Children's Commissioner Research Articles

The role of the National Clinical Director for children, young people and maternity

The Role of the National Clinical Director for Children, Young People and Maternity for England is described and is compared with the role of the Children's Commissioner. The policy context for children, in particular the National Service Framework, is explained, with an emphasis on key health care priorities and progress to date in each area. Newer challenges in children's health, including obesity and the ongoing importance of inequalities, are emphasised, illustrated by infant mortality and childhood accidents, with longstanding unaddressed aspects of children's health care including disability, adolescence and transitions highlighted. Levers for change to improve outcomes for children remain critical to success for the future. The Role of the National Clinical Director for Children, Young People and Maternity for England is described and is compared with the role of the Children's Commissioner. The policy context for children, in particular the National Service Framework, is explained, with an emphasis on key health care priorities and progress to date in each area. Newer challenges in children's health, including obesity and the ongoing importance of inequalities, are emphasised, illustrated by infant mortality and childhood accidents, with longstanding unaddressed aspects of children's health care including disability, adolescence and transitions highlighted. Levers for change to improve outcomes for children remain critical to success for the future.

Children's rights and special educational needs: findings from research conducted for the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People

This article describes recent research conducted on behalf of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People. The study highlights a number of emerging issues including: limited decision-making opportunities for children; statementing and assessment; and other issues specific to mainstream and special schools. The article concludes with an assessment of recent developments and future prospects for children and young people who experience learning difficulties.

Children's Order 10 Years On

Ten years ago I wrote an article on the Children's Order, which was coming into force in Northern Ireland in October 1996. I examined the principles behind the Children's Order and considered how these principles interacted with the practice of family mediation (at that stage I was Coordinator of the Family Mediation service). Since that date mediation provision has decreased in Northern Ireland and I have moved on to become Director of Legal Services and Complaints at the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People. In this article I will consider the principles in the Children's Order and how they translated into practice from the viewpoint of a mediator and as part of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People with a statutory duty to safeguard and protect the rights and best interests of children and young people. I will end with an assessment of how the Children's Order has operated in practice and a consideration of whether it and children's legislation in general needs to be reviewed and new legislation introduced.

New York City's Failed Teacher Selection Project: Political Reality Trumps Educational Research, 1947–1953

This article describes the history of the failed New York City Teacher Selection Project (TSP; 1947–1953), a collaborative effort to replace the city's teacher licensing tests, which emphasized subject matter knowledge with personality tests. The TSP was a partnership between the Board of Examiners and the Citizens Committee for Children, and its members included pioneers from the field of child psychiatry. The author draws on primary documents to detail the TSP's research and shows how the tests that the group designed reflected individual members’ commitment to progressive education and the ethos of mental hygiene. In addition, the article shows how the TSP embraced an experimental scale created to measure applicants’ authoritarian tendencies. The author concludes that the TSP's efforts to influence teacher licensing failed largely because members chose to work with like-minded colleagues in isolation from the political realities of New York City and the public school system.

The Well‐being of Children in the UK, 2nd edn

The Well‐being of Children in the UK, 2nd edn

Relationships, Reconciliation and Children: Giving Young People a Say

I have realised how central my therapy background and skills have been in my current job. Without being conscious of it, I use much of my background as a therapist in my role as Commissioner for Children and Young People. I probably spend more of my time advocating for children and young people as a group because they are excluded or disregarded on the basis of their status as children. (author abstract)

Scotland's children and the new parliament

The establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 has raised the profile of children's issues and allowed more time for debate and legislation. This has led to some key developments, including a decision to establish a Children's Commissioner, more legislative provisions enabling children's views to be taken into account, and a more explicit commitment to ‘child and family centred’ working. A Ministerial Task Force has been established to ‘drive forward progress on integrated children's services’. Some pre‐school and school age child care services have seen significant growth but the structure of services remains fragmented. A National Education Debate has strengthened the Scottish Executive's resolve to maintain its distinctive education policies and reaffirm its commitment to comprehensive schooling and an ‘equality of outcomes’ approach. New Community Schools put education in the driving seat of change, offering a vehicle for establishing new kinds of services and relationships between services, sectors and age groups. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The impact of Labour on policies for children and young people in Wales

