For the Sake of the Children

THE United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has come a long way in China. Since its assistance program was resumed in 1979, UNICEF has assisted children of China through 100 major projects involving a commitment of more than US$ 200 million through 1995. The global organization's contribution to improving the well-being of 380     

Protect the Health of Women and Children

CHINA has reached its present standard of maternal and child health by constant effort. Before the founding of New China in 1949, Chinese women's life expectancy was only 37.6 years. A girl born today can expect to live an average of 72 years. Hygienic practices barely existed for mother and children in the early 1950s, said a health worker who remembers that period. Maternal mortality was high as a result of traditional midwifery practices, which often caused childbed fever. Infant     

Protect the Children

LAST December's meteor stormattracted the attention of a lot ofBeijing school students.Unfortunatelyit also courted tragedy as a middle school girlwho went out to enjoy the display wasnurdered.Two weeks later,the manresponsible was arrested. This envent has stirred up students andparents alike, as well as teachers and publicsecurity sectors.A fierce discussion abouthow children can protect themselves and     

Exploring the Potential of Shadow Controls in the Evaluation of Children’s Services

This article describes and presents a framework for an under‐used evaluation technique in the context of an evaluation of a programme for disaffected young people. Shadow controls—the use of expert judgement to estimate the success of a programme—are often dismissed in research design as an unreliable form of comparison, but can be useful in situations where there is limited scope for a control group or to enhance the causal inference attributable to non‐experimental evaluations. The exercise described uses a practice tool as a structure for making predictions about the situations of the young people on the programme, assuming they do not receive an intervention. These predictions (shadow controls) are then compared to outcome data for the young people at the end of the programme. The results of the exercise provide some important messages about the programme’s effectiveness and the potential for strengthening non‐experimental evaluation methods. The article also discusses how the method can usefully inform evaluations of social programmes and encourage agency and user collaboration.     

Close Attention to the Character Development of Only Children

SOME 20.72 percent of China's over 320 million families have only one child. Parents and teachers alike have confronted numerous problems related to nurturing only children. Solving related problems requires that we first gain a greater understanding of today's children.     

Japanese Children’s Knowledge of the Facial Components of Basic Emotions

While numerous studies have investigated children’s recognition of facial emotional expressions, little evidence has been gathered concerning their explicit knowledge of the components included in such expressions. Thus, we investigated children’s knowledge of the facial components involved in the expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, and surprise. Four- and 5-year-old Japanese children were presented with the blank face of a young character, and asked to select facial components in order to depict the emotions he felt. Children’s overall performance in the task increased as a function of age, and was above chance level for each emotion in both age groups. Children were likely to select the Cheek raiser and Lip corner puller to depict happiness, the Inner brow raiser, Brow lowerer, and Lid droop to depict sadness, the Brow lowerer and Upper lid raiser to depict anger, and the Upper lid raiser and Jaw drop to depict surprise. Furthermore, older children demonstrated a better knowledge of the involvement of the Upper lid raiser in surprise expressions.     

The Effects of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program on Insurance Status and Health Care Utilization of Children

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) of 1997 aimed to increase public insurance eligibility to children in families that were above the Medicaid income cutoff line, but were too poor to afford private coverage. This paper shows that SCHIP helped as many as 1.3 million children leave the ranks of the uninsured. However, almost 400,000 of these children came from families with two privately insured parents, and added approximately $300 million in health care expenses to federal and state budgets. This paper also presents estimates of health care consumption of children who switched to public insurance as a result of SCHIP.     

The End of the One-Drop Rule? Labeling of Multiracial Children in Black Intermarriages

The identity choices of multiracial individuals with Black heritage have traditionally been limited in America by the one-drop rule, which automatically designated them as Black. This paper evaluates the rules contemporary influence and argues that, with increasing interracial marriage, options in racial identification are now available to this group. Using the 5% 1990 and 2000 Public Use Microdata Samples, I consider how children from Black intermarriages are racially identified by their families and, using 2000 data, evaluate theoretical hypotheses to explain identification processes. The results show that most families with Black intermarriages reject the one-drop rule, but that Black–White families create unique interracial options, the implications of which are considered.     

