This study deals with the qualities of professionalization of public child welfare. Its relationto general social policy is emphasized. The potentials of welfarism are explored as a part ofthe study of crisis of legitimacy and rationality prevalent in welfare systems.The special situation of child welfare in Iceland with a large variation in local socialservices forms an important background of the work. This is related to sociologicaltheorizing and a position taken turns against viewing professionalization as an accumulatingprocess of power as well as the opposite, the blindness of belief in extensive professionalismas a means for creation of "the good life". The line of "family-state-individual" is traced inrelation to the emergence of social work. Child welfare is found to be imprisoned bytradition, since the idea behind children's placement is not thoroughly explored. The issueof a noted technifying and expansive tendency of professional action in cases of child abuseand custodial disputes is treated. A biased treatment of the family is here called "the childwelfare trap". The search for qualities in what traditionally is identified as "bad parenting" infoster care is suggested to be a potential to transcend central dilemmas of the field.A documentation study of poor relief and the support of mothers in the capital of Iceland,Reykjavik of th e 1930's showed an early coexistence of administrative and client-centeredapproaches. In a survey of records on children's placements in the capital of Icela nd,Reykjavik, it was confirmed that this work in an organization with professional employeeswas predominantly bureaucratic and not child-centered, also other results were similar asfound in Nordic studies. In an interview study of two small towns a passivity was shown toprevail in a laymen dominated child welfare practice at the cost of c hildren's needs, whileschool and day care provided support for families. Three significant achievements emergingin interplay with professionalization of social child care, found valid for the Icelandic çase,are seen as having lead to an increased societal sensitivity to deal with human problems.This has created a new acknowledgement of children's right to well-being despite seriouspractical limitations. Due to coexistent conflicting professional practices, a relative absenceof reg ulation and modernizing of services occurring simultaneously with the revision ofwelfarism, a space of action is presumed to exist for shaping of an outline of new practices.Theoretically opposing views on professionalization act as a kind of negative dialectic, onecentered on reproduction of existing practice, the other by presenting a gloominess of anempty-handed doctrine. The analyses of societal changes and child welfare are seen asfrequently ignoring the search for potentials to hand over power to children, not only bygender-blinaness, but by an age-neutrality which excludes children. The "deepening ofwelfare state crisis" is presumed to constitute a required possibility of a new kind of selfreflectionamong professionals. It is suggested that qualitative aspects of commonlyaccepted societal dichotomies will be challenged by the revision of welfare systems and thatthis creates a potential of a reshaping of pr actices, including the support-control dilemmaof c hild welfare. / digitalisering@umu

When young people are placed in residential care, the staff have a responsibility to ensure that the youth have a safe environment where they can thrive and develop. Residential staff also have responsibilities to ensure the rights of youth during the residential care. This study aims to examine how staff consider themselves to treat the youth in residential care. Furthermore the study aims to examine how the staff consider themselves to ensure youth their right to be heard and have an impact on their own lives, in agreement with Article 12 of the UN convention on the rights of the child (CRC). A qualitative method has been used in order to answer the study's purpose and issues. Five interviews were conducted with residential staff, four of which were environmental therapists and one who was a manager. The results show that the staff consider themselves to respond well to the youth, however, a good treatment is difficult to define and therefore hard to achieve. Furthermore, it appears that the knowledge about children’s rights varies among the staff, which can have negative effects on how they manage to reassure youth their rights to be heard and have an impact on their own lives, in agreement with Article 12 of the CRC.

Αυτή η εργασία έχει σαν σκοπό να παρουσιάσει αρχικά τη Διεθνή Σύμβαση για τα Δικαιώματα των Παιδιών (για να δούμε τις προσπάθειες που έχουν γίνει παγκοσμίως όσο και ελλαδικά για την ύπαρξη νομοθετικού πλαισίου που κατοχυρώνει τα δικαιώματα των παιδιών) και σε αντιπαραβολή θα υπάρξουν αναφορές των διεθνών οργανισμών για την κατάσταση των παιδιών στην Ελλάδα αφού προηγουμένως αναφέρουμε λίγα λόγια για το έργο κάθε οργάνωσης μέχρι σήμερα. Αυτό είναι μια καλή ευκαιρία για να δούμε την ουσιαστική διαφορά που υπάρχει ανάμεσα στη θεωρεία και στην πράξη. Θα περιοριστούμε στις ανάγκες των παιδιών που ζουν στην Ελλάδα και θα προσπαθήσουμε να απεικονίσουμε την πραγματική κατάσταση όλων των παιδιών που ζουν στην Ελλάδα, ανεξάρτητα από κάθε μορφή διάκρισης που πιθανόν να αντιμετωπίζουν αυτά τα παιδιά στην ένταξη τους στην ελληνική κοινωνία. / -

No description available.

No description available.

