Practice with Transgendered Children

SUMMARY

Utilizing an ecological framework and based on the existing literature and research, as well as my own 24 years of clinical practice with children, youth, and families, this paper examines gender variant childhood development from a holistic viewpoint where children and en-vironments are understood as a unit, in the context of their relationship to one another. This chapter is limited to a discussion regarding the recogni-tion of gender identity; an examination of the adaptation process through which gender variant children deal with the stress of an environment where there is not a “goodness of fit” and a discussion of the overall de-velopmental tasks of a transgendered childhood. Recommendations for social work practice with gender variant children are presented in the con-clusion of the paper.     

Impact of Biological Children's Adjustment on Their Siblings Who Were Adopted From China

This study investigated how biological children's adjustment influenced the adjustment of their younger siblings who were adopted from China. It included 40 families with 40 biological children (average age, 7.9 years; SD = 2.3) and 40 adopted Chinese children (average age, 3.5 years; SD = 2.0). Data provided by the adoptive mothers showed that the biological children's average age was 5.3 years (SD = 3.0) when the adopted children arrived. While 95% of the adopted children and 40% of the biological children were girls, both groups of children showed favorable adjustment (as measured with the Child Behavior Checklist). The adopted children's adjustment was influenced by the adjustment of the biological children if they showed rejecting behaviors toward the adoptive mother initially and had difficulty adjusting to the biological children early on. The magnitude of the effect, however, was small.     

Aspirations and Setbacks of Working Children in Addis Ababa: Can They Realise Their Futures?

Based on interviews with 45 children, this article looks at the life situations and aspirations of working children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, including their hopes, efforts and struggles to make their dreams come true. Pushed by the need for survival, the children work and nearly half go to school. They demonstrate agency, taking care of themselves, supporting families and aspiring to change their lives. However, they also face challenges that make achieving their aspirations difficult. The authors argue that agency alone is not sufficient to help them realise their aspirations unless buffered by supportive structures and systems.     

Adult Children of Same-Sex and Heterosexual Couples: Demographic “Thriving”

ABSTRACT

Prior research comparing children of same-sex and heterosexual couples is limited by methodological issues such as not including male same-sex couples and not using appropriate comparison groups of heterosexual parents. The current study addresses these limitations by examining differences in demographic characteristics between adult children of female same-sex couples, male same-sex couples, and heterosexual couples (recruited from siblings), using data reported by adult children's parents drawn from a matched longitudinal cohort. Demographic variables include employment, education, religion, and familial status. Results reveal few differences between adult children of same-sex couples and those of heterosexual couples, and no differences between children of female-female couples and male-male couples.     

The Current Status of Chinese Children

The report highlights results from a collaborative research program coordinated by the China Youth and Children Research Center. Trends are based on responses from over 4,000 children ages 6 to 14 in 45 districts, counties, and county-level cities as well as from other surveys and assessments of Chinese primary and secondary school children. Some comparisons are made between rural and urban children. The following issues are addressed: physical development, health, parent-child relationships, self-acceptance, awareness of rules and laws, awareness of equality and tolerance for differences, awareness of environmental concerns, consumption attitudes and behaviors, use of leisure time, academic pressures, participation in the Young Pioneers, and the influence of children on adults. The report addresses areas of progress as well as concerns facing modern Chinese children in a rapidly changing economic, political, and cultural climate.     

Domains of Motivation in Men and Women for Initiating and Terminating Procreation in an Evolutionary Perspective

Children require considerable resources such as time and money to be raised. Still, despite the heavy costs involved, most people do decide to have children, a fact that raises the question of what motivates them to do so. Moreover, after having one or more children, people decide not to have additional ones, even though they might still be fertile. This raises the question of what motivates people to terminate procreation. The present paper aims to address these questions using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. In Study 1, we used in-depth interviews and open-ended questionnaires that lead to the identification of 66 reasons for which people have children and 23 reasons for which people stop having children. In Study 2, we used principal component analysis that classified these reasons in broader motivation domains, 15 for procreating and 4 for terminating procreation. Sex differences were examined in each domain. By placing procreation in an evolutionary framework, this study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the motives that drive people toward and away from the process of having children.     

Cultural Complexity and Border Markers in Norwegian Kindergartens

This article has analysed practices towards and views on cultural diversity by staff in two Norwegian kindergartens. The article has focused on food traditions both among minorities and the Norwegian majority that serve as border markers and are used in differentiating processes among the staff. The analysis found concurrent processes towards cultural homogenisation and increased diversity and experienced that staff members are in the process of developing a perception about minority children that is complex, shifting and intersecting, rather than a straightforward perception based solely on minority status. However, the study also identified a tendency operating in parallel where, even though the ideal goal is equality in results, the outcome in practice is often a majority‐based equality practice that leaves little room for difference.     

