Young children's research: children aged 4-8 years finding solutions at home and at school

Children's research capacities have become increasingly recognised by adults, yet children remain excluded from the academy, with reports of their research participation generally located in adults' agenda. Such practice restricts children's freedom to make choices in matters affecting them, underestimates children’s capabilities and denies children particular rights. The present paper reports on one aspect of a small-scale critical ethnographic study adopting a constructivist grounded approach to conceptualise ways in which children's naturalistic behaviours may be perceived as research. The study builds on multi-disciplinary theoretical perspectives, embracing 'new' sociology, psychology, economics, philosophy and early childhood education and care (ECEC). Research questions include: 'What is the nature of ECEC research?' and 'Do children’s enquiries count as research?' Initially, data were collected from the academy: professional researchers (n=14) confirmed 'finding solutions' as a research behaviour and indicated children aged 4-8 years, their practitioners and primary carers as 'theoretical sampling'. Consequently, multi-modal case studies were constructed with children (n=138) and their practitioners (n=17) in three ‘good’ schools, with selected children and their primary carers also participating at home. This paper reports on data emerging from children aged 4-8 years at school (n=17) and at home (n=5). Outcomes indicate that participating children found diverse solutions to diverse problems, some of which they set themselves. Some solutions engaged children in high order thinking, whilst others did not; selecting resources and trialing activities engaged children in 'finding solutions'. Conversely, when children's time, provocations and activities were directed by adults, the quality of their solutions was limited, they focused on pleasing adults and their motivation to propose solutions decreased. In this study, professional researchers recognised 'finding solutions' as research behaviour and children aged 4-8 years naturalistically presented with capacities for finding solutions; however, the children's encounters with adults affected the solutions they found

Engaging fathers in child welfare services: a narrative review of recent research evidence

It is widely recognized as problematic that there are generally low levels of engagement with child welfare services from biological and social fathers. The result can be limited resources for children's care and potentially poor risk assessment and management. This paper reviews the published research from 2000 to 2010 about the barriers to and facilitators of better father engagement, as well as the very limited evidence on the effectiveness of work with maltreating fathers. There is relatively little known about what works in engaging men, but there are some promising indicators from family support and child protection practice contexts. These include early identification and early involvement of fathers; a proactive approach, including an insistence on men's involvement with services; and the use of practical activities. In the light of what is known about the characteristics of maltreating fathers, there is a logical fit with cognitive‐behavioural approaches. Although there is no direct evidence of the effectiveness of motivational interviewing in this context, its effectiveness in allied fields of practice would suggest that it may hold some promise for the initial engagement of fathers who pose a risk to children.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90556/1/j.1365-2206.2012.00827.x.pd

The case of the missing perpetrator : a cross-national investigation of child welfare policy, practice and discourse in cases where men beat mothers

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The case of the missing perpetrator : a cross-national investigation of child welfare policy, practice and discourse in cases where men beat mothers

This thesis examines in detail the introduction, development and reification of the concepts of ‘children witnessing’ and mothers ‘failing to protect’ as powerful and currently dominant concepts in child welfare in the UK (with particular attention to Southampton) and in Canada (with particular attention to British Columbia).  Drawing on literature and research within child welfare and feminism, and my own data analysis, this thesis explored the construction, deployment and enactment of these concepts. A feminist discourse analysis was employed to examine legislation, policy and practice in both jurisdictions.  Relevant documents were analysed in both jurisdictions.  Conversational, introspective interviews were undertaken with social workers and mothers in both jurisdictions.  Discourse analysis methods from a number of sources were drawn on to reveal and interpret how the discourse of ‘failure to protect’ has emerged, and how it shapes and informs child protection practice and policy. This thesis argues that the concepts of ‘children witnessing’ and mothers ‘failing to protect’ are constructed, enacted and deployed in ways that maintain and may even increase the nature and extent of violence against women.  Further, I demonstrate that the rhetoric and actions engendered by this discourse are in themselves injurious to women, both individually in cases where mothers lose or are threatened with the loss of their children, and collectively in contributing to a continuing failure to hold responsible or even notice men who perpetrate violence against mothers.</p

Sex Workers Addressing Treatment

Substance misuse among women sex workers is a complex issue, given the heterogeneity of both substance misusers and sex workers and the stigma they both bear. Media depictions of drug-addicted prostitutes fuel the notion that sex work and substance misuse are inextricably and problematically linked in the urban environment. Hallgrimsdottir et. al., (2008, p. 129) surveyed the Victoria Times Colonist from 1980 to 2004 and see sex workers being positioned as “vectors of contagion (medical, criminal, and moral).” McNaughton and Sanders (2007) note the predominance of discourses supporting the elimination of street sex work to ensure ‘clean streets’ and ‘safe communities.’ Kantola and Squires (2004) describe the role of public nuisance discourse in the UK in constructing substance-misusing sex workers as health and social problems that must be removed or moved. This discursive environment constrains sex workers’ access to health services and safe working environments (Bellis et. al., 2007; Jeal & Salisbury, 2004). Accessing and successfully completing substance misuse treatment presents a particular challenge for sex workers, given the stigmas attached to substance misuse and sex work, the interrelationship between substance use and sex work, and the sometimes addictive quality of sex work itself (Casey & Paterson, 2008). This paper explores these barriers and challenges by reviewing the literature and reporting on recent research conducted with Canadian sex workers. It describes the development and evaluation of an innovative sex-worker-specific treatment model that shows promise for reducing the harms incurred through substance misuse and sex work. The research was conducted by the Canadian National Coalition of Experiential Women (CNCEW), which also developed the treatment program and contracted with an independent researcher (Rutman) for the program evaluation. All activities were funded by Status of Women Canada. CNCEW is a consortium of women activists committed to the advancement of equality and human rights for sex workers. All members have direct experience in sex work and/or as sexually exploited youth

“I Wanted to Feel Like a Man Again”: Hegemonic Masculinity in Relation to the Purchase of Street-Level Sex

This article examines the narratives of men who purchase sex from street-level providers in a mid-sized city in Western Canada. We explore what men’s stories tell us about how masculinity is constructed in relation to street sex work. These men narrated their purchase of sex as attempts to exercise or lay claim to male power, privilege, and authority; at the same time, research reveals how tenuous this arrangement is for men. Study participants drew on conventional heterosexual masculine scripts to rationalize their actions and behaviors. Their stories reveal that their purchase of street-level sex is motivated by a sense of failure to successfully align with classed and gendered norms of hegemonic masculinity in which the purchase of sex was an attempt to “feel like a man again.” In this article, we move beyond the notion that static “types” of men purchase sex, highlighting instead that sex work customers are complex social actors with multifaceted reasons for purchasing sex but that are nonetheless inseparable from socially valorized forms of masculine comportment. We conclude that hegemonic masculinity is not only injurious to some men, but also to the sex workers on whom it is enacted