Crise econômica mundial: infância e adolescência na análise dos documentos do UNICEF / Crisis económica mundial: infancia y adolescencia en el análisis de los documentos de UNICEF / World economic crisis: childhood and adolescence in the analysis of UNICEF documents

RESUMO Este artigo investiga a produção histórica da infância e juventude de diversos países afetados pela crise econômica mundial que eclodiu em 2008, nos Estados Unidos. Foram utilizados documentos produzidos pelo UNICEF acerca das condições de vida garantidas à infância e adolescência, decorrentes das disputas ocasionadas e/ou agravadas pelo colapso financeiro mundial; foram analisados artigos internacionais que deram suporte e contribuíram nas análises dos dados documentais. Esta pesquisa foi feita por de meio de uma revisão histórica e de problematização das narrativas da literatura, com pesquisas voltadas aos países dos continentes: asiático, africano, europeu e americano. Encontraram-se fortes indicadores da precariedade em que está a política pública para a infância ao redor do mundo, principalmente em países com dificuldades socioeconômicas, além dos pertencentes ao leste europeu e nos EUA. Alerta-se acerca da necessidade de estudos sobre o impacto à infância brasileira da crise internacional e como o UNICEF tem abordado essas questões.

RESUMEN Este artículo propuso investigar la producción histórica de la niñez y la juventud de diversos países afectados por la crisis económica mundial que estalló en 2008 en los EEUU. Fueron utilizados documentos elaborados por la UNICEF sobre condiciones de vida garantizados a la infancia y adolescencia, como consecuencia de disputas influenciadas por el colapso financiero mundial; se analizaron artículos internacionales que sirvieron como soporte y contribución. Esta investigación fue realizada mediante una revisión histórica y de problematización de las narrativas de la literatura, dirigidas a la infancia en los continentes: asiático, africano, europeo, y americano. Se encontraron fuertes indicadores de inseguridad que afectan a la política publica de la infancia al rededor del mundo, principalmente en países con dificultades socioeconómicas, además de países de Europa oriental y los EEUU. Se alerta la necesidad de estudios sobre el impacto de la crisis internacional en la infancia brasileña y como la UNICEF viene ocupándose de ello.

ABSTRACT This article had as goal to investigate the historical production of childhood and youth in several countries affected by the global financial crisis that ecloded in 2008 at the United States. Various documents produced by UNICEF describing how the financial system collapse affected or aggravated the life conditions of children and adolescents were used, as well as other international articles that gave support to the documental data analysis. This research was done by means of a historical revision and problematization of literature narratives in the African, Asian, European and American continents. The search found strong indicators about the precariousness of public policies for children around the world, especially in countries with socioeconomic problems, and in Eastern Europe and the USA as well. Therefore, we alert to the need for studies about the impact of the international crisis in Brazilian children and how UNICEF is addressing these issues.

American juvenile justice system: history in the making.

The original theory behind separating juvenile offenders from adult offenders was to provide care and direction for youngsters instead of isolation and punishment. This idea took hold in the 19th century and became mainstream by the early 20th century. In the 1950s and 1960s, public concern grew because of a perceived lack of effectiveness and lack of rights. The Supreme Court made a series of rulings solidifying juvenile rights including the right to receive notice of charges, the right to have an attorney and the right to have charges proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In the 1980s, the public view was that the juvenile court system was too lenient and that juvenile crimes were on the rise. In the 1990s, many states passed punitive laws, including mandatory sentencing and blanket transfers to adult courts for certain crimes. As a result, the pendulum is now swinging back toward the middle from rehabilitation toward punishment.

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.

Coleman Advocates for Children And Youth: a pioneering child advocacy organization (1974-2008).

Coleman Advocates for Youth and Children is a pioneering 30-year-old child advocacy organization founded by several affluent community members and children's service professionals to stop housing abused and neglected children in juvenile hall. Today, low-income youth and parents in families of color are now assuming leadership in developing a unique hybrid approach that integrates community organizing with more traditional child advocacy strategies and focuses on increasing affordable housing and improving the city's educational system. The strategies employed by Coleman have also evolved, shifting from insider advocacy with administrative officials to public campaigns targeting the city budget process, to local initiative campaigns, and most recently to electoral politics. This organizational history features the issues mission and structure, leadership, managing issues, advocacy strategies and community relations, and funding.

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.

[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.