Pockets of Participation: Revisiting Child‐Centred Participation Research

This article revisits the theme of the clash of interests and power relations at work in participatory research which is prescribed from above. It offers a possible route toward solving conflict between adult‐led research carried out by young researchers, funding requirements and organisational constraints. The article explores issues of participation in child‐centred research in a cross‐cultural context and gives examples from research carried out with young refugees. The author discusses what might be the best way forward for researchers against a backdrop of critical dialogues concerning child participation on the one hand and funders’ frequent calls for participatory methodologies on the other. In doing participatory research with children and young people on the margins of society, issues of power, knowledge, ethical relations, funding processes and research methodologies and practices may seem at odds and difficult to resolve. In this article a methodology of creating pockets of participation that can be owned by the young researchers is suggested as a possible route.     

Young Children of Parents with Substance Use Disorders (SUD): A Review of the Literature and Implications for Social Work Practice

SUMMARY

This article reviews the scientific literature that focuses on school-age children of parents with substance use disorder (SUD). The review examined the subjects, instruments, and results of 10 scientific studies published from 1985 to the present (2006). Generally, school-age children of parents with SUD demonstrated a variety of emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and social problems. Specifically, (a) children of drug users (CODs) were at higher risk than children of alcoholics (COAs) for psychopathology and functional impairments, and (b) Children of parents diagnosed as having SUDs (particularly alcohol), along with anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) showed more negative psychosocial outcomes than children whose parents did not have ASPD. Recommendations for future research and implications for social work practice are discussed.     

Growing up in the Divorced Family

Stressful parent–child relationships in the post-divorce family together with the enduring effects of the troubled marriage and breakup lead to the acute anxieties about love and commitment that many children of divorce bring to relationships in their adult years. Findings from a 25-year study of 131 children call for a paradigmatic change in our theoretical understanding and in our interventions with these youngsters as children and as adults. Revised clinical and educational strategies with parents and children are proposed. Judith S. Wallerstein holds a Masters Degree in Social Work, a PhD in Psychology, and training in Child Psychoanalysis. Her research on the effects of divorce on children is known nationally and internationally. Her four best selling books have been translated into more than 10 languages. She is Founder of the Judith Wallerstein Center for the Family in Transition, a non-profit research, counseling, and educational center in Northern California. She is Senior Lecturer Emerita at the University of California at Berkeley School of Social Welfare, where she taught clinical courses on children and families for 26 years.     

Agency as vulnerability: accounting for children's movement to the streets of Accra

This paper considers the agency of children moving to the streets of Accra, Ghana's capital city. A much used but largely unexamined concept, agency is nevertheless commonly deployed in childhood studies as a means to stress the capacity of children to choose to do things. In the literature on street and working children, and a cognate area of study concerned with children's independent migration, this has involved accounts of children's agency made meaningful by reference to theories of rational choice or to the normative force of childhood. It is our argument that both approaches leave unanswered important questions and to counter these omissions we draw upon the arguments of social realists and, in particular, the stress they place on vulnerability as the basis for human agency. We develop this argument further by reference to our research with street children. By drawing upon the children's accounts of leaving their households and heading for Accra's streets, it is our contention that these children do frame their departures as matters of individual choice and self‐determination, and that in doing so they speak of a considerable capacity for action. Nevertheless, a deeper reading of their testimonies also points to the children's understandings of their own vulnerability. By examining what we see as their inability to be dependent upon family and kin, we stress the importance of the children's perceptions of their vulnerability, frailty and need as the basis for a fuller understanding of their agency in leaving their households.     

Collaboration patterns among Swedish professionals in the repatriation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children: an explorative study

This study explores patterns of collaboration between Swedish professionals involved in the repatriation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children. A qualitative case study methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 20 statutory social workers, social workers at care homes, police officers, Swedish Migration Board officers, and legal guardians. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data. The results showed low levels of collaboration among the professionals and the use of different strategies by the professionals to manage their work tasks. Patterns were found among the professionals: some tended to isolate themselves from interaction and acted on the basis of personal preference, and others tended to behave sensitively, withdraw, and become passive observers rather than active partners in the repatriation process. These behaviours made it difficult for the relevant professionals to employ dignity and efficiency in the repatriation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children.     

Do Sons Prevent Marital Disruption More Than Daughters? Evidence From Italy

In a well-known study Morgan, Lye, and Condran (1988 Morgan, S. P., Lye, D. N. and Condran, G. A. 1988. Sons, daughters and the risk of marital disruption. American Journal of Sociology, 94(1): 110–129. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) stated that sons prevent the risk of divorce more than daughters do. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the sex composition of children on the stability of the parental marriage in Italy, a country where this research question is particularly interesting because of conservative gender roles within the family. The relative risk of marital dissolution is estimated for individuals with different numbers and sexes of children using a discrete time event-history model. The findings do not support either the hypothesis that sons contribute more to marital stability than daughters or the hypothesis that the effect of the sex composition of children has changed over time.     

