Children's and adults' perceptions of child necessities in Hong Kong

There is growing interest in child poverty and well‐being in East Asia. However, empirical studies predominantly adopt “expert‐led” measures (such as adult‐derived child deprivation measures), which usually assume that parents or guardians provide reliable reports about all their children's needs and that the allocation of household resources is effectively equal across all members. Studies of child poverty from a child‐rights or child‐agency perspective are rare in East Asia. Using a consensual deprivation approach, this article examines the extent of agreement between children and adults about which child possessions and activities constitute necessities of life in Hong Kong. The data are drawn from the second wave of the Strategic Public Policy Research project—Trends and Implications of Poverty and Social Disadvantages in Hong Kong: A Multi‐disciplinary and Longitudinal Study. A total of 595 adults and 636 school‐aged children from the first wave of the study were reinterviewed and asked if they considered 16 possessions and activities as essential for children in contemporary Hong Kong. The results showed that adults were significantly more likely to believe that almost all material and social deprivation items were necessities compared with their children, even after controlling for individual‐level factors (i.e., gender and birthplace) and household‐level factors (i.e., number of children in the household, number of working adults, and household income). The findings highlight the importance of incorporating children's views into our understanding of child poverty.     

Child Health in Rural Mexico: Has Progresa Reduced Children's Morbidity Risks?

It is well known that ill health during early childhood can have deleterious consequences for future developmental outcomes. Furthermore, children growing up in poverty are at risk of experiencing frequent and severe episodes of illness because they are highly exposed to the risk factors associated with catching infectious diseases. Progresa, Mexico's main anti‐poverty programme, aims to support and promote parents living in rural areas to invest in children's education, health and nutrition. Poorer unhealthy children in remote rural areas have limited access to health care. This paper investigates whether this rural intervention improved children's health status during its first three years of operation. We examine whether Progresa reduces children's morbidity risks by looking at the changes over time in the incidence of diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections. Additionally, we assess whether there are differential treatment effects according to households’ severity of poverty. The analyses of this study have been carried out using longitudinal data from a randomized treatment and control survey. Our results indicate that there is some evidence that Progresa contributes to reducing morbidity rates. We find that for both diseases under study, the Programme effect is mainly due to a decrease in the morbidity risks of children aged between 24 and 59 months. However, the evidence of a Programme effect is stronger for diarrhoea than for respiratory infections.     

Inequalities in English child protection practice under austerity: A universal challenge?

The role that area deprivation, family poverty, and austerity policies play in the demand for and supply of children's services has been a contested issue in England in recent years. These relationships have begun to be explored through the concept of inequalities in child welfare, in parallel to the established fields of inequalities in education and health. This article focuses on the relationship between economic inequality and out‐of‐home care and child protection interventions. The work scales up a pilot study in the West Midlands to an all‐England sample, representative of English regions and different levels of deprivation at a local authority (LA) level. The analysis evidences a strong relationship between deprivation and intervention rates and large inequalities between ethnic categories. There is further evidence of the inverse intervention law (Bywaters et al., 2015): For any given level of neighbourhood deprivation, higher rates of child welfare interventions are found in LAs that are less deprived overall. These patterns are taking place in the context of cuts in spending on English children's services between 2010–2011 and 2014–2015 that have been greatest in more deprived LAs. Implications for policy and practice to reduce such inequalities are suggested.     

Poverty and quality of life of Chinese children: From the perspective of deprivation

Using data from the Family and Children Survey of Beijing 2011, the authors constructed a child poverty measure – Child Deprivation Indicators (CDIs) – and explored the relationship between poverty and children's quality of life. The CDIs were found to be a more valid child poverty measure than the conventional measure which is based mainly on individuals' social assistance status. The findings show that deprived children are worse off in terms of living conditions. Furthermore, deprived boys and girls are disadvantaged differently; boys in self‐efficacy and girls in physical development. The findings have four important implications: (i) policy makers should look beyond those on social assistance; (ii) more public funding should be invested in deprived children's informal education and social interaction; (iii) dealing with structural problems relating to parents' socioeconomic status (SES) would be helpful to alleviate child deprivation; (iv) different types of support should be provided to deprived boys and girls for their disadvantages are not identical.     

