Welfare Reform on the Web (February 2005): Child Welfare - Overseas

ACHIEVING PERMANENCE FOR LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN THROUGH SPECIAL GUARDIANSHIP: A STUDY OF THE EXPERIENCE OF NEW ZEALAND GUARDIANS WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIAL GUARDIANSHIP IN ENGLAND

P. Ward

Adoption and Fostering, vol.28, Winter 2004, p.16-26

Kinship and foster carers in New Zealand can apply for additional guardianship of a looked after child where parental responsibility is shared, often with birth parents and the Child, Youth and Family service or sole guardianship where the parents' rights are suspended or removed entirely. Guardianship in New Zealand creates a secure sense of permanence for looked after children. The legal recognition of a formal order lends weight to the carers' parental authority and bestows a heightened sense of belonging on the child. Special guardianship, which is to be introduced in England in 2005, has the potential to be similarly valuable.

COMMUNITY PLANNING TO FOSTER RESILIENCE IN CHILDREN

C.S. Clauss-Ehlers and M.D. Weist

New York, Kluwer, 2004

To help children successfully through the challenging world to adulthood, community-based resilience interventions are becoming more important than ever. Currently, resilience-based interventions are expanding to examine not only the internal strengths children and adolescents bring to a variety of situations, but also to explore how to leverage community and family resources in the context of a culturally diverse world. Key themes focus on:

• shifting the paradigm from illness to strengths and health;
• assess and improve environments to minimize harmful influences and increase protection;
• adapt and build on strengths of cultural and linguistic variation in an increasingly diverse society;
• move towards collaborative approaches that involve youth, family, schools, and community members who partner at all levels.

ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY IN CHILD PROTECTION PROGRAMMES: THE EXPERIENCES OF NEWPIN IN AUSTRALIA

L. Mondy and S. Mondy

Child Abuse Review, vol.13, 2004, p.433-440

NEWPIN is a centre-based intensive child protection and parent education intervention for children under five. Offers group therapy, play therapy, parenting information, peer support and vocational training for 20-25 vulnerable families. Article describes how NEWPIN uses the media to raise awareness of child protection issues in the community.

POLITICIZING DOMINANT DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS ABOUT TEENAGE PREGNANCY: RE-LOCATING THE SUBJECT AS SOCIAL.

J. Cherrington and M. Breheny

Health, vol.9, 2005, p.89-111

Researchers take it for granted that early motherhood is undesirable, and that knowledge should be applied to reducing rates of teenage pregnancy. The dominant theme is that teenage pregnancy is an individual health or behavioural problem, in need of a psychological solution. Authors argue that teenage pregnancy is only a problem in the context od prevailing social norms, such as the institution of the family and heterosexual marriage.