The trope of the vulnerable child in conditional welfare discourses: An Australian case study

Conditional welfare policies are frequently underpinned by pejorative representations of those they target. Vulnerable children, under physical or moral threat from their welfare-dependent parents, are a mainstay of these constructions, yet the nuances of this trope have received little focused attention. Through a discourse analysis of parliamentary debates at the introduction of compulsory income management (CIM) to Australia, this article explores the complexities of the vulnerable child trope. It shows how the figure of the child was leveraged to justify hard-line welfare reforms in Australia, and offers a deeper and more intersectional understanding of how social and economic marginalisation is reproduced through welfare discourse.

Constructing Viable Futures as ‘Adults’

This chapter investigates how young people seek to construct viable futures through the process of migration. While many young people arriving in England, and to some extent in Italy, alluded to the expanding futures emerging in Europe, they frequently saw these new horizons shrinking as they approached adulthood, particularly if they still had uncertain legal status. At the juncture between institutionally defined childhood and adulthood, the notion of vulnerability, used by immigration and social care structures and systems as a sorting mechanism for deciding who is and is not eligible to support, takes on very different economic, social, and political meanings. No longer meeting the institutional criteria of the 'vulnerable child', young people may paradoxically become more vulnerable as they encounter the multiple uncertainties of having an undetermined immigration status or, even when they do have status, are propelled towards independence with little preparation or support. Refocusing the lens away from individualized factors and circumstances typically associated with vulnerability towards more fundamental questions of the precarity forces a reconsideration of policies and practices and how they fundamentally determine young people's wellbeing outcomes, and whether or not they can construct the sorts of futures they aspire to.

Conceptualising the social networks of vulnerable children and young people: a systematic review and narrative synthesis

Purpose The relationship between social networks and health and wellbeing is increasingly demonstrated in vulnerable adult populations. This relationship for vulnerable children and young people has not hitherto been systematically reviewed. This narrative synthesis aims to consolidate research to provide a foundational basis for future health-related social network research and interventions for children and young people. Methods This mixed methods systematic review synthesises research investigating whole, egocentric social networks of 32 vulnerable child groups with a mean age below 18. There were no setting, language or date restrictions. The quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Of 6360 search results, 49 were included for narrative synthesis. Results The majority of pertinent research originates from the USA; the most frequently investigated vulnerabilities were minority ethnic status, homelessness and the presence of special educational needs. Research aims and methodologies varied significantly between studies. Key findings included (i) vulnerable (excluding minority ethnic) children and young people have impoverished networks (ii) access to networks is a protective factor against negative outcomes (iii) social ties, primarily immediate family, provide access to personal resources and (iv) network ties are to a degree substitutable. Conclusions Networks are associated with wellbeing and vulnerable children and young people commonly have impoverished networks, excluding cases where vulnerability classification relates to minority ethnic status. Network embeddedness is associated with positive outcomes, particularly for homeless children. Family are typically primary providers of support, but ties are substitutable when networks are restricted. Egocentric social network research is currently limited for vulnerable child populations. Further research could inform interventions that harness networks to improve health, wellbeing and functional outcomes for these child groups.

KELEKATAN ANAK PADA ORANG TUA DALAM MENINGKATKAN PERKEMBANGAN KOGNITIF DAN HARGA DIRI

Parental attachment does unequivocally have a pivotal relationship with emotion. Parent, especially a mom, is the first and foremost person who has the emotion bond with her child. This bond affects the most of the development of a child. The absent of fulfilment of emotion needs in caregiving of a child, such as a feeling of safety, love and/or compassion, attention, and appreciation, will take an innocent child to a stage of susceptibility that will drive him to be a “vulnerable child” that is a child with fragile personality, frail, fearful, lack of contentment and happiness, et cetera. Parental attachment in the period of growth and development can help challenging tasks so as to trigger cognitive development to the fullest and the growing of sense of self-esteem of a child. This research is using a qualitative approach and analysis, while the type of research is library research.

The Vulnerable Child Protection Act and Transgender Children's Health

A recent spate of legislation such as South Dakota's HB 1057, known as the Vulnerable Child Protection Act, seeks to criminalize medical treatment for gender transition in minors under sixteen. This essay argues that these laws do not safeguard children's health but are part of a broader attack on transgender rights that uses the protection of children as a powerful pretense to scapegoat a minority. It suggests that the analyses and insights of the field of transgender studies could inform, enrich, and reconfigure current clinical and public-policy debates around gender-variant children. This essay also aims at drawing the attention of supporters of transgender children to aspects of current medical treatments and their potential implications for young people that might get lost in this explosive political climate.