ACE Aware Nation: Engaging Children in the Conversation€¦ · • Davis, J. M. 2007. "Analysing...

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ACE Aware Nation: Engaging Children in the Conversation Laura H.V. Wright Social Policy, School of Social and Political Science University of Edinburgh [email protected]

Transcript of ACE Aware Nation: Engaging Children in the Conversation€¦ · • Davis, J. M. 2007. "Analysing...

Page 1: ACE Aware Nation: Engaging Children in the Conversation€¦ · • Davis, J. M. 2007. "Analysing participation and social exclusion with children and young people. Lessons from practice."

ACE Aware Nation: Engaging Children

in the Conversation

Laura H.V. Wright

Social Policy, School of Social and Political Science

University of Edinburgh

[email protected]

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ACE

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Child Rights and Children’s

Participation

Social Ecological Framework

Contextual Realities

Protectionism and participation

Getting it Right for Every Child

| AREAS OF FOCUS

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ACE

Where are children’s voices

and perspectives in the

check-list model?

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• Article 12(1) States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

• Child participation is defined as “ongoing processes, which include information-sharing and dialogue between children and adults based on mutual respect, and in which children can learn how their views and those of adults are taken into account and shape the outcome of such processes” (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2009, p. 5).

| CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION

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The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child explains the challenge of child

participation:

‘But appearing to “listen” to children is relatively unchallenging; giving due

weight to their views requires real change. Listening to children should not

be seen as an end in itself, but rather as the means by which States make

their interactions with children and their actions on behalf of children ever

more sensitive to the implementation of children’s rights.’

http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(symbol)/CRC.GC.2003.5.En?OpenDocu

ment

Young people should be recognized as human beings with valued ideas

(Perry-Hazan, 2016) and as “active agents of change in developing more

sustainable” resilient futures (Percy Smith & Burns, 2013, p.325).

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| SCOTLAND CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION

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ACE

Where are children’s voices

and perspectives in the

current model of

assessment and decision-

making?

Exploring a

strengths Based

Approach

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The ACE inventory omitted several childhood adversities (e.g. peer

rejection, bullying, discrimination, low socio economic status) that have

been added by some developers (Finkelhor et al, 2012)

While intended to support service providers to be more child-centered ACE

runs the risk of turning “the individual into an object who is subjected to

experiences, not a human being who interprets them” (Edwards et al.,

2017, p.4)

There is no ‘magic bullet’ to complex life experiences (Edwards et al., 2017)

| CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION AND CONTEXTUAL FACTORS

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• What’s wrong with you?

• What happened to you?

• What is right with you, your family, your

community, your society? What are the

strengths? What are the assets?

|WHAT QUESTIONS ARE WE ASKING?

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What about the other

spheres of influence and

societal factors?

“There is a risk that all of children and their

families’ social problems are seen as down to

their individual behaviour.

This could lead to us ignoring our necessary

efforts to change the social conditions”

(Children’s commissioner for Wales, 2018)

Ecological approaches include social factors

and thus also “place responsibility upon

institutions and society” (Hart et al, 2016, p.2).

“The ecological approach to children's rights

stresses that to understand the phenomenon

of child participation, it is necessary to

consider conditions and processes that affect

children and youth expanding the environment

under consideration to include children's

families, communities, the professionals

working with them, policy makers, and

eventually, the entire regulatory regime” (Gal,

2011).

| SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL MODEL OF RESILIENCE

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“How much adversity should resilient individuals endure before social arrangements

rather than individuals are targeted for intervention ?” (Bottrell, 2009, p.335).

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• For/With

• Objects/Subjects

• Quick Fix?

• Deficit Model to a child rights strengths

based approach?

• Getting it Right for Every Child

| AREAS TO PONDER

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• Bottrell, D. (2009). Understanding ‘marginal’ perspectives: Towards a social theory of resilience. Qualitative social work, 8(3), 321-339.

• Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

• University Press.

• Collins, T. M. (2017). A child’s right to participate: Implications for international child protection. The International Journal of Human Rights, 21(1), 14-46.

• Edwards et al. (2017) ‘The Problem with ACEs’. submission to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee Inquiry into the evidence-base for early years intervention (EY10039). 12 December 2017

• Davis, J. M. 2007. "Analysing participation and social exclusion with children and young people. Lessons from practice." The International Journal of Children's Rights 15 (1): 121-146

• Gal, T. (2017). An ecological model of child and youth participation. Children and Youth Services Review.

• Hart, A., Gagnon, E., Eryigit-Madzwamuse, S., Cameron, J., Aranda, K., Rathbone, A., & Heaver, B. (2016). Uniting resilience research and practice with an inequalities approach. Sage Open, 6(4), 2158244016682477.

• Joseph, J. (2013). Resilience as embedded neoliberalism: a governmentality approach. Resilience, 1(1), 38-52.

• Percy-Smith, B., & Burns, D. (2013). Exploring the role of children and young people as

agents of change in sustainable community development. Local Environment, 18(3), 323-339.

• Seccombe, K. (2002). “Beating the odds” versus “changing the odds”: Poverty, resilience, and family policy. Journal of Marriage and family, 64(2), 384-394.

• Ungar, M. (2011). The social ecology of resilience: addressing contextual and cultural ambiguity of a nascent construct. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 81(1), 1-17.

• United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child, Adopted and opened for

signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989,

entered into force 2 September 1990, in accordance with article 49.

| REFERENCES

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THANK YOU! ANY QUESTIONS?

For any additional questions please contact Laura Wright at [email protected]