Informal Child Research Articles

Trade Sanctions and Child Labour: Quest for an Alternative Policy

The paper is purported to examine the efficacy of trade sanctions in reducing the incidence of child labour in terms of a three-sector general equilibrium model with informal sectors and a non-traded intermediary. One of the two informal sectors produces a non-traded intermediary for the formal manufacturing sector. Child labour is used in the informal sectors and child labour and adult labour are perfect substitutes to each other in these sectors. The effect of trade sanctions on the incidence of child labour has been studied in this set-up. Also the outcome of a reduction in import tariff (trade liberalization policy) has been analyzed. The paper finds that under reasonable conditions trade sanctions may produce perverse effect on the incidence of child labour while a liberalized trade policy is effective in bringing down the prevalence of the evil in the system.

Characteristics of the Detained and Informal Child and Adolescent Psychiatric In-Patient Populations.

This project surveyed the use of the Children Act and the Mental Health Act in in-patient child and adolescent mental health services in England and Wales. Data were collected as a day census from child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient units, questionnaire forms completed by consultant psychiatrists or key-workers. Returns were received from 71 of the 80 units. One hundred and twenty-seven of the 663 patients had been admitted formally, the great majority under a section of the Mental Health Act. Compared with those admitted informally, those admitted formally were older, contained a higher proportion of males and had 'adult-type diagnoses', mainly schizophrenia, mood disorders and personality disorder. The clinical and psychosocial characteristics of formal and informal patients were consistent with these differences. This study provides a timely and useful snapshot of the use of the Acts in this population.

Commentary on the Characteristics of the Detained and Informal Child and Adolescent Psychiatric In-Patient Populations.

Commentary on the Characteristics of the Detained and Informal Child and Adolescent Psychiatric In-Patient Populations.

A Multilevel Analysis of Child Care and the Transition to Motherhood in Western Germany

In this paper, we take a multilevel perspective to investigate the role of child care in the transition to motherhood in Germany. We argue that in the European institutional context the availability of public day care and informal child care arrangements should be a central element of the local opportunity structure regarding the compatibility of childrearing and women's employment. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we apply a multilevel discrete time logit model to estimate first birth risks of western German women. While we find that access to informal care arrangements increases the probability of entering parenthood, we do not find any statistically significant effect of the public day care provision. This result probably points to shortcomings in the specific institutional set-up of the German day- care regime, and to the existence of potentially relevant unobserved dimensions of child care.

Social Quality and the Policy Domain of Employment in Belgium

What's in a name? 'Social quality' is an attractive yet vague concept. It has an appeal in the context of post-industrial aspirations to rise above the quantitative and the material, towards qualitative, immaterial goals; it emphasises 'social' aspects that lie beyond individualistic preoccupations and are oriented towards considerations of collectivity and solidarity. These aspects can be represented in terms of two dimensions (Figure 1), where the notion of social quality is situated in the upper left quadrant. But does this show the real content of this 'container concept', and does it reflect present everyday reality? The concept of social quality has been adapted (or rather adopted) in the context of the labour market in terms of the notion of 'flexicurity '. We shall discover that to an important extent this notion includes both ends of the dimensions; in other words, it is not what it seems. At the end of the 1990s the Belgian economy showed a high level of social protection, even after decades of public debate on the shrinking the state. Recent decades had, for the most part, seen continued economic growth, with a boom during the late 1990s. Yet, at the same time, the full employment once achieved in the early 1970s remained a lost paradise, leaving a large number of people not, or no longer, active in the labour market. To put it another way, one substantial group was left with perma nent insecurity and the other with an increased threat of insecurity and pressure for more flexibility. This double dependency created additional pressure on the welfare state and public finances to accommodate these shifts, using means both traditional (unemployment benefits, early pen sions, training, family support, additional fiscal and parafiscal incentives) and new (new personal services, new combinations of work and family life, paid informal care and child allowances, time credits). The traditional role of the state, and particularly the welfare state, in insuring against and financing certain risks and needs throughout the life cycle of individuals and families, has involved socialising risk premiums. The traditional risks

