January S Child

Rhymed text and illustrations describe characteristics of babies born in each month of the year.

Rhymed text and illustrations describe characteristics of babies born in each month of the year.

Michael Schofield’s daughter January is at the mercy of her imaginary friends, except they aren’t the imaginary friends that most young children have; they are hallucinations. And January is caught in the conflict between our world and their world, a place she calls Calalini. Some of these hallucinations, like “24 Hours,” are friendly and some, like “400 the Cat” and “Wednesday the Rat,” bite and scratch her until she does what they want. They often tell her to scream at strangers, jump out of buildings, and attack her baby brother. At six years old, January Schofield, “Janni,” to her family, was diagnosed with schizophrenia, one of the worst mental illnesses known to man. What’s more, schizophrenia is 20 to 30 times more severe in children than in adults and in January’s case, doctors say, she is hallucinating 95 percent of the time that she is awake. Potent psychiatric drugs that would level most adults barely faze her. A New York Times bestseller, January First captures Michael and his family's remarkable story in a narrative that forges new territory within books about mental illness. In the beginning, readers see Janni’s incredible early potential: her brilliance, and savant-like ability to learn extremely abstract concepts. Next, they witnesses early warning signs that something is not right, Michael’s attempts to rationalize what’s happening, and his descent alongside his daughter into the abyss of schizophrenia. Their battle has included a two-year search for answers, countless medications and hospitalizations, allegations of abuse, despair that almost broke their family apart and, finally, victories against the illness and a new faith that they can create a life for Janni filled with moments of happiness. A compelling, unsparing and passionate account, January First vividly details Schofield’s commitment to bring his daughter back from the edge of insanity. It is a father’s soul-baring memoir of the daily struggles and challenges he and his wife face as they do everything they can to help Janni while trying to keep their family together.

Children and young people in care rarely match the academic achievements of their peers and policy and procedures to address this inequality have not yet remedied the problem. Drawing on ideas from social pedagogy, the authors present a new approach - learning placements and caring schools. They show that education and care must be considered integral to both out of home placements and schools. Packed with practice examples, it includes chapters on early childhood education and care, as well as alternatives to school and higher education, covering everything from birth up to the age of 25. It highlights the potential benefits of a range of learning opportunities, from drama and outdoor activities, to bedtime stories and mentoring as well as providing support for teachers in their role as carer. Chapters include key points, case studies, practice points and useful resources. This is a unique evidence-informed practical guide for students and professionals in the fields of social work, social care, psychology and education.

Child labor law strikes most Americans as a fixture of the country’s legal landscape, involving issues settled in the distant past. But these laws, however self-evidently sensible they might seem, were the product of deeply divisive legal debates stretching over the past century—and even now are subject to constitutional challenges. Child Labor in America tells the story of that historic legal struggle. The book offers the first full account of child labor law in America—from the earliest state regulations to the most recent important Supreme Court decisions and the latest contemporary attacks on existing laws. Children had worked in America from the time the first settlers arrived on its shores, but public attitudes about working children underwent dramatic changes along with the nation’s economy and culture. A close look at the origins of oppressive child labor clarifies these changing attitudes, providing context for the hard-won legal reforms that followed. Author John A. Fliter describes early attempts to regulate working children, beginning with haphazard and flawed state-level efforts in the 1840s and continuing in limited and ineffective ways as a consensus about the evils of child labor started to build. In the Progressive Era, the issue finally became a matter of national concern, resulting in several laws, four major Supreme Court decisions, an unsuccessful Child Labor Amendment, and the landmark Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Fliter offers a detailed overview of these events, introducing key figures, interest groups, and government officials on both sides of the debates and incorporating the latest legal and political science research on child labor reform. Unprecedented in its scope and depth, his work provides critical insight into the role child labor has played in the nation’s social, political, and legal development.

Using simple, conversational language, this classic volume discusses such matters as the nature of God, sin, salvation, the Christian life, the church, prayer, and the Second Coming. Widely used by teachers and parents.

JANUARY'S CHILD, though written as a novel, reflects, in part, the life experience of Darline Chancy Lloyd, Haiti's most beautiful daughter, whom we had the privilege of adopting. She is presently twenty years old. As parents our first concern is the welfare of our dear daughter, as she moves through the various involvements of her life. But as with all the details of our personal experiences there is a larger picture. Experience is the filter through which we see and interpret life. Because of my long journey with the Christian church, I found myself viewing it through the lens of January's Child's encounter. The view has been less than positive and the dominate emotion that is evoked has been one of deep sadness. Two thousand years after the prayer of Christ's Passion, that we all would be one, we still find ourselves battling ancient prejudices which make our love, acceptance and welcome far less than unconditional. We stumble over difference, and view uniqueness as either making us superior or inferior to another. From the ridiculous to the sublime, we relegate "those" people to "their place" according to our prejudicial stereotype. We mete out love, acceptance and welcome conditioned upon distinction. Buried beneath these differences is the soul. For all who find it- both their own and with those to whom they relate- there is a refreshing discovery that the soul is colour blind. In fact it is blind to all those skin-deep differences that fuel discrimination, destroy peace in human relationships, and divide nations. In such a colour blind soul there is room for all souls regardless of external differences, and love, acceptance and welcome are without condition, demand or expectation. The barriers to relationship with other people, and God himself are simply nonexistent. What Colour is a soul? ******