Policy hysteria in action: teenage parents at secondary school in Australia

In this chapter we present an account of the policy paradox of establishing a Young Parents\u27 Access Project (YPAP) for students at a senior secondary college in the state of Victoria, Australia. l Within a policy climate of endless reform and new policy initiatives, 90 per cent of all secondary school students in Victoria are expected to complete 13 years of formal education or training, and to be supported to make successful transitions from school to work or further education. Yet young people who are pregnant or parenting and who wish to complete their secondary schooling are invisible within the policies that construct the work of schools. In response to enquiries from teenage parents interested in returning to school and confronting the challenge of juggling home life, childcare and school work, Corio Bay Senior College (CBSC) decided to establish a multi-dimensional project that was underpinned by the provision of fully licensed on-site childcare.<br /

Family Cap Programs: The Future of Pennsylvania Welfare Reform

Welfare reform has been a highly debated topic since before the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) and continues to be at the forefront of many policy makers\u27 agendas. Although significant positive changes have occurred in welfare policy since PRWORA\u27s adoption, welfare costs remain unwieldy. This study aims to review the controversial family cap program, already implemented in various states, to determine if it would be a beneficial step to reducing Pennsylvania welfare costs. The following consists of a discussion of previous national and state-level family cap research in order to determine a framework for the economic, social, and ethical arguments associated with implementation. National data is then used to develop regression models testing the relationship between family caps, welfare spending, and fertility. Despite family cap proponents\u27 claims that caps reduce welfare costs and birth rates for welfare recipients, my research shows that the anticipated benefits of family caps are generally inconclusive and largely affected by factors outside the control of the welfare program

POVERTY, POLICY AND PLACE: HOW POVERTY AND POLICIES TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY ARE SHAPED BY LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS

Food Security and Poverty,

Disability-Selective Abortion and the Americans with Disabilities Act

This Article examines the influence of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on affective attitudes toward children with disabilities and on the incidence of disability-selective abortion. Applying regression analysis to U.S. natality data, we find that the birthrate of children with Down syndrome declined significantly in the years following the ADA’s passage. Controlling for technological, demographic, and cultural variables suggests that the ADA may have encouraged prospective parents to prevent the existence of the very class of people it was designed to protect. We explain this paradox by showing the way in which specific ADA provisions could have given rise to demeaning media depictions and social conditions that reinforced negative understandings and expectations among prospective parents about what it means to have a child with a disability. We discuss implications for antidiscrimination law and prenatal testing policy

From Grade Schooler to Great Star: Childhood Development and the “Golden Age” in the World of Japanese Soccer

This chapter, by Elise Edwards, explores how, in its quest for success in the men’s FIFA World Cup, the Japan Football Association encourages parents to enroll preschoolers in its kids’ program to increase the number of children playing soccer and the quality of their training, emphasizes the importance of physical activity and play for children, and promotes the notion of a golden age between the ages of nine and twelve when the opportunity for physical development is said to peak. This popularizes a vision of a segmented childhood determined by age grades and developmental stages underpinned by a fear that Japanese children are in physical and psychological danger if they do not exercise correctly, with grave consequences for the Japanese state. Outdoor play and sport are essential for strengthening the national body, just as they were during World War II. The repetition and discipline required of soccer hopefuls mirrors the much-criticized educational system, which emphasizes excessive discipline and excessive competition and tethers childhood potential to adulthood success

Abstinence Only vs. Comprehensive Sex Education: What are the Arguments? What is the Evidence?

Responding to the continuing health threats of HIV, STIs and unplanned pregnancy among young people, the widely respected Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences recently recommended eliminating congressional, federal, state and local "requirements that public funds be used for abstinence-only education." And surveys consistently show that the public wants schools to deliver strong abstinence messages alongside information about self-protection for young people who find themselves in sexual situations. The vast majority of parents support sex education in the schools, including the provision of information about contraceptive and condom use.Unfortunately, federal policy is grossly out of step with the wishes of most parents and students, as well as the scientific research. Since the early 1980s, Congress has devoted significant resources to abstinence-only programming. Partly as a result of federal policy and funding changes, public schools are increasingly supporting abstinence-only curricula that are less likely to include information about birth control, STD prevention and sexual orientation. The evidence tells us that these trends represent a dangerous disservice to America's younger generation

Expectations and Aspirations of Motherhood for Young Women in Foster Care

Young women in foster care are more than twice as likely to become teen mothers than their non-foster care peers. However, research regarding teen motherhood for this population is limited. Existing studies focus on risk factors and poor outcomes, which are more prevalent for foster care youth than those in the general population. Some studies have examined the experience of motherhood from the perspective of the youths revealing a complex experience that is not wholly negative. This dissertation builds on this body of knowledge by examining these young women’s expectations and realities of burgeoning motherhood from the point of pregnancy. Using Standpoint Theory, I focused on the intersection of race, gender, class, and culture within the context of foster care. In order to bring the voices of young mothers in care into the discourse on teen motherhood, I used a qualitative research design. I recruited fourteen young mothers from four foster care agencies in the New York City area using a purposive and convenient sampling strategy. All self-identified as either partially or wholly Black or Latina. I interviewed informants using a semi-structured interview guide. I analyzed the interviews using the Listening Guide, a method of qualitative analysis designed to elevate marginalized or suppressed voices. Findings revealed a complex experience for these young women. Emerging from childhoods filled with relational instability, chaos, and powerlessness, they expected motherhood would transform their lives for the better. Although they expected and found challenges, most described how motherhood gave them motivation, purpose, and hope. Sadly, they found that the institutional and family supports they needed to fulfill their hopes were not forthcoming. They were frustrated by their lack of access to housing, employment, and childcare. Many were no longer in a relationship with their babies’ fathers because the young men were incarcerated or unemployed. Child welfare institutions tasked with helping them transition from care provided little assistance. Although they found emotional support from other women in their lives, these women were not able to provide tangible support. Future research should determine how to sustain young women’s newfound motivation and determine policies and practices to support their prosocial aspirations. Policy implications include increasing access to transitional services and supports, extending the age of emancipation for similar young women to support their emerging adulthood, and developing credible messenger mentoring programs to connect them with other women from within their cultural communities

Support for Local Educational Expenditures by the Elderly : Evidence from Japan

投稿論文Refereed Articl

The Effect of Statutory Rape Laws on Teen Birth Rates

Policymakers have often been explicit in expanding statutory rape laws to reduce teenage pregnancies and live births by teenage mothers, often with the goal of reducing associated welfare outlays. In this paper, we explore whether expansions in such laws are indeed associated with reductions in teen birth rates. In order to codify statutory-rape-law expansions, we use a national micro-level sample of sexual encounters to simulate the degree to which such encounters generally implicate the relevant laws. By codifying statutory-rape laws in terms of their potential reach into sexual encounters, as opposed to using crude binary treatment variables, this simulation approach facilitates the use of multi-state difference-in-difference designs in the face of highly heterogeneous legal structures. Our results suggest that live birth rates for teenage mothers fall by roughly 4.5 percent (or 0.1 percentage points) upon a 1 standard-deviation increase in the share of sexual activity among a given age group that triggers a felony for the elder party to the encounter. This response, however, is highly heterogeneous across ages and weakens notably in the case of the older teen years. Furthermore, we do not find strong results suggesting a further decline in birth rates upon increases in punishment severities