Displaying 1 - 10 of 20
Abstract
Worldwide, up to 8 million children reside in institutional care. While some characteristics are common to most institutional settings (e.g., group rearing, non-related caregivers), the social environments of institutions are highly variable. Institutions in Russia, China, Ghana, and Chile are described with reference to the circumstances that lead to children’s institutionalization, resident children’s social-emotional relationships, and unique characteristics of each country’s institutional care (e.g., volunteer tourism in Ghana, and shifting demographics of institutionalized…
Based on field studies and in-depth interviews across rural and urban China, this book presents a socio-legal analysis of non-state organised care for some of China's most vulnerable children.
The first full-length book to examine non-state organised care of modern China's ‘lonely children’ (gu'er), this book describes the context in which abandonment occurs and the care provided to children unlikely to be adopted because of their disability. It also explores the various faith groups and humanitarian workers providing this care in private orphanages and foster homes in response to…
Abstract
This open access article explores three related phenomena: first, the abandonment and institutionalization of children with disabilities in China that increased disproportionately in the 2000s; second, the important relationships between such abandonments, culture, economics, and politics in contemporary China; and third, the relationship between such abandonments, the increasing rates at which Chinese orphans with disabilities are being adopted to Western countries through Inter-country Adoption (ICA), and the global politics of ICA and disability. Although the rise in the…
Abstract
Multiple studies have revealed that adolescent AIDS orphans have more psychosocial problems than healthy adolescents. However, little is known about whether and how the brain structures of adolescent AIDS orphans differ from those of healthy adolescents. Here, we used magnetic resonance imaging to compare adolescent AIDS orphans reared in institutions (N = 20) with a sex- and age-matched group of healthy adolescents reared in families (N = 20) in China using a voxel-based morphometry analysis. First, we found that both total gray- and white-matter…
Abstract
Background
In the US, recent years have seen a significant increase in the number of internationally adopted children, especially those from China, with congenital medical conditions. To date, there is little research on the long-term wellbeing of international adoptees with congenital medical conditions.
Method
We investigated the relationship between congenital conditions and post-adoption mental disorder diagnosis and treatment in 235 female youth who were adopted from China about 15 years prior. The youth provided survey data on type of congenital conditions that they…
Abstract
Purpose
In the current study we examined associations between children's pre-adoption experiences (type of pre-adoption care and early deprivation) and their adaptive and maladaptive behavioral adjustment. Associations with prosocial behavior, attention problems, internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems were investigated.
Methods
Parental ratings of pre-adoption experiences and behavioral adjustment of 891 adopted Chinese girls aged between 4 and 12 year were obtained. The children were adopted from institutional care (n = 595), foster care (n…
This chapter appears in Child Maltreatment in Residential Care: History, Research, and Current Practice, a volume of research examining the institutionalization of children, child abuse and neglect in residential care, and interventions preventing and responding to violence against children living in out-of-home care settings around the world.
Abstract
The Chinese state…
Abstract
The main focus is on the assessment of the effects of early institutional care and compares three longitudinal studies from Romania, Greece and Hong Kong/China. The findings have been strikingly contrasting. The review asks if the risks are dependent on whether or not the institutional rearing is accompanied by gross pervasive deprivation (as it was in Romania) and investigates the methodological issues to explore the causal influence of the outcomes. Evidence is considered on changing institutional practices and the benefits of doing so. Comparison is made…
In this letter to the editor, the authors express their support for the continued use of “baby hatches” in China. According to the authors, baby hatches were introduced in China in 2011. Many of the abandoned infants have birth defects or disabilities. Due to financial pressure, some of the baby hatches were closed in 2013 and the government is considering closing them down. The authors argue, however, that the closure of baby hatches will not end the practice of child abandonment and will, in fact, put infants at greater risk. Baby hatches, they say, offer a safe place for infants,…
Executive Summary (excerpt)
This report examines and analyses policies and provision for family support and parenting support. The goals of the research are to identify relevant global trends and develop an analytical framework that can be used for future research and policy analysis. For these purposes, new evidence was gathered and existing evidence systematized and analysed. The report is based on general literature searches and evidence gathered from 33 UNICEF national offices, located in different parts of the world, and detailed case studies of nine countries (…