In the thirty-five years since China instituted its One-Child Policy, 120,000 children mostly girls have left China through international adoption, including 85,000 to the United States. It's generally assumed that this diaspora is the result of China's approach to population control, but there is also the underlying belief that the majority of adoptees are daughters because the One-Child Policy often collides with the traditional preference for a son. While there is some truth to this, it does not tell the full story a story with deep personal resonance to Kay Ann Johnson, a China scholar and mother to an adopted Chinese daughter. Johnson spent years talking with the Chinese parents driven to relinquish their daughters during the brutal birth-planning campaigns of the 1990s and early 2000s, and, with China's Hidden Children, she paints a startlingly different picture. The decision to give up a daughter, she shows, is not a facile one, but one almost always fraught with grief and dictated by fear. Were it not for the constant threat of punishment for breaching the country's stringent birth-planning policies, most Chinese parents would have raised their daughters despite the cultural preference for sons. With clear understanding and compassion for the families, Johnson describes their desperate efforts to conceal the birth of second or third daughters from the authorities. As the Chinese government cracked down on those caught concealing an out-of-plan child, strategies for surrendering children changed from arranging adoptions or sending them to live with rural family to secret placement at carefully chosen doorsteps and, finally, abandonment in public places. In the twenty-first century, China's so-called abandoned children have increasingly become "stolen" children, as declining fertility rates have left the dwindling number of children available for adoption more vulnerable to child trafficking. In addition, government seizures of locally but illegally adopted children and children hidden within their birth families mean that even legal adopters have unknowingly adopted children taken from parents and sent to orphanages. The image of the "unwanted daughter" remains commonplace in Western conceptions of China. With China's Hidden Children, Johnson reveals the complex web of love, secrecy, and pain woven in the coerced decision to give one's child up for adoption and the profound negative impact China's birth-planning campaigns have on Chinese families.

The long-anticipated new version of the internationally recognized Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, ECERS-3, focuses on the full range of needs of preschool- and kindergarten-aged children. This widely used, comprehensive assessment tool measures both environmental provisions and teacher-child interactions that affect the broad developmental needs of young children, including: Cognitive Social-Emotional Physical Health and safety ECERS-3 also includes additional Items assessing developmentally appropriate literacy and math activities. Designed for preschool, kindergarten, and child care classrooms serving children 3 through 5 years of age, ECERS-3: Provides a smooth transition for those already using ECERS-R. Emphasizes the role of the teacher in creating an environment conducive to developmental gains. Is designed to predict child outcomes more accurately and with greater precision. Provides a stronger method of distinguishing between good and truly excellent programs. Offers a complete training program with ongoing support available at the Environment Rating Scales Institute (ERSI) website (www.ersi.info). ECERS-3 is appropriate for state and district-wide QRIS and continuous improvement; program evaluation by directors and supervisors; teacher self-evaluation; monitoring by agency staff; and teacher education. The established reliability and long term evidence of validity of the ERS family of instruments make this new version of ECERS particularly useful for RTTT-ELC accountability and research. Suitable for use in inclusive and culturally diverse programs, ECERS-3 subscales evaluate: Space and Furnishings Personal Care Routines Language and Literacy Learning Activities Interaction Program Structure

Children and young people in care who have been traumatized need a therapeutic environment where they can heal and which meets their emotional and developmental needs. This book provides a model of care for traumatized children and young people, based on theory and practice experience pioneered at the Lighthouse Foundation, Australia. The authors explain the impact of trauma on child development, drawing on psychodynamic, attachment and neurobiological trauma theories. The practical aspects of undertaking therapeutic care are then outlined, covering everything from forming therapeutic relationships to the importance of the home environment and daily routines. The book considers the totality of the child's experience at the individual, group, organization and community levels and argues that attention to all of these is essential if the child is to achieve wellness. Case material from both children and carers are used throughout to illustrate both the impact of trauma and how children have been helped to recovery through therapeutic care. This book will provide anyone caring for traumatized children and young people in a residential setting with both the understanding and the practical knowledge to help children recover. It will be essential reading for managers and decision-makers responsible for looked after children, child care workers such as residential and foster carers, youth workers, social workers, mental health workers and child welfare academics.