Where Do Our Children Fit In?: White Mothering of Asian Children and the Construction of Racial and Ethnic Identities

Abstract

This research investigates white adoptive mothers' mothering related to their adopted children's racial and ethnic socialization. Drawing upon in-depth face-to face interviews with thirty-eight women who have adopted children from China, South Korea or the Philippines, this paper first examines why white mothers de cided to adopt an Asian child and then explores mothering strategies for deal ing with their children's racial and ethnic identity formation. The study contrasts "colorblind mothering," which I also call the "assimilative fitting-in strategy," and "color-conscious mothering," also referred to as the "birth-culture fitting-in strategy." This study also found significant variations in color-conscious adoptive mothers' mothering based in part on the level of the family's embracement of the adopted child's birth culture and on the level of social networking with and outreach to not only other adoptive families but also Asian or Asian American communities. Finally this study critically reviews how race matters to white adoptive mothers.     

Increasing Child Serving Professionals’ Awareness and Understanding of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

ABSTRACT

Child serving professionals need increased understanding of the identification and therapeutic needs of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a training program aimed to increase awareness of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) among professionals likely to encounter victims in their work. Professionals’ (N = 227) knowledge level was examined prior to the training, immediately thereafter, and in a 6–12 month follow-up. Despite professional position or years of experience, participants had similar levels of CSEC knowledge before the training and all showed a significant improvement in their knowledge after the training. However, follow-up testing on a smaller subsample demonstrated that knowledge gains were not maintained. The analysis of the participants’ responses to how their behavior would change subsequent to the training revealed important themes including: (1) greater ability to identify/assess or recognize CSEC victims, (2) greater understanding and knowledge of CSEC, (3) increased ability to communicate, interact, and engage with CSEC victims, and (4) heightened desire to educate others and raise awareness about CSEC. Results also indicated that participants were very satisfied with the training and found it highly relevant to their work.     

Parents’ and Professionals’ Perceptions of the Services of Families of Children with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities

This study aims to investigate differences in perception among Kuwaiti parents, teachers, and employees regarding the services that are needed in different special education settings. The participants (n = 135) included 45 parents of children with intellectual developmental disabilities (IDD), 63 teachers in special education schools, and 27 employees working in the Higher Council of the Disabled. A survey was conducted using Hassan’s (The needs of parents of children with disabilities in relationship with child’s age, gender, and type of disability, 1992) Arabic version of the Family Need Inventory. The findings showed differences in perception among parents, teachers, and employees regarding what they consider to be the most important services for families of children with IDD. Another result showed significant differences in perception among the three groups regarding services (match or/and mismatch of responses), except for 3 out of 35 types of services. Suggestions and implications are discussed to provide information to social service providers to help them evaluate the laws that pertain to disability in Kuwait. The findings of this study will help social service providers determine and implement laws that meet the needs of parents of children with IDD and give them the right to be full partners in their children’s education.     

A Remarkable Heritage: The ‘Daily Round’ of the Children of the Harkis,between Merger and Vilification

Strictly speaking, the word ‘harkis’ originally denoted one of the categories of former Muslim auxiliaries in the French army who had served on a voluntary basis under the French flag during the War of Algerian Independence (1954–62). When Algeria achieved independence in 1962, those former auxiliaries of the French army who were able to escape the National Liberation Front's bloody reprisals (conservative estimates suggest some 65,000 perished) were forced to seek exile in mainland France. In spite of the restrictive measures enacted by the highest state authorities with a view to preventing the migration to France of people generally considered undesirable, and in spite of rudimentary reception arrangements, some 95,000 to 100,000 former auxiliaries and family members established themselves in France after choosing French nationality. But in a society increasingly restructured by strong migratory flows from the Maghreb (particularly from Algeria) and characterized by strong prejudice against Arabs (in part linked to the transfer of the memory of ‘French Algeria’), today in France the sons and daughters of the harkis find themselves in a situation where their identity is very insecure and one which forces them to cope with a burdensome legacy at both the socio-cultural and symbolic levels.     

Securing Children’s Best Interests While Resisting the Lure of Simple Solutions

The best-interest-of-the-child standard for child custody policy and decisions has benefits and hazards, the latter related to the exercise of judicial discretion in custody disputes. This article examines alternatives to the status quo, including the primary parent presumption, the approximation rule, shared parenting, an exact even split of custodial time, sole custody for couples labeled as in high conflict or those with young children, the friendly parent presumption, and decisions that defer to children’s stated preferences. Each alternative promises simpler paths to securing children’s welfare, but some have more support than others in the social science literature.     

Does the Amount of Time Mothers Spend With Children or Adolescents Matter?

