Bérgamo, L. P. D. (2011). Trajetória dos maus-tratos infantis: um estudo na perspectiva da Psicopatologia do Desenvolvimento. Tese de Doutorado, Departamento de Psicologia e Educação, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto - SP. Esta pesquisa teve por objeto de estudo o fenômeno dos maus-tratos contra crianças, norteando-se pela hipótese da existência de uma trajetória dessa problemática, caracterizada por sua continuidade no tempo, baseando-se numa articulação entre fase desenvolvimental - tipo de maltrato - tipo de consequência para a criança. Adotou-se como referencial a Psicopatologia Desenvolvimental, onde fenômeno ocorreria por problemas no sistema cuidador(es)-criançaambiente, associados a fatores de risco nos contextos "desenvolvimental" (características do cuidador e da criança), "interacional" (características da relação cuidador-criança e na família) e o "mais amplo" (características do entorno e percepção do apoio social). O objetivo geral foi verificar a existência de uma trajetória dos maus-tratos, buscando compreender sua constituição e manutenção no tempo. Especificamente, objetivou-se conhecer como os maustratos se manifestam em diferentes fases do desenvolvimento infantil e identificar as variáveis associadas...

O trabalho infantil é hoje bastante discutido nas agendas de governo do mundo inteiro. Desde que as primeiras discussões e debates acerca do tema começaram, obteve-se um grande avanço a partir da ratificação da convenção nº. 182 da OIT, que versa sobre as piores formas de trabalho infantil. Cerca de 87% dos Estados membros já ratificaram a Convenção n.º 182, incluindo o Brasil. Em 2010, firmou-se um compromisso, no âmbito da OIT, que estabelece como prioridade a eliminação das piores formas de trabalho infantil até 2016. O objetivo geral desta pesquisa é identificar os determinantes da redução do trabalho infantil no Brasil, especificamente entre os anos 2000 e 2010, tendo como foco o trabalho nas atividades enquadradas na categoria "piores formas de trabalho infantil". Buscou-se identificar as características atuais deste tipo de trabalho no que se refere à: características da própria criança, isto é, gênero, cor e idade; características regionais de onde a criança trabalhadora está inserida, abrangendo as cinco grande regiões do Brasil, e características locais, em termos de zona rural e urbana e zona metropolitana e não-metropolitana, entre outras. Dentre os modelos econométricos disponíveis na literatura...

This research assesses the various aspects of Child and Youth Care (CYC) work and how relationships between child or youth and care provider are limited and constricted within greater political, social and historical contexts. Specifically, this research takes place internationally in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil within a favela (slum) and unveils the entangled and complex relationship that I, not only as an ethnographer, but also as a CYC worker had with the many young people that I encountered. It will address a variety of theories that demonstrate the potentials of reproducing oppressive relationships, and argue that it is imperative for CYC workers to critically reflect on the greater contexts in which their work is situated in order to gain forces with those young people whom they are attempting to serve.

This paper analyzes complementarities between different Millennium Development Goals, focusing on child mortality and how it is influenced by progress in the other goals, in particular two goals related to the expansion of female education: universal primary education and gender equality in education. The authors provide evidence from eight Sub-Saharan African countries using two rounds of Demographic and Health Surveys per country and applying a consistent micro-econometric methodology. In contrast to the mixed findings of previous studies, for most countries the findings reveal strong complementarities between mothers educational achievement and child mortality. Mothers schooling lifts important demand-side constraints impeding the use of health services. Children of mothers with primary education are much more likely to receive vaccines, a crucial proximate determinant of child survival. In addition, better educated mothers tend to have longer birth intervals, which again increase the chances of child survival. For the variables related to the other goals...

This report draws deeply on the extraordinary efforts and innovations demonstrated by early child development policy makers around Brazil. This report draws on background papers about innovations in early child education in Rio de Janeiro and in caregiver training and supervision in two municipalities within Sao Paulo state. The year 2011 marked the beginning of a new administration in Brazil. The Ministry of education clearly identified early child education (ECE) as one of the top priorities of the new administration, along with secondary school and improving the reputation of the teaching profession. Early child development interventions are essential to both increasing the productivity of Brazil as a whole and to providing equitable opportunities for the disadvantaged. These programs benefit the poor more than other populations, and the poor are most in need of these benefits. Education interventions are crucial. Creches and preschools provide opportunities for stimulation and development that can wire children for future success. Therefore, early child education can particularly benefit the poor, helping to close the gap in cognitive development across income groups. A World Bank study compares adults from two regions of Brazil (the Northeast and the Southeast) who attended preschool to those who did not and found that pre-school attendance is associated with additional total years of education.

