Promoting Young People S Wellbeing Through Empowerment And Agency

The terms ‘wellbeing’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘agency’ are common parlance in policy and practice with children, young people and families (CYPF), yet are often misused or not fully understood. Further, there is a disconnect between these abstract concepts and tangible practice with CYPF. This book bridges the theory-practice divide, offering a clear and definitive guide to concepts and practical ways to develop CYPF wellbeing. It examines the concept of wellbeing and its intrinsic relationship to social justice both theoretically and through case study material, and locates these practices within critical pedagogy. The book highlights a range of practice with CYPF of various ages, in formal and non-formal learning situations, engaged in a range of different programmes including learning, reduction from offending, social action and tackling targeted needs. Each chapter highlights relevant policy, research and practice examples to ensure that the book is relevant to a variety of readers. This book will benefit students and practitioners who work with young people to realise wellbeing and to embed critical pedagogy in their practice. It also provides