Social work,poverty, and child welfare interventions

The relationship between children's material circumstances and child abuse and neglect raises a series of questions for policy, practice, and practitioners. Children and families in poverty are significantly more likely to be the subject of state intervention. This article, based on a unique mixed‐methods study of social work interventions and the influence of poverty, highlights a narrative from practitioners that argues that, as many poor families do not harm their children, it is stigmatizing to discuss a link between poverty and child abuse and neglect. The data reveal that poverty has become invisible in practice, in part justified by avoiding stigma but also because of a lack of up‐to‐date research knowledge and investment by some social workers in an “underclass” discourse. We argue, in light of the evidence that poverty is a contributory factor in the risk of harm, that it is vital that social work engages with the evidence and in critical reflection about intervening in the context of poverty. We identify the need for fresh approaches to the harms children and families face in order to support practices that engage confidently with the consequences of poverty and deprivation.     

Child poverty in Taiwan during the global financial crisis: from the perspective of new social risks

The economic conditions of families with children during the 2008 financial crisis became worse. The factors affecting child poverty in Taiwan can be explained from the perspective of new social risks. This study analyzed the poverty reduction effects of public transfers and taxes in order to evaluate the government role in the economic downturn. From the viewpoint of the protection of children's rights, new policies must be created in response to new social risks and future financial crises.     

Poverty,caregiver depression and stress as predictors of children's externalizing behaviours in a low‐income sample

Previous research suggests a relationship between poverty, caregiver depression, caregiver stress and children's externalizing behaviour. However, little research exists to suggest the manner in which these concepts are interrelated. Latent growth curve analyses were conducted on caregiver–child dyads data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project to identify the path through which poverty, caregiver depression, caregiver stress and child externalizing behaviours were related. Analyses identified a path through which caregiver stress and depression mediated the effect of poverty on child externalizing behaviours. In addition, the influence of caregiver depression on child externalizing behaviours was mediated by caregiver stress. Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.     

Congruence and incongruence in the perception of ‘family’ among foster parents,birth parents and their adolescent (foster) children

Over recent decades, listening to children's voices and viewing children as competent actors has gathered momentum in research as well as in practice. Acknowledging children's perspectives requires sensitive listeners who are willing, deliberately and as realistically as possible, to reconstruct children's ways of seeing. In our study, based in Norway, we investigated the views of 22 adolescents in long‐term foster care and 15 of their birth parents and 21 of their foster parents. Using Q methodology, we explored congruence and incongruence in the perception of ‘family’ among foster parents, birth parents and their adolescent (foster) children. We found three family perspectives among the adolescents. Within two of these perspectives, there seem to be more congruent understandings of the children's perspectives among the parent groups. We discuss some main implications in light of these findings. In Norway, as in many other countries, the policy of child welfare is that children first and foremost should grow up with their birth family. When out‐of‐home placements are necessary, a basic principle is that children should remain in contact with their birth family.     

Child well-being in the context of family harmony: Parental marital relationship as mediator and parent–child attachment style as moderator

Extant research in Western countries have indicated that children's well-being may be influenced by children's own resilience, parent–child attachment, and parental marital relationship. Yet, there is very little research in Malaysia on how these factors may influence well-being among children in middle childhood. The aim of this study, therefore, was to explore the relationships among children's self-efficacy—a resilience factor—and well-being, parental marital relationship, and parent–child attachment style. The study used a quantitative, cross-sectional survey method. Participants were 955 Malay-Malaysian children aged 11 years from intact families. They responded to a questionnaire on demographic background, self-efficacy, well-being, parental harmony and conflict, and parent–child attachment style. Moderated mediation analysis indicated that (i) parental harmony was a significant mediator for the relationship between children's self-efficacy and well-being; (ii) parental conflict was not a significant mediator for the relationship between children's self-efficacy and well-being; and (iii) parent–child attachment style was a significant moderator for the relationship between children's self-efficacy and well-being. These findings are discussed within the frameworks of optimal child development and family relationship. These findings may also inform policies such as Malaysia's Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3) and National Family Policy.     

Poverty,income inequality and externalised problem behaviours of children: an empirical study in Korea

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the effects of neighbourhood poverty and income inequality on children's externalised problem behaviours in Korea. For the analysis, we used the National Survey of Children and Youth data and employed a multilevel analysis method. The results show that income inequality level of a community is a significant factor in increasing children's externalised problem behaviours. When controlled for income inequality, poverty itself was not significantly related to the level of children's externalised problem behaviours. We provide social welfare practice and policy implications of the findings in the paper.     