The objective of this study is to 1) review the situation and trends in terms of child welfare outcomes in Russia; 2) review and evaluate social policy responses; 3) identify major issues and challenges; and 4) propose policies and measures that would improve child well-being outcomes. The study consists of two parts. the first part reviews child welfare outcomes during the 1990s, focusing on child poverty and vulnerability, as well as health, education, and nutrition status. Chapter 2 links child well-being outcomes to the protracted economic crisis and related labor market developments, high inequality, rapid demographic and family formation changes, as well as generally insufficient, severely fiscally constrained and ineffective policy responses. Chapter 3 examines public policy responses in social protection, health and education, focusing on safety nets particularly policies targeting families and children. the second part of the study focuses on two groups of children identified as particularly vulnerable in Russia: children deprived of birth family upbringing and children with disabilities. the chapter on the former highlights their growing numbers against a continued decline in the child population...

The objective of this study is to 1) review the situation and trends in terms of child welfare outcomes in Russia; 2) review and evaluate social policy responses; 3) identify major issues and challenges; and 4) propose policies and measures that would improve child well-being outcomes. The study consists of two parts. the first part reviews child welfare outcomes during the 1990s, focusing on child poverty and vulnerability, as well as health, education, and nutrition status. Chapter 2 links child well-being outcomes to the protracted economic crisis and related labor market developments, high inequality, rapid demographic and family formation changes, as well as generally insufficient, severely fiscally constrained and ineffective policy responses. Chapter 3 examines public policy responses in social protection, health and education, focusing on safety nets particularly policies targeting families and children. the second part of the study focuses on two groups of children identified as particularly vulnerable in Russia: children deprived of birth family upbringing and children with disabilities. the chapter on the former highlights their growing numbers against a continued decline in the child population...

The problem of child labor has moved from a matter of regional and national concern to one of international debate and possible global persuasion and policy intervention. In crafting policy for mitigating this enormous problem of our times, it is important to start with a proper theoretical and empirical understanding of the phenomenon. What gives rise to child labor, and what are its consequences? What interventions might end child labor without hurting children? A well-meaning but poorly designed policy can exacerbate the poverty in which these laboring children live, even leading to starvation. The article surveys the large and rapidly growing literature on this subject, focusing mainly on the new literature based on modern economic theory and econometrics. It also looks at some of the broad policy implications of these new findings, with the objective of contributing to better informed discussion and policy design.

This package is designed to assess the needs of young children in communities heavily affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The assessment provides information about the household, family, the main caregiver of young children, each child under 8 years of age, their basic needs (housing, food, clothes, bedding, daily activities, health, education and childcare), and unmet needs. The information from the assessment is intended to be used to design service programs, targeted to the needs of these young children and their families. The needs assessment is carried out through use of a survey of households in the area served by the organization, sometimes called the .catchment. area. We have based this survey on the commonly used technique of cluster sampling, because we assumed that the size of the population and lack of accurate mapping and census data would prohibit either a survey of all households in the catchment area or simple random sampling. A survey instrument, definitions, script for the interviewer...

This article provides a response to the critique by Braithwaite et al. (this issue) of current approaches to child welfare in Australia and other similar countries. The present paper underscores concerns that political imperatives and media scrutiny have led to a system that focuses more strongly on protecting children, minimising risk and assessing families rather than the provision of community-level interventions to prevent abuse and enhance child wellbeing. The paper highlights the difficulties associated with a sole reliance on self-regulatory systems in the child protection context. Drawing from evidence related to actual intervention or out-of-home care cases, this paper draws attention to the need for balance in the child protection system. Although there may be evidence of overregulation and extension in current government practices in many cases, the variety of family problems and complexity in cases suggests the need for a mixture of regulatory systems. Finally, while the paper agrees that risk assessment tools and “need-based” approaches to resource allocation have led to an overemphasis on tertiary interventions at the expense of prevention, it is argued that risk assessment and tools (if used appropriately and in context) have a place in primary interventions...

