Welfare Reform on the Web (October 2008): Child welfare - overseas

AIDS impact special issue

L. Sherr and others (special issue)

Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, vol. 3, 2008, p. 85-158

• Large investments at national level are needed to counter the impact of AIDS at the institutional or system level, eg on the education or health services of developing countries as well as its disastrous effects on human resources
• More attention needs to be paid to the lived experiences of those affected by AIDS, and its impact on family networks
• Greater understanding is needed of the challenges faced by children and young people in the context of HIV/AIDS. Children may be affected directly by becoming infected or indirectly by receiving poor quality care because caregivers are overwhelmed, absent or ill. Further, their human rights, social support networks and access to health care may be affected if they or their parents are infected or their parents have died of AIDS
• We must develop cost-effective, culturally appropriate interventions which reduce vulnerability and which are consonant with the development goals of affected states in the social and economic spheres.

Early childhood education and care

J.J. Heckman and others

CESifo DICE report, vol. 6, Summer 2008, p.3-28

This forum presents papers on:

• The case for investing in early childhood enrichment programmes for disadvantaged preschool children
• Costs and benefits of early education programmes
• Private versus public provision of preschool programmes
• Evaluation of early childhood education and care

Transracial adoption: expatriate parents living in China with their adopted Chinese children

D. Heimsoth and J.A. Laser

International Social Work, vol. 51, 2008, p. 651-668

It is estimated that 100,000 American, European and Asian expatriates live in Shanghai. Some of these have chosen to adopt Chinese children. This research investigates the rationale of adoptive parents who reside in the country of origin of their adopted children, specifically the values and cultural practices of expatriate parents living in China who have adopted Chinese children.

Working on the impossible: early childhood policies in Namibia

H. Penn

Childhood, vol.15, 2008, p. 379-395

This article presents the example of early childhood policies in Namibia to support a critical view of international aid delivery. It shows how the application of universalised prescriptions for poverty eradication overrides local circumstances but succeeds nevertheless in co-opting local political elites to support the donors' unrealistic views. The government of Namibia, influenced by the World Bank, has issued a policy document that aims to provide some sort of child development support to all young children in the country. The reality is that there is little provision of any kind and no infrastructure to support the development of provision. The author explores the ways in which the recommendations contained in the World Bank consultancy reports and the government policy document are being enacted in the face of overwhelming evidence that the task is impossible.