Motherhood of Battered Women: The Struggle for Repairing the Past

The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze battered women's subjective perceptions of their own motherhood. Although there is substantial knowledge about the negative effects of children witnessing their mothers' abuse by their fathers, there is little research available on the motherhood of battered women. Examining this issue in the clinical, ethical, and research domains is a complex process. Yet, increasing our understanding of battered women's own perspective is essential if we want to implement comprehensive and effective treatment. The present study is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 battered women. The finding show that battered women describe a basic mission in their life that structure the core meaning of their motherhood, namely, to repair the negative experiences of physical and emotional distress caused by their parents. Such repair is seen as compensating for the past and as building a positive and safe emotional reality for their children's future.     

Parents' hopes and expectations for their children's future occupations

Qualitative research has generated important insights into the intersection of social class, parental values and children's experiences of education and their role in the reproduction of inequalities. There has been less analytic engagement with parents' expectations and aspirations regarding their children's future occupations. Such expectations and aspirations have attracted much research and policy interest. Typically, analyses have been quantitative and focused on outcomes for children. Whilst parental expectations are deemed very influential for children's future occupational outcomes, there is relatively little evidence on the shaping of such expectations, or the ways in which future work and occupations are discussed between parents and children. This article reports on an analysis of parents' ideas about their children's future occupations and the contexts in which these ideas accrue meaning. Drawing on primary data from interviews with parents we explore diversity within, as well as across, social classes. First we explore parents' expectations and aspirations for their children's future occupations. Secondly we consider how parents see their own role in shaping such futures. The evidence highlights the salience of parents' own biographies and class backgrounds in shaping their orientations to, and manner of engagement with, their children's futures. Thirdly we briefly explore how parents' expectations and engagement with their children play out in class differentiated ways as their children approach early adulthood.     

Collateral Damage: The Lived Experiences of Divorced Mothers Without Custody

This qualitative study utilizing narrative analysis and grounded theory examines the history and experiences of 14 Canadian women who have lost custody of their children within a legal divorce process. Each woman's storied experience focused on themes of attachment and loss associated with involuntary child absence, legal abuse within the adversarial system, and judgment based on nonconformity to a motherhood ideal; physical violence and emotional abuse in the family system; access denial and parental alienation; stigma and lack of support services; and serious financial losses. Women's perceptions of their children's needs in the divorce process, mothers' responsibilities in relation to those needs, and the responsibility of social institutions to support mothers as parents were also examined. The study sought mothers' views about needed changes to the legal framework of child custody determination and other priorities. Implications for socio-legal policy are discussed, including a consideration of a rebuttable legal shared parental responsibility presumption as facilitating the most salutary postdivorce outcomes for women and children, as are guidelines for direct service provision.     

You Have to Start from Scratch and You Need Someone by Your Side”: Perspectives of Parents and Teachers on Immigrant Students’ Adaptation to School

This article analyses the issue of immigrant students’ adaptation in Israeli schools, as perceived by their parents and teachers. The study integrates data from two qualitative, phenomenological studies: one explored immigrant parents’ perceptions of Israeli education and their children’s adaptation in school, while the other studied teachers’ perceptions of immigrant students’ education and their practices in the field. The data was gathered from in‐depth interviews with 17 parents and 20 teachers. The analysis yielded a list of themes related to parents’ and teachers’ views of the children’s adjustment, and their own roles in this process: their personal experiences in the field, the challenges and difficulties in interpersonal interactions between parents and teachers, and policy issues related to the educational integration of immigrant students. Findings emphasize the vital importance of parent‐teacher collaboration, clarification and better implementation of existing policy, and teachers’ qualifications for the successful educational integration of immigrant students.     

Parents of psychiatrically hospitalized children: A decade of changing perceptions

Psychiatric hospitals for children have changed dramatically during the last decade. The lengths of hospitalizations have been shortened; the psychopathology of children qualifying for admission is more severe, often with neurological or biochemical components. In some hospitals, there has been an increasing emphasis on research. All of these changes have affected the staff's perceptions of the children's parents; these changes appear to have resulted in a more supportive, less critical attitude toward these parents. This may be significant in increasing parents' confidence in coping with their child's illness and their family's stress. The need for empirical, longitudinal research is emphasized.The research mentioned in this article was funded by the American Cancer Society.     

