Perspectives of Youth in Care in Serbia

In the context of evaluating child protection reform in Serbia, we explored the concept of positive youth development as well as how they experienced and understood the experience of placement. We sought to understand how youth perceive their strengths, the role of the care system, their views on how life experiences affect their strengths and how they see their future. Our position is that the way in which children see their situation is equally valuable as any other point of view, and that their doubts, questions and views should be learned in the research process. We used the methodology of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with 16 young people in care aged 13–18 years. Results indicate their limited involvement in the process of making decisions related to their life and future. There is a strong need for meaningful involvement of children and young people in order to ensure their positive development.     

在有形与无形之间——浦东外企青年群体的特点及其工作思路探讨

随着市场经济的发展,新经济组织已成为经济发展中的一个亮点.外企是新经济组织中的一个组成部分.通过团的工作社会化来带动外企业青年工作是一个新的工作思路.本文就此进行了一些理论的探讨,提出了以社团等有形阵地和网络等无形阵地为基点,建立一个全方位、多层次的外企青年服务体系.     

Transition in Use of Human Resources in the Field of Aging

Through a review of national surveys that address the area of human resource development in the field of aging, the idea that professional human resources in the field have not been given adequate attention is discussed. The conclusions are that with appropriate modifications in educational preparation and personnel policies and procedures, most aging-specific organizations will be able to more adequately meet the needs of their clientele despite limited material resources and the restrictions on the purchase of the time of professional staff.     

北京高校毕业生就业价值取向调查

2001年4月,高校毕业生群体的就业意识现状调查组在北京地区10所高校发放调查问卷1000份,回收问卷837份,有效问卷822份,有效回收率为82.2％。其中:男生占47％,女生占53％,专科生占19％,本科生占63％,硕士生占14％,博士生占4％,北京生源34％,外地生源     

Experiences of children in armed conflict in Nepal

This paper is based on the real life stories of child soldiers and children directly affected by armed conflict from different parts of the country from 2005 to 2009. These field based interviews were conducted with about 400 children between ages 12 and 18 from various researches throughout the country and with participants of HimRights programs. This article is based on primary information of children affected by armed conflict. The aim of this paper is to elaborate on the circumstances that led to their involvement as child soldiers, their expectations and harrowing experiences, and the negative and positive impact on children. The paper focuses on how both sides of conflicting parties used children as child soldiers, forcibly or voluntarily. Some children were attracted to Maoists ideology and rhetoric, singing/dancing, food/clothing/education while others were abducted or forced to join through the “one house one person policy”. Some children joined the insurgency as the last resort due to lack of community support, and after the deaths of their parents. It also looks at how schools were used as recruitment centers and battleground during this time. Gender-based violence has occurred rampantly during armed conflict in Nepal but respondents do not want to discuss openly about it, nor are government or civil society. Furthermore, this paper also deals with challenges of reintegration of child soldiers. They have had to face ostracism in their homes, schools and communities and are using substance abuse as a coping mechanism and the need for support and empathy at both the societal and policy level is indicated.     

Inequality of opportunity in adult health in Colombia

This paper measures inequality of opportunity in adult health in Colombia using the 2010 Living Standards and Social Mobility Survey, a rich dataset that provides unique information about individual childhood circumstances in that country. Dissimilarity and Gini-opportunity indexes are calculated to provide different measures of inequality of opportunity using a self-reported variable for health status. The Shapley-value decomposition is then used to estimate the contribution of early-life circumstances such as parental background, region of origin and ethnicity to inequality of opportunity. The findings suggest that 8 % to 10 % of the circumstance-driven opportunities distinctively enjoyed by those who are healthier should be redistributed or otherwise compensated in order to achieve equality of opportunity. Differences in household socio-economic status during childhood and parental educational attainment appear to be the most salient dimensions of inequality of opportunity in adult health.     

浅谈经营性用地计划在经营城市中的作用

经营性用地计划是在经营城市中对商业、旅游、娱乐、商品住宅等各类经营性用地实行控制供应总量和优化用地结构的重要措施,是经营城市土地的关键和基础.加强经营性用地计划管理,对加快经营城市和城镇化的进程,实现城市资源的有效配置及其效益的最大化,实现全面建设小康社会的战略目标具有重要的意义.     

The Role of Social Networks in the Recruitment of Youth in an Islamist Organization in Pakistan

Drawing on data from 40 qualitative interviews, this article examines how young people are connected with one influential Islamist student organization in Pakistan. It provides deeper insight into the micro-level mechanisms and processes by which new members are approached and drawn closer to the particular organization. Findings reveal that young people who joined this organization did not necessarily do so because of their ideological affinity, political or social grievances or because of macro-level events occurring in the national or global arena, such as the U.S.-led war on terror. Rather, they predominantly ended up in the organization because of their friends and acquaintances who were activists in the organization.     

Transition in use of human resources in the field of aging

Through a review of national surveys that address the area of human resource development in the field of aging, the idea that professional human resources in the field have not been given adequate attention is discussed. The conclusions are that with appropriate modifications in educational preparation and personnel policies and procedures, most aging-specific organizations will be able to more adequately meet the needs of their clientele despite limited material resources and the restrictions on the purchase of the time of professional staff.     

