La France et la Turquie organisent différemment leurs administrations de protection de l'enfance. Les modèles appliqués à l'administration de la protection de l'enfance diffèrent quant à leur partage des compétences entre, d'une part, l'administration et la justice et, d'autre part, l’État central et l’État décentralisé. La France préfère un système décentralisé alors que la Turquie opte pour un système centralisé et déconcentré. En principe, la protection judiciaire en France n'est que subsidiaire par rapport à la protection administrative, tandis qu'en Turquie, en règle générale, la décision judiciaire est obligatoire pour toute mesure de protection. Bien que les différents modèles lui soient appliqués, les administrations respectives de la protection de l'enfance des deux pays portent les mêmes défauts essentiels. Il s'agit de la protection d'un nombre insuffisant d'enfants en danger et de la satisfaction insuffisante des besoins des enfants pris en charge par l'administration. Alors que le modèle administratif de la protection de l'enfance conserve son importance, il faut se concentrer d'abord sur les éléments constitutifs de l'administration qui sont la philosophie, l'infrastructure juridique, les institutions et les politiques de l'administration de la protection de l'enfance. Cette étude analyse les administrations respectives de la protection de l'enfance de la France et de la Turquie en se penchant sur leur conformité à l'intérêt de l'enfant à partir de ces éléments constitutifs. / France and Turkey organize differently their child protection administrations. The models applied to the child protection administration differ in their division of powers between administration and justice on the one hand and the central and decentralized State on the other. France prefers a decentralized system while Turkey opts for a centralization and deconcentration. In principle, judicial protection in France is subsidiary to administrative protection, whereas in Turkey, as a general rule, judicial decision is compulsory for ail protection measures. Although the different models are applied to it, the respective child protection administrations of the two countries share the same basic shortcomings. These are the protection of an insufficient number of children in danger and insufficient satisfaction of the needs of the children in the care of the administration. While the administrative model of child protection retains its importance, it is necessary to focus first on the constituent elements of administration that are the philosophy, legal infrastructure, institutions and policies of the administration of chi Id protection. This study analyzes the respective child protection administrations of France and Turkey by examining their conformity with the interests of the child on the basis of these constituent elements.

Il tema centrale del presente lavoro di tesi è l’affidamento etero-familiare di bambini e ragazzi, temporaneamente privi di un adeguato contesto familiare in cui vivere e, per questa ragione, affidati alle cure di un’altra famiglia, per un periodo di tempo determinato. L’affido familiare si considera un istituto giuridico complesso in quanto si fonda su un delicato intreccio di relazioni tra famiglia d’origine, bambino, famiglia affidataria, operatori dei servizi e autorità giudiziaria. La finalità che ha guidato il lavoro di ricerca quantitativa è l’analisi dei progetti di affido etero-familiare, disposti dal Tribunale per i Minorenni di Milano, mettendo a fuoco i passaggi chiave per il loro avvio e realizzazione e gli snodi critici che si incontrano lungo il percorso. La ricostruzione dei processi di affido familiare è stata realizzata a partire dalle indicazioni del “buon affido”, emersi da due importanti lavori di revisione della letteratura internazionale (Wilson et al., 2004; Raineri e Calcaterra, 2017). L’approccio di studio utilizzato è l’analisi documentaria e la fonte di informazioni scelta i fascicoli dei bambini e ragazzi per cui il Tribunale ha emesso tra il 2010 e il 2014 un decreto di collocamento in famiglia affidataria. Per analizzare i progetti di affido etero-familiari, è stata costruita una “scheda di rilevazione” mediante cui si sono “interrogati” i fascicoli, ottenendo dei dati che è stato possibile poi elaborare statisticamente, mediante analisi del contenuto di tipo quantitativo. La tesi si struttura in due parti: la prima pone le fondamenta teoriche del progetto di ricerca, offrendo una panoramica delle fonti giuridiche in materia di minori e famiglia e del sistema di protezione e tutela dei bambini e ragazzi, con particolare attenzione all’istituto dell’affido familiare e alle tappe operative per la sua promozione e realizzazione, mentre la seconda è dedicata all’illustrazione del disegno della ricerca e all’analisi dei dati raccolti mediante il lavoro di “intervista” a più di cinquecento fascicoli. / Foster care is a complex intervention in child protection and for social workers and Juvenile Courts it’s difficult to identify exactly the outcomes of this care experience. Although his thirty-year history, in the Italian context, foster care represents a challenge, not only for social workers, but also for the Court that decide it, for children and their families and for foster families. This thesis is about foster care projects decided by the Juvenile Court of Milan, in Italy. The research is firstly based on an international literature review of researches on foster care with the aim to identify factors for a “good foster care project” and to create a scheme of success indicators. Starting from the indications emerged from the literature review, the aim of the research was to realize a description of foster care projects decided by the Juvenile Court of Milan from 2010 to 2014. The data collected are analyzed considering the factors for a good foster care placement identified through the literature review. Following a quantitative method, the main part of the research focused on Juvenile Court’s case files analysis. The information about foster care project contained in the documents are collected by a questionnaire. The sample consisted of 308 children for whom the Juvenile Court decided foster care placement. The documentary analysis aimed to recognize and to describe the foster care projects, considering key aspects arisen from the literature review, such as the matching and planning the foster placement, the work with birth families, foster families and foster children, the contacts between the child and his family, the relationship between the two families, the support to foster placement, the project’s conclusion and the possible reunification. This study offers an overview on social work practice in foster care placement in Lombardy, a region of Italy, highlighting also the partnership among different welfare services and the Juvenile Court. The results encourage a reflection on aspects considered important in foster care by social workers in the child protection and the other protagonists of this important care experience.