‘Chocolate … makes you autism’: impairment,disability and childhood identities

This paper discusses perceptions and experiences of impairment and disability from the perspectives of learning disabled children, their parents and their social workers. The author reports on findings from her doctoral study that adults often fail to take into account the views and experiences of learning disabled children. As a result, these children developed their own interpretations of impairment and disability based on their experiences and interactions with others. Whilst this indicates that they are active social interpreters, it also suggests that adults should make greater efforts to inform and consult learning disabled children. The author concludes by reflecting on the relevance of these findings to contemporary theories of disability and childhood.     

Mid- and Late-Life Divorce and Parents’ Perceptions of Emerging Adult Children’s Emotional Reactions

A paucity of research exists pertaining to the experiences of emerging adult children in the context of parental divorce. This study uses Paul R. Amato’s divorce-stress-adjustment framework to organize a set of predictors that potentially influence parents’ perceptions of their emerging adult children’s emotional reactions to a divorce. Data come from a nationally representative AARP study, from which we analyzed a sample of 283 parents who experienced a divorce at age 40 years or older. Results indicate that parental gender, nature of contact with the ex-partner, divorce timing, time spent contemplating divorce, a history of parental divorce, and the reason for divorce influence parents’ perceptions of their emerging adult children’s reaction to the divorce. Implications, limitations, and future direction for research are discussed.     

A Qualitative Study of Parents’ and Children’s Views on Mediation

This qualitative study examined the benefits to children of family mediation for divorcing couples and the limitations of such mediation. To capture the perspectives of parents and their children, we invited 40 parents and 10 children to participate in the study. The parent informants reported that mediation improved the efficacy of their parenting and alleviated their children’s stress about their divorce. In contrast, the child informants felt they were powerless when involved in the mediation process and that they received limited support from the mediators. Strategies are proposed for improving the cultural applicability of mediation services for children in a Chinese society.     

Permanence for disabled children and young people through foster care and adoption: A selective review of international literature

Children who have been removed from their parents need stability and permanence; this is as true for disabled children as it is for others. Yet many children are subject to extended periods of uncertainty and instability. Growing attention has been paid to the need to achieve permanence within a timescale which meets children's needs. As disabled children are over-represented in looked after (in care) populations it is especially important that their needs are considered when formulating policy and practice in this area.This review of literature covers international material related to stability and permanence for disabled children, in particular permanence achieved through fostering and adoption. A scoping method was used to identify and analyse a broad range of material. Ninety texts were included in the review, including material from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, China and the Netherlands. Empirical research included quantitative, mixed methods and qualitative studies. Other sources included literature reviews and a small number of research-based ‘think pieces’ and briefings.Disabled children often have permanence outcomes and experiences which differ from those of other children; most often they are disadvantaged by systematic features of services and by the latent disablism of decision-makers, professionals, carers and potential carers. The findings also show that disabled children are not a homogenous group and that characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity and impairment type show complex relationships with permanence through adoption and foster care.Important gaps in current knowledge are identified, including disabled children's views and experiences in relation to achieving permanence. Several areas of policy and practice are highlighted where effort to improve permanence needs to be made. These range from tackling negative professional attitudes about the prospects of placing disabled children to further development of non-traditional approaches to the recruitment of foster carers and adopters.     

Multicultural desires? Parental negotiation of multiculture and difference in choosing secondary schools for their children

This paper considers the ways in which parents talk about choosing secondary schools in three areas of Greater Manchester. It argues that this can be a moment when parents are considering their own attitudes to, and shaping their children's experiences of, multiculture. Multiculture is taken as the everyday experience of living with difference. The paper argues that multiculture needs to be understood as shaped not only by racialized, ethnic or religious difference (as it is commonly understood) but also by other differences which parents may consider important, particularly class and approaches to parenting. We stress the need to examine what parents say about schooling in the context in which they are talking, which is shaped by local areas and the experiences of their children in primary schools. Based on interviews with an ethnically mixed groups of parents from different schools, we show how perceptions of the racialized and class demographics of schools can influence parents' choice of secondary schools. The paper also argues that attention needs to be paid to the ways in which terms such as ‘multicultural’ and ‘mix’ are applied uniformly to very different contexts, be they particular schools or local areas, suggesting there is a paucity of language in Britain when talking about multiculture.     

