Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: On a global scale, there are substantial studies about volunteerism. However, literature on volunteerism in South Africa, especially qualitative studies, is limited. The limited literature in South Africa does, however, suggest differences between Northern and Southern global contexts in terms of motivation for volunteering. In order to further build the South African literature in this area, this study explored the experiences of volunteers in a Stellenbosch based NPO. Their experiences encapsulate their motivations, challenges, and benefits of volunteering in their role as mentors to marginalised youth in this area. An overarching developmental framework was utilised to understand the volunteers’ motivations, and supplementary perspectives (Role-ID theory; citizenship and mentoring) were used to explore and contextualise their experiences. Within this framework, a qualitative methodology was employed to explore, gather, describe, and interpret the data. Two group interviews with 5 participants each were conducted. This was supplemented by 3 individual interviews. An interpretive phenomenological analytical approach was used to analyse the data. Findings suggested that other-oriented motivations, citizenship, sense of belonging, social exchange, self-enhancement, positive role model identity, improved personal and familial relations, wilderness solo experience, personal satisfaction and reward in seeing the fruit of their labour were some of the significant themes that emerged for volunteers from their volunteer experience. The main challenge they faced was that of transport mobility to keep mentor appointments. The implications of the findings for South African perspectives on volunteering are discussed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Wêreldwyd is daar navorsing gedoen oor vrywillige werk. Die literatuur is nietemin in hierdie vakgebied beperk, veral met betrekking tot kwalitatiewe studies in die Suid Afrikaanse konteks. Die Suid-Afrikaanse literatuur wat wel bestaan dui daarop aan dat daar sommige verskille bestaan tussen navorsing wat in die globale Noorde en Suide gedoen is. Die verskil is die van vrywillige werkers se motiverings om vrywillige werk te doen. Om Suid Afrikaanse navorsing in die gebied te versterk, fokus hierdie studie op die ervaringe van vrywillige werkers by ‘n nie-staat/regerings organisasie in Stellenbosch, Wes-Kaap. Hul ervaringe bestaan uit hul motiverings, uitdagings, en wat hulle beskou as voordele van hul rolle as mentors vir gemarginaliseerde jeug in die omgewing. ‘n Oorkoepelende ontwikkelingraamwerk was benut, om die motivering van vrywilligers en die aanvullende perspektiewe (burgerskap, mentorskap en identiteits-rol teorie) te verstaan en ook om verder hul ervaringe te verken en te kontekstualiseer. 'n Kwalitatiewe metodologie is binne hierdie raamwerk gebruik om data te verken, versamel, beskryf, en te interpreteer. Twee groeps onderhoude van vyf deelnemers elk, was uitgevoer. Dit was verder aangevul met drie individuele onderhoude. ‘n Interpreterende fenomenologiese analitiese benadering was benut om die data te analiseer. Bevindings het die navorsing in hierdie gebied weerspiëel. Ander-georiënteerde motiverings, burgerskap, aanvaarding, sosiale uitruiling, self-verbetering, positiewe rol-model identiteit, en verbeterde persoonlike- en gesinsverhoudings, wildernis alleen ervaringe, persoonlike bevrediging, en om die ‘beloning’ te sien van hul harde werk, was sommige van die beduidende temas wat na vore gekom het. Die een groot probleem wat vrywilligers ervaar het, was die van toeganklikheid van vervoer om hul mentorskap afsprake na te kom. Die implikasies van die bevindings vir Suid Afrikaanse perspektiewe op die gebied word bespreek.