This thesis has four main goals: (1) to examine the association between different measures of time in childcare on children’s cognitive and social development; (2) to investigate the influence of child-care-related variables (i.e., structural and process features of quality child care, caregivers’ mental health status and job satisfaction) on child developmental outcomes; (3) to determine whether child care predicts developmental outcomes after controlling for the effects of family-background variables (e.g., family social environment, parental discipline practices and parental mental health status); and (4) to examine the moderating effect of family and other predictor variables on the relationship between the amount of time spent in child care and its effect on children’s cognitive and social development. To achieve these goals, data were collected from 147 children between 3-4 years of age in Study I and 89 children aged 4-5 years in follow-up studies. These children were attending nationally accredited child care centres in South Australia, but in areas that differed socio-economically. The first finding was that different measures of time in childcare were not equally related to child developmental outcomes. The number of day(s) in a week...

Through more than a decade there has been ongoing national attention on the vulnerability of Aboriginal children to maltreatment. The concerns have been highlighted through coronial investigations, government inquiries and media attention. Central to these concerns has been the particular focus on sexual abuse of children in the Northern Territory (NT) highlighted through the Little Children are Sacred report released in 2007 and the subsequent intervention by the Australian Government. Associated with this attention there has been rapid increase in reports of suspected child maltreatment which has challenged the capacity of child protection services. This thesis explores changes in the number and characteristics of reports of child maltreatment in the NT, from 1999 to 2010, in the context of continuing public attention. The thesis used two sources of information – child protection activity and hospital admissions. From child protection activity data, annual rates of notifications for Aboriginal children increased by an average of 21% per year (Incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.21, 95%CI: 1.19-1.24) compared with a more modest increase among non-Aboriginal children of 10% per year (IRR 1.10, 95% CI: 1.07-1.14). The major changes for Aboriginal children were not in reports of sexual and physical abuse but increased reports of emotional abuse and neglect. The leading sources of the increased reports were from police...

This study examines differentials in infant and child mortality by socio-economic and demographic characteristics in Nepal. The study is mainly based on data from the Nepal Fertility Survey carried out by the Nepal Family Planning and Maternal child Health Project in 1976 in collaboration with the World Fertility Survey. This was the first major national representative demographic survey carried out in Nepal. This study examined the infant and child mortality differentials in rural areas of Nepal by regions, by socio-economic characteristics of the family and by demographic characteristics of the mothers. Taking into consideration variations by socio-economic and demographic factors, regional differentials in mortality are found to be important. The risk of infant and child death has been shown to be higher in the mountains compared to the Terai and hills. Education of the mother is found to be important in determining child mortality. With regard to demographic factors, it has been shown that the high risk of infant and child death to first order births is due to the fact that these births occur predominantly to younger women. The importance of the combined effect of maternal age and parity is also demonstrated in this study. High order births to younger women have an excessive risk of infant and child death. This synergistic effect of higher order births and young maternal age of infant and child mortality is obviously linked with short birth intervals. The length of preceding birth intervals and the survival of previous birth are important predictors of infant and child mortality among subsequent births. This study revealed that even at the shortest preceding birth interval (<18months) the probability of the later child of the interval dying during infancy is considerably higher among the children of mothers whose first child of the interval has died than if the first child of the interval is alive. This indicates that in addition to and...

This Note was prepared in response to the needs for technical assistance expressed by the the Ministries responsible for child welfare and child protection in Armenia. With the Ministry of Education and with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Security is developing a child welfare strategy, which will feed into the Poverty Reduction Strategy that is currently being drafted by the Armenian Government. The purpose of this Note is to assist the preparation of the child welfare strategy by identifying major issues in family and child welfare, assessing efficiency and effectiveness of current policies and suggesting measures that would better ensure the well-being and future of Armenia's children. This note discusses the dramatic political, economic, and social changes that Armenia went through over the 1990s. Some of them, especially prolonged economic hardship and extensive out-migration have had a criticial impact on child welfare; they have weakened the capacity of Armenia families to manage risks...

How serious is the issue of child labor in Sub-Saharan Africa? Many African experts consider it to be no problem, while others believe it to be more serious than anywhere else in the world. A cursory glance at the statistics supports either view. ILO data indicate that more than 40 percent of African children work--almost twice as many as in Asia. On the other hand, household surveys suggest that over 95 percent of child labor takes place in and around private households. African society places a high value on children working at home or the family farm. This is not seen as "harmful" or as a welfare issue--a view opposed by many Western countries. This article explores the normative and factual basis for the different perceptions of child labor in Africa, and provides grounds effective social protection policies. Both welfare economic research and findings of sociological and anthropological studies have been reviewed.