A Talent for Living: Exploring Ghana’s ‘New’ Urban Childhood

This paper considers the lives of children living in a large informal settlement in central Accra, Ghana. Its contention is that children remain largely absent from the renewal of interest in slums and that where they do feature it is largely as objects of risk and vulnerability. Such an exclusive focus, it is argued, risks effacing the ways in which children are capable of actively confronting the terrible constraints posed by slum environments and the ‘talent for living’ that this involves. Drawing upon the findings of a small qualitative exploratory research project, the paper examines sources of support and cooperation between children and how their decisions to work are perceived as a strategy to actively support mothers and families struggling for a subsistence.     

A multi-dimensional assessment of the health needs of homeless infants and pre-school children in Phoenix

The dual purpose of this study was to identify the comprehensive health needs of a selected group of homeless children in Phoenix, Arizona, and to utilize the findings in developing needed services. A non-random sample of 60 infants and pre-school children were given on-site physical, dental, developmental, behavioral, and nutritional assessments. The study included Medicaid's Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment procedures, complete oral screening, the Denver Developmental and Denver Articulation Screening Test, the Pre-school Behavior Inventory, and parental interviews. Fifty-eight of the 60 children screened needed further evaluation, treatment, or followup services. The most significant problems included low hematocrit readings, inadequate immunizations, and untreated medical and dental problems specific to this age group. Also identified were developmental delays and potential behavior problems. It is imperative that aggressive outreach and followup services be developed to reach homeless children and to insure that needed interventions are provided.     

A Multi-Dimensional Assessment of the Health Needs of Homeless Infants and Pre-School Children in Phoenix

The dual purpose of this study was to identify the comprehensive health needs of a selected group of homeless children in Phoenix, Arizona, and to utilize the findings in developing needed services. A non-random sample of 60 infants and pre-school children were given on-site physical, dental, developmental, behavioral, and nutritional assessments. The study included Medicaid’s Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment procedures, complete oral screening, the Denver DevelopmentaL and Denver ArticuLation Screening Test, the Pre-school Behavior Inventory, and parental interviews. Fifty-eight of the 60 children screened needed further evaluation, treatment, or follow-up services. The most significant problems included low hematocrit readings, inadequate immunizations, and untreated medical and dental problems specific to this age group. Also identified were developmental deLays and potential behavior problems. It is imperative that aggressive outreach and follow-up services be developed to reach homeless children and to insure that needed intelVentions are provided.     

Children in self-care: Homeless in the afternoons or socially provided for?

This study examines the adaptation of children in self-care compared with children in adult-care to out-of-school relationship contexts and solitude. Thirty-six French children aged 9–11 years were interviewed about their out-of-school activities and responses to solitude. The theoretical framework integrates Weiss' (1974) notion of relational provisions and Valsiner's (1984, 1987) constraint theory to understand individual adaptation in the social and solitary contexts of self-care. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed complexity and variability of the structural organization and children's adaptation in self-care contexts. Although self-care children reported more activities outdoors alone than did adult-care children, the development of the capacity to be alone may protect children's psychological well-being. Moreover, the inherent structure of self-care, i.e., parental absence, demanded that children lead the promotion of their own development in self-care contexts. In a few extreme instances, children were indeed homeless in the afternoon.This study was carried out with the Self-Care Research Team including Professors Janine Beaudichon, Pierre Coslin, and Annick Cartron of theLaboratoire de Psychologie du Developpement et de L'education de L'enfant, Universite Paris V, La Sorbonne and was funded by the French Ministry of Education.     

Fear of Crime Among Vulnerable Populations: Homeless Women

This study examines the adaptation of children in self-care compared with children in adult-care to out-ofschool relationship contexts and solitude. Thirty-six French children aged 9-11 years were interviewed about their out-afschool activities and responses to solitude. The theoretical framework integrates weiss’ (1974) notion of relational provisions and Ullsiner’s (1984, 1987) constraint theory to understand individual adaptation in the social and solitary contexts of self-care. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed complexity and variability of the strnctural organization and children’s adaptation in self-care contexts. Although self-care children reported more activities outdoors alone than did adult-care children, the development of the capacity to be alone may protect children’s psychological well-being. Moreover, the inherent structure of self-care, i.e., parental absence, demanded that children lead the promotion oftheir own development in self-care contexts. In a few extreme instances, children were indeed “homeless in the afternoon.”