‘Actually There is a Brain in There’: Uncovering Complexity in Pathways Through Education for Young Adults Who Have Been in Care

Internationally, research has highlighted disruption to the educational trajectories of young people in care, documenting concern about upheaval and poor educational outcomes. We present findings from English data arising from qualitative longitudinal research with care experienced people (16–32 years) who were also in education, employment or training. The analysis extends understanding of the experiences of those who achieve educational ‘success’, including those who followed non‐linear trajectories. The need for a flexible education system, and leaving care entitlements, which take into account the disruption experienced by young people in care and the consequent possibility of delayed educational pathways, is discussed.     

How Children and Young People Influence Policy‐Makers: Lessons from Nicaragua

This article describes a participatory research project, which explored four case studies of children and young people's successful political advocacy in Nicaragua. The analysis combined a human rights‐based approach and a human development approach, and included concepts of multiple settings and levels, interrelated participation spaces, children and young people's citizenship, inclusion and exclusion, democracy, advocacy and empowerment. The main problems faced by children and young people seeking to influence policy‐makers were identified as adultism, dependency and lack of accountability. The research identified pre‐conditions, participation spaces and ways of organising for effective advocacy, and facilitation methods that had proved effective. It concludes that children and young people who achieve effective advocacy are generally self‐empowered, but can count on effective adult support and facilitation. They work through coordination with the authorities and not by clashing with them, but need to ensure effective follow up if they want politicians to keep their promises.     

Desiring Self‐Determination in Research and Beyond: Parental Consent Requirements and Situated Ethics for Migrant Young People Living amid Changing Family Dynamics

How are procedural research ethics complicit in homogenising and paternalising young people? Through a youth‐centred ethnographic study completed in Canada, I illustrate how migrant young people's complex experiences of family separation, responsibility, and autonomy sit in relation to parental consent requirements for research. By complicating notions of childhood and critically discussing capacity to consent, I elucidate how procedural ethics can negate diversity among young people and perpetuate the structural barriers some face in determining their lives. More flexible ethical procedures and responses could reduce barriers and better accommodate young people's inclusion by recognising their specific circumstances, desires and competencies through heightened contextual awareness.     

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.     

The Shift towards Family Reunification in Romanian Child Welfare Policy: An Analysis of Changing Forms of Governmental Intervention in Romania

This article examines the transition in Romanian child welfare policy from a paternalistic attitude of taking responsibility for ‘abandoned’ children to a capitalist orientation of reinstating responsibility for ‘abandoned’ children to the private sphere. While this shift in child policy is often seen to reflect a withdrawal of the public sphere from the private world of childcare, this study argues, alternatively, that this shift demonstrates a change in the form of governmental intervention. This article is based on ethnographic research that examines the reflections of Romanian child welfare professionals upon their changing roles.     

Leadership in Children’s Services

This paper examines the different contexts for leadership in children’s services with a particular focus on integrated working. It reviews contemporary theories that appear to offer relevant frameworks for thinking about children’s service leadership. It is argued that children’s services require leadership at all levels to enable a dynamic, interactive service on the front line. Multi‐professional team leadership is a crucial and much underestimated role in integrated services, which should be thinking in terms of leadership capacity throughout the organisation rather than focusing predominantly on the most senior roles in the hierarchy.     

Trapped bodies,moving minds: Uncertainty and migration among marginalised urban youth in Ethiopia

This paper from YOUR World Research highlights and explores the role of positive uncertainty in lives, strategies and transitions towards adulthood of marginalised children and youth in two urban locations in Ethiopia. Young men and women embraced notions of positive uncertainty, making journeys to street situations and internationally in search of more hopeful futures. While youth navigate uncertainty positively in the short term, the research suggests this is temporal and their agency relational and embedded. They seek support from peers but still want to belong and be accepted by their families and communities.     

Children's Perceptions of Choice in Relation to their Play at Home,in the School Playground and at The Out‐of‐School Club

Choice is often presented as a defining feature of play and it has been argued that a perception of choice contributes to the developmental potential of play. This paper investigates children's self‐recorded levels of choice during play across three contexts—the home, the school playground and the out‐of‐school club. Children recorded their play activities across contexts using a structured diary technique. Findings based on 401 reported play episodes indicated that choice varied across contexts, according to the number of children involved and whether or not an adult was present. The findings are discussed in relation to theory, policy and professional practice.     

Turning 18 in specialised residential therapeutic care: Independence or a cliff edge?

This article describes research undertaken in 2018 in a therapeutic residential home for young women with multiple and complex needs in out-of-home care in England. Based on qualitative interviews with five young women, aged 16–18, and four professionals working with the home, the article analyses the under-researched leaving care needs and experiences of this group of young women. The findings highlight the tensions between notions of childhood and expectations of adulthood surrounding this group of young people. These converge around reaching the age of 18 and foreground vulnerability on the one side, and responsibility on the other.     

Food in Foster Families: Care,Communication and Conflict

This study explores the significance of food and mealtimes in relation to the transition into foster care and the therapeutic settling of the child in a new family. In doing so, we draw upon an in‐depth, qualitative case study of 10 experienced foster families in the UK focusing on what helped them to be successful. At the time of the study, there were 16 foster children, aged 9–16, living with the families. Data collection included semi‐structured qualitative interviews and audio‐diaries with all family members who wished to be involved as well as eco‐maps produced by the young people. Thematic analysis and data extracts are reproduced in the study to demonstrate that meals and food preferences can function to affirm identities, membership and boundaries of family life as well as provide a site of conflict and control.     