Informal parental traffic education and children's bicycling behaviour

The aim of this study was to analyze the relation between traffic intensity and traffic hazards in the local traffic environment, the parents' view of their child's traffic situation and the actions taken by the parents to cope with these hazards.58 parents were interviewed. The traffic intensity in the vicinity of the home was estimated.19% of the parents lived in inner city areas, 62% in suburbs and 19% in the countryside. Suburban children had a safe traffic environment. Inner city- and countryside children predominately lived in high-intensity traffic environment. Inner city- and suburb children frequently used the bike, in inner city as a tool for play and in the suburbs mainly as a means of transport. Countryside children seldom used their bicycle.In inner city areas carefulness in traffic and in the other two independence was emphasized. Only 16% reported cooperation between home and school on traffic matters.Traffic accidents were concentrated to children living in suburbs (p<0.01). 81% of accidents were reported by parents having independence as a goal for traffic training (p<0.01).The results underline that traffic accident risk is strongly contingent on the local traffic environment and informal parenteral education in traffic safety.

Nonresident Father Involvement and Child Well-Being Among Young Children in Families on Welfare

SUMMARY This study uses early descriptive data from the National Evaluation of Welfare to Work Strategies (NEWWS) Child Outcome Study, a sub-study of the larger random assignment evaluation of the Federal JOBS program, to answer two timely and important questions. First, what factors predict father involvement among nonresident fathers of young children who receive welfare? And second, is nonresident father involvement associated with better outcomes for these children? The three measures of nonresident father involvement examined are father-child visitation, formal child support payments received through the welfare office, and informal child support, such as money given directly to the mother, groceries, clothes, or other items. Findings reveal that while only 16.6% of fathers provided child support through the formal system during the past year, a considerably larger proportion, 42.3%, provided informal child support, and 67% visited at least once in the past year. Informal support and father-child visitation are the most highly correlated forms of involvement, and they share many of the same predictors. Only two predictors are significant and in the same direction for all three measures of nonresident father involvement. Father's residence in the same state as the focal child and the provision of support for the child from the father's family are associated with a higher likelihood of his involvement. In general, findings for the child well-being measures show that monetary and material contributions from the father, especially contributions provided informally, are positively associated with more positive child well-being outcomes.

Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Nutrition Education Program for Informal (Unlicensed) Child Caregivers

A nutrition education program was developed for Canadian informal (unlicensed) child caregivers and offered both by mail and as workshops. The main goals were to (1) improve menu planning skills and (2) increase self-efficacy for planning healthy menus and dealing with problem eating behaviors. Preprogram measures were completed by 73 participants; 50 completed the same measures postprogram. Both formats of the program resulted in greater menu planning knowledge (p < .001) and self-efficacy (p < .001) while accommodating different learning styles and needs. Some caregivers preferred the “hands-on” format and interaction with peers, and others preferred a more self-directed approach to learning.

Commentary

Collaborative occupational health and safety studies between counterparts in developing and developed countries and between developing countries have demonstrated their potential for improving occupational health and safety. Such collaboration in occupational health and safety is encouraged in the development of infrastructure in research empowerment and capacity building. This action includes the setting of priorities, the identification and documentation of problems, sponsorship, data bases and surveillance systems, technical support, methodology, publishing, research and training programs, controlled intervention, information exchange, and networking. Examples of priorities in occupational health and safety in the developing world include the informal sector (informally hired and independent workers), temporary work, pesticides, accidents, dusts, carcinogens, solvents, ergonomics, women and child labor, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiencey syndrome (HIV/AIDS), and transfer of hazardous materials and technologies. The sustainability of occupational health and safety structures and functions in the developing countries is a primary concern. Socioethical principles emphasize local, national, mutual and global gains. Examples of collaboration are given. Pervasive problems and strategies toward their solution are highlighted.

