Gender and Child Welfare in Society

315 Pages·2010·2.928 MB·English

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Gender and Child Welfare
in Society
‘Inthisbook,agroupofimpressiveauthorsbringawealthofpolicy,
practiceandtheoreticalknowledgetotheoftenignoredconnections
betweengenderandchildprotection.Thebookcontainsanexcellent
rangeoftopics,writteninaccessible,practicalprose.Itwillbeindis-
pensablereadingforpractitioners,aswellasstudentsofchildwelfare
andtheirprofessors.’
Professor Karen Swift, School of Social Work, York University,
Canada
‘Thistimelyandinnovativecollectionbringsgenderissuestothefore
acrossawiderangeoffieldsrelevanttochildwelfare.Theeditorsand
authors are to be congratulated in encompassing many contempo-
rarydebatesthroughaninformative,rigorousandthought-provoking
lens. This book will be vital reading for all working with children,
youngpeopleandfamilies.’
DrJaneMcCarthy,ReaderinFamilyStudies,DepartmentofSocial
Policy,OpenUniversity
Gender and Child Welfare in Society Edited by B. Featherstone, C.-A. Hooper, J. Scourfield, and J. Taylor
© 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-470-68186-2
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Gender and Child Welfare
in Society
Editedby
BridFeatherstone
Carol-AnnHooper
JonathanScourfield
JulieTaylor
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
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Thiseditionfirstpublished2010
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Genderandchildwelfareinsociety/editedbyBridFeatherstone...[etal.].
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-470-68186-2(cloth)–ISBN978-0-470-68187-9(pbk.)
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1 [2010]
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Contents
NotesonContributors vii
1 GenderandChildWelfareinSociety:Introductionto
SomeKeyConcepts 1
JonathanScourfield
2 ExploringtheRelationshipbetweenGenderand
ChildHealth:AComparativeAnalysisofHighand
LowEconomicResourceCountries 27
LorraineGreenandJulieTaylor
3 Gender,ChildMaltreatmentandYoung
People’sOffending 61
Carol-AnnHooper
4 GenderandSchooling 95
ShereenBenjamin
5 AreAbusedWomen‘Neglectful’Mothers?ACritical
ReflectionBasedonWomen’sExperiences 121
SimonLapierre
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vi Contents
6 TheClockStartsNow:Feminism,Motheringand
AttachmentTheoryinChildProtectionPractice 149
JuliaKrane,LindaDavies,RosemaryCarltonand
MeghanMulcahy
7 EngagingFathers–PromotingGenderEquality? 173
BridFeatherstone
8 WorkingwithViolentMaleCarers(Fathersand
Stepfathers) 195
MarkRivett
9 TheFamilyGroupConferenceinChildWelfare:
AViewfromNewZealand 223
MargaretMcKenzie
10 GenderinResidentialChildcare 247
MarkSmith
11 TherapeuticOptionsinChildProtectionand
GenderedPractices 273
TrishWalsh
Index 301
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Notes on Contributors
Shereen Benjaminis a senior lecturer in primary education at the
University of Edinburgh. After teaching in mainstream and special
schoolsformanyyearsshenowteachesandresearchesinthefieldof
sociologyofeducation,withaparticularinterestintheintersectionof
genderanddisabilityinschooling.HerbooksincludeTheMicropolitics
of Inclusive Education (Open University Press, 2002), and she is co-
editor,withSukiAliandMelanieMauthner,ofThePoliticsofGender
andEducation (Palgrave,2003).
RosemaryCarltonisaPhDcandidateattheSchoolofSocialWork,
McGillUniversity.Withsubstantialfront-linepracticeexperiencesin
childprotectionaswellasahospital-basedclinicforsexuallyabused
children, Rosemary is pursuing doctoral research that centres on
the varied experiences of mothers and teenaged daughters in the
aftermathofsexualabusedisclosures.Withparticularinterestinsocial
workpracticethatisreflectiveofandresponsivetodiversity,Rosemary
approaches practice, teaching and research with a commitment to
bothfeministandanti-oppressiveperspectives.