Where are the children in home–school relations? Notes towards a research agenda

In this article we unpack the assumptions behind the dominant British research, policy and practice home-school relations consensus that holds parents' involvement and participation in their children's education to be unquestionably necessary and beneficial. It presupposes a one-way relationship between parents and children in which children are implicitly placed as dependent and inert recipients of the decisions and activities of parents and teachers. It does not take account of the impacts of the gender of children and their parents, ethnicity, age or family form. We draw on evidence from a diverse range of sources to show that children do have individual and collective interests and priorities in the process of home-school relations, and that gender is particularly important in this. We argue for research on home-school relations that takes an essentially child-centred approach, treating children as competent informants on diverse aspects of parental involvement in their education.     

“Parent Advocacy” as an Ideological Code: LGBTQ Parents Engage with Disability Services

What does the work that LGBTQ parents do to find resources for their disabled children reveal about the social organization of services? This article presents findings from an institutional ethnography study based on interviews with 15 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ) parents and six key community informants in Toronto, Canada. The analysis focused on the work parents did to engage with disability service systems on behalf of their children, and the ways in which families’ social privilege and/or marginalization affected their experiences. Particular attention was paid to the ways in which “parent advocacy” was taken up, responded to, and critiqued in these interviews. “Parent advocacy” was found to operate as what Dorothy Smith has called an “ideological code” (Smith 1999), offloading systemic responsibilities onto parents, shielding inequities, and promoting individualized competition between service users. This study suggests that the systemic organization that makes “parent advocacy” necessary also renders parents’ relative privilege or marginality central to what their children receive.     

Children’s Mental Health Providers’ Perceptions of Mental Health Literacy Among Parents and Caregivers

Mental health disorders are prevalent among children, yet many do not receive treatment. Parents and caregivers play a vital role in recognizing mental health disorders in children and accessing treatment. But a substantial number of parents lack essential knowledge of children’s mental health disorders, including risk factors, symptom recognition, and treatment options. Little focus has been given to parents in the children’s mental health literacy literature. The purpose of this article is to begin filling that gap by using a survey to describe the perceptions of child and family mental health providers’ perceptions regarding the amount, accuracy, and origin of mental health literacy in the parents of the children they treat. The impact of those perceptions on the work of providers is also explored. Eighty-seven mental health providers completed a survey to assess their perceptions of parent mental health literacy in the area of children’s mental health. Providers perceived parent mental health literacy as low, inaccurate, and inconsistent. In addition, providers indicated that parents rely on informal sources of support, such as friends and family for information about children’s mental health. Implications for social work researchers, practitioners, and the children and families they serve are discussed.     

Behavior Problems of Sexually Abused Children in Foster Care

Research has shown that sexually abused children display a number of behavior problems. Many of these children are placed in substitute care, especially foster homes. The current project was undertaken to measure foster parents' perceptions about the behavior problems of sexually abused children in their care. Two studies were completed. The first was a large survey of foster parents in a Midwestern state. The second study utilized a sample of foster parents to complete a standardized behavior inventory which has previously been used in child sexual abuse research. The types of behavior problems described by foster parents and implications for future research are discussed.     

The Effects of Parental Divorce: A Culture-Specific Challenge for Young Adults in South Korea

Extensive research into the offspring of divorced parents has indicated associations between parental divorce and developmental outcomes for young adults. Nevertheless the impact of cultural variation on the lives of young people with divorced parents has been neglected. Qualitative research using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to examine the experiences of six Korean adults of divorced parents, who detailed the impact of parental divorce on their lives and told us how their feelings toward their parents and their own ideas about family formation had been reevaluated. Overall, participants expressed concerns in common with other children of divorce and concerns specific to their Confucian cultural context, namely ambivalent feelings toward their parents' divorce, confusion about traditional filial piety, and a view of the self as damaged and needing reinvestment.     

