Age limits for participation in child protection court proceedings in Sweden

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Swedish legislation, children have the right to participate in child protection proceedings. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the notion of age and maturity in child protection proceedings in order to elucidate how these aspects could influence children's rights to participate. We focus on the view of three groups of actors involved in child protection proceedings in Sweden—social workers, lawyers, and laypersons in social welfare boards and administrative courts—and on how children's age and maturity should be taken into consideration in decisions on their participation in court. The analysis is based on survey data. The study found that social workers, laypersons, and lawyers have different views on when children are old enough to have the right to litigate in court. Additionally, there is no consensus on how the maturity of the child can be assessed to inform the decision about participation. More discussion is needed about what competences a child needs to participate in court and to what extent this right should be limited by their age. Importantly, courts and decision‐making proceedings can be made more child friendly.     

Challenges and dilemmas working with high‐conflict families in child protection casework

Social workers within child protection services report that families marked by high levels of conflict between separated parents are among the most challenging cases to handle. Few studies however have focussed on how social workers themselves experience and meet with parents involved in hostile martial interactions. This article reports on a qualitative study involving 31 social workers and provides an analysis of their experiences and dilemmas in working with such families. Findings demonstrate that social workers struggle to find ways to help high‐conflict families and often find themselves at an impasse. Parents involved in such conflict are highly resistant to change, and social workers struggle to engage with them over concerns about their children. Furthermore, findings suggest that social workers lack organizationally allotted time to assist the parents. I conclude by discussing ways in which emotional support, empowering interventions, and strength‐based approaches enable social workers to manage relationships with high‐conflict families. More research on this topic is needed to support and promote better practices for social workers to be more effective in assisting high‐conflict families.     

Parent–professional interviews in child protection: Comparing viewpoints

Several studies have analysed the parent–professional relationship in the field of child protection. Although social workers tend to privilege interviews when working with families and view them as a means through which to build ties, few studies have focused on these interviews. To analyse how professionals and parents position themselves, we chose to focus on the content of these interviews and on the associated interactions. To this end, we recorded 13 parent–professional interviews after receiving the consent of the concerned parties. After analysing the interviews, we asked volunteer social workers and parents to analyse their own recorded interviews. Our results confirm the asymmetric nature of the parent–professional relationship. They show that professionals' viewpoints carry more weight than those of parents. They also underscore professionals' lack of openness and the strategies parents implement to cope with this power imbalance. Lastly, our results open new avenues for reflection on the evolution of practices that may enable professionals to better take into account families' viewpoints.     

Engagement with sustainability at the International Labour Organization and wider implications for collective worker voice

Sustainability objectives have been recognized by the ILO primarily in terms of the impact of environmental protection in the form of “just transition” and “green job” initiatives. Arguably, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) now offer richer scope for ILO engagement with social sustainability. This can be attributed to the prominent recognition of “decent work” in SDG 8 and the need for “responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels” in SDG target 16.7. This article examines how the ILO could further promote collective worker voice in the context of debates over a sustainable “future of work”, particularly considering to whom voice is given and how it is exercised.     

Symbolic Compliance and Student Concerns: Legal Endogeneity and Title IX at American Colleges and Universities

This article considers how American colleges and universities responded to rapid legal change around Title IX immediately following the 2011 release of the Office for Civil Rights’ Dear Colleague Letter. By analyzing the content of 250 campus sexual harassment policies, this article finds that contrary to the predictions of the employment discrimination literature, which suggests that the largest, most visible institutions in a field are the most likely to embed markers of symbolic compliance in their formal policies, small baccalaureate colleges are more likely to include references to the law in their formal documents than their research university peers do. To understand this intriguing finding, the article then analyzes 15 interviews with campus administrators at research universities and baccalaureate colleges to uncover the distinct logics of symbolic compliance and student concerns that differentially inform how actors at different kinds of institutions inhabit their roles and endogenously interpret new Title IX regulations in their formal policies and campus practices. In doing so, this article illuminates the ways in which processes of legal endogeneity differ across institution types within the broader field of higher education.     

LGBT Family Lawyers and Same-Sex Marriage Recognition: How Legal Change Shapes Professional Identity and Practice

ABSTRACT

Lawyers who practice family law for LGBT clients are key players in the tenuous and evolving legal environment surrounding same-sex marriage recognition. Building on prior research on factors shaping the professional identities of lawyers generally, and activist lawyers specifically, I examine how practice within a rapidly changing, patchwork legal environment shapes professional identity for this group of lawyers. I draw on interviews with 21 LGBT family lawyers to analyze how the unique features of LGBT family law shape their professional identities and practice, as well as their predictions about the development of the practice in a post-Obergefell world. Findings reveal that the professional identities and practice of LGBT family lawyers are shaped by uncertainty, characteristics of activist lawyering, community membership, and community service. Individual motivations and institutional forces work to generate a professional identity that is resilient and dynamic, characterized by skepticism and distrust coupled with flexibility and creativity. These features are likely to play a role in the evolution of the LGBT family lawyer professional identity post-marriage equality.     

美､德个人信息宪法保护路径比较及启示——以个人信息的双重属性切入

个人信息的保护研究一般基于信息的人身性与财产性为选择保护的路径,却忽略了个人信息的人身依附属性.根据自由主义与社群主义对自我的解释得出个人信息具有个体性与公共性的双重属性.基于此双重属性导致美、德两国在个人信息保护模式上有所区别:美国将个人信息作为隐私权保护外延,显示其对信息个体性的追求;德国利用领域理论将个人信息作为人格尊严的保护客体,显示其对信息公共性的偏向.从法律文化视角比较,两国存在价值取向与隐私认可程度的差异,由此造成对个体性和公共性的不同偏向;两国又因司法谦抑主义与公共安全和个人信息保护的竞争,导致保护限缩的共同趋向.两种保护路径反映不同的法律文化的同时,也体现出两国都重视在立法基础上的宪法审查运用,以此平衡个人信息的个体性与公共性.故我国个人信息保护亦需以“审查”作为个人信息保护的有效方式,并以个体性与公共性的动态平衡作为判断标准.具体审查可以从程序上的公正平衡与实体上的合理平衡两方面进行判断,以此为个人信息提供有效保护.此外,打破个体性与公共性平衡状态的唯一变量只能基于公共利益的考量.     

试论社会治理背景下政府与市场关系的经济法规制

政府与市场的关系问题是经济法规制的基于问题,如何正确看待政府与市场在经济生态系统内各自的功能及作用,是经济法规制的核心问题。因为这样的认识直接导致了经济立法的体系构建与内容规则。经济法规制是国家实施经济治理与尊重市场调节的基本依据,也是施行经济法治与社会治理的根本前提。所以,从社会治理的背景下来讨论经济法规制的社会经济发展的制度条件及制度生成条件,有利于真正建立和完善经济法规制的体系和内容,从而使得经济法治生态化地融入社会治理的结构体系内,达到优化社会制度以促进经济发展的目的。     

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.     

论回族“小经”文字及其保护措施

本文以民族文化中的瑰宝回族"小经"文字为研究对象,通过对"小经"的产生、发展、使用现状等一系列问题的阐述,逐步分析"小经"在现实中面临的问题,并归纳出现这种困境的原因,进而在剖析其存在的重要价值的基础上,提出解决"小经"文字保护的措施,为少数民族文化的保护提供有益的参考.同时,文中强调了少数民族传统文化的保护与传承的紧迫性.进一步阐释了保护少数民族非物质文化的重要性.