This contribution outlines the importance of devolution for policy initiatives relevant to Welsh children and young people including some of the issues that existed prior to devolution regarding appropriate policies for Wales. It goes on to consider the reality of the devolution settlement in relation to legislative powers, giving examples such as the Children's Commissioner for Wales and secondary legislation such as prohibiting the physical chastisement of children by childminders. It also considers the approach of the Welsh Assembly Government to matters such as partnership working, transparency, openness and implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It concludes with a focus on the challenge of implementing the pioneering policy aspirations. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Children's Commissioner for Wales

On 1 March 2001, Peter Clarke became the first ever Children's Commissioner in the UK. Since that time, he has been working to safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of children in Wales. This paper outlines the main responsibilities and powers of his office, as well as the things he has done during what has been a hectic and exciting first 18 months.

Listening To Children, Speaking For Children: Health and Social Services Complaints and Child Advocacy

Health and Personal Social Services are required to respond positively and effectively to complaints from service users. This paper discusses the importance of such complaints systems in upholding children's rights, and in particular Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It outlines the nature of some of the advocacy services available to children and young people who may wish to make a complaint about their treatment within Northern Ireland Health and Personal Social Services. It then moves on to discuss some possible future developments, and in particular speculates on the potential role of the Northern Ireland Children's Commissioner in investigating complaints concerning the care and treatment of children in Northern Ireland health and personal social services.

Update on Progress in the Development of Children's Commissioners across the UK

Update on Progress in the Development of Children's Commissioners across the UK

The ‘Daring Experiment’: The London County Council and the Discharge from Care of Children to Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s

This article examines the activities of the Children's Committee of the London County Council (LCC) and what a contemporary newspaper referred to as a ‘daring experiment’: its efforts to discharge children from public care to Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s. Archival evidence reveals how Irish children were identified and separated from English children in care and, in many instances, sent to Ireland. It is maintained the dominant constructions of ‘Ireland’ played a role in the scheme. In addition, the LCC policy is examined and viewed in the context of other exclusionary practices centred on Irish people in Britain in the mid-twentieth century.

A call to arms (and legs): Implement the National Immunization Strategy

Canadian children deserve better than what looms before them: an inequitable 13-tier health care system. There are 13 provinces and territories, some poorer, some richer. All have varying abilities to attract and retain scarce paediatric health personnel. All have different vaccine schedules and offerings. Alberta offers infants the varicella and conjugated meningococcal C vaccines, and the conjugated pneumococcal vaccine. Most other provinces and territories offer some of these new and effective, but expensive, vaccines. What happens when even newer vaccine recommendations on how to actively prevent respiratory syncytial virus, adolescent/adult pertussis, group B streptococcus and HIV arrive? How as a nation can we ensure that all our children have equitable access to new and effective vaccines, and that these vaccines are safe, acceptable and reliably supplied? How will poorer provinces and territories pay for the more expensive vaccines at a time when other pressures (new drugs, an aging population) are driving health care budgets skyward at an unsustainable rate of 6% to 10% per annum? Who will coordinate vaccine research, program planning and evaluation, and harmonize the confusing array of different vaccine schedules? Who will ensure that a complacent public remains well informed on the need for strong immunization programs? Vaccinations save more lives and prevent more suffering, and have been more cost effective than any other medical intervention bar none. The National Immunization Strategy (NIS) was conceived in 1999 to address all the above concerns. The goals of the NIS are to ensure optimal levels of immunization for all Canadians, and ensure complete coverage of all children with routinely recommended vaccines. The NIS has two coordinators, one representing each level of government. A fundamental principle put forth by the provinces and territories is that delivery of immunization programs should be a shared responsibility between themselves and the federal government. The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) has just formed the Advocacy Committee for Children and Teens, whose mandate is to advocate to governments for legislative and budgetary change on issues such as the NIS, paediatric human resources, tobacco control and injury prevention. The NIS will be our first major project. We will be asking CPS members to meet with federal and provincial politicians to advance our advocacy goals. Harry Truman once said, “There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets credit for it”. It is time to think outside the rigid box of traditional federal-provincial health care politics. Children are neither provincial nor federal responsibilities; they are everyone’s responsibilities. Federal leadership and funding will be essential to ensure that all Canadian children have equal access to safe and effective vaccinations, both now and well into the future. We at the CPS will do our best to make that happen.