Thesis (M Social Work)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Thousands of children are being abandoned in South Africa each year, consequently entering the child-care and protection system. The Children’s Act 38 of 2005, which governs all practices involving children in South Africa, clearly advocates for adoption as the superior form of intervention in cases of abandonment. Yet adoption continues to be one of the most under-utilised childcare practices in South Africa, especially by the black, majority population. This is unfortunately despite the fact that most of the adoptable children are from the black population group. This study therefore aimed to investigate the views of adoption social workers regarding the practice of trans-racial adoptions of abandoned children. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed for this study. A combination of exploratory and descriptive research designs was utilised as the framework for the research approach. Data was collected by means of a semi-structured interview schedule, which was conducted during personal interviews with social work professionals. The findings of the empirical investigation revealed that according to the views of the social workers under-graduate social work training was largely inadequate in preparing social workers to work in the field of adoption. It was also found that social workers felt that the importance of permanency planning in all work with children was not comprehensively explored during under-graduate studies. Findings further indicated that trans-racial adoption is viewed positively amongst adoption social workers, and is regarded as the far superior alternative to foster-care or institutional care for children who have been abandoned. It was however found that in cases of abandonment, adoption might be an under-utilised option amongst child-protection workers. Children available for adoption were reported as being predominantly from the black population group, while it was indicated that the majority of parents wanting to adopt are from the white community. In line with this, it was noted that there are not many prospective adoptive parents from the black community. Of significance was therefore the finding that very few adoption organisations have active recruitment programmes focused on recruiting black adoptive parents, inevitably bringing trans-racial adoption to the fore. One of the most important recommendations of this study is therefore that adoption organisations should develop and implement recruitment programmes, which specifically target prospective black adopters in an effort to increase the potential pool of black adopters. In addition, the recommendations emphasised the importance of adequate education of social workers in order to ensure that the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 is adequately understood and implemented in cases of abandonment. Ensuring that social workers move towards adoption as fast as possible in cases of abandonment can not only increase the chances of the child being adopted, but can also help to prevent developmental problems associated with institutional care. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Duisende kinders word jaarliks in Suid-Afrika deur hulle ouers verlaat (“abandon”), en betree gevolglik die kindersorg en beskermingsisteem. Die Kinderwet 38 van 2005, wat alle praktyke rakende kinders in Suid Afrika reguleer, promoveer duidelik aanneming as die beste vorm van intervensie in gevalle van kinderverlating. Steeds bly aanneming egter een van die mees onderbenutte kindersorg praktyke in Suid-Afrika, veral onder die swart meerderheidsbevolking. Dit ten spyte van die feit dat meeste aanneembare kinders uit die swart bevolkingsgroep kom. Hierdie studie was daarop gemik om die menings van aannemings-maatskaplike werkers rakende die praktyk van inter-ras aannemings van kinders wat deur hulle ouers verlaat is te ondersoek. Beide kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe benaderings is toegepas vir hierdie studie. ‘n Kombinasie van ondersoekende en beskrywende navorsingsontwerpe is gebruik as die raamwerk vir die navorsingsbenadering. Data is versamel deur middel van ‘n semi-gestruktureerde onderhoud skedule wat uitgevoer is tydens persoonlike onderhoude met maatskaplike werkers. Die empiriese ondersoek het bevind dat die maatskaplike werkers van mening was dat voorgraadse opleiding in maatskaplike werk grootliks onvoldoende was om maatskaplike werkers voor te berei vir werk op die gebied van aanneming. Daar is ook bevind dat maatskaplike werkers die standpunt huldig dat die belangrikheid van permanensie-beplanning in alle werk met kinders nie omvattend verken is tydens voorgraadse studies nie. Verdere bevinding dui daarop dat inter-ras aanneming positief beskou word deur aannemings-maatskaplike werkers en dat dit by verre as die beste alternatief tot pleegsorg of institisionele sorg vir kinders wat deur hulle ouers verlaat is, beskou word. Daar is egter bevind dat in gevalle van kinderverlating die opsie van aanneming onderbenut mag wees deur kinderbeskermings werkers. Daar is aangedui dat kinders wat beskikbaar is vir aanneming grootliks uit die swart meerderheids bevolkingsgroep kom, terwyl daar ook aangedui is dat die meerderheid van ouers wat kinders wil aanneem uit die wit gemeenskap kom. Daar is aangedui dat min van die prospektiewe aannemings ouers uit die swart gemeenskap kom. ‘n Betekenisvolle bevinding was gevolglik dat baie min aannemings-organisasies aktiewe werwingsprogramme het wat daarop fokus om swart aannemingsouers te werf, wat noodwendig inter-ras aanneming na vore bring. Een van die belangrikste aanbevelings van hierdie studie is dus dat aannemings-organisasies werwingsprogramme moet ontwikkel en implementeer wat spesifiek prospektiewe swart aannemers teiken in ‘n poging om die poel van swart aannemers te vergroot. Verder beklemtoon die aanbevelings die belangrikheid van voldoende opleiding van maatskaplike werkers ten einde te verseker dat die Kinderwet 38 van 2005 voldoende verstaan word en geïmplementeer word in gevalle van kinderverlating. Deur toe te sien dat maatskaplike werkers so gou moontlik beweeg na aanneming in gevalle van kinderverlating verbeter nie slegs die kind se kans om aangeneem te word nie, maar dit kan ook help om die ontwikkelingsprobleme geassosieer met institusionele versorging te voorkom.