South Africa's first democratic elections were held in 1994. Since then, the government has engaged itself in a process of reconstruction and development through the formulation of policies and legislation which are in line with the country‟s Constitution of 1996. Some of these policies and legislation pertain to the issue of children‟s human rights. This study, firstly, sought to analyze key South African policies and legislations related to children‟s rights that have emerged since 1994. These documents include, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996; the Children‟s Act 38 of 2005; Education White paper 6: Building an Inclusive Education and Training Systems (Department of Education, 2001), the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996; and the National Policy on HIV/AID for learners and educators in public schools and students and educators in further education and training institutions (1999). Secondly, the study aimed to explore whether children‟s rights are a myth or reality in South Africa by analyzing secondary data gathered from a large scale research project conducted in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, titled “Mapping the Barriers to Basic Education in the context of HIV/AIDS”. The data were collected from teachers, learners in grade 3, 6 and 9; School Governing Bodies, parents, and organizations - non governmental and community based organisations working in the district. The study used an in-depth qualitative case study approach. The study involved formal and non-formal centres of learning and their communities from four community contexts: rural, deep rural, urban and peri-urban. The data set provides insight into the lives of children in these contexts. The findings suggest that several barriers experienced by children and their families to accessing their social rights embedded in key South African policy documents related to key themes that emerged in the study: risks and vulnerabilities; control, regulation and powerlessness; the commitment of quality education not being met; and childhood poverty. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

Avhandlingens syfte är att belysa hur delaktighet kan ta sig uttryck i skolans vardagspraktik med fokus på både social och politisk delaktighet. Utgångspunkt för studien är att delaktighet är något som görs mellan aktörerna, dvs. eleverna och pedagogerna i skolan. Förutom att studera hur delaktighet görs lyfts även elevers erfarenhet av delaktighet fram samt vilka möjligheter och hinder som finns för elevers delaktighet i skolans vardag. Studiens resultat bygger på en etnografisk studie med elever som går i år 4-5 i grundskolan. Datamaterialet består av fältanteckningar, intervjuer, teckningar och skriftliga berättelser från eleverna, vilka analyserats med hjälp av Grounded Theory. Studiens resultat visar att delaktighet görs ständigt i skolans vardagsarbete vilket innefattar processer av att få vara med i en gemenskap men också motverkas genom exempelvis exkludering. Från elevernas perspektiv är social delaktighet betydelsefull och en källa till trivsel och välbefinnande i skolan. Elevers möjlighet till politisk delaktighet är begränsad framförallt i relation till vad elever kan ha inflytande över men även utifrån vilka som är delaktiga. Då formen för politisk delaktighet framförallt sker genom att elever inflytandeförhandlar dvs. på olika individualiserade sätt tar sig inflytande, blir följden att vissa elever upplever stor delaktighet medan andra är utestängda från beslutsfattande. Studien visar också att elevers sociala och politiska delaktighet är sammanlänkade då elever som är delaktiga i en kamratgemenskap också har större möjlighet att göra sin röst hörd i klassrummet och utöva politisk delaktighet.

Childhood obesity and chronic disease rates have reached epidemic proportions, but policy responses remain focused on individual health promotion rather than environmental change. This paper reveals the limitations of the current response, the Minimal Public Health (MPH) approach, due to its moral and political foundations. The foundations of the MPH rest upon the problematic liberal public/private divide. Furthermore, the MPH neglects to recognize the legal obligations and implications of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Additionally, children’s entitlements to care extend beyond the provision of basic necessities and demand high standards of nutrition and physical activity to ensure equal and just developmental outcomes. Finally, obesity and chronic disease may limit children’s ability to participate in practices of meaningful citizenship. As a result of its foundations, the MPH is inherently flawed and an alternative public health paradigm must be developed to effectively address childhood obesity and chronic disease.

Childhood obesity and chronic disease rates have reached epidemic proportions, but policy responses remain focused on individual health promotion rather than environmental change. This paper reveals the limitations of the current response, the Minimal Public Health (MPH) approach, due to its moral and political foundations. The foundations of the MPH rest upon the problematic liberal public/private divide. Furthermore, the MPH neglects to recognize the legal obligations and implications of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Additionally, children’s entitlements to care extend beyond the provision of basic necessities and demand high standards of nutrition and physical activity to ensure equal and just developmental outcomes. Finally, obesity and chronic disease may limit children’s ability to participate in practices of meaningful citizenship. As a result of its foundations, the MPH is inherently flawed and an alternative public health paradigm must be developed to effectively address childhood obesity and chronic disease.

When children face separation from their parents as a consequence of state action in the family courts, their best interests are the paramount consideration of the court and they have legal representation. Children who face separation from their mother as a consequence of sentencing proceedings in the criminal courts are neither represented nor acknowledged. The thesis analyses this differentiated treatment and explores its consequences for children, society and the state. Explanations for the differentiated treatment are tested with reference to existing literature and original empirical research. The impact on children of imprisoned mothers is investigated to determine whether or not they suffer harm. The parameters of the state duty of care towards children are explored, to see if children of defendant mothers fall outside of it, and the way sentencing judges construct and interpret their duty towards mothers and their children within the sentencing process is examined. This thesis establishes that without legal or moral justification, children of maternal defendants are treated without the concern given to children who face separation from their parents in the family courts. Children of defendant mothers suffer as a consequence of the 'secondary prisonisation', 'secondary stigmatisation' and 'confounding grief' which they experience, and the state has failed to uphold their rights under Articles 3, 12 and 20, and is in breach of its duty under Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. The guidance and mechanisms for considering their welfare exist but are not engaged with by the sentencing courts, local authorities, legislators or policy makers. This has negative consequences for children, their caregivers and wider society. The thesis concludes with consideration of the implications of these findings for the state and suggests changes to ensure equitable treatment of children of defendant mothers in England and Wales.