Current issues and future directions in evidence-based child protection practices: a view from Romania.

The constantly changing nature of social care practice necessitates continuous development of educational programs to prepare current practitioners. Basing social work practice on methodologically sound research evidence is an appealing prospect for the child protection services. However, Romania, once considered an Eastern European model for child welfare policy and practice, is somehow lagging behind. In this article the author gives a short overview of where the Romanian Child Protection System currently stands in terms of evidence-based practice.

Gender, professionalization, and the child in the Progressive Era: Patty Smith Hill, 1868-1946.

This article discusses the career of Patty Smith Hill, a major figure in the American kindergarten movement, in the context of the Progressive Era in American history. Hill, an educator and child-welfare activist, became known both as a reformer of early-childhood education and as an advocate of the inclusion of the kindergarten, originally a private institution, in public-school systems. The article acknowledges this as one of the most significant achievements of the woman-led reform movements of the Progressive Era, but at the same time notes that it involved a substantial transfer of power from the women who had originally developed the kindergarten to the male principals and superintendants who now supervised kindergarten teachers, often without much understanding of their distinctive methods and aims. As a professor at Columbia Teachers College, Hill also exercised an international influence. Hill's career exemplifies broader patterns of women's professionalization during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

Is child labor harmful? The impact of working earlier in life on adult earnings.

This paper explores the question: is working as a child harmful to an individual in terms of adult outcomes in earnings? Although this is an extremely important question, little is known about the effect of child labor on adult outcomes. Estimations of an instrumental variables earnings model on data from Brazil show that child labor has a large negative impact on adult earnings for male children even when controlling for schooling and that the negative impact of starting to work as a child reverses at around ages 12­14.

UNICEF, syphilis and the state: negotiating female citizenship in the post-Second World War world.

Few charitable organizations have achieved the status of global recognition enjoyed by UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, which embodies the international effort to provide for needy children the world over. Created because of its synchronicity with the United Nations' stated purpose­to maintain peace in the world­UNICEF launched its operations in 1946. Its founding, early operations and eventual restructuring reveal a great deal about concurrent political and economic events, but also provide keen insight into international ideas about who qualified for full citizenship in the post-war world. The consequences of UNICEF's policies, procedures and practices posed challenges to notions of citizenship for both women and children. It challenged citizenship not by questioning sex-specific gender roles, but by judiciously adhering to the United Nations' promise to create equality for men and women alike. UNICEF found itself in the unique position to be able to globalize definitions of what constituted full citizenship in any nation, due to its rapid expansion throughout the world. Through its programs, especially those related to health care, it not only challenged these roles in the West, but began over several decades to complicate the definition of citizenship as it became a forceful presence in Asia and Africa throughout the 1970s.

Welfare impact of a ban on child labor.

This article presents a new rationale for imposing restrictions on child labor. In a standard overlapping generation model where parental altruism results in transfers that children allocate to consumption and education, the Nash-Cournot equilibrium results in suboptimal levels of parental transfers and does not maximize the average level of utility of currently living agents. A ban on child labor decreases children's income and generates an increase in parental transfers bringing their levels closer to the optimum, raising children's welfare as well as average welfare in the short run and in the long run. Moreover, the inability to work allows children to allocate more time to education, and it leads to an increase in human capital. Besides, to increase transfers, parents decrease savings and hence physical capital accumulation. When prices are flexible, these effects diminish the positive welfare impact of the ban on child labor.

"That was then, but this is now": historical perspectives on intercountry adoption and domestic child adoption in Australian public policy.

This paper brings historical perspectives to bear on the ambivalent and contradictory position of adoption in Australian public policy. It examines the divergent histories of Australian domestic and intercountry adoption (ICA) since the mid-1970s and the impact of these histories on adoption policy in Australia. It identifies tendencies in contemporary ICA to repeat elements of pre-reform era domestic adoption. In particular, it is argued that the resistance of ICA to the move to openness in local adoption has been an unacknowledged driver of ICA for many Australian families. We offer corrective readings of the rise of ICA in relation to domestic adoption and conclude by offering alternatives for adoption policy which better align the two kinds of adoption, focusing on the needs of children, as distinct from the desires of adults.

