Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) 1052–1055
The Pursuit of New Directions Jill D. McLeigh ∗ and Gary B. Melton University of Colorado School of Medicine
Directions will offer challenging ideas for both North and South
W
e are pleased to introduce Directions, a new magazine-style section of Child Abuse & Neglect. Directions is a key component of our overall effort to create new opportunities and formats to spread socially significant ideas and scientifically important information about the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. Several aspects of this new feature are illustrative of the approach that we are taking to the continuing development of an already influential journal. Most obviously, Directions is attractive. Research shows that professionals in fields related to child protection, like the general public, are most likely to read articles written in crisp prose and displayed in readable fonts with ample white space. We expect that readers will be drawn to these pages, whether they appear in the journal that arrives in the mail once a month or the image that comes instantaneously to a computer screen
amid a search for information about child maltreatment. In that regard, Directions will be accessible not only to both academicians and practitioners but also to both university students—future professionals—and other educated citizens around the world. Directions is also intended to be provocative. The child protection field has too infrequently been provoked by big ideas that stimulate the growth of more effective systems. Indeed, it has been too easy to read issues of this journal from cover to cover without being challenged. By contrast, Directions will consist of innovative, tightly argued essays on critical issues in the field. The viewpoints that authors express may not always be consistent with those of many readers of this journal, leaders of the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, or even the editors. However, the articles in Directions will also be informed by science, relevant to
∗ Corresponding author. 0145-2134/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.10.010
Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) 1052–1055
policy and practice, and sensitive to ethical norms. We hope that all will agree that the articles themselves are thoughtful and that the analyses in Directions will advance discussions—perhaps even stimulate research ideas and policy innovations—about the best ways to prevent harm to children and to restore their sense of security when harm does occur. To be clear, it is not our aim to raise readers’ blood pressure. We abhor the sensationalism that has typified mass media coverage of the problem of child abuse and neglect and that has sometimes crept into advocacy organizations’ and even professional journals’ descriptions of the problem. Although such presentations may draw attention, they rarely facilitate reasoned discussions about the problem of child maltreatment and the nature of effective policies and practices. Too often child protection policy has been developed in episodic fashion to address the circumstances in particularly egregious cases with little consideration of the consequences of piecemeal reform for most children in need of protection. By presenting alternative points of view, Directions may prove to be an antidote to such tendencies.
Global Perspectives In keeping with this emphasis on diversity of ideas, Directions will be international. Each year, Child Abuse & Neglect publishes the work of authors from many countries. Still, it is undeniable that most corresponding authors live in high-income English-speaking countries. The readership of Child Abuse & Neglect, as reflected in the electronic availability of the journal in academic libraries around the globe, is far more diverse. Undoubtedly, the discrepancy relates in part to language; the
limited capital available for research in most of the global South is another factor. By using invitations liberally and offering assistance when needed in maximizing the readability of English prose, we expect that Directions will be an important innovation in increasing the relevance of Child Abuse & Neglect to child protection work in developing and transitional countries. In so doing, we also expect to advance toward our goal of generating big ideas for the child protection field in countries that have relatively well established systems. This compatibility of goals has several bases. First, as the topic for the inaugural issue of Directions (on protection of children in international migration) illustrates, many issues related to the fulfillment of children’s right to personal security affect children in countries of varying wealth. In many ways, the global economy in the Information Age has no boundaries. To the extent that boundaries remain, they often have pernicious effects on children, whether they are in transit or they are potentially exploited by people who live far away. Second, globalization refers not only to the economy and technology. Principles derived from democratic values, including respect for human rights, are now the law—if not necessarily the practice—around the world. Operationalization of such ideals in diverse cultures can be instructive in many societies, regardless of the magnitude of their wealth and the maturity of their democracy. Third, the constraints that many families in low- and middle-income countries confront (as do the professionals and community leaders who seek to serve them) may ironically result in creation of more responsive, less intrusive, and more cost-effective models for prevention and treatment. Such approaches may be susceptible to adaptation for use in societies that face 1053
Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) 1052–1055
less daunting challenges and that have more resources available to pay for professional assistance. Such societies typically must seek to ensure adequate care for children in families that, on average from cohort to cohort, find that they have fewer social and material resources than the families that came before them. In that regard, examination of child protection problems in the global South may also facilitate re-framing of child protection policy in the global North. In international development circles, child protection is conceived in terms of general fulfillment of the right to personal security, not just protection from abuse or neglect within the family. Such a concept may promote consideration of the ways that community resources can be enhanced and applied to enable parents and other caregivers to protect their children from harm more easily. As illustrated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, such a perspective encourages or even demands “the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child” (art. 19, Section 2). It also requires public action to protect children from, e.g., armed conflict (art. 38; Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict), political oppression (e.g., arts. 2, 12, and 30), inhumane punishment (arts. 28, Section 2, and 37), drug trafficking (art. 33), economic exploitation (art. 32), child trafficking (art. 35; Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography), other forms of sexual exploitation (art. 34), and “all other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child’s welfare” (art. 35). Moreover, such a broad view of child protection requires governments to ensure the delivery of “all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social 1054
reintegration” of all children subjected to abusive practices, whatever their context (art. 39). Governments must also guarantee that such “recovery and reintegration” takes place “in an environment which fosters the health, selfrespect and dignity of the child” (art. 39).