Children's commissioners

Children & SocietyVolume 16, Issue 4 p. 284-286 Children's commissioners Lisa Payne, Corresponding Author Lisa Payne Principal Policy Officer, National Children's BureauNCB, 8 Wakley Street, London ECIV 7QE. E-mail: Lpayne@ncb.org.ukSearch for more papers by this author Lisa Payne, Corresponding Author Lisa Payne Principal Policy Officer, National Children's BureauNCB, 8 Wakley Street, London ECIV 7QE. E-mail: Lpayne@ncb.org.ukSearch for more papers by this author First published: 10 March 2006 https://doi.org/10.1002/chi.732Citations: 1AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume16, Issue4September 2002Pages 284-286 RelatedInformation

The children's commissioner for Wales

Cet article evoque le role et les actions du commissaire des enfants etabli au Pays de Galles au sein de la protection de l'enfance

Features

PART OF Peter Clarke's appointment process involved being grilled by an interview panel of children - a first for this level of ment. Wales's first commissioner for children says facing the young panel filing and their questions pulled no punches, going straight to the heart of the matter.

Northern Ireland to have Commissioner for Children

Northern Ireland to have Commissioner for Children

Paving the way for children's commissioner

Paving the way for children's commissioner

Enhancing parent-child communication about sexual abuse: a pilot study

Objective: To determine if a commercially produced video, “What Do I Say Now?” (Committee for Children, 1996) leads to an increase in parent-child discussion about child sexual abuse (CSA). Method: Forty-five parents of children 2–6 years of age were randomly assigned to participate in either a CSA prevention workshop or a workshop on home safety (control). The post-test measure assessed parents’ beliefs about the severity of CSA and their children’s vulnerability to abuse (threat appraisal), along with their self-efficacy and response-efficacy beliefs (coping appraisal). The effects of the coping- and threat-appraisal components of Roger’s (1983) protection motivation theory (PMT) on parents’ intentions to talk to their children about the topic were also examined. During a followup telephone interview, parents were asked to report the amount of communication they had engaged in with their children about CSA since attending the workshop. Results: Parents who had participated in the CSA workshop reported significantly greater intentions of talking to their children about CSA, compared to the control group. At followup, these parents also reported having had significantly more discussions about CSA with their children compared with control parents. The PMT coping-appraisal components were found to be associated with parent intentions to discuss the topic. Conclusions: Results provide preliminary support for the effectiveness of an educational video for increasing parent-child communication about CSA. Support was also found for the coping-appraisal components of PMT. Suggestions for increasing parent involvement in CSA prevention efforts are offered.

The Institutionalised Abuse of Children in Australia: Past and Present

Institutionalised forms of child abuse have been committed by both government and non‐government authorities including the police force, social service departments, the diplomatic service, schools and pre‐schools, the judicial system and the church. This paper examines Australian examples and shows that leadership may mitigate or amplify abuse by authority. The precedence of the rights of adults over the rights of children is also viewed as a factor in child abuse. The recent creation in Australia, of another authority ‐‐ a ‘Commissioner for Children’ ‐‐ may go some way towards rectifying this imbalance of rights.