The Octopus Project—‘I was Making Bing and Bong’: Children's Conceptions of their Own Musical Improvisations

This article describes a phenomenographic study of children's experience of music in the natural context of an early childhood centre. Within a large collaborative research venture, The Octopus Project, children were observed improvising on musical instruments. They were interviewed later about their spontaneous musical play, and transcripts of the interviews were central in the analysis. The research process, which includes the use of video, is discussed in this article. The preliminary findings presented shed light on the wealth of informal musical knowledge children bring to the early childhood setting.

Child fosterage in the United States: Signs of an African Heritage

In the course of the twentieth century, African American families have been the objects of a great deal of debate and commentary in social science fields, as well as in popular discourse. The article considers the basis for this discussion: the presence of significant numbers of family and household structures among African Americans that differ from traditional Euro-American models. Western nuclear families are typically centered around marriage, while African, and to a significant degree African American, families are structured around children. The recently developed U.S. Census public use samples and measures oriented to the practices of informal child fosterage are used to examine and compare these different bases of family life. Data from the turn of the century provide some historical distance from previous explanations of difference centered on slavery, or explanations that focus on contemporary social issues such as urban problems or the welfare state. Comparisons with studies of the contemporary U.S., Africa, the Caribbean, and historical materials give broader scope to fosterage analysis and to the consideration of cultural family differences.

Women’s labour market participation in Northern Ireland

The accepted wisdom is that Northern Ireland is a traditional society within which women’s primary role is defined as homemaker and mother. Examines data on the labour market participation of women in Northern Ireland, drawing comparisons with the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the European Union. Examines four hypotheses as possible explanations for mothers continuing in paid employment. Concludes that, despite living in a society seemingly more traditional than that in many other European Union countries, mothers of young children in Northern Ireland may be more likely to be in employment because they can call on a network of family support to provide informal child care.

Women's Employment and Child Care in Brazil

This study describes and tests a theoretical model of the relationship between womens employment and child care decisions in metropolitan Brazil. Results are considered as supportive of the hypothesis that womens employment and child care are competing uses of womens time. This article provides a description of the Brazilian context and a brief literature review a theoretical framework and hypotheses estimation methods data and variables and empirical modeling. Findings indicate that maternal employment status was an important determinant of the demand for nonparental child care for young children. Child quality issues appeared to be more important factors in the choice of part-time nonparental child care than full-time nonparental care. Increased income was related to the decreased probability of womens employment but increased the probability of nonparental child care. The probability of womens employment and nonparental child care was affected by the presence of potential alternative care givers in the household. Females and particularly female teenaged relatives were more likely to serve as maternal child care substitutes in the home. Working age females were more likely to serve as labor force substitutes than younger or older females. Although the 1988 Brazilian constitution mandates free day care and preschool for all 0-6 year olds programs have not been implemented. The findings suggest a need for nonparental child care and consideration of the trade-offs that families make in substituting female teenagers as parental child care providers which jeopardizes their educational advancement.

Improvisation, planning and the creative process

AbstractWe anticipate and create the future in many ways. Through active planning, improvisation, and even procrastination, we move beyond the moment. The purpose of this paper is to argue that future oriented processes are creative processes. By engaging in formal and informal educational activities children learn to create the future from the present and the known from the unknown. In this paper I explore the uses of improvisation and planning as vehicles for creativity by describing some of my work as well as research and ideas of others in the fields of psychology, anthropology, and education

Negotiated Care: The Experience of Family Day Care Providers.