De nos jours, alors que les enfants n’ont jamais été autant scolarisés, les manquements à l’obligation scolaire sont érigés en problème public. Pour en comprendre les enjeux, nous avons tout d’abord retracé l’histoire de la construction de ce problème public depuis les lois Ferry qui introduisent l’obligation d’instruction. Quel regard portait-on alors sur les enfants « absentéistes » ? L’examen des lois, des orientations politiques et institutionnelles montre que les absents de l’école sont, durant plusieurs décennies, plutôt associés à une enfance victime, les rendant ainsi susceptibles d’être protégés. En revanche, depuis les années 1990, ils sont davantage considérés comme une fraction de l’enfance perturbatrice et une menace pour la sécurité civile, impliquant la nécessité de mieux les repérer et de les surveiller. À partir de ces bases sociohistoriques, cette thèse présente les résultats d’enquêtes ethnographiques, consistant à cerner les répercussions des injonctions politiques sur les pratiques de quatre groupes professionnels : conseillers principaux d’éducation (CPE), surveillants, assistantes sociales scolaires et éducateurs de prévention spécialisée. Les métiers traditionnels (CPE, assistant social scolaire, surveillant) voient leurs missions aspirées par le traitement des manquements à l’obligation scolaire. Sous l’effet de la complexification des organisations du travail, le collège se fait de plus en plus gestionnaire. Les CPE organisent et planifient le contrôle de masse des absences au sein des établissements tout en repérant les « absences à risque ». Les surveillants, quant à eux, endossent plusieurs rôles : maintien de l’ordre, éducation et protection. Ils développent des compétences dans ces trois domaines pour prendre en charge les « absentéistes », y compris ceux qui sont considérés comme étant « en danger ». Les assistantes sociales scolaires relevant de l’Inspection académique font évoluer leur philosophie d’intervention initiale pour jouer un nouveau rôle institutionnel : celui du rappel à loi des parents et des enfants qui n’auraient pas respecté l’obligation. Dans ce paysage en mouvement arrivent de nouveaux intervenants qui relèvent de la Protection de l’enfance. C’est le cas des éducateurs de rue. Ces derniers dérogent à quelques-uns de leurs principes d’action pour collaborer avec les acteurs de l’école, en tentant de maintenir pour certains enfants des scolarités acceptables, même si elles demeurent irrégulières.En conclusion, la thèse montre que la rencontre entre l’Éducation nationale et la Protection de l’enfance, si elle est nécessaire, reste problématique. / Although more children than ever benefit from schooling today, truancy has become a public problem. To understand the stakes, first we have traced the history of the construction of this public problem, beginning with the Jules Ferry laws introducing mandatory schooling in France in the late nineteenth century. How were truant children perceived at that time? A study of the laws and of the political and institutional directives shows that over the course of several decades, truant children are seen as victims apt to be protected. However, beginning in the 1990s, they are instead perceived as destabilizing elements, as threats to civil society who must be carefully identified and monitored. Given this sociohistorical context, the present thesis presents the results of ethnographic investigation geared toward identifying the consequences of political injunctions on the practices of four professional groups (Principal Educational Advisors, referred to as conseillers principaux d’éducation or CPE; monitors, school social workers and street educators). The traditional professions (CPE, school social workers, and monitors) are seeing their missions subsumed by truancy cases. As the organization of work becomes increasingly complex, middle school establishments become increasingly managerial. CPE structures organize massive verification efforts among member establishments in an attempt to identify cases representing risk. Monitors juggle several roles, ranging from maintaining general order to education and protection. They develop skills in each of these three areas in order to follow up on student absences, including cases involving at-risk children. School social workers take on a new role in which they formally call to order parents and children who fail to respect the law in terms of compulsory schooling. In this moving landscape, new actors are appearing, such as so-called street educators (éducateurs de rue) who collaborate with school officials to try to assure acceptable levels of schooling for certain children, even if only on an exceptional and irregular basis. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates that the encounter between the French Ministry of Education and the French Agency for Child Protective Services, remains problematic even if it is necessary.

