Call for Papers for 6th International Public Policy Association Conference Panel on Family Support Policies

Submit your paper abstracts by 31 Jan 2023

The "Family-Support Policies in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Tool to Promote Child Care and Development" panel is interested in interdisciplinary perspectives to answer the question: how do family-support policies contribute to enhancing childcare/supervision and development in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC)?

Papers that explore the role that public policies play in supporting these outcomes in different sectors such as Labor, Education, and Child Welfare are particularly welcome. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal, national and international/comparative studies that explore the contribution of family-support policies to changes in child care over time or at any given point in time in any or several of those countries will be considered. Equally relevant are studies that compare world regions and identify hypotheses to explain differences across them. They may do this by increasing parental availability to care or by providing access to quality, affordable alternative childcare options.

The panel members are also interested in socio-economic, cultural, and environmental factors that either facilitate or hinder the implementation of these policies and ultimately, the provision of adequate child supervision in LMIC. There is accumulating evidence that many young children in LMIC spend time unsupervised by adults (Dahlblom et al., 2009; Ruiz-Casares et al., 2018). Large variation in prevalence rates and associated factors within and across LMIC (Ruiz-Casares et al., 2018) reveal significant inequities in child supervision and raise questions about the conditions under which parents and families must fulfill their caregiving responsibilities and the extent to which they are adequately supported in that process. Researchers employing a variety of methods (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, mixed) and perspectives (e.g., from policy-makers, service providers, investors, parents, and children) to explore this phenomenon at the individual, family, community, national or international levels are encouraged to submit their work for consideration by the Panel Chairs.

Collectively, papers in this panel will provide state-of-the-art information on parenting policy efforts in LMIC and critically examine their success at promoting child supervision and development in those settings.

General Objectives, Research Questions and Scientific Relevance:

Quality care is key to the safety, wellbeing, and socialization of children (Norman et al., 2012). In contrast, lack of supervision may result in unintentional injuries and other negative effects for children and parents (Baldry et al., 2019; Damashek et al., 2014; Flanagan et al., 2019; Morrongiello et al., 2012; Rouse & Schwebel, 2019), including reporting to child welfare authorities (Ruiz-Casares et al., 2012; Sedlak et al., 2010). Child neglect is, however, characterized by the breakdown of the social organization around children and parents, rather than parental behaviors alone (Garbarino & Abramowitz, 1992; Lacharité, 2014). In fact, oftentimes, child care arrangements such as leaving children home alone result from low social support or lack of accessible child care services rather than culture or parental choice (Morantz et al., 2013; Ruiz-Casares & Heymann, 2009).

A recent review on child supervision in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) (Miconi et al., 2018) identified family-friendly policies, extended social support networks, and increased public awareness among some of the potential facilitators of adequate supervision in these settings. Furthermore two groups of policies have been recognized of particular importance for families with young children: labour and education (Heymann et al., 2011). Indeed there is accumulating evidence of the beneficial effects of paid parental leave on parental, child, and family wellbeing in high-income countries (HIC) (Nandi et al., 2018) and LMIC (Heymann et al., 2013; Nandi et al., 2016). In fact, enacting or strengthening paid leave policies has been advanced as a key strategy to achieve several Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) (Heymann et al., 2017). It can also increase father’s involvement in childcare and education (Haas & Hwang, 2008). Nevertheless, since most of the published evidence originates in HIC, it is unclear how these findings apply to LMIC. Moreover, even in LMIC where granting paid maternity or gender-neutral parental leave is regulated, coverage is problematic, and solutions are scarce for the poorest families (Vilar-Compte et al., 2019).

Similarly about half of all countries do not provide early childhood care and education (ECCE) services for children under 3 years (UNESCO, 2006). ECCE services are key to supervise young children during work hours while contributing to children’s development and school readiness in HIC (Cortázar, 2015) and LMIC (Aboud et al., 2013; Li et al., 2016). Therefore, this panel is interested in papers that will look at how family-support policies contribute to enhancing child supervision and development in LMIC (e.g., by increasing parental availability to care or by providing quality substitute caregiving options). More specifically we are interested in furthering our understanding of the role of public policies in supporting child supervision and development in LMIC as well as the socio-ecological factors that facilitate or hinder their implementation in these contexts.

References

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