Does public reporting measure up? Federalism, accountability and child-care policy in Canada.

Governments in Canada have recently been exploring new accountability measures within intergovernmental relations. Public reporting has become the preferred mechanism in a range of policy areas, including early learning and child-care, and the authors assess its effectiveness as an accountability measure. The article is based on their experience with a community capacity-building project that considers the relationship between the public policy, funding and accountability mechanisms under the federal/provincial/territorial agreements related to child-care. The authors argue that in its current form, public reporting has not lived up to its promise of accountability to citizens. This evaluation is based on the standards that governments have set for themselves under the federal/provincial/territorial agreements, as well as guidelines set by the Public Sector Accounting Board, an independent body that develops accounting standards over time through consultation with governments.

Patterns of movement in foster care: an optimal matching analysis.

Placement instability remains a vexing problem for child welfare agencies across the country. This study uses child welfare administrative data to retrospectively follow the entire placement histories (birth to age 17.5) of 474 foster youth who reached the age of majority in the state of Illinois and to search for patterns in their movement through the child welfare system. Patterns are identified through optimal matching and hierarchical cluster analyses. Multiple logistic regression is used to analyze administrative and survey data in order to examine covariates related to patterns. Five distinct patterns of movement are differentiated: Late Movers, Settled with Kin, Community Care, Institutionalized, and Early Entry. These patterns suggest high but variable rates of movement. Implications for child welfare policy and service provision are discussed.

Assessing policy effects on enrollment in early childhood education and care.

Although the number of children enrolled in early childhood education and care has risen dramatically over past decades, low-income children are less likely than their more affluent counterparts to participate. Public funding for early education can play an important role in increasing enrollment levels among low-income children. This study utilizes National Household Education Survey data for a 14-year period to examine the effects of public funding on the enrollment of low-income children in early childhood education and care. It also considers the effects of funding on the type of care they use. Results suggest that public funding, particularly child-care subsidies and prekindergarten funding, increases the likelihood that low-income children, even those under 3 years of age, will attend nonparental care, including center-based care. These findings indicate that public funding can help close the gap in enrollment between low- and higher-income children.

Policy statement--health equity and children's rights.

Many children in the United States fail to reach their full health and developmental potential. Disparities in their health and well-being result from the complex interplay of multiple social and environmental determinants that are not adequately addressed by current standards of pediatric practice or public policy. Integrating the principles and practice of child health equity-children's rights, social justice, human capital investment, and health equity ethics-into pediatrics will address the root causes of child health disparities. Promoting the principles and practice of equity-based clinical care, child advocacy, and child- and family-centered public policy will help to ensure that social and environmental determinants contribute positively to the health and well-being of children. The American Academy of Pediatrics and pediatricians can move the national focus from documenting child health disparities to advancing the principles and practice of child health equity and, in so doing, influence the worldwide practice of pediatrics and child health. All pediatricians, including primary care practitioners and medical and surgical subspecialists, can incorporate these principles into their practice of pediatrics and child health. Integration of these principles into competency-based training and board certification will secure their assimilation into all levels of pediatric practice.

[Dona Amélia Queen Reformatory: a sanatorium for weak children]. / Preventório Rainha Dona Amélia: um sanatório para crianças enfraquecidas.

This article intends to examine the conditions of the city of Rio de Janeiro, regarding the city's health safety of the living and housing condition of its workers, which helped bringing about the spread of tuberculosis in the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Evidencing the high incidence of tuberculosis at this time, it intends to verify the reasons for creating the Brazilian League Against Tuberculosis and its purpose, analyzing its project of assistance to children's health and its intervention to discipline, which resulted in the creation of the Dona Amélia Queen Reformatory.

[Insufficient justification for granting a wrongful-life claim]. / Schadevergoeding wegens onrechtmatig bestaan ('wrongful life') onvoldoende beargumenteerd.

In 2005 the Dutch Supreme Court granted a so-called 'wrongful-life' claim. Such a claim can only be sustained by establishing that it would have been better for the child not to have been born at all. Because the Court refrained from establishing this, similar claims involving less severe handicaps may unfortunately be filed.