The transition from the previous Child Care Act 74 of 1983 to the new Children’s Act 38 of 2005 has been chaotic. Since the introduction of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, and its subsequent implementation in April 2012, there has been instability in rendering child protection services. This state of affairs has been caused by some serious loopholes and shortcomings in the new legislation; challenges faced by social workers in adapting to it; lack of capacity of the stakeholders in the child protection field; and the shortage of resources to implement it. The goal of the study was to explore the challenges faced by social workers working in child protection services in implementing the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. The researcher conducted this study from a qualitative approach. The study was applied and exploratory in nature and utilised a collective case study design. There were 18 social workers in the employ of Johannesburg Child Welfare who participated in the study. They were selected through purposive sampling. Data was collected by means of focus group discussions. The findings show that social workers face institutional and infrastructural barriers in implementing the Children’s Act. Furthermore, social workers face massive human resource challenges in the implementation of the Children’s Act and these stem from the shortage of social workers; inadequate training of social workers and high case loads. Shortcomings that have been realised in the implementation of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 relate to the transfer of children to alternative placements; different interpretations of different sections of the said Act; the fundamental change to a court based system of renewing the placement of children; contradictions of the Children’s Act with other legal statutes and societal values; and the over reliance of the child protection system on the foster care system to provide income support for children. The study concluded that the Children’s Act needs to be amended to address its pre-statutory, statutory and post-statutory shortcomings, which create many challenges in its implementation. The study also concluded that the shortage of social workers and/or inadequate training contributes to high case loads, which in turn, influences the effectiveness of child protection services. Recommendations on addressing the challenges faced by social workers in implementing the Children’s Act include the establishment of a kinship care grant; amending the Children’s Act; organising training for all role players involved in implementing the Children’s Act; and addressing technical issues on the implementation of the Children’s Act. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how social workers participate in the operationalization of children's agency in child welfare research. In order to fulfill the purpose and answer our questions, we have used qualitative semistructured interviews. The study is based on statements from 7 social workers working whit child welfare investigation in small to medium-sized municipalities in south of Sweden. In the analysis of our collected material, we started from the sociology of childhood.  The fact that children are given the opportunity to act themselves is a prerequisite for their right to participation and influence, so that children's agency goes hand in hand with the provisions of the Social Services Act and the Children's Convention on the Influence and Participation of Children. Social security officers working on child welfare investigations should always work on the basis that it is in the best interest for the child. In order for this to be considered fulfilled in practice, the child must be able to express her/his views and wishes, and that they are important in both the investigation process and the decision making.  The result of our study shows that Social Security Officers work actively to promote children's agency and with different strategies motivate the children to actively participate. It has also been found that there are factors that complicate children's participation and, especially, influence in decision making. We found that social security officers look at their responsibility for children's rights to participation and influence as a major and important task, though with different meanings and solutions.

Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

Doctor Legum - LLD / In Africa generally, orphaned and vulnerable children are traditionally cared for by their relatives or close family friends; this is an abiding practice even in contemporary times. This was historically considered to be a moral obligation binding on different relatives in different ways or at differing levels. In the face of the increasing complexities and changing demographics in African societies, high levels of poverty and socioeconomic inequalities as well as the incidence of HIV and AIDS, among others, the traditional family continues to undergo structural changes and experience various challenges which make child rearing responsibilities difficult to cope with especially in the context of loss of parental care. Nonetheless, the extended family system still bears the greatest burden in caring for such children, despite the obligation of governments to provide alternative care for children without parental care. The care of children who have become deprived of parental care by other relatives/family members or family friends is generally described as kinship care. This study seeks to examine kinship care against the background of international children’s rights law as encapsulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Guidelines on the Alternative Care of Children and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, among others. Thus, this research seeks answers to a number of related research questions such as: Does the international children’s rights framework recognise or provide for kinship care as a measure of alternative care for children deprived of a family environment? What is the history and practice of kinship care in Africa and what are the challenges confronting kinship care in contemporary African societies? What is the relationship between kinship care and the child protection system? And what forms of support are available for kinship care at both the international and national levels? Four main themes are considered in separate chapters of the thesis as follows: the contextual and historical background to kinship care in Africa; the international and regional legal framework on the right to alternative care; the conceptualisation of kinship care as alternative care; and the law and practice of kinship care in selected domestic jurisdictions. South Africa and Namibia are the main focus of this study in the chapter on the status of kinship care at the domestic level. This is mainly because both countries have made some progress in the attempts at (legally) providing for kinship care and addressing some of its attendant challenges, with a particular emphasis on the provision of support for kinship care.

Les travailleurs qui œuvrent en protection de la jeunesse sont régulièrement exposés à des événements traumatiques (ÉT) au travail. De ces événements découlent de nombreuses conséquences individuelles (hypervigilance, dépression, trouble de stress post-traumatique, etc.) et organisationnelles (absentéisme, arrêts de travail, démissions, etc.), celles-ci pouvant perdurer dans le temps, voire s’amplifier, sans intervention adéquate. Les meilleures pratiques à favoriser dans la phase aiguë (0-30 jours) suivant un ÉT demeurent nébuleuses et ne nous permettent actuellement pas d’offrir un soutien optimal aux travailleurs qui expérimentent des réactions post-traumatiques plus ou moins sévères dans les jours/semaines suivant l’ÉT. Or, le soutien social est reconnu pour être un facteur déterminant dans le rétablissement des individus exposés à un ÉT, le soutien des collègues étant particulièrement important en contexte de travail. Toutefois, nous ignorons comment le soutien des collègues se manifeste après un ÉT et comment celui-ci est perçu par les travailleurs victimes. Objectif. Explorer les différentes actions de soutien posées par les collègues en protection de la jeunesse et les distinguer selon qu’elles étaient perçues comme du soutien positif ou négatif par les travailleurs victimes d’ÉT. Méthode. Une méthode qualitative de type exploratoire a permis de procéder à une analyse thématique (inter-cas) et à des études de cas typiques (intra-cas). Des entrevues semi-structurées de 30 travailleurs victimes d’ÉT au cours des 30 derniers jours ont été analysées. Résultats. Les actions de soutien rapportées par les participants pouvaient être assimilées aux catégories de House (1981) - soutien émotionnel, instrumental, informationnel et d’évaluation. Le type de soutien le plus fréquemment rapporté était le soutien émotionnel et la majorité des participants ont rapporté avoir reçu du soutien positif de la part de leurs collègues. Les différentes actions positives et négatives sont détaillées. Conclusion. Le soutien positif concorde avec les principes essentiels d’intervention post-traumatique tandis que le soutien négatif renvoie principalement à un manque de ressources organisationnelles et à une culture de normalisation de la violence. / Child protection workers are regularly exposed to traumatic events at work. From these events arise numerous individual consequences (hypervigilance, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, etc.) and organizational consequences (absenteeism, sick leave, turnover, etc.), which can last over time or even amplify without adequate intervention. The best practices to promote in the acute phase (0-30 days) following a traumatic event remain unclear and do not currently allow us to offer optimal support to workers who experience more or less severe post-traumatic reactions in the days/weeks following a trauma. Social support is recognized to be a determining factor in the recovery of individuals exposed to traumatic events, support from colleagues being particularly important for events occurring in the workplace. However, we do not know how the support of colleagues manifests itself after a traumatic event neither how it is perceived by exposed employees. Objective. Explore the support offered by colleagues after trauma and distinguish support actions according to whether they were perceived as positive or negative by employees. Method. An exploratory qualitative method was used to conduct a thematic analysis (inter-case) and typical case studies (intra-case). Semi-structured interviews of 30 employees exposed to a traumatic event in the past 0-30 days were analyzed. Results. Support actions reported by participants could fit the typology of House (1981), namely emotional, instrumental, informational and evaluation support. The most frequently reported type of support was emotional support, and the majority of participants reported receiving positive support from colleagues. Positive and negative actions are detailed. Conclusion. Positive support offered by colleagues is consistent with the essential principles of early post-traumatic intervention, while negative support refers mainly to a lack of organizational resources and a culture where violence is trivialized. The study suggests that organizations should invest in an approach based on emotional support rather than trivialization.