Asian multiculturalism in communication: Impact of culture in the practice of public relations in Singapore

This study aims to understand the role of cultural values in influencing public relations practice in Singapore. Given that Singapore exhibits a hybrid of cultures, it purposes to comprehend how multiculturalism is operationalized and to uncover if the values that have a greater influence on organizational communication resemble those in individualistic or collectivistic societies. Using Gudykunst’s (1998) seven dimensions that influence individualism-collectivism on communication as a guide, this study interviewed 20 public relations practitioners in Singapore. Our findings showed that although the patterns expressed is slightly more consistent with those found in collectivistic cultures, it does not resemble collectivism in entirety. Multiculturalism in Singapore displays a blend of certain cultural hybridity, which is aligned with it being a multicultural cosmopolitan city that embodies Western modernity while retaining its Asian values. Our findings further reinforced the idea that public relations professionals need to be multicultural themselves to effectively communicate with culturally diverse stakeholders in today’s globalizing era of multiculturalism.     

Children in Need in the South of Italy: Features and Distortions in the Deinstitutionalisation of Care

Despite the shift in emphasis from institutional to foster family care, in the south of Italy children in need are mainly looked after by residential services. These are required to provide family‐style care and to place children on a short‐term basis. Using data from research on a 100% sample of day units, residential services and children in care in the Calabria region, this article investigates the functioning of the system of care for vulnerable children at the sub‐national level, describes looked‐after children’s characteristics and life conditions and questions the extent to which a real deinstitutionalisation process has occurred in this area. Finally, some deinstitutionalisation recommendations are given.     

Vignettes of Communities in Action: an exploration of participatory methodologies in promoting community development in Nigeria

Three interconnected arguments are explored in this article.It begins by a reconsideration of community development, notfrom official and agency definitions but from what makes developmentreal and satisfies not only physical needs, but also the spiritualas well as psychological. The second part looks at Theatre forDevelopment (TFD) as a system of actualizing the participatoryagenda so direly required, so often talked about and very consistentlyignored in community development. I argue that TFD in its performativeapproach to discussing issues, forging alliances and communitycohesion contributes to community development. In this instance,we witness TFD as a community art for instigating participationand change. I also talk about how in combination with otherparticipatory methods, TFD can be empowering. This combinationis what I call methodological conversation and the aestheticsthat defines this conversation involves respect, dialogue, inclusionand flexibility. The case study section narrates the way inwhich this methodology has been applied in the turbulent environmentof the Niger Delta in Nigeria. I argue that TFD, ParticipatoryLearning and Action (PLA) and Questionnaire methods were thetriumvirate of approaches that allowed us to understand issuesand for communities to listen to us. The challenge remains howto define and develop an enduring relationship between researchers,community and government who may have the wherewithal for action.     

Factors in the length of stay of homeless families in temporary accommodation

Data relating to 526 homeless families in temporary accommodation were collected in a study directed mainly to the examination of support networks of a sample of these families. The data, however, have allowed the authors to examine the effects of certain characteristics of these families on the average length of stay in temporary accommodation before they were housed permanently. Log-linear analysis was used to establish the independent effect of various attributes available from the data. In general the feature which seemed to influence the length of stay most was the time of the year when the family was admitted into temporary accommodation followed by the sort of reason the families gave for being homeless at the time of admission. Those who had been illegally evicted tended to take longer to be rehoused whilst those with rental or tenant difficulties took less time to be rehoused. The authors are then able to produce profiles based on this analysis of those families which are likely to stay longest in temporary accommodation as against those likely to stay the shortest time.     

Assessment of Children in Need in a Post-Soviet Context: Reflections of Child Protective Workers in Estonia

Child protective worker perspectives and principles are known to affect practitioner–-client interaction. However, there is little research on the principles underpinning workers’ assessment activities in transitioning post-Soviet societies where child protection is a relatively new field. This article presents the findings of a small-scale, qualitative study that explored the perspectives and principles that Estonian child protective workers utilize to inform their assessments. The respondents (N = 20) provided examples of real-life cases that reflected their assessment perspectives. The results indicated that too often workers’ assessments demonstrate an over-reliance on an authoritarian, deficit-based approach that does not sufficiently include family or child perspectives. Such an approach may suggest the lingering influence of philosophies that informed family policy during the Soviet occupation. Workers with advanced training in social work and strength-based practices were more likely to focus on family strengths, build collaborative relationships with parents and children, and report successful outcomes in their cases. This study underscores the potential influence of previous Soviet occupation on child welfare practices in Estonia and also the need for further training of the nation’s child protective workers.     

Child-centered approach in the context of the assessment of children in need: Reflections of child protection workers in Estonia

Objective

This article describes empirical results on how practitioners understand the concept of child-centered approach and how it is applied in practice, extending knowledge of the unresearched phenomena in Estonian child protection practice.

Method

A small-scale study included twenty child protection workers from different regions in Estonia, exploring the child-centered approach in assessment practices through in-depth semi-structured interviews.

Results

Results indicate that child-centered approach in the child protection workers' practice is characterized, firstly, by doing work for the child, and less by working with the child, including the fact that some practitioners are somewhat unclear about the meaning of child-centered principle. Majority of the participants underscored the importance of child involvement and partnership in the decision-making process, nevertheless, their case reflections showed that most of them did not include the child in the assessment.

Conclusions and implication for practice

Findings highlight several challenges in Estonian child protection system and suggest a need to find ways to support child protection workers' competence and confidence to conduct comprehensive assessments based on the child-centered approach, including the child in the assessment process.