Numerous books have been written about Victorian child care pioneers, but few biographical studies have been published about more recent child care and welfare giants. In this book, Bob Holman, a champion for children in his own right, looks at the lives of six inspirational individuals who have made significant contributions to the well-being of disadvantaged children over the course of the 20th century. Each of the six discussed - Eleanor Rathbone, Lady Marjory Allen, Clare Winnicott, John Stroud, Barbara Kahan and Peter Townsend - has been important in establishing present systems of child care and welfare, and in stimulating debate around issues which remain high on policy and practitioner agendas today. Based on documentary research and extensive interviews, "Champions for children" relates personal histories to wider policy and practice developments. It makes important connections between poverty, inequality and child care policy - links that are often overlooked. The author also gives an engaging account of his own life, which has been dedicated to improving the lives of children through research, education and direct work with children. In the final chapter, he makes recommendations for the future development of services for children and families and policy recommendations for tackling poverty. "Champions for children" is aimed at social workers, policy makers, academics and students with an interest in child care and welfare issues.

Important reforms are taking place in children's services in the UK, with a move towards greater integration. In England, Scotland and Sweden, early childhood education and care, childcare for older children, and schools are now the responsibility of education departments. This book is the first to examine, cross-nationally, this major shift in policy. work best, which welfare states are most effective and the future role of schools; examines why and how the three countries have integrated departmental responsibility for these major children's services and explores the very different consequences; through cross-national comparison, it offers new perspectives on the integration of children's services and the different ways in which it can be taken forward; addresses changing understandings of the child and childhood in each country; provides an invaluable understanding of current and possible future changes, including choices to be made about policy, provision and the workforce. implemented, this book is essential reading for practitioners, managers, politicians, trainers and researchers in children's services, including schools, early years, school-age childcare, leisure and recreation, child welfare and health.

It's hard to be a teen! It's even more challenging when we have sensory differences. People with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), a newly identified neurological condition, as well as those with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), are frequently misunderstood by others when they over- or under-react to sounds, sights, smells, tastes, touch, movement, balance, and feelings within their bodies. When we're wired differently in teenage hood and aren't always able to understand what it is that we're sensing, the world - and the future - can feel big and scary. In this guide especially for teens and the people who love them, Rachel S. Schneider, M.A., MHC, SPD advocate and award-winning author of Sensory Like You and Making Sense: A Guide to Sensory Issues, breaks the challenges of a sensory teenage hood into hilarious, thoughtful, and manageable chunks. Through personal anecdotes about her own experiences as an undiagnosed sensory teen, as well as tips and tricks to survive and thrive during these years, Rachel reminds us all that we're not alone.

This book offers an analysis and summary of the uses, abuses and limitations of attachment theory in contemporary child welfare practice. Analysing the primary science and drawing on the authors' original empirical work, the book shows how attachment theory can distort and influence decision-making. It argues that the dominant view of attachment theory may promote a problematic diagnostic mindset, whilst undervaluing the enduring relationships between children and adults. The book concludes that attachment theory can still play an important role in child welfare practice, but the balance of the research agenda needs a radical shift towards a sophisticated understanding of the realities of human experience to inform ethical practice.

This books examines the increased prominence of children's rights in education to ask whether we are witnessing a paradigm shift within the education system. The author uses a wide range of case studies from Scotland and England to examine the extent to which children and young people with Special Educational Needs/ Additional Support Needs are in practice able to realise their new rights of participation and redress. In addition, the book examines the ways in which the child's capacity to make independent decisions is understood and acted upon in different contexts, and the factors which ultimately promote or inhibit the rights of young people and children with SEN/ ASN. The author asks whether, in a context of tight budgets and often limited support, this new emphasis on children's rights can be seen as 'window-dressing' and a distraction from reductions in support for social welfare.