Objectifs : Documenter la prévalence de possibles retards de développement sur les domaines cognitif-langagier, moteur et socio-affectif chez les jeunes enfants négligés suivis en protection de la jeunesse (PJ) au Québec. Explorer l’association entre les possibles retards de développement et les sous-types de négligence. Méthode : Cette étude transversale a utilisé un échantillon composé de 423 enfants tirés de la banque de données clinico-administratives des services PJ du Québec. Les critères de sélection étaient les suivants : 1) être âgé entre 0 et 5 ans au moment de la rétention du signalement à l’étape « évaluation-orientation » pour motif de négligence et 2) avoir été évalué à la Grille d’évaluation du développement de l’enfant (GED) par un intervenant des services PJ. Résultats : 66,44 % des enfants ont obtenu des scores au GED les situant dans une zone à risque dans au moins un domaine du développement du jeune enfant. Ces possibles retards se déclinent ainsi : 54,6 % cognitive-langagier, 37,1 % moteur et 30,4 % socio-affectif. Des analyses bivariées et de régression logistique ont été utilisées. La négligence de soins de santé était associée à un développement socio-affectif suspect. La négligence éducative était associée à de possibles retards sur le plan cognitif-langagier et moteur. Conclusion : La prévalence de possibles retards de développement chez les enfants négligés suivis en PJ au Québec est élevée. Certains sous-types de négligence apparaissent comme étant associés à de possibles retards dans des domaines spécifiques du développement. Ces constats appuient la nécessité de dépister les retards de développement chez les jeunes enfants négligés et de leur offrir rapidement des interventions précoces et spécialisées afin de leur permettre de rattraper les jalons de développement manquants. De plus amples recherches devront être réalisées pour mieux comprendre les sous-types de négligence et les mécanismes qui sous-tendent leur relation au développement de l’enfant. / Objectives: Estimate the prevalence of suspected developmental delay among neglected children in Quebec’s child welfare system and explore the relationship with neglect subtypes. Method: In a cross-sectional approach, this study used a sample of 423 young children drawn from the anonymized database of Quebec child protection services. Selection criteria were: 1) children 0-5 years of age when report was sustained 2) for reason of neglect and 3) were assessed with a French (GED) or English (CDAS) of a child development assessment tool specifically designed for use by child welfare workers. Results: 66,44% children scored in a problem-range in at least one developmental area; 54,6% in cognitive-language, 37,1% in motor skills and 30,4% in the socioemotional area. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were used. Medical neglect was associated with suspected developmental delay in the socioemotional area. Educational neglect was associated with suspected developmental delay in the motor and cognitive-language areas. Conclusion: Developmental concerns are high among neglected children. Neglected subtype seems related to possible delay in specific developmental areas. This finding supports early detection of developmental delay among children in the child welfare system and puts emphasis on the need of early interventions to improve developmental outcomes. Further research is needed on neglect subtypes for a better understanding of their relationship with specific developmental domains.

In Ontario, 1% of women who give birth have their newborn infant apprehended by child protection agencies (~200/year). Hospital-based perinatal nurses are in a unique position to support mothers. However, there is a lack of research examining mothers’ experiences of newborn infant apprehension. The purpose of this study was to explore mothers’ experiences with nurses and other providers when newborn infant apprehension occurs. Doka’s Disenfranchised Grief Framework was used as a lens to help guide the research questions, methods and analysis. Thorne’s Interpretive Descriptive approach was employed. Mothers who had experienced newborn infant apprehension in the last 10 years were recruited from an agency in Ontario. Nine individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted. When analyzing the data, the researchers identified patterns and themes from among the mothers’ varied experiences. The analysis resulted in four themes: Not good enough, I am a mother, I have rights, I live everyday like I’m grieving, and Hope in the face of adversity. The findings illuminated the imbalance of power that mothers face when experiencing newborn infant apprehension, where power and authority rest with health and social service providers. This research study will focus on the findings describing what mothers want - for nurses to be open-minded, non-judgmental, to teach mothers regarding cycles of violence, and to advocate for mothers’ rights. Ultimately, the mothers posited that nurses are well positioned to empower mothers, thereby giving them the opportunity to begin recovery. The findings indicate a need for nurses to provide safe, compassionate, competent, ethical care and inform how perinatal nurses can better support mothers experiencing newborn infant apprehension.