LindaDaviesis Full Professor in the School of Social Work, McGill
University,wheresheteachesintheareaofclinicalpracticeandqual-
itativeresearch.
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viii NotesonContributors
Brid Featherstoneis a professor of social work and social policy
at the University of Bradford. She has a particular interest in gen-
der and child welfare issues. In recent years she has researched
the issues for child welfare services in engaging fathers. Her latest
book,ContemporaryFathering:Theory,PolicyandPractice,waspub-
lishedbyPolicyPressin2009.
LorraineGreenisalecturerinsocialworkandsociologyattheUni-
versity of Manchester. Her research and writing interests centre on
and around children and child welfare, child abuse, gender, child
health, sexuality, resilience and various combinations thereof. Lor-
raine’smostrecentjournalarticleshavebeenwrittenondeafchildren
andresilience,samesexpartnershipbereavement,andchallengesto
andopportunitiesforhealthandsocialcareintegrationintheUK.
Carol-Ann Hooperis a senior lecturer in Social Policy at the Uni-
versity of York. Her research and teaching focus on the overlap-
ping fields of child abuse, child protection and family support,
and gender and crime. She is the author of Mothers Surviving
ChildSexualAbuse(Routledge,1992),co-editorwithUnaMcCluskey
ofPsychodynamic Perspectives on Abuse (Jessica Kingsley, 2000) and
co-author with Sarah Gorin, Christie Cabral and Claire Dyson of
Living with Hardship 24/7: The Diverse Experiences of Families in
PovertyinEngland (TheFrankButtleTrust,2007).
Julia Kraneis an associate professor in the School of Social Work,
McGill University. Her teaching, practice and research endeavours
centre on child welfare and violence against women in intimate re-
lationships. Her publications engage in feminist analyses of main-
streamandcommunitychildwelfarepractices,examinationsofchild
protectionpracticesthatunwittinglyreproducematernalblameand
responsibility for protection in cases of child sexual abuse, critical
analyses of services to battered women and their children, and cau-
tious reflections on the intersection of domestic violence and child
protectioninterventions.
Simon Lapierreis currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the
School of Social Work, McGill University. His work has focused on
women’s experiences of mothering in the context of domestic vi-
olence, and has provided a critical perspective on the ways child
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NotesonContributors ix
welfare policies and practices address this issue in both Canada and
theUnitedKingdom.
Margaret McKenzieis a senior lecturer and Head of Department
of Social Work and Community Development, University of Otago,
NewZealand.Shehasextensivepracticeexperienceinchildandfamily
mental health services. Her teaching and research interests focus on
family and family practice intersections with child welfare policy.
She has published on family group conferences in child protection,
researching with vulnerable clients and supervised contact services
forfathersandiscurrentlyworkingonaresearchprojecttoexamine
strengthsapproachesinchildwelfareservices.
MeghanMulcahyis a MSW candidate in the School of Social Work
atMcGill University researching qualitatively how mothers make
meaningof a child protection encounter. Meghan has worked as an
outreachworker in ruraland urban Canadian communities provid-
ing strength andharm-reduction based advocacy, information and
counsellingsupporttowomenandadolescentgirls.
MarkRivettisSeniorLecturerinFamilyTherapyandSystemicPrac-
tice at the School for Policy Studies, Bristol University and a family
therapist in South Wales. As well as having extensive experience in
children’smentalhealth,hehasmanagedadomesticviolenceservice
for the NSPCC which lead him to develop an expertise in working
withabusivemenandalsowithchildrenwhohavewitnesseddomestic
violence.Hispublicationsspanthesespecialtiesaswellasmoremain-
streamfamilytherapypractice.HeisthecurrenteditoroftheJournal
ofFamilyTherapy.
Jonathan Scourfieldis a Reader in Cardiff School of Social Sci-
ences.HisbooksincludeGenderandChildProtection(Palgrave,2003)
andWorking with Men in Health and Social Care (Sage 2007, with
Brid Featherstone and Mark Rivett). He is currently running a re-
search project on Muslim families under the joint research council
programme‘ReligionandSociety’.
Mark Smithis a lecturer in social work in the School of Social and
Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. Formerly he was a
practitionerandmanagerinresidentialchildcaresettingsforalmost
20years.Hehaspublishedwidelyonresidentialchildcareandhisfirst
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x NotesonContributors
book,RethinkingResidentialChildCare(2009),ispublishedbyPolicy
Press.HeisworkingtowardsaPhDexploringchangingdiscoursesof
careinScottishresidentialschools.
Julie Tayloris Professor of Family Health and Head of Division,
Research and Postgraduate Studies, School of Nursing and Mid-
wifery, University of Dundee. A nurse by profession, Julie’s re-
search focuses on optimal service delivery conditions in child-
care and protection practice. With Brigid Daniel, she is co-author
ofEngaging with Fathers: Practice Issues for Health and Social Care
(JessicaKingsley,2001)andco-editorofChildNeglect:IssuesforHealth
and Social Care (Jessica Kingsley, 2004). With Markus Themessl-
Huber she is co-editor ofSafeguarding Children in Primary Health
Care(JessicaKingsley,2009).
TrishWalshisalecturerinsocialworkintheSchoolofSocialWork
andSocialPolicy,TrinityCollegeDublin.Shepracticedinchildwel-
fareandmentalhealthsocialworkinDublinandLondonfor18years
andstilltakesoccasionalworkcarryingoutindependentcourtassess-
mentsinchildwelfarecases.Herresearchandteachingfocusonsocial
workeducation,criticaldiscoursesinsocialworkandtherapeuticin-
terventionsinmentalhealthandfamilywork.HerPhD(2002),acase
studyoftheintroductionofsolution-focusedtherapytoIrishsocial
workers,examinedthediffusionofinnovationinsocialwork.
All the contributors are members ofThe Gender and Child Wel-
fare Network. The network was formed in 2003 by a group of aca-
demics and consultants from all four countries in the UK with
the main aim of creating a community of researchers, practition-
ers, policy makers and lobby groups interested in gender and child
welfare issues. Since then the network has expanded to include
members from the USA, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland
and New Zealand. Details of the Network’s activities are given at
www.brad.ac.uk/acad/socsci/research/genchilnet.
ACanadianbranchoftheGenderandChildWelfareNetworkwas
launched as a sister network in 2008. Further details are given at
www.mcgill.ca/gender-child-welfare.
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1
Gender and Child Welfare in
Society: Introduction to Some
Key Concepts
JonathanScourfield
A father beating his wife because he thinks she has been looking at
anothermanwhiletheywereoutinthepub;agirlbeingregularlykept
offschooltobabysitheryoungersiblings;amotherwhoacknowledges
ambivalentfeelingstowardsherchildrenbeingnegativelyjudgedby
professionalsbecausesheisnotall-givingandeveravailable;ateenage
boydrinkingdailybecause,inpart,ofhispooremotionalliteracy;a
lesbianteenagersufferinghomophobicbullyinginschoolandneigh-
bourhood; a black boy struggling to achieve in school because he is
surroundedbypeopleexpectinghimnotto.Icouldgoon,ofcourse,
inlistingreasonswhythetopicofgenderandchildwelfaredeserves
abook.Itdoesnotonlydeserveabook;itdeservescomplexanalysis,
andthereforewehaveputtogetheracollectionofchaptersonvarious
differentdimensionsofthetopicbyauthorsfromdifferentlocations
andwithdifferenttheoreticalorientations.
Gender and Child Welfare in Society Edited by B. Featherstone, C.-A. Hooper, J. Scourfield, and J. Taylor
© 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-470-68186-2