The First Issue of Directions This inaugural issue of Directions examines the needs for protection of children involved in international migration. In addressing the needs of children amid migration, many countries have struggled with the question of how to ensure children’s safety and wellbeing while also addressing concerns about national security and the domestic economy. The result has typically been policies that have adverse consequences for many migrant children. The essays in this issue of Directions provide diverse viewpoints on child protection for international migrants. Jill McLeigh provides an overview of the reasons for increased attention to this issue, and she describes the threats to children’s safety and well-being in the context of migration. Julia O’Connell Davidson examines popular misconceptions about the experiences of child migrants, and she describes the damaging policies that have often resulted. Martha Givaudan and Susan Pick consider the situation for a group that is often overlooked: children who are left behind when their parents migrate. Givaudan and Pick also present a programmatic approach to fulfillment of children’s needs in that difficult situation. Developed by Instituto Mexicano de Investigación de Familia y Población (Mexican Institute of Family and Population Research),
Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) 1052–1055
these Community Child Development Centers offer activities that enable both children and caregivers to address the resulting problems of communication, maintenance of relationships, expression of feelings, ongoing emotional support, child care itself, and prevention of abuse. The program offers a promising approach to protection of children and enhancement of their well-being, even in communities with few resources.
Looking Ahead We expect that readers will find this first Directions section to be thought-provoking and engaging and that it will indeed stimulate conversations in lunchrooms and by water fountains. Among the other topics that we expect to tackle in future issues are the following: child maltreatment as a public health problem; humane schools as elements in child
protection systems; conditional cash transfers as a strategy for reduction of neglect; religious perspectives on child protection; women’s and girls’ rights to personal security; fathers’ role in child protection; developments in fatality review boards; mass-media coverage of child maltreatment; recent reports of the U.S. National Academies of Science on child maltreatment and child trafficking. Although the format will vary occasionally, Directions will typically consist of (a) a provocative essay on a conceptual issue, state of knowledge, or a policy problem related to the theme, (b) a program description (often but not always from a developing country), and (c) an analysis of a pertinent development in an international organization. Articles included in Directions will usually be invited. However, authors who wish to propose Directions essays or sections can contact Assistant Editor Jill McLeigh ([email protected]).
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The Pursuit of New Directions Jill D. McLeigh ∗ and Gary B. Melton University of Colorado School of Medicine
Directions will offer challenging ideas for both North and South
W
e are pleased to introduce Directions, a new magazine-style section of Child Abuse & Neglect. Directions is a key component of our overall effort to create new opportunities and formats to spread socially significant ideas and scientifically important information about the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. Several aspects of this new feature are illustrative of the approach that we are taking to the continuing development of an already influential journal. Most obviously, Directions is attractive. Research shows that professionals in fields related to child protection, like the general public, are most likely to read articles written in crisp prose and displayed in readable fonts with ample white space. We expect that readers will be drawn to these pages, whether they appear in the journal that arrives in the mail once a month or the image that comes instantaneously to a computer screen
amid a search for information about child maltreatment. In that regard, Directions will be accessible not only to both academicians and practitioners but also to both university students—future professionals—and other educated citizens around the world. Directions is also intended to be provocative. The child protection field has too infrequently been provoked by big ideas that stimulate the growth of more effective systems. Indeed, it has been too easy to read issues of this journal from cover to cover without being challenged. By contrast, Directions will consist of innovative, tightly argued essays on critical issues in the field. The viewpoints that authors express may not always be consistent with those of many readers of this journal, leaders of the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, or even the editors. However, the articles in Directions will also be informed by science, relevant to
∗ Corresponding author. 0145-2134/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.10.010
Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) 1052–1055
policy and practice, and sensitive to ethical norms. We hope that all will agree that the articles themselves are thoughtful and that the analyses in Directions will advance discussions—perhaps even stimulate research ideas and policy innovations—about the best ways to prevent harm to children and to restore their sense of security when harm does occur. To be clear, it is not our aim to raise readers’ blood pressure. We abhor the sensationalism that has typified mass media coverage of the problem of child abuse and neglect and that has sometimes crept into advocacy organizations’ and even professional journals’ descriptions of the problem. Although such presentations may draw attention, they rarely facilitate reasoned discussions about the problem of child maltreatment and the nature of effective policies and practices. Too often child protection policy has been developed in episodic fashion to address the circumstances in particularly egregious cases with little consideration of the consequences of piecemeal reform for most children in need of protection. By presenting alternative points of view, Directions may prove to be an antidote to such tendencies.