This book provides an accessible engaging account of childcare policies in Britain and beyond. In examining the progress of women's initiatives and childcare, Marchbank considers subjects including: the history of childcare policy, particularly during the Second World War
childcare policy and women's economic activity across the EC
detailed case studies of policy making in practice
the covert and overt barriers to equality-based policy making
successful strategies and counter-strategies for policy makers and campaigners.

In the child welfare system some youth do well in their lives, but far too many do not experience positive outcomes by the time they are leaving government services. The youth often feel marginalized and that they were not involved in decisions about their own lives, leaving them with a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. This book focuses on high-risk youth - whose struggles include neglect and abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, the risk of being exploited, mental health issues, and the inability to self-regulate and trust - a population of youth that government child welfare services and community agencies struggle to serve adequately. The focus has traditionally been on punishment-consequence interventions and demanding compliance, but experience and research shows they can be better served through relationship-based practice incorporating harm reduction principles, resiliency and strength-based approaches, community collaboration, and an understanding that these youth typically come from experiences of early trauma impacting their brain development and their ability to form attachments. This book provides an overview of the Get Connected practice framework and philosophy, and provides strategies for engaging and working with the most disconnected, challenging, and troubled youth in society.

In the child welfare system some youth do well in their lives, but far too many do not experience positive outcomes by the time they are leaving government services. The youth often feel marginalized and that they were not involved in decisions about their own lives, leaving them with a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. This book focuses on high-risk youth - whose struggles include neglect and abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, the risk of being exploited, mental health issues, and the inability to self-regulate and trust - a population of youth that government child welfare services and community agencies struggle to serve adequately. The focus has traditionally been on punishment-consequence interventions and demanding compliance, but experience and research shows they can be better served through relationship-based practice incorporating harm reduction principles, resiliency and strength-based approaches, community collaboration, and an understanding that these youth typically come from experiences of early trauma impacting their brain development and their ability to form attachments. This book provides an overview of the Get Connected practice framework and philosophy, and provides strategies for engaging and working with the most disconnected, challenging, and troubled youth in society.

This book presents a range of innovative analytical frameworks that can be used to approach the complexities of children's understandings and experiences of well-being in a locally oriented, context-sensitive and multi-nationally comparative way. It addresses the challenges of undertaking research on children's understandings of well-being from a multi-national qualitative perspective. Chapters in the book present results that show how children from various places all over the world conceptualize and experience well-being as well as how this is linked local, regional and national social, political and cultural contexts.

What can schools and social care workers do to help children affected by domestic violence?

Large numbers of children are affected by domestic violence. The problem crosses every social class and culture. It causes distress and anxiety in children and adversely affects their learning and play, as well as their behaviour, wellbeing and attendance.

Education staff may know of a child or family in crisis, want to help, yet feel outside their comfort zone, grappling with a complex issue not covered in their training. This book describes the impact of domestic violence on children and provides support for education and social care professionals. It takes heavy workloads into account and suggests practical ways of meeting the needs of pupils who come from difficult home backgrounds.

The authors provide guidance and advice on:

• identifying and responding to signs of distress
• helping pupils to talk about and make sense of their experiences
• the impact on parenting and how parents can be supported
• the needs of young people in refuges and temporary accommodation
• pupil safety and government safeguarding guidelines
• educating young people and the community about domestic violence
• specialist domestic violence services and other agencies that support schools.

Domestic Violence and Children draws on the expertise of a wide range of professionals, including specialist domestic violence children's workers and counsellors, psychologists, teachers, mentors and family support workers. It provides essential help and information to all children's service directorates, as well as a range of professionals in education, social care, health and the voluntary sector.