Indigenous Knowledge,Beliefs, and Cultural Practices for Children and Families in Nigeria

This study examined the indigenous cultural practices that impact the well-being of children and families at five sites in Nigeria. Fifteen community leaders participated in semi-structured interviews, and 78 community members participated in focus group discussions in their communities. Responses were analyzed using a grounded theory and thematic analysis approach. Three cultural practices are discussed: the naming ceremony of the child, the use of Oríkì, and the care of children and family by relatives. Overall, the cultural practices largely reflected the indigenous knowledge and beliefs of the local context. Implications for social work are discussed.     

Children and the ‘Social Cohesion’ Agenda in Sport: Children's Participation in ‘Ethnically Mixed’ Sports Teams in the North of England

This study is set in the North of England in the context of debates around the integration of communities, after a series of street disturbances in the early 2000s. The debates centred upon ‘social cohesion’ and the social mixing of Pakistani British and White British communities. The current study explores this from the context of 10‐ to 11‐year‐old Asian, Black and White British boys participating in cricket and football clubs. It draws on the sociology of childhood approach that sees children as active participants and co‐creators of their own lives. This more nuanced approach sheds important light on children's own negotiations of home, peers, sports clubs and identities that are key to how cohesion is achieved.     

Children and Young People Living Through a Serious Family Illness: Structural,Interpersonal and Personal Perspectives

This study explores the experiences of children and young people in Britain living through a serious family illness. The study considers the interplay between social structures, social relationships and individual agency. We draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to estimate the number of children and young people affected nationally and on seven in‐depth interviews to understand young people’s experiences and the effects on their daily lives. Living through a serious family illness impacts on young people’s educational achievements, mental health and social relationships over long periods. Policy and service responses are suggested.     

Discourses Underpinning Parenting Training Programmes: Positioning and Power

Parenting training programmes (PTPs) aim to improve parenting skills and are widely offered in the UK. Despite evidence of efficacy, this paper hypothesises that PTPs may risk disempowering parents, children and even facilitators by prioritising professional expertise over lay knowledge. A Foucauldian discourse analysis examined six PTP manuals and identified discourses including victimhood, institutional salvation, scientism and collaboration. Power relations favouring government and professionals, and impacting outcomes and parental engagement were suggested to result from some of these discourses. Research into PTP engagement in terms of power relations and acknowledgement by policy‐makers of the impact of discourse was recommended.     

Reconciling Children's Policy and Children's Rights: Barriers to Effective Government Delivery

Countries which have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, have committed to implementing its principles in law and policy. This article explores the challenges for securing children's rights through policy, drawing on a research project conducted for the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, which sought to identify barriers to effective government delivery for children and young people from the perspective of key stakeholders. The research concluded that, while some barriers (such as delay and availability of data) are not child‐specific, they can be accentuated when children and young people are the main focus of policy development and more so when seeking to adopt a child rights‐compliant approach to policy development and implementation.     

Listening to Young People with Learning Disabilities Who Have Experienced,or Are at Risk of,Child Sexual Exploitation in the UK

This paper reports on a UK study which examined the identification of, and support for young people with learning disabilities who experience, or are at risk of, child sexual exploitation (CSE). CSE has received considerable attention in the UK, with evidence suggesting an increased risk for young people with learning disabilities. However, no study has specifically focused on this group, and their voices remain largely unheard. In‐depth interviews with 27 young people with learning disabilities were undertaken to explore how to meet their needs. This paper presents the young people's voices and identifies areas for improvements in policy and practice.     

Universal Parenting Programme Provision in England; Barriers to Parent Engagement in the CANparent Trial, 2012–2014

The CANparent trial, 2012–2014, was a government initiative in four English areas designed to develop a market in universal parenting support. Fourteen parenting class providers offered classes to all parents of children aged 0–5 in the areas. In three areas, all eligible parents received £100 vouchers exchangeable for a parenting class. Pre‐trial planning was that take‐up would amount to 20 000 parents. However, only 14 per cent of these parents took advantage of the offer. This article utilises 42 interviews with providers, and two parent surveys over two time periods (n = 1510 and n = 1603) to review barriers to engagement with universal parenting support programmes.     

Childhood in Children's Eyes: Analysis of a Discourse among Middle‐Income Sectors in Santiago,Chile

This article describes the results of a qualitative study, based on the perspective of critical discourse analysis, which explores the discourse on childhood of 10‐ and 11‐year‐old boys and girls from a middle‐income socioeconomic sector in Santiago, Chile. Among the findings, a complex and relational notion of childhood is highlighted. The children perceive themselves as overwhelmed and subjected to excessive demands by grown‐ups, and conceive of adulthood as a state without real freedom due to the excessive demands of work and family.     

Immigrant Children: Their Experience of Violence at School and Community in Host Country

This article describes our qualitative sociological study of immigrant children's life experiences of violence. We conducted interviews with 42 first‐generation immigrant children from any country, aged 9–13 years old, living in the Quebec City region (Canada). Results from three main themes are presented: representations of violence and concrete violent acts experienced; perceived effects of violence on children health and well‐being; and reactions and coping strategies. Overall, the narratives show that they may experience racist peer violence in school that leads to suffering situations, and they consequently have to develop strategies to maintain their well‐being. Social implications are discussed.