Family and work-related risk factors in children's social–emotional well-being and parent–educator cooperation in flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care

Non-standard work schedules (NSWS) have become typical, but their associations with childcare arrangements and children's well-being are unknown. This study explores how risk factors are associated with the social–emotional well-being of girls and boys using flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care. Furthermore, the study investigates whether well-functioning cooperation between parents and educators buffers the negative effects of the risk factors. This study, which is a part of a larger survey carried out in three European countries, reports Finnish parents' (N = 146) perspectives. The results showed that high parental stress was associated with low child well-being. Strong parent–educator cooperation positively impacted both boys' and girls' social–emotional well-being. The risk factors of reconciling work and family life had negative associations with children's well-being and the fulfilment of their basic needs. The results illustrate the complex interrelations between children's well-being, risk factors relating to NSWS and the buffering effect of protective factors.     

Poverty and family structure effects on children's mathematics achievement: Estimates from random and fixed effects models

As children grow up, they may encounter changing family structures and poverty status. Any attempt to measure the effects of these statuses on children's school achievement runs the risk of spurious effects due to child- and family-heterogeneity. An analytic strategy for avoiding these spurious effects is to use longitudinal data on families, children, and their academic achievement to estimate random coefficient growth-curve models in which a large number of causally prior control variables are allowed to impact both the intercept and slope of the child's achievement trajectory, while poverty and family structure at each point in time enter the model as time-varying covariates. An even more powerful strategy is to use Allison's [Allison, P. D. (2005). Fixed effects regression methods for longitudinal data using SAS. Cary, NC: SAS Institute, Inc.] “hybrid” version of this model, in which a fixed-effects specification differences away all unchanging child and family characteristics. We use CNLSY79 data to estimate both types of models for the effects of poverty status and family structure on children's mathematics achievement between ages 5 and 14. We find that poverty status exerts a modest, statistically significant negative effect on math achievement, but only among younger children. The correlation between family structure and children's mathematics achievement is largely spurious, due instead to child- and family-heterogeneity on causally prior variables.     

What families in poverty consider supportive: welfare strategies of parents with young children in relation to (child and family) social work

In current European Welfare states, Child and Family Social Work has been assigned a pivotal role in constructing a route out of (child) poverty. The direction, processes and outcomes of these interventions are, however, rarely negotiated with the families involved. Based on a retrospective biographical research with parents of young children who experienced financial difficulties over time, this paper therefore seeks to uncover and understand how parents give meaning to welfare which strategies they accordingly develop and how these perspectives and welfare strategies interact with Child and Family Social Work interventions. We aim to acquire knowledge about how interventions are constructed, interpreted and being used as potentially supportive levers in realizing the well‐being of parents and children in poverty situations and explore how they may influence families' routes out of poverty. Drawing on Lister's analytical framework of agency within the bounds of structural constraints, our research provides insights in the essentially complex, multi‐layered and paradoxical nature of support and suggests that support cannot simply be perceived as synonymous to mobility out of poverty.     

A comparison of youth resilience across seven South African sites

The resilience of children and youth is an increasingly important area of research. Young people growing up in distressed communities, characterized by poverty, crime and family troubles, are particularly vulnerable. Resilience can assist these young people in navigating through these challenges towards independent living, particularly as they transition out of adolescence and into young adulthood. Children in South Africa are almost universally vulnerable, but children growing up in residential care facilities and children from poverty‐stricken communities are particularly in need of resilience. This quantitative study of 575 South African children compared their resilience in terms of individual, family and community protective factors across seven sites, including child and youth care centres, schools in poor communities and schools in middle‐class suburban communities. Contrary to expectations, the study found that children in one of the children's homes and one of the poor communities had the highest levels of resilience. Moreover, all but one of the sites scored very high on at least one of the resilience variables, suggesting unique profiles of resilience across the sites. Practice implications for child and family social work are discussed.     

Child Poverty and Ecological Contexts of Deprivation and Well‐being: A Critical Review of Budgeting and Social Policy in India

In the context of global developments in the measurement of child poverty, this article critiques the limited success of the Indian government to develop a comprehensive social policy approach to address multi‐faceted deprivation suffered by Indian children. Since independence in 1947, Indian governments have focused on childhood deprivation through various programmes to improve food security, education and health. However, these programmes have functioned in siloes without any linkages to each other, along with poor budgetary commitment which has resulted in sub‐optimal policy outcomes. Based on the theoretical approaches of Amartya Sen's capability approach and Townsend's consensual approach to poverty measurement, this article highlights the intrinsic importance of child well‐being to society. To achieve its objectives, the article is organized into four main parts. First, the article provides an overview of Indian children's deprivation and poverty, and the policy approach. Second, it provides conceptual advancements globally on the measurement of child poverty and deprivation. Third, it highlights the importance of utilizing these indicators to measure child poverty in the Indian context. Fourth, it concludes with a critical analysis of children's budgets and social policy in India to highlight that the Indian government's approach towards child well‐being is not only conceptually flawed, but that its commitment is extremely poor.     

