Child Development

Knowledge of child development is the foundation for work with children, and therefore is a requirement for all those seeking to protect children. It influences every aspect of a child from physical growth and mental abilities, to how they express emotions, think and behave.

Healthy development takes children through stages, whereby they obtain an increasing number of physical, mental, and emotional skills in order to become independent adults. These stages provide benchmarks for determining if a child is developing normally. Without knowledge of the normal developmental stages of a child, a worker cannot identify developmental delays, assess the impact of abuse, or make recommendations regarding the child’s physical, mental or emotional health. Understanding what a child is capable of allows adults to communicate on their level and provide age-appropriate responses and interventions.

Knowledge of early childhood development and attachment behaviour is particularly important for protection workers. The physical health and care a child experiences as an infant will affect their development into adulthood. A child needs to have experienced a positive attachment by the age of 3 in order to develop cognitively, physically, socially, and psychologically. Healthy attachments come from the close bond a child experiences when provided with the responsive and stable care of at least one adult. In a residential home, children are less likely to receive the amount of individual attention from a permanent caretaker that they require. Children under 12, in particular, benefit more from a kinship, foster or adoption placement where they can experience closer relationships.

Observation of a child’s attachment to caretakers will influence the type of care, permanency plan, and level of support services offered. It can also aid in the identification of abuse.

This section contains information on the importance of child development knowledge, guidance on the ages and stages of children, and attachment theory.

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Stability and change of attachment disorder symptoms and interpersonal problems in foster children

Tabea Symanzik, Arnold Lohaus, Ann-Katrin Job, Sabrina Chodura, Kerstin Konrad, Nina Heinrichs, Vanessa Reindl - Mental Health & Prevention, 08 Dec 2018

This paper focuses on the longitudinal examination of perceived reactive attachment disorder (RAD) symptoms and indiscriminate, insecure and pseudomature behavior in foster children, many of them having experienced maltreatment and neglect in the family of origin.

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Socioeconomic Resource Environments in Biological and Alternative Family Care and Children's Cognitive Performance

Sarah Font & Marina H. Potter - Sociological Inquiry, 07 Dec 2018

The authors of this article examined social and economic resources in the environments of children involved with child protective services and their associations with children's cognitive performance.

Scaling up an early childhood development programme through a national multisectoral approach to social protection: lessons from Chile Crece Contigo

Helia Molina Milman, Claudio A Castillo, Andrea Torres Sansotta, Paula Valenzuela Delpiano, John Murray - BMJ, 07 Dec 2018

This article describes how intersectoral collaboration between health, social protection, and education sectors enabled Chile Grows with You (Chile Crece Contigo) to help all children reach their full developmental potential.

Health impacts of parental migration on left-behind children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Gracia Fellmeth, et al - The Lancet, 05 Dec 2018

This study investigated the effect of parental migration on the health of left behind-children and adolescents in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The Brain Circuits Underlying Motivation: An Interactive Graphic

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 01 Dec 2018

In this interactive graphic, hover over or click the labels on the brain regions to learn more about how each region affects motivation, and hover over or click the highlighted text to the left of the brain image to see how those regions interact.

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Understanding Motivation: Building the Brain Architecture That Supports Learning, Health, and Community Participation

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 01 Dec 2018

This paper explores the complex set of intertwined social and biological factors influences people’s motivation to participate actively and productively in schools, jobs, and communities— and to persevere in the face of setbacks.

South African Child Gauge 2018

Katharine Hall, Linda Richter, Zitha Mokomane & Lori Lake (Eds) - Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town, 20 Nov 2018

This thirteenth issue of the South African Child Gauge® focuses on children in relation to families and the state, both of which are central to providing for children and supporting their development.

Moving Beyond Program to Population Impact: Toward a Universal Early Childhood System of Care

W. Benjamin Goodman, Karen O'Donnell, Robert A. Murphy, Kenneth A. Dodge - Journal of Family Theory & Review, 15 Nov 2018

The current article provides a framework for developing an early childhood system of care that pairs a top‐down goal for the alignment of services with a bottom‐up goal of identifying and addressing needs of all families throughout early childhood.

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Subjective well‐being among left‐behind children in rural China: The role of ecological assets and individual strength

Xiaoyun Chai, Xiaoyan Li, Zhi Ye, Yuxuan Li, Danhua Lin - Child: Care, Health and Development, 15 Nov 2018

Grounded in the framework of positive youth development (PYD), this study was designed to examine how ecological assets (i.e., neighborhood social cohesion and trusting relationships with caregivers) and individual strength (i.e., resilience) predict subjective well‐being among left‐behind children.

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Previous life experiences and the vulnerability of children adopted from out-of-home care: The impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences and child welfare decision making

Susan Tregeagle, Lynne Moggach, Helen Trivedi, Harriet Ward - Children and Youth Services Review, 14 Nov 2018

This paper presents findings on the previous life experiences of an entire cohort of ‘difficult to place’ adoptees who were placed in Australia over 26 years.

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