treaty and related monitoring, reporting, qualifying, and implementing documents. A discourse analysis of conceptions of the child and those responsible for ensuring their rights in seven representative documents (including the CRC Treaty, a report by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, minutes of a U.N. Security Council meeting, reports by a State-Party, and a report by a civil society group in that country) reveals tensions inherent in the CRC activity-meaning system.1 Emerging from this analysis is a tension between children's rights and nation's rights. Created in part via explicit and implicit assumptions about child development in the CRC as these posit responsibilities across actors in the broader CRC system, this tension challenges the implementation of children's rights and the development of children's rights-based understandings. I use this analysis to explain why future research and practice should address the development of children's rights-based understanding not only in terms of maturation or socialization but also as integral to salient conflicts in their every day lives. [source] Beyond Balancing: Toward an Integrated Approach to Children's RightsJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 4 2008Gary B. Melton Discussions of children's rights often are framed in terms of balancing,balancing parents' and children's rights, balancing rights to autonomy and protection, balancing rights and responsibilities. By its nature, such a comparative inquiry pulls for relativist reasoning, but such an approach undermines the universalism that is at the root of the concept of human rights. Like the international human rights instruments that preceded it, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is based on "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family." Whether grounded in religious or secular ethical reasoning, human rights are directed toward a world in which the Golden Rule,a regime of mutual respect,serves as the guidepost for the social order. Building from that premise, recommendations are offered for social scientists' contributions to creation and preservation of such societies. [source] Empowering looked-after childrenCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2001Munro Children's rights include the right to participation in decisions made about them. For looked-after children, this right is enshrined in the Children Act (England & Wales) 1989. This article reports the results of a study of children's views about their experience of being looked after and the degree of power that they felt they had to influence decision making. Their main areas of criticism were frequent changes of social worker, lack of an effective voice at reviews, lack of confidentiality and, linked to this, lack of a confidante. The findings are discussed in relation to recent policy changes. Specifically, the Looked After Children documentation and the Quality Protects initiative, by setting out uniform objectives and performance criteria, seem to restrict the freedom of local authority management and of social workers to respond to individual children's preferences, or to give weight to what the children themselves consider to be in their best interest. [source] Protection, manipulation or interference with relationships?JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2008Discourse analysis of New Zealand lawyers' talk about supervised access, partner violence Abstract Violence against women within the context of intimate relationships is a complex social problem in Aotearoa/New Zealand and internationally. Such abuse by men is particularly problematic because of its prevalence, and because of the extent and magnitude of deleterious effects on the health and psychological well-being of women and children. In New Zealand, the legal system is assumed to play an important role in protecting women and children from domestic violence. Through the Domestic Violence Act 1995 and the amended Guardianship Act 1968, persons who are physically, sexually or psychologically abusive to their children, or to their partner whilst children are present, may only be entitled to supervised access to these children. Although supervised access has been found to increase the safety of women and children, it remains a contentious issue. Because of the role that legal professionals have in the implementation of relevant legislation, the present research explored how lawyers make sense of supervised access in the context of domestic violence. Eighteen male and female lawyers were interviewed. Their interview transcripts were then subject to discourse analysis. This paper illustrates and discusses discourses used in relation to supervised access, including those that support protecting children from the harm of domestic violence through supervised access, and those that challenge the need for children's protection. Within the cluster of latter discourses, supervised access was not considered a means of balancing children's relationships with both parents with children's need for protection, or a way of enabling men to have a safe relationship with their children. Rather, it was constructed as violating men's rights to a relationship with their children, and children's right to a relationship with both parents. The prevalence of discourses opposing supervised access could affect the likelihood of women obtaining protection orders and supervised access conditions, and hence, women and children's safety. However, perpetuation of ,supportive' discourses could enhance women and children's well-being, and facilitate safe ongoing relationships between children and non-custodial parents. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Children and Work: A Review of Current Literature and DebatesDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 6 2006Michael Bourdillon ABSTRACT Recent literature concerning work in the lives of children raises several contentious issues. This contribution starts with issues arising from conceptualizations of childhood: we need to understand the continuities between the various stages of childhood and the adult world, and see children as active agents in their own development. The article discusses discourse and terminology surrounding children's work; children's rights and their relationship with fundamental human rights; the relationship between work and school; and briefly the relationship between children's work and poverty. It questions whether discourse on ,abolishing child labour' works in the children's interests. [source] Seen but not heard: a systematic review of the place of the child in 21st-century dental researchINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRIC DENTISTRY, Issue 5 2007ZOE MARSHMAN Background., The position of children in society has changed with increasing emphasis on children's rights and child-centred services. This study aimed to describe the extent to which contemporary oral health research has been conducted with or on children. Design., A systematic review of the child dental literature from 2000,2005 was conducted. A purposive sample was used to develop categories describing the level of involvement of children in research. Four main categories were developed: children as the objects of research, proxies used on behalf of children, children as the subjects of research with some involvement and children as active participants with their perspectives explored. Electronic databases were searched and exclusion criteria applied. Each of the resulting papers was examined and categorised. The frequency distribution in each category and the distribution of these categories according to subject were calculated. Results., The search revealed 3266 papers after application of the exclusion criteria. Of these, 87.1% were categorised as research where children were used as objects, 5.7% were found to involve proxies (parents or clinicians), 7.0% involved children to some extent and 0.3% involved children actively. Conclusion., Most oral health research is conducted on children, in future research should strive to be conducted with children, involving them as fully as possible. [source] Feminism, legal reform and women's empowerment in the Middle East and North AfricaINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 191 2008Valentine M. Moghadam The issue of women's rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has gained prominence in research studies, policy debates and feminist activism. Area experts contend that for women to play a larger role in the economy and society is vital to the region's progress. But women in MENA still face gender discrimination that prevents them from reaching their potential, despite impressive gains in education and health. To varying degrees across MENA countries, discrimination against women is built into cultural attitudes, government policies and legal frameworks. The region's family laws codify discrimination against women and girls, placing them in a position subordinate to men in the family , a position that is then replicated in the economy and society. I briefly discuss recent trends in women's activism and family law reform in the MENA region, with a spotlight on Morocco, which adopted an entirely new family law in early 2004. The new Moroccan law drew on international standards and norms on women's and children's rights, the imperatives of national development and Islam's spirit of justice and equality. That a feminist campaign succeeded in altering family law in a MENA country, where laws are based on Sharia, or Islamic law, shows that effective coalitions can be built in MENA countries by linking social and economic development to women's rights. The Moroccan case demonstrates the links among research, activism and policy. [source] Decision-making during hospitalization: parents' and children's involvementJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 3 2004Inger Hallström RN Background., Ethical duties of health professionals include the obligation to enhance their patients' competence and ability to participate. Aims and objectives., To explore what kind of decisions and how these decisions were made during a child's hospitalization. Design., During a 9-week period 24 children and their parents were followed during the course of events at the hospital. In total 135 hours of observations were made and analysed in two steps. Results., In most of the situations one or both parents were present with the child. Most decisions were of a medical nature, and commonly decisions were made in consultation with those affected by the decision. Although one or more persons protested in 83 of the 218 described situations, decisions were seldom reconsidered. Conclusions., The children and their parents were usually involved in the decision-making process. Children and parents made few decisions themselves and even if they disagreed with the decision made, few decisions were reconsidered. Relevance to clinical practice., Having a voice in decision-making helps the child to develop a sense of himself as a person and gives the parents a feeling that they are part of a team giving their child optimal care during hospitalization. Promoting children's rights is one of the most important roles for the children's nurse. [source] Negotiating who presents the problem: next speaker selection in pediatric encountersJOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, Issue 2 2001T Stivers Using audio- and videotapes of acute pediatric encounters, this study (a) identifies pediatricians' practices of next speaker selection when soliciting