Thesis (M Social Work)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Social workers that render child protection services are, according to The White Paper for Social Welfare (Ministry of Welfare and Population Development, 1997) and the Integrated Service Delivery Model (Department of Social Development, 2006), required to render family preservation services through mainly preventive services and early intervention services. This implies that during the implementation of family preservation services, the social worker should focus on preventing the unnecessary alternative placement of children through immediate intervention that defuses the crisis situation, stabilizes the family, and teaches family members new problem-resolution skills, so they can avoid future crisis. A social work intervention method that could effectively enhance family preservation services is group work. Social workers rendering family preservation services, however make limited use of group work. Various studies done with regards to group work showed a definite decrease in the utilisation of group work by social workers at child and family welfare organisations, possible reasons for the decrease in the utilisation of group work were noted but no definite conclusions were drawn. Therefore a gap exists within research on the view of social workers with regards to the utilisation of group work during the rendering of family preservation services. The research study therefore investigated the perspective of social workers on the utilisation of group work during implementation of family preservation services. A combined quantitative and qualitative research methodology was used to involve social workers employed at non-governmental organizations in the Western Cape Metropole area in the study that was based on both an explorative and descriptive research design. For the aim of the research study, the researcher used purposeful non-probability sampling. Twenty social workers that met the inclusion criteria of the research study were selected according to their willingness to participate. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the data during the empirical investigation and a pilot study was implemented to test the measuring instrument with two participants. A literature study aimed at describing the role and function of the social worker with regards the implementation of family preservation services as well the nature of group work when rendering family preservation services was completed. Thereafter an empirical investigation was done and the results from the empirical investigation were purposefully processed and analysed. Through processing and analysing the results the researcher was able to conclude with certain conclusions and recommendations with regards to the utilisation of group work during the implementation of family preservation services. The most important conclusion resulting from the research study indicate that child and family welfare organisations are struggling to effectively utilise the group work method during the implementation of family preservation services. The research study therefore recommends that social workers should receive thorough in-service training with regards to the possible ways of utilising the group work method more effectively during the delivery of family preservation services. Furthermore it is recommended that appropriate group work programmes be developed that are specifically aimed at family preservation services, in order to ensure that group work is effectively utilised by social workers when implementing family preservation services. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Maatskaplike werkers wat kinderbeskermingsdienste lewer word, volgens die Witskrif vir Maatskaplike Welsyn (Ministry of Welfare and Population Development, 1997) en die Geïntegreerde Diensleweringsmodel (Department of Social Development, 2006), vereis om gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste te lewer deur hoofsaaklik te fokus op voorkomende dienste en vroeë intervensie dienste. Dit beteken dat tydens die implementering van gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste moet die maatskaplike werker fokus op die voorkoming van die onnodige alternatiewe plasing van kinders deur middel van onmiddellike ingryping wat die krisis situasie ontlont, die familie stabiliseer, en familielede nuwe probleemoplossings vaardighede aanleer ten einde toekomstige krisisse te verhoed. ‘n Maatskaplike werk intervensie metode wat effektief kan bydra tot die bevordering van gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste is groepwerk. Maatskaplike werkers wat