Global Perspectives In keeping with this emphasis on diversity of ideas, Directions will be international. Each year, Child Abuse & Neglect publishes the work of authors from many countries. Still, it is undeniable that most corresponding authors live in high-income English-speaking countries. The readership of Child Abuse & Neglect, as reflected in the electronic availability of the journal in academic libraries around the globe, is far more diverse. Undoubtedly, the discrepancy relates in part to language; the
limited capital available for research in most of the global South is another factor. By using invitations liberally and offering assistance when needed in maximizing the readability of English prose, we expect that Directions will be an important innovation in increasing the relevance of Child Abuse & Neglect to child protection work in developing and transitional countries. In so doing, we also expect to advance toward our goal of generating big ideas for the child protection field in countries that have relatively well established systems. This compatibility of goals has several bases. First, as the topic for the inaugural issue of Directions (on protection of children in international migration) illustrates, many issues related to the fulfillment of children’s right to personal security affect children in countries of varying wealth. In many ways, the global economy in the Information Age has no boundaries. To the extent that boundaries remain, they often have pernicious effects on children, whether they are in transit or they are potentially exploited by people who live far away. Second, globalization refers not only to the economy and technology. Principles derived from democratic values, including respect for human rights, are now the law—if not necessarily the practice—around the world. Operationalization of such ideals in diverse cultures can be instructive in many societies, regardless of the magnitude of their wealth and the maturity of their democracy. Third, the constraints that many families in low- and middle-income countries confront (as do the professionals and community leaders who seek to serve them) may ironically result in creation of more responsive, less intrusive, and more cost-effective models for prevention and treatment. Such approaches may be susceptible to adaptation for use in societies that face 1053
Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) 1052–1055
less daunting challenges and that have more resources available to pay for professional assistance. Such societies typically must seek to ensure adequate care for children in families that, on average from cohort to cohort, find that they have fewer social and material resources than the families that came before them. In that regard, examination of child protection problems in the global South may also facilitate re-framing of child protection policy in the global North. In international development circles, child protection is conceived in terms of general fulfillment of the right to personal security, not just protection from abuse or neglect within the family. Such a concept may promote consideration of the ways that community resources can be enhanced and applied to enable parents and other caregivers to protect their children from harm more easily. As illustrated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, such a perspective encourages or even demands “the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child” (art. 19, Section 2). It also requires public action to protect children from, e.g., armed conflict (art. 38; Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict), political oppression (e.g., arts. 2, 12, and 30), inhumane punishment (arts. 28, Section 2, and 37), drug trafficking (art. 33), economic exploitation (art. 32), child trafficking (art. 35; Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography), other forms of sexual exploitation (art. 34), and “all other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child’s welfare” (art. 35). Moreover, such a broad view of child protection requires governments to ensure the delivery of “all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social 1054
reintegration” of all children subjected to abusive practices, whatever their context (art. 39). Governments must also guarantee that such “recovery and reintegration” takes place “in an environment which fosters the health, selfrespect and dignity of the child” (art. 39).
The First Issue of Directions This inaugural issue of Directions examines the needs for protection of children involved in international migration. In addressing the needs of children amid migration, many countries have struggled with the question of how to ensure children’s safety and wellbeing while also addressing concerns about national security and the domestic economy. The result has typically been policies that have adverse consequences for many migrant children. The essays in this issue of Directions provide diverse viewpoints on child protection for international migrants. Jill McLeigh provides an overview of the reasons for increased attention to this issue, and she describes the threats to children’s safety and well-being in the context of migration. Julia O’Connell Davidson examines popular misconceptions about the experiences of child migrants, and she describes the damaging policies that have often resulted. Martha Givaudan and Susan Pick consider the situation for a group that is often overlooked: children who are left behind when their parents migrate. Givaudan and Pick also present a programmatic approach to fulfillment of children’s needs in that difficult situation. Developed by Instituto Mexicano de Investigación de Familia y Población (Mexican Institute of Family and Population Research),
Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) 1052–1055
these Community Child Development Centers offer activities that enable both children and caregivers to address the resulting problems of communication, maintenance of relationships, expression of feelings, ongoing emotional support, child care itself, and prevention of abuse. The program offers a promising approach to protection of children and enhancement of their well-being, even in communities with few resources.
Looking Ahead We expect that readers will find this first Directions section to be thought-provoking and engaging and that it will indeed stimulate conversations in lunchrooms and by water fountains. Among the other topics that we expect to tackle in future issues are the following: child maltreatment as a public health problem; humane schools as elements in child
protection systems; conditional cash transfers as a strategy for reduction of neglect; religious perspectives on child protection; women’s and girls’ rights to personal security; fathers’ role in child protection; developments in fatality review boards; mass-media coverage of child maltreatment; recent reports of the U.S. National Academies of Science on child maltreatment and child trafficking. Although the format will vary occasionally, Directions will typically consist of (a) a provocative essay on a conceptual issue, state of knowledge, or a policy problem related to the theme, (b) a program description (often but not always from a developing country), and (c) an analysis of a pertinent development in an international organization. Articles included in Directions will usually be invited. However, authors who wish to propose Directions essays or sections can contact Assistant Editor Jill McLeigh ([email protected]).
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