the problem presentation, (b) identifies factors that bear on next speaker selection, and examines the consequences of physicians' selection practices for who ultimately presents the problem. Although doctors most frequently select children as problem presenters, parents are the most likely to actually present the child's problem. However, parents nonetheless orient to their children's rights to answer question that select them as next speaker. Thus, the actual problem presenter emerges as the result of a process of interactional negotiation rather than dominance or control. This study also suggests communication resources that may increase the child's participation in presenting the problem. [source] (Re)constructing the Head Teacher: Legal Narratives and the Politics of School ExclusionsJOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2005Daniel Monk School exclusions are a site of political and social contestation and in recent years statutory reforms and popular demands have focused on increasing the autonomy of head teachers. This article explores this trend and questions why, in a culture of human and children's rights, head teachers have such extensive powers within their schools and why law has, to a large extent, failed to provide a check on these powers. It does so not by doctrinal analysis of domestic and human rights law but, rather, by enquiring into how legal narratives construct the role of the head teacher and by locating the practice of exclusions within a broader social and political context. It suggests that demanding that the head teacher be unfettered in his or her decisions relating to exclusions ought not to be understood as a policy of ,non-intervention' or a return to a ,reassuring' past but, rather, as a contemporary policy that reinforces the construction of excluded pupils as marginalized non-citizens. [source] The Rights of Children, the Rights of Nations: Developmental Theory and the Politics of Children's RightsJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 4 2008Colette Daiute The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), U.N. General Assembly (1989) is a major breakthrough in defining children as fully human and working to ensure them the attendant benefits worldwide. While children's rights as equal human beings may seem obvious in the 21st century, the politics of establishing and ensuring such rights are contentious. The CRC is a brilliant negotiation of conceptions of the child and international relations, yet certain tensions in the children's rights process lead to a lack of clarity in a global situation that continues to leave millions of children at risk. Analyzing the CRC and related practices from a developmental perspective can help identify obstacles to the advancement of children's rights, especially those related to opportunities for rights-based thinking and the exercise of self-determination and societal-determination rights. In this article, I offer a qualitative analysis of children's rights in the context of what I refer to as the CRC activity-meaning system. I present a theoretical framework for considering this system of policy and practice as enacted in the CRC treaty and related monitoring, reporting, qualifying, and implementing documents. A discourse analysis of conceptions of the child and those responsible for ensuring their rights in seven representative documents (including the CRC Treaty, a report by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, minutes of a U.N. Security Council meeting, reports by a State-Party, and a report by a civil society group in that country) reveals tensions inherent in the CRC activity-meaning system.1 Emerging from this analysis is a tension between children's rights and nation's rights. Created in part via explicit and implicit assumptions about child development in the CRC as these posit responsibilities across actors in the broader CRC system, this tension challenges the implementation of children's rights and the development of children's rights-based understandings. I use this analysis to explain why future research and practice should address the development of children's rights-based understanding not only in terms of maturation or socialization but also as integral to salient conflicts in their every day lives. [source] Beyond Balancing: Toward an Integrated Approach to Children's RightsJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 4 2008Gary B. Melton Discussions of children's rights often are framed in terms of balancing,balancing parents' and children's rights, balancing rights to autonomy and protection, balancing rights and responsibilities. By its nature, such a comparative inquiry pulls for relativist reasoning, but such an approach undermines the universalism that is at the root of the concept of human rights. Like the international human rights instruments that preceded it, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is based on "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family." Whether grounded in religious or secular ethical reasoning, human rights are directed toward a world in which the Golden Rule,a regime of mutual respect,serves as the guidepost for the social order. Building from that premise, recommendations are offered for social scientists' contributions to creation and preservation of such societies. [source] Definitions of the Family as an Impetus for Legal Change in Custody Decision Making: Suggestions from an Empirical Case StudyLAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY, Issue 1 2006Mellisa Holtzman Legal scholars and social scientists are increasingly calling on legislators, lawyers, and judges to recognize and embrace expanding definitions of the family. Implicit in such calls is the expectation that legal recognition of expanding definitions