Broken Three Times is a narrative nonfiction book that chronicles one family's travails through the child welfare system. While this is the story of one family, it typifies countless others who get lost in the system. Each chapter of the family's story provides a launching point for discussing contemporary policy and practice, while it presents scientific updates relevant for understanding risk and promoting resilience in maltreated children, and improving the child welfare system. Emerging insights from genetics and neuroscience research are also reviewed. The book begins with snapshots from the mother's abusive childhood, which sets the stage for discussing trauma-informed systems of care initiatives. These programs include efforts to train professionals on the effects of trauma, implement universal screening of trauma experiences, and disseminate evidence-based treatments to address trauma-related psychiatric problems. The book then fast-forwards to the family's first involvement with Connecticut protective services when the children are eleven and ten. After a brief investigation, the family's case is closed, and despite their many needs, the family is not provided links to any ongoing supportive services. This chapter is then followed by a brief discussion of differential response programs. Like many unconfirmed cases, the family is re-referred to protective services within months of the initial case closing, and after a lengthy second investigation, the children are removed from their mother's care. Over the next five years we see the children pass through nearly twenty placements, while their mother continually relapses on crack and moves from one violent relationship to the next. The prevalence of substance abuse and domestic violence problems in families referred to protective services are also reviewed, together with a range of other issues relevant to improving the child welfare system and the outcomes of the children it serves. Over the course of the decade that is covered in the book's primary narrative, the child welfare system has started a process of significant reform. Trauma-informed systems of care, differential response teams, and strengthening of community-based mental health and addiction services are just a few trends that have begun to transform the system and improve the trajectory of children entering care in many jurisdictions. Judgment is still out on whether these changes will last and will prove effective, but stories like the one that forms the heart of Broken Three Times us of the complexity of the issues involved with child welfare. This book will hopefully provide readers with some ideas about concrete steps to take to improve practice, gaps in our knowledge, and a deepening appreciation of the value of incorporating broad perspectives into this work - from neurobiology to social policy.

This volume adopts a context-informed framework exploring risk, maltreatment, well-being and protection of children in diverse groups in Israel. It incorporates the findings of seven case studies conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's NEVET Greenhouse of Context-Informed Research and Training for Children in Need. Each case study applies a context-informed approach to the study of perspectives of risk and protection among parents, children and professionals from different communities in Israel, utilizing varied qualitative methodologies. The volume analyses the importance of studying children and parents's perspectives in diverse societies and stresses the need for a context-informed perspective in designing prevention and intervention programs for children at risk and their families living in diverse societies. It further explores potential contribution to theory, research, practice, policy and training in the area of child maltreatment.

* Includes full explanation of the requirements and terminology of the new Level 3 qualification, so learners and tutors can feel confident that they are fully supported. * Written by Penny Tassoni and a team of expert childcare tutors and trainers, so you can be sure that content is reliable , relevant and of the highest quality . * Contains a CD-ROM which includes bonus content of short video clips to bring selected topics to life. * New 'Working Life' feature pages help learners relate knowledge to their own settings.

This book discusses principles and strategies that practitioners can use to guide their work. These include engaging parents of children in placement, mapping family resources, mobilizing networks, and creating safety plans.

How to weigh genetic factors while choosing the best psychosocial interventions Psychosocial Interventions for Genetically Influenced Problems in Childhood and Adolescence explores empirically supported psychosocial interventions in light of our current understanding of the genome. It considers how interventions may be modified and enhanced as the products of genomic research continue to expand and why they offer the most promise for making substantial gains in treatment and prevention. Providing a clear, accessible assessment of our current knowledge, both of the genome and evidence based treatments, Psychosocial Interventions for Genetically Influenced Problems in Childhood and Adolescence provides practical advice to clinicians,policy makers, and others invested in treating young people who present with a variety of conditions including anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism, substance abuse, and dyslexia. Rende discusses the current understanding of genetic etiology of psychopathology, and explores the support, or lack thereof, for various modes of treatment in light of new genomic knowledge. The overall premise is that our advances in genetics will be put to best therapeutic use by fueling translational psychosocial interventions. Key points raised include: * The need for treating children suffering today, rather than waiting for a biological "magic bullet" * Discussion of how empirically-supported interventions mesh with genetic vulnerabilities * Ways in which interventions may change as genetic research continues

Full-Service Schools describes the movement to create an array of integrated support services in schools. It examines the declining welfare of many American families and prescribes solutions for the problems of increased sex, drugs, violence, and stress among youth.

