Displaying 1 - 8 of 8
Abstract:
This study explores the childhood experiences and transitions to adulthood of 39 Romanian care leavers and adoptees, born around 1989 - 1990. In the past, Romania’s children in care became known to the world as 'the Romanian orphans' and some of them have been subjects to neurodevelopmental research studies focusing on the setbacks posed by institutionalisation in early life. This research project takes a different angle by:
• Using life history approach and therefore capturing the participants’ in-depth accounts of how they recall their childhoods and the…
This article studies different medical and psychological models of orphanhood and the effects these models have on the resiliency of orphanhood.
According to the article, there are three-types of orphanhood discourses:
The discourse of social danger; the discourse of social justification; and the discourse of social integration. The first two are considered are considered medical models, while the last one is considered a social model. According to this article the medical model dominates the world of science, where focus is on diagnosis and treatment instead of…
Abstract
This qualitative study explored perceptions of youth with foster care experiences, regarding successful adoption. A purposive sample of 16 participants was recruited and convened in two groups. Semi-structured focus groups were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using theoretical thematic analysis. Emergent themes were organized within a theoretical framework consisting of child, family, and system facilitators and barriers to successful adoption. Themes that strongly emerged redounded to a more youth-centered adoption process and to significant changes in…
This report summarizes the findings of a study on parental and alternative childcare in Luang Prabang (LPB) and Xayabury (XYB) provinces in Northern Lao People’s Democratic Republic (P.D.R.) The objectives were to document (a) existing family and community practices aimed at preventing parental separation and promoting parental care and family reintegration; and (b) alternative care arrangements for children separated or removed from, abandoned, or relinquished by their parents in these provinces.
The study found that there are few abandoned children in…
This study funded by Big Lottery and undertaken in partnership between the University of Bristol and Buttle UK, a grant-giving charity for vulnerable children, aims to fill the gaps in our understanding of how children experience living with kins, and in particular how children in informal kinship care view their situation.
The first phase of the study used limited micro-data from the UK Population Census of 2001 to estimate the extent of kinship care in the UK in 2011 and to describe the characteristics of kinship carers and children. The findings from the analysis of the census revealed…
This report presents the findings from a two-year peer research project which includes the testimony of more than 300 young people with care experience in Albania, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Poland. Their collective understanding of the leaving care process directly informed both the findings and policy recommendations contained in the report. More than 40 care leavers from the four countries were selected and trained to play an active role in the all aspects of the projects, from designing the questionnaire to conducting the interviews, analyzing the…
Research was conducted in five Rift Valley towns (Eldoret, Kitale, Molo, Nakuru, and Naivash) in Kenya in 2011 to understand the link between emergencies and the perceived increase of children joining the streets. The findings are based on interviews with 3,138 children, of whom 2,696 were directly connected with the streets.
Findings show that food insecurity is one of the biggest factors (59%) that cause children to drop out of school and gravitate toward the streets to find food and earn money. Other major factors identified included abuse at home (23%), particularly when…
The purpose of this paper is to give meaning and insight into some of the key drug and alcohol issues that affect children from the perspectives of the children themselves. Research shows that large numbers of children who are separated from their parents are particularly vulnerable to developing drug and alcohol problems. There are considerable country variations in where these children go, what options are available to them and what systems are in place to ensure that the children themselves have a say in where and with whom they live. Special attention is paid throughout the report…