of the family will protect children's attachment relationships with adults, irrespective of their biological ties to those adults. Through a detailed, historical examination of custody decisions in disputes between biological and nonbiological parents in the state of Iowa, this research suggests that judicial recognition of more expansive definitions may not result in decisions that protect children's attachment relationships. This is true because the legal impact of family definitions appears to be contingent upon cultural and political factors that may undermine the expected effects of changing definitions. This research also suggests that judicial recognition of children's rights may be the most apt way to promote legal changes that will protect children's attachment relationships. [source] The adult North and the young South: Reflections on the civilizing mission of children's rightsANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 3 2009Karen Valentin The civilization of the children of the "savages" in the colonial world was seen as a crucial issue from early on was an inherent part of the colonization project in Africa, America and Oceania in the 19th century. The idea of civilizing "the savages," today's South, through children has continued in the post-colonial era with the development of mass-schooling systems and various child-focused development projects. This has led to an export of internationally defined standards for a "good childhood" through various foreign funded development programs in South. While many NGOs, legitimizing their work on the basis of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), are genuinely working for an improvement of children's conditions, they have also taken on the role as a second guardian in order to cultivate "proper" children and parents who can live up to the supposedly universal ideals of a "good childhood." The article adopts a critical view on the child rights movement by shedding light on the crucial role, which NGOs play as civilizing institutions in the South. The article specifically draws attention to the double-sided patronization of children and parents, and "infantilization" of nations in South, which implicitly lies beneath CRC and the child rights movement. [source] REVISITING CHILD-BASED OBJECTIONS TO COMMERCIAL SURROGACYBIOETHICS, Issue 7 2010JASON K.M. HANNA ABSTRACT Many critics of commercial surrogate motherhood argue that it violates the rights of children. In this paper, I respond to several versions of this objection. The most common version claims that surrogacy involves child-selling. I argue that while proponents of surrogacy have generally failed to provide an adequate response to this objection, it can be overcome. After showing that the two most prominent arguments for the child-selling objection fail, I explain how the commissioning couple can acquire parental rights by paying the surrogate only for her reproductive labor. My explanation appeals to the idea that parental rights are acquired by those who have claims over the reproductive labor that produces the child, not necessarily by those who actually perform the labor. This account clarifies how commercial surrogacy differs from commercial adoption. In the final section of the paper, I consider and reject three further child-based objections to commercial surrogacy: that it establishes a market in children's attributes, that it requires courts to stray from the best interests standard in determining custodial rights, and that it requires the surrogate to neglect her parental responsibilities. Since each of these objections fails, children's rights probably do not pose an obstacle to the acceptability of commercial surrogacy arrangements. [source] Asylum, children's rights and social workCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 3 2003Sarah Cemlyn ABSTRACT Although it is only a minority of displaced and persecuted people globally who seek refuge in ,Western' countries, they meet an increasingly hostile reception. This paper focuses on the situation facing children seeking asylum with or without their families in Britain and Australia, and the implications for children's rights and for social work. The policy background and its racist foundations in both countries are outlined. Despite geopolitical differences, there are unnerving parallels. Legislative changes and policy complexity signal increasingly punitive attitudes towards asylum seekers. The situation of children and families in the community is discussed in terms of the exclusion of asylum seekers from basic rights, and specific issues for separated children. Even more damaging is the incarceration of children and families in detention centres, and the emerging research is explored. In both countries there is widespread flouting of children's rights, and children also feature as pawns in ideological contests. However, they also act autonomously and illustrate an inclusive model of citizenship. The role of social workers in the statutory and voluntary sectors is considered, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges for social work of avoiding collusion with repressive policies and actively promoting human rights. [source] Young people's views of children's rights and advocacy services: a case for ,caring' advocacy?CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 3 2007Vivienne Barnes Abstract This paper looks at some preliminary findings from research with young people in foster and residential care in the UK who have received advocacy services from a range of local authority and voluntary agencies. The study also includes the views of professionals, from both children's rights and social services. The initial findings highlight the importance to young people of their relationship with rights professionals. They