Although intensive mothering ideology underscores the irreplaceable nature of mothers' time for children's optimal development, empirical testing of this assumption is scant. Using time diary and survey data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, the authors examined how the amount of time mothers spent with children ages 3–11 (N = 1,605) and adolescents 12–18 (N = 778) related to offspring behavioral, emotional, and academic outcomes and adolescent risky behavior. Both time mothers spent engaged with and accessible to offspring were assessed. In childhood and adolescence, the amount of maternal time did not matter for offspring behaviors, emotions, or academics, whereas social status factors were important. For adolescents, more engaged maternal time was related to fewer delinquent behaviors, and engaged time with parents together was related to better outcomes. Overall, the amount of mothers' time mattered in nuanced ways, and, unexpectedly, only in adolescence.     

Does Having Children Moderate the Effect of Child Sexual Abuse on Depression?

Nearly 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys under the age of 18 will be the victim of child sexual abuse. As adults, these individuals are more likely to report myriad mental illnesses including depression. Testing the hypothesis that having children would moderate the depressive effects of child sexual abuse, the authors used public-use data of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Wave IV (n = 5,114; mean age = 29.00 years; SD = 1.78). Results indicate that having children significantly moderates the relationship between child sexual abuse and depression for females. Though the risk of depression is increased for all females with a child sexual abuse history, this increase is less dramatic for mothers. Two potential explanations of this effect are presented: biological and psychosocial. The possible implications for mental health professionals working with mothers with a child sexual abuse history include highlighting the role of their children as possible support.     

Where Are the Children? Extent and Determinants of Preschoolers' Child Care Time

According to the 1988 National Health Interview Child Health Supplement, half of all children under age six attended nonparental child care on a regular basis. Close to a quarter of all children spent 40 or more hours per week in care. Average time in care was 30.5 hours for children in care. Statistical tests indicate that (a) the predictors of whether parents use any child care differ from the predictors of the number of hours care is used, and (b) estimates for children under three years of age differ from estimates for children from three to five years of age. The probability of attending care is related to a child's age, mother's education, race, family type, number and age of siblings, type of adults living in the household, income, poverty status, and region and size of the community in which a family resides. For children from three to five years of age, hours in care are associated with child's age, mother's education, race, family type, siblings, income, poverty status, and region. For children under three years of age, relatively few factors (mother's education, race, siblings, and region) predict the number of hours spent in child care.     

Culture and the Learning and Cognitive Development of Children with Severe Disabilities—Continuities and Discontinuities with Children without Disabilities

The dominant approach to children with disabilities is grounded in a biomedical model that assumes a direct relationship between the biological defect and the disability. From a cultural-historical point of view, this approach fails to notice how a child with a biological defect has to act in social institutions adapted to typical children. The aim of this article is to show how impairments arise from a developmental dynamic that includes both neurobiological and social conditions. Through empirical examples, the participation of children with severe disabilities is analyzed in relation to different practices and how they afford and develop particular cognitive activities, creating developmental possibilities or constraints that feed back on the child's learning. Distinguishing the different perspectives of children and professional adults increases our awareness of how conflicts between the participants' motives affect both participation and developmental conditions in practice. It is concluded that the learning problems of children with severe neurobiological impairments must be understood in terms of their social moderation and mediation.     

Can a Munro-Inspired Approach Transform the Lives of Looked after Children in England?

This discussion paper will examine the lessons from the Munro Review relevant for looked after children. Although the Munro Review focuses on child protection, we will argue that some of its key principles have relevance for understanding looked after childhoods. The Munro Review provides an analysis of the current state of the child protection system, challenging bureaucratised practice and arguing for a reclaiming of professional social work identity, knowledge and understanding. There are three key principles of the Munro Review that this paper will focus upon. The first two are the recognition that risk cannot be eradicated and the bureaucratisation of practice is an inadequate response to the demand for public accountability. The third principle is that ethical integrity lies at the heart of services for children in public care. The key message of this paper is that a Munro approach can transform looked after childhoods. However, the current ‘child protection’ model of social work in England may prevent this shift in social work practice.     

The Heart of the Matter: Exploring Intergenerational Themes in Children’s Literature

Exploring intergenerational themes in children’s literature, this article shares the perspective of one grandfather and the reactions of educators in response to stories of young and old. Four themes found within intergenerational children’s literature are identified: (a) perceptions of grandparents’ interests and personalities, (b) passing down of knowledge, (c) shared moments/adventures, and (d) perceptions of aging. Intended as a reference point for educators as they select books depicting intergenerational themes, a question asked is, What is at the heart of the matter when it comes to children’s literature depicting themes of young and old?