Underpinned by substantive research on meeting the developmental and attachment needs of infants, this book offers constructive advice on how to encourage curiosity, confidence and emotional security in young children. Based on a philosophy of respect and sensitive observation of infants, it is appropriate for use in Sure Start programmes. The contributors offer a model that supports children's development and well being without relying on expensive material resources, and enables a coherent care strategy to be applied across different services. They explain the main elements of the RIE approach clearly and concisely and fully explore the practicalities of its implementation in a range of settings, including state-run and independent day care and residential centres, private households and family-based day care. The fresh and effective approach to caring for infants and toddlers outlined in this book will be welcomed by parents and day care professionals, as well as those who manage and evaluate child care provision.

Human development is about the growth of agency, which is developed in interaction with their parents and families but if parental agency is insufficient, agency in the form of child welfare will be required to fill the gaps. This book provides an holistic view of how children develop agency, combining social, psychological and child development aspects, as well as examining child welfare structures and the roles of social workers. This focus will make a contribution to current debates about child welfare and child protection and the book will therefore be essential reading for academics and researchers in social work, childhood studies, children's policy and social policy.

The importance of play in children's health and care services, both as a form of therapy and as a distraction, is often overlooked. This unique text promotes developmentally appropriate provision within healthcare settings for children and young people and provides an introduction to the underpinning knowledge and skills. Covering core content - such as the role of play in child development, relevant anatomy and physiology, the concept of resilience, health promotion, developing appropriate provision and working in diverse healthcare settings - each chapter: makes links with the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework and the Children's Workforce's Common Core of Skills and Knowledge begins with an overview of the chapter objectives contains a variety of activities such as reflective exercises, case studies and practical tasks that will promote both skills and knowledge needed in the workplace. concludes with a selection of additional useful resources and further reading suggestions. Designed for all healthcare professionals who work with children and young people, including those studying to become health play specialists and children's nurses, this text provides practical examples of how all members of the multidisciplinary team can help to support children's play.

This is a gentle story to help children aged 18 months to 6 years who have lived with violence in their home. Baby Bear lives in a home with the Big Bears, and loves to chase butterflies and make mud pies - they make Baby Bear's tummy fill with sunshine. Then, one night, Baby Bear hears a big storm downstairs in the house and in the morning, Baby Bear's tummy starts to feel grey and rainy. How will such a small bear cope with these big new feelings? This sensitive, charming storybook is written to help children who have lived with violence at home to begin to explore and name their feelings. Accompanied by notes for adults on how to use each page of the story to start conversations, it also features fun games and activities to help to understand and express difficult emotions. It will be a useful book for social workers, counsellors, domestic violence workers and all grown-ups working with children.

This book challenges and revises existing ways of thinking about leaving care policy, practice and research at regional, national and international levels. Bringing together contributors from fifteen countries, it covers a range of topical policy and practice issues within national, international or comparative contexts. These include youth justice, disability, access to higher education, the role of advocacy groups, ethical challenges and cultural factors. In doing so it demonstrates that, whilst young people are universally a vulnerable group, there are vast differences in their experiences of out-of-home care and transitions from care, and their shorter and longer-term outcomes. Equally, there are significant variations between jurisdictions in terms of the legislative, policy and practice supports and opportunities made available to them. This significant edited collection is essential reading for all those who work with young people from care, including social workers, counsellors, and youth and community practitioners, as well as for students and scholars of child welfare.

For many vulnerable children, the idea of talking to an adult about their experiences and feelings can be a daunting prospect. This book demonstrates how the introduction of playfulness when working with neglected or abused children helps to build a trusting relationship by openly engaging with the child's world. The practical activities and resources provided have been developed over 20 years of working with vulnerable children and are proven to help reduce feelings of stress and open up the lines of communication between adult and child. The straightforward, accessible style makes them easy to follow and ideal for reference in everyday practice. With plenty of tried and tested advice, this book is essential reading for all those working with vulnerable children, including social workers, child protection workers, therapists, teachers and police interviewers, who are looking for effective ways to engage with them.