Perceptions of Parental Intimate Relationships and Their Affects on the Experience of Romantic Relationship Development Among African American Emerging Adults

The quality of romantic relationships that parents maintain has an impact on their children. Emerging adult children base their relationships on similar values and/or opposing beliefs of their parental romantic relationships. This phenomenological study aimed to identify how African American emerging adults experience their parental romantic relationships and how they find meaning in the romantic relationships of their parents. Results suggest that African American emerging adults develop both positive and negative perceptions about romantic relationships from their parents’ relationships, which affect the way these adults perceive, develop, and maintain their own romantic unions. African American emerging adults also find meaning in their parental couple relationships as they share similar experiences in their relationship quality, mate choice, and/or personal or mate characteristics and personality traits as their parents.     

Parents with a Learning Disability: research issues and informed practice

This paper commences with an examination of the concept of parenting and then applies its findings to parents who have a learning disability. It is argued that views on parenting, drawn from mainstream developmental psychology from parents who do not have a learning disability can inform our thinking about parents who do have a learning disability and provide an agenda for future research. In particular, we look at skills-based approaches to parenting, parenting as a motivated activity, cultural and historical factors influencing parenting, and lay views on children and childhood. The conclusion was reached that, although an audit of what people with a learning disability believe and expect about children is valuable research, the critical issue is how this knowledge is applied in parenting practice.     

The Reunification Partnership: Engaging Birth Parents and Foster Carers as Collaborators in Restoration Casework

Collaboration is recognised as a key factor influencing the success of efforts to reunite children with their family following a protective intervention and a period in out-of-home care. Until now, little research has explored the possibilities of collaboration in this context, especially between parents and foster carers. This qualitative, interpretive study asked child protection caseworkers involved in restoration cases about their perceptions, perspectives, and experiences of collaboration between parents and carers. In-depth interviews were conducted with six caseworkers from five locations in New South Wales. The study found that caseworkers identified factors that influence the development of collaboration. These factors include trust, motivation and willingness, knowledge, and agreement. They also described strategies for promoting these factors in their casework. The research highlighted that a collaborative relationship between parents and carers can be facilitated through casework practice that considers certain factors and that strategically addresses the barriers to collaboration.     

“A Fear Like I've Never Felt”: Experiences of Parents Whose Adult Children Deployed to Combat Zones

Despite the increase of research with military families, less is known about the experiences of those parents who have adult children deployed overseas for military operations. This article presents parents’ experiences of having adult children deployed to combat zones. Qualitative data were gathered through an Internet-based survey during 2010. Analyses revealed important themes within the parents’ portrayals expressing strong reactions of fear, worry and concern for their children's safety and well being throughout their experiences. Parents also described frustrations communicating with their deployed children. Support from formal and informal sources was important to their coping, as was assistance from religious and military organizations. Finally, parents reported varied impacts of the adult children's deployment on the parents’ marriages. Implications for future military family research and family life education are provided.     

Correlates in Children's Experiences of Parents' Racial Socialization Behaviors

This study examined racial socialization processes among 94 African American parents of third‐, fourth‐, and fifth‐grade children as they were predicted by children's ethnic identity exploration and unfair treatment as well as by parents' ethnic identity and discrimination experiences. Findings indicated that children's ethnic identity exploration and parents' perceptions that their children had been treated unfairly by an adult because of their race were both significantly associated with the frequency of messages to children regarding discrimination (Preparation for Bias). Parents' perceptions of children's unfair treatment from an adult and children's perceptions that they had been treated unfairly by peers were significantly associated with parents' cautions and warnings to children about intergroup relations (Promotion of Mistrust). Moreover, the influence of parents' perceptions on Promotion of Mistrust were especially pronounced when children also reported unfair treatment from adults. Children's identity exploration and unfair treatment were not associated with parents' emphasis on ethnic pride, heritage, and diversity (Cultural Socialization/Pluralism). Thus, findings suggest that parental factors are most central in the racial socialization messages that children receive. However, children's perceptions of discrimination and information seeking regarding their own history appear to have some influence on parental messages about race.