Autism is one of those human ambiguities that forces vigilant open-mindednesssometimes this open-mindedness comes without choice, for example when you become the mother of a child with autism. Recent reports indicate that Pervasive Developmental Disorders affect 1 in 150 children (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). This also means that there are many families caring for children with autism. The purpose of this research was to explore the day to day lived experiences of mothers caring for a child with autism. With a drastic increase in children diagnosed with autism, and very little research on mothers themselves, assisting in articulating lived experiences from mothers themselves seemed like an acceptable first step. Mothers were asked to journal for a period of one month, once a week, as well as participate in a focus group. Findings from both of these techniques were analyzed using underpinnings from Amelio Giorgi and Max van Manen. General findings indicate that mothers present poignant narratives about living with their child. It becomes clear that mothers are stressed, and live a complicated and often contradictory existence. Many days are fraught with struggle, anticipation, watchful eyes, judgment and guilt. There is a constant battle waging; the one within themselves...

Narrative therapy is a postmodern therapy that takes the position that people create self-narratives to make sense of their experiences. To date, narrative therapy has compiled virtually no quantitative and very little qualitative research, leaving gaps in almost all areas of process and outcome. White (2006a), one of the therapy's founders, has recently utilized Vygotsky's (1934/1987) theories of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and concept formation to describe the process of change in narrative therapy with children. In collaboration with the child client, the narrative therapist formalizes therapeutic concepts and submits them to increasing levels of generalization to create a ZPD. This study sought to determine whether the child's development proceeds through the stages of concept formation over the course of a session, and whether therapists' utterances scaffold this movement. A sequential analysis was used due to its unique ability to measure dynamic processes in social interactions. Stages of concept formation and scaffolding were coded over time. A hierarchical log-linear analysis was performed on the sequential data to develop a model of therapist scaffolding and child concept development. This was intended to determine what patterns occur and whether the stated intent of narrative therapy matches its actual process. In accordance with narrative therapy theory...

This thesis takes some steps in examining the child protection system from a position that is rarely discussed. Specifically, I explore how Foucault's concept of disciplinary power can be used to demonstrate how power operates within the client/worker relationship. This relationship is shown to be quite complex with power flowing bidirectionally, rather than hierarchically. Instead of viewing power imbalances as a function of state control, I show how the client/worker relationship is constituted by the worker, the client, the organization and the social body. A postmodern auto ethnography is used to document my journey as I expose the disciplinary practices and instruments that I was subject to and used with my clients. 2 Given that the child protection system is constantly shifting and changing in order to improve its ability to safeguard children a greater emphasis is required to examine how workers operate within this complex, overwhelming and multi-dimensional world. This thesis has shown that by engaging in a reflexive examination of my position of power different approaches to making intervention beneficial to all involved become available. This is important if child protection work aims to work with clients rather than on clients.

This thesis examines the impact of universal child care on child development outcomes. Through the case of the Quebec Family Policy, one of the largest and most comprehensive child care policies enacted in North America, the six papers making up this thesis investigate the impact of universal child care on a variety of child outcomes, including cognitive, health, and behavioural, and demonstrate that the effects of this policy are complicated along a number of dimensions. Moving beyond average effects, this research instead considers heterogeneity to produce a more nuanced analysis of the effects of universal child care. This research contributes significantly to debates surrounding best practices in child care policies, and the ways in which child care fits into trends such as gender gaps in education and increasing rates of childhood obesity. The first paper analyzes reporting of negative impacts of the Quebec Family Policy, confirming the notion that universal child care programs weaken individual and family outcomes but suggesting that substantial heterogeneity exists in response to child care attendance. The next paper examines these heterogeneous effects of universal child care through a consideration of differential impact according to child ability levels. Analysis reveals that formal child care can indeed boost developmental outcomes for some children...

The coincidence of historical trends in youth antisocial behavior and change in family demographics has led to speculation of a causal link, possibly mediated by declining quality of parenting and parent?child relationships. No study to date has directly assessed whether and how parenting and parent?child relationships have changed. Two national samples of English adolescents aged 16?17 years in 1986 (N=4,524 adolescents, 7,120 parents) and 2006 (N=716 adolescents, 734 parents) were compared using identical questionnaire assessments. Youth-reported parental monitoring, expectations, and parent?child quality time increased between 1986 and 2006. Ratings of parental interest did not change. Parenting differences between affluent and disadvantaged families narrowed over time. There was thus little evidence of a decline in quality of parenting for the population as a whole or for disadvantaged subgroups. Parent-reported youth conduct problems showed a modest increase between 1986 and 2006. Findings suggested that the increase in youth conduct problems was largely unrelated to observed change in parent?child relationships.