gesinsinstandhoudings-dienste lewer maak egter beperkte gebruik van groepwerk. Verskeie studies wat gedoen is met betrekking tot groepwerk in maatskaplike werk dui ‘n definitiewe afname in die benutting van groepwerk deur maatskaplike werkers by kinder- en gesinsorg welsynsorganisasies aan, moontlike redes vir die afname in die benutting van groepwerk is opgemerk, maar geen definitiewe gevolgtrekkings is gemaak nie. Dus bestaan daar ‘n definitiewe gaping in navorsing rondom die sienings van maatskaplike werkers rakende die benutting van groepwerk in die lewering van gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste. Daarom is die perspektief van maatskaplike werkers rakende die benutting van groepwerk tydens die implementering van gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste in die navorsingstudie ondersoek. ‘n Gesamentlike kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetodologie is gebruik om maatskaplike werkers in diens by nie-regeringsorganisasies in die Wes-Kaap Metropool area in die navorsingsstudie, gebassseer op ‘n verkennende en beskrywende navorsingsontwerp, te betrek. Vir die doel van die navorsingstudie het die navorser gebruik gemaak van ‘n doelgerigte nie-waarskynlikheids steekproefneming. Twintig maatskaplike werkers wat aan die insluitingskriteria van die navorsingstudie voldoen het is dus volgens hul bereidwilligheid om deel te neem gekies. Tydens die empiriese ondersoek is ‘n semi-gestruktureerde onderhoudskedule gebruik om die data in te samel en ‘n loodsstudie is geïmplementeer om die meetinstrument met twee deelnemers te toets. ‘n Literatuurstudie wat daarop gemik was om die rol en funksie van die maatskaplike werker te beskryf met betrekking tot die implementering van gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste asook die aard van groep werk tydens die lewering van gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste is voltooi. Daarna is ‘n empiriese ondersoek gedoen en die resultate van die empiriese ondersoek is doelbewus verwerk en ontleed. Deur verwerking en ontleding van die resultate was die navorser daartoe in staat om sekere gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings met betrekking tot die benutting van groepwerk tydens die implementering van gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste te maak. Die belangrikste gevolgtrekking uit die navorsingstudie dui daarop dat kinder en gesins welsynsorganisasies sukkel om effektief gebruik te maak van die groepwerk metode tydens die implementering van gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste. Die navorsingstudie beveel dus aan dat maatskaplike werkers deeglike in-diens opleiding ontvang met betrekking tot die moontlike maniere waarop die groepwerk metode meer effektief tydens die lewering van gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste benut kan word. Verder word daar aanbeveel dat toepaslike groepwerk programme spesifiek gemik op gesinsinstandhoudingsdienste ontwikkel word ten einde te verseker dat groepwerk effektief benut word deur maatskaplike werkers tydens die implementering van gesinsinstandhoudings-dienste.

Sweden is nowadays a multicultural society. This also means that Swedish social services increasingly come in contact with ethnic minority families. This study aims to examine the ways in which social workers consider and talk about the clients’ ethnic background in relation to child welfare cases. Further, the aim is to reveal the ways in which ethnicity is done and reproduced in social work practice. To reach this goal, a qualitative vignette study is applied. The research participants, Swedish social workers in the field of children and family, were invited to focus groups interviews and asked to react to vignettes constructed around three notices of child abuse. Different focus groups received vignettes with different names of the child: Erik represented ethnic majority name, while Ali represented ethnic minority name. The application of qualitative content analysis resulted in the differentiation of the following themes: worry, description of the case and construction of the family. The results in this study demonstrate that depending on the child’s name, social workers viewed the case and the family differently and ascribed different levels of worry to their respective cases. These findings are discussed through the perspective of social constructionism and the concept of ethnicity as being socially constructed to demonstrate the mundane ways in which ethnicity is constructed in social work practice. This study emphasizes the complexity and challenges that may accompany social work practice with ethnic minority families.