Weaving together numerous richly detailed interviews and surveys with recent feminist literature on the role of caregiving in women's lives and investigations of women's involvement in home-based work, this book explores the daily lives of family day care providers. Margaret K. Nelson uncovers the dilemmas providers face in their relationships with parents who bring children to them, with the children themselves, with the providers' family members, and with representatives of the state's regulatory system. She links these dilemmas to the contradiction between an increasing demand for personalized, cheap, informal child care services and a public policy that subjects child care providers to public scrutiny while giving them limited material and ideological support. Nelson's discussions with day care providers reveal considerable tensions that emerge over issues of control and intimacy. The dual motivation of business and family gives rise to problems, such as how to maintain enough distance from the parents to set limits on hours while providing personal service in a family setting. Family day care providers often enter this occupation as a way to engage in paid work and meet their own child care responsibilities. This book looks at how they manage to negotiate a setting that simultaneously involves money, trust, and caring. Family day care represents one of the most prevalent sources of child care for working parents. It is an especially common form of care for very young children, yet it remains little studied. In the popular press, stereotypes many of them negative prevail. This book substitutes a thorough, detailed examination of this child care setting from a perspective that has generally been ignored-that of the caregiver. While providing useful insights into the role of caregiving in women's lives and the phenomenon of home-based work, it contributes to the ongoing policy debates about child care. Margaret K. Nelson is Professor in the Department of Sociology-Anthropology and Director of the Women's Studies Program at Middlebury College.

A household study of the pattern of utilization of mother and child health services in rural Greece and variation by socioeconomic status.

Summary A household study of all families with children under 6 years in three villages in rural north‐west Greece was conducted in August‐September 1981. Ninety‐four mothers were interviewed about each of their children to find out who they had consulted seeking advice and care during pregnancy, for delivery, in the post‐natal period, for child immunization, and in cases of mild or severe child illness. All 142 children were examined physically and developmentally. Information was also collected on the socioeconomic status of the family. Particular causes for concern were the findings that 30% of the mothers said they had experienced at least one induced abortion; 5% had delivered without the help of any trained birth attendant; most of those who delivered in the district town (usually the better off) had received no postnatal care; 37% of children had not seen a doctor in their first year of life either for sickness or for a developmental assessment. Only 41% of children were fully immunized for their age, and 23% of those who should have started their immunizations had not begun. Most of the 30 children who had been severely or chronically ill had bypassed the local doctor and sought services in the district town. There was clear variation in the pattern of use of health services and socioeconomic status as shown by the availability of household facilities including water and electricity. The poorer mothers (30% of the sample) were more likely than the better‐off mothers to have delivered at home. Many had had the help of the local midwife, but all those who had no help from a trained attendant came from the poorer families. Post‐natal care was provided to most (79%) of these families, by the midwife. The poorer the family the more likely that a sick child would be treated with a home remedy. Children from poor families were likely never to have seen a doctor and if a child did go, it was likely to be older at the time of its first visit. Very few poor families had ever consulted a specialist. Mothers in a better‐off situation were more likely to have delivered in the district town at a private clinic with a specialist obstetrician. They were unlikely to have received any post‐natal care. Their children were likely to be younger when first taken to the doctor for a routine developmental check‐up, usually in the first year of life. Home remedies were less likely to be used for child illnesses. It is suggested that the experienced rural community midwife is providing an excellent service to mothers from all social strata ante‐natally; in delivery and post‐natal care for poorer mothers, and in informal child care for everyone. She is well respected in the community and knows and is well known to all the children. It is suggested that the trend found for better‐off mothers to go to the town for some private health services may undermine the crucial role the midwife has at the village level in rural Greece in pro‐tecting the health of the poor and less educated mother.

INFORMAL OR OPEN‐AREA EDUCATION IN RELATION TO ACHIEVEMENT AND PERSONALITY

Summary. 57 beginners in an informal or open‐area programme and 112 in a traditional, formal classroom in a middle class area, apparently well‐matched in perceptual, motor and cognitive skills, were followed through the primary grades. Statistical analysis of achievement data showed that the formal group from the beginning had been more proficient in reading, and later, also in mathematics. There were significant differences between matched groups (N = 43) at the fourth year on seven primary CPQ factors and the second‐order factor Anxiety vs Adjustment. Mean scores, however, with one exception (F) remained well within normal limits. Total Grade, a derived score which concerns estimation of academic success, was higher for the informal children but was predictive of achievement only for the formal group.

Slogans, slots, and slander: the myth of day care need.

Prevailing definitions of need for day care are examined, and the problems of estimating consumer demand for day care services are discussed. The author emphasizes the diversity of day care services needed, and focuses on how natural systems of service delivery can reach and strengthen informal child care in the community.