speak about the value to them of care and respect, aspects not always seen as fundamental to rights work. Caring, in its various guises is seen by young people as a vital component of their relationship with children's rights workers. They also see this as important within advocacy work itself since caring about the outcome is often key. A pure individual rights focus with an emphasis on challenge and ,being heard' may not take account of the complexity of their situation and may pose difficult dilemmas for young people, especially in dealings with their carers. This ,caring' advocacy is not the paternalistic approach of a professional who ,knows what's best for you' but is a model based on a strong awareness of ways that young people are excluded and oppressed. It is also about placing a positive value on their contribution as citizens and links to a view of society that gives importance to an ethic of inter-relationship and care as well as an ethic of individual rights. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Culture, children's rights and child protectionCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 6 2002Penelope Welbourne Abstract This paper explores the ideas of culture and ethnicity in the context of child abuse in the United Kingdom as they are discussed in the literature relating to child protection. The culturally determined nature of some of the key concepts and terms used in child protection work is also discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Does professional and public opinion in child abuse differ?CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 6 2002An issue of cross-cultural policy implementation Abstract There are cultural variations in childcare and socialisation practices, and actions considered abuse in one culture may be acceptable in others. The extent to which children's rights are regarded as such within their own cultures as well as by governments may vary greatly. Moreover, there is a tendency for the public to make allowances for the intentions and circumstances of child abusers, at least in less severe or obvious cases or where the actions in question are socially sanctioned. However, there are also many professions involved in prevention or remediation of child abuse, or in the implementation of policies on children generally. Medicine, law, education and the social services are especially relevant here. Professionals in these areas could be expected by virtue of their training and experience to bring to their grasp of abuse issues a dimension that transcends cultural variation. Evidence from the literature and from two Singapore studies is used to explore the possibility that many professionals may retain attitudes to child maltreatment that reflect their culture rather than any transcultural agreement on children's rights generally or child abuse specifically. If true, changing professional attitudes should be an important priority. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Politics of Childhood and Asylum in the UKCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 4 2007Clotilde Giner This article considers the general treatment of asylum-seeking families with children in the UK, focusing on the government's practices and public reactions to these measures. It first describes both the exclusive asylum framework, based on institutionalised suspicion, welfare restrictions and detention, and the inclusive child policy framework, based on recognising children's rights and protecting all children. The article then investigates the implications for policy-making that these radically opposed regimes have for those who fall between the two categories, i.e. asylum-seeking children. To this end, we examine more closely three asylum practices , Section 9 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004, detention of accompanied asylum-seeking children in immigration removal centres and removals. Our analysis indicates that the government's attempt to fully include families within the restrictive asylum framework has been somewhat frustrated by the mobilisation of a wide range of public actors. As such, despite its supposedly ,legally unconstrained' room for action, the government has recently agreed to partly review its policy standards for asylum-seeking families, apparently aware of the potentially damaging effects of being seen as disregarding children's rights and needs. On the other hand, the government does not seem inclined to question the current asylum framework and the assumptions on which it is based. Consequently, the asylum system for families is likely to remain based on ad hocarrangements conditioned by the scale of the protests. [source] Felt tip pens and school councils: children's participation rights in four English schoolsCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 4 2001Dominic Wyse The United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child has created practical challenges for nation states and institutions particularly in relation to children's rights to participation. The limited research that is available has tended to use survey methodology; qualitative accounts of children's daily lives are rare. The present study investigated the nature of children's participation in their education in two primary and two secondary schools; in particular the right to express views freely in all matters affecting the child. The study found that children's opportunities to express their views were extremely limited even when school councils were in place. It is concluded that the goal of active citizenship espoused by recent national curriculum developments will remain illusive unless educational practice changes to a focus on school processes rather than products. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||