Learning from parents: A qualitative interview study on how parents experience their journey through the Dutch child protection system

The quality of parents' experiences with the child protection system (CPS) is related to the outcomes of their family's process in the system. The importance of collaboration with parents in child protection is underpinned by human and children's rights conventions addressing the right for family life and parents being first responsible in fulfilling children's rights. We interviewed 20 parents about their experiences with the Dutch CPS. Our thematic analysis shows that a CPS serving the best interests of their children is most important to parents. To realize this, professionals should (1) “not let it happen but do something,” (2) “get a clear picture of the family's situation,” and (3) “take parents seriously.” Parents emphasize that a system providing sufficient “money, time, and knowledge” is needed to facilitate professionals. Their experiences seem to influence their trust in the system and their attitude towards it. This study shows new insights in parents' experiences, such as their advice to professionals to determine the truth and to be decisive. This deepened knowledge about parents' experiences is essential for evaluating and improving the CPS.     

Intimate partner violence and preschool self-regulation: Examining the role of maternal emotion socialization in Black families

The ways that parents respond to children's negative emotions shape the development of self-regulation across early childhood. The objective of this study was to examine child self-regulation in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure in a sample of Black, economically marginalized mothers and their young children (aged 3–5 years, N = 99). The study investigates the conditional effects of emotion socialization practices that (1) encourage expression of and problem-solving around negative affect (“supportive”), and (2) encourage suppression of affective displays (“suppressive”) on children's self-regulation. We found a significant association between higher child self-regulation and supportive parental reactions in the context of psychological IPV. We also found a significant association between higher child self-regulation and suppressive parental reactions in the context of psychological IPV. Our findings are consistent with prior research suggesting Black parents who teach varied strategies for emotional expression may promote children's adaptation in high-stress family environments. Macrosystem factors such as systemic racism and discrimination as well as the threat of family violence may shape how parents approach emotion socialization and the teaching of affective self-expression and self-regulation.     

Poverty‐aware social work in the child protection system: A critical reflection on two single‐case studies

In recent years, scholarly writing that calls for the development of a new child protection framework that contextualizes risk and links it to poverty and social marginalization has increased. Nonetheless, there is a lack of research on the challenges of implementing such a framework in frontline practice. Based on the ongoing, rigorous documentation of the author's experience, as a social work practitioner in a community child protection centre, this article presents two single‐case studies that describe and conceptualize the potential contribution of the poverty‐aware paradigm to the creation of a social framework for child protection practice. Utilizing critical reflection as a method of analysis, the findings reveal two major tensions entwined in poverty‐aware child protection practice: the tension between focusing child protection interventions on parenting and focusing them on poverty and the tension between framing risk within a social context and framing it within the concept of the best interest of the child. Based on the case studies, seven poverty‐aware practices to cope with these tensions are identified.     

Caregiver Emotional Expressiveness,Child Emotion Regulation,and Child Behavior Problems among Head Start Families

The present study examined the relationships between caregivers' self‐reported positive and negative emotional expressiveness, observer assessments of children's emotion regulation, and teachers' reports of children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors in a sample of 97 primarily African American and Hispanic Head Start families. Results indicated that higher caregiver negativity and lower child emotion regulation independently predicted more internalizing behavior problems in children. Additionally, children's externalizing behavior problems were negatively predicted by caregivers' self‐reports of positive emotional expressiveness. Importantly, results also suggested that caregivers' emotional expressiveness and children's behavioral problems may be non‐linearly related, and that child gender may play an important moderating role. These results emphasize the importance of family emotional climate and child emotion regulation in the behavioral development of preschool‐age children, and highlight the need for improved theoretical and practical understanding of socioemotional development in diverse populations.     

Parental Depressive Symptoms, Children's Representations of Family Relationships, and Child Adjustment

This study extends the investigation of family process models of parental dysphoria and child adjustment, by examining depressive symptoms in both fathers and mothers, and by examining children's representations of family relationships as possible explanatory mechanisms. Participants were 232 children (Time 1 mean age: 5.99; 105 boys, 127 girls) and their cohabiting parents, who participated for three consecutive years. Children's internal representations of multiple family relationships were assessed by means of a story stem completion task. Structural equation modeling indicated that children's inter‐parental and attachment representations are part of the process whereby parental depressive symptoms influence child externalizing symptoms. Maternal depressive symptoms also predicted changes in children's representations of marital and attachment relationships over time. The implications for family process models of relations between parental depressive symptoms in community samples and child development are discussed.