Physical discipline of children is currently a subject of major debate within and beyond the UK. Mainly in relation to children's disciplinary relationships with teachers and parents, this topic is repeatedly the subject of high profile parliamentary and media debates, campaigns, legal cases and international political pressure. However, the perceptions of those in the social position to receive such physical discipline have rarely been included in the legal and political debates or in research studies. When young people's views have been sought it has been on issues and in terms determined by adults. This thesis specifically aims to address this gap in the research literature and to inform the debates on physical discipline by highlighting the issues of particular importance to young people. This is in line with recent legal, political and scientific shifts towards valuing the voices of children on all matters affecting them. Adopting a broadly interpretivist methodological approach, and drawing on the new 'sociology of childhood' paradigm, the study is grounded in the young people's own perceptions. It elicits their views at an abstract level and examines perceptions thematically in relation to their underlying frameworks of reference. The fieldwork involved focused interviews and focus groups with 227 participants aged 11-12 and 14-16 years from schools in central Scotland. In addition, the adult debates and interviews with 25 carers are analysed to further illuminate distinctive features of the young people's perceptions. Themes emanating from the young participants are organised into three dominant areas: purposes and immediate effectiveness of acts of physical force; concerns and contingencies surrounding acts of physical force; and relationships, rights and power. Young participants perceived the use of physical force as legitimate for certain disciplinary purposes. These are grouped in four main categories: to communicate with the child; to teach appropriate behaviour for the future; to restrain or remove the child; and to enforce overall adult control in specific situations. The term 'punishment' was associated by young participants solely with retribution, which they rejected as an illegitimate purpose for physical force. The widely perceived immediate effectiveness of physical discipline was seen as dependent upon the influence of certain contextual conditions, such as the child's personality and peer influence. Perceived effectiveness did not imply support for physical discipline. There was a strong theme of unease with its use but a lack of confidence in finding any alternatives. Contextual concerns about the application and short term negative effects of physical discipline are analysed as containing six dominant themes: whether the acts fulfilled legitimate purposes; avoidance of pain or injury; the extent of adult control of actions; the degree of embarrassment and humiliation; the precise bodily target of force; and the appropriate age of the child. The study found that these reservations led to participants introducing relatively fixed contingencies that physical discipline would have to meet in order for it to be considered acceptable. It is noted that the terms child abuse and violence were reserved by young participants for acts with specific characteristics which mark them as particularly unacceptable. Child abuse referred to acts without a legitimate purpose which focused on the needs of the adult rather than the child. Violence referred to acts in which the adult does not observe an appropriate limit to the force. Concerns about the longer term implications of physical discipline are identified as focused on the risks of: these fixed contingencies being broken by the adult; lasting physical or psychological damage; damage to the disciplinary relationship; and the child copying the behaviour inappropriately. Conversely, it is found that there was a subsidiary theme of concern that children not receiving physical discipline would grow up spoilt and wild with negative implications for wider society. The rights of adults to physically discipline children were assessed by young participants according to perceptions about the particular relationship and the constituents' social roles. Parental rights were presented by participants as exceptional because of a parents responsibility for a child's moral development and peculiar intimacy with a child. Parental delegation of rights to other adults, including teachers, was rejected by young participants because these relationships lack this intimacy. However, the study reveals a theme of resilient frustration at the 'unfairness' of one-sided rights surrounding all physical discipline. Moreover, it is found that young participants analysed acts of physical discipline as manifestations of a power imbalance in the adult-child relationship. Although young participants noted that adults can take advantage of their position, they also presented children as active agents who find strategies to challenge this power imbalance. A substantial body of opinion considered that the risks outweighed the rights of adults and necessitated a legal ban on all physical discipline, although participants were concerned with practical problems which might be caused by a gap between legal and attitudinal change in society. Overall, the study identifies two dominant discourses underlying young participants' perceptions of physical discipline: developmentalism, which portrays childhood as a natural progression towards competency; and rights, which stresses the fixed entitlements and responsibilities for active agents and social actors irrespective of competency. These two discourses are accommodated in the young participants' model of a dynamic power balance between active social actors in the disciplinary relationship. The perceptions of young people presented in this study form a competent and sophisticated interpretation and critique of adults' use of physical discipline. Moreover, the study identifies substantial differences between the young participants' perceptions and the views expressed by the carers interviewed and actors in the wider legal, political and research debates. These differences highlight peculiar features in young people's perceptions. For example, young participants stressed the purpose of physical discipline for moral development, whereas both carers and the adult debates have focused on social development and obedience to adult authority. The contingencies which young participants placed on disciplinary acts were less flexible than carers' across different situations. Young participants' rejection of parental rights to delegate disciplinary rights was not shared by carers or featured in the adult debates. Carers did not share young participants' concerns with the imbalance of rights and power in disciplinary relationships with physical force. The study concludes by underlining the implications for policy, practice and research on physical discipline that are presented by the distinct perspectives of young people.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Many homeless youth come from foster homes, group homes, and other forms of substitute care. For young people in the child welfare system, elopement represents a major problem as it places them at risk for a number of troubling outcomes. Three studies were undertaken examining elopement among young people living in substitute care in Canada and the United States. The first study explored strengths and needs in a sample of 5,011 children and youth housed in a variety of substitute care settings including foster homes, group homes, residential treatment centres, emergency shelters, and juvenile justice facilities. Results indicated that needs, but not strengths, predicted running among children, while both needs and strengths predicted running among adolescents. Problems with school attendance, substance abuse, and delinquency also predicted running among both children and adolescents, with the exception of young children, for whom substance abuse was not a significant predictor. The second study explored the relationship between trauma, strengths, and elopement in a sample of 2,296 adolescents living in substitute care. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, school violence, and traumatic grief/separation were found to predict elopement. In addition, family violence and community violence predicted running among younger but not older adolescents. Educational strengths predicted a lower risk of running away for all adolescents, while well-being and relationship permanence predicted a lower risk of running among younger and older adolescents, respectively. The impact of strengths on the relationship between trauma and elopement was evaluated, with results suggesting that elopement was not predicted by an interaction between strengths and trauma. The third study was qualitative in nature and explored the perspectives of youth who had run away from substitute care at least once in their lifetime. Youth provided information about their experiences as well as suggestions designed to reduce the prevalence of running away among youth in substitute care. Findings for all three studies were discussed in relation to the literature with implications for research and prevention.

The importance of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) as a prerequisite for national development has been emphasized in recent years by developing countries and by donor agencies. Research findings point to the benefits children, as well as nations, derive from ECCE provision. For children, these benefits include school readiness; and for nations, benefits address the reduction of social inequality, possibilities for increased tax revenue through eventual improved employment prospects, and development of societal values. In 1990 at Jomtien in Thailand, 155 nations of the world agreed on a joint plan of action to fulfill six Education For All goals. The first goal required nations to work towards the expansion and improvement of comprehensive ECCE by the year 2015. The responsibility of poor countries was to make necessary budget allocations and policy commitments; rich countries were to provide both intellectual and financial support. Whilst some progress has been made, many developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa are still at risk of not achieving EFA by 2015. Uganda is one country where there are difficulties in attaining EFA and ECCE in particular. This has been exacerbated by the prevailing economic, social, geographical, and cultural differences, as well as general beliefs about ECCE. This study investigates the present quality and accessibility in ECCE provision in Uganda. It explores the extent to which Uganda has expanded and improved ECCE and raises the key question as to why even with international donor support and government commitment to institutional changes, ECCE is an area of education still riven with problems. The study uses participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and photography in six selected schools in three Districts. Research findings reveal that the majority of children are not accessing ECCE provision, while many of those that do are being educated in environments not conducive to their learning and development. Findings show that there are a number of factors both internal and external to Uganda that impact upon efforts to fulfil the commitment made at Jomtien in 1990. This research concludes that first and foremost, there should be a national, ‘Ugandan’ approach to and policies about ECCE. Rather than being led by international pressure and policies, approaches to improving quality and accessibility in ECCE provision should be refocused away from ‘top-heavy’, ‘lop-sided’ approaches to a more pre-school-level focused approach. This will help in establishing and addressing culturally relevant and economically achievable quality targets. Secondly, there is need for public awareness of the importance of ECCE. This will not only give rise to increased community participation in the establishment of community-based ECCE centres, but also the involvement of stakeholders in the identification and implementation of solutions to the problems facing ECCE. And finally, rather than looking to the West for funding, Uganda should develop in-country funding strategies from both public and private sources. This will help to remove the negative impact of ‘modalities’, these often being required by external donor funding. In-country funding sources will as a result give Uganda room to ‘manoeuvre’ when planning for ECCE.

The Kindertransport brought close to 10,000 unaccompanied minors to Britain on a trans-migrant basis between 1938 and 1939. The outbreak of war turned this short-term initiative into a longer-term episode. This PhD is a study of Scotland’s Kindertransport story and an evaluation of the Kindertransportees’ experiences of reception, care and nurture between 1938 and 1945. It also considers the wider implications of the Kindertransport upon the Kindertransportees’ broader life stories after 1945, namely further migration and resettlement. This thesis will unite a number of disparate areas of research, including British philanthropy and welfare, Anglo/Scottish Jewry, Zionism and migrant/refugee studies. It will be shown that Scotland’s reception of the Kindertransportees was highly varied and marked by many different agendas. These were fundamentally responsive to British interests. Growing up in Scotland exposed the Kindertransportees to a variety of different types of care. These were strongly tied to their Scottish context and mirror experiences of the Scottish child in care. Kindertransportees’ nurture invited important changes in their connection to Judaism. Nonetheless, an epitaph to a lost Jewish generation is inappropriate. Zionism emerges as an important Jewish connection. Nevertheless, Kindertransportees did not en-masse adopt Zionist goals or make Aliyah. Yet, at the same time, they did not usually remain in Scotland. Resettlement patterns show that there was a mass exodus of Kindertransportees across the Scottish borders. However, these Kindertransportees still exhibit a connection to Scotland as well as to Scottish communities in the diaspora. They express a profound fondness to all things imagined to be Scottish.

How did the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children protect children in post war Glasgow? The analysis in this study of the 'construction' of child protection is centred upon three questions relating to the practice of the RSSPCC: What forms did intervention take? Who was the focus of practice? How and why did practice change during the 30 year period, 1960-1990, of this study? The period 1960-1990 witnessed rapid political, economic and social changes which contributed to the recognition by the state of social problems which affected families. The RSSPCC (founded in 1884) was established by the beginning of the twentieth century as the principal arm of the state in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect throughout Scotland. The Society sustained this key role up to the middle of the 1970s and then lost it completely in 1992. This study is not a history of the RSSPCC. However an historical perspective was adopted to further understanding of the organisation's role in Scottish society and in the lives of families whose standards of parenting were causing concern. The sources of that concern were found often within the family. Many mothers (less often fathers) sought assistance from the RSSPCC only to find themselves subjects of intense scrutiny and intervention. The analysis and conclusions of this study are derived from: the RSSPCC case records of intervention in the lives of 1,500 families, the records of 120 prosecutions of parents for cruelty and or neglect, a selection of Annual Reports from 1889 to 1993, and interviews with 51 RSSPCC staff. A theoretical framework which brought historical sociology, post structuralist models of power and feminism together with the concept of 'Adocentrism' (the unswerving allegiance to adult values) was developed to illuminate the puzzles, paradoxes and complexities of the changing constructions of child protection. This study concludes that the 'construction' of child protection developed and changed in response to a number of factors. However, the power to define and negotiate the subjects and boundaries of intervention was invariably retained by the professionals and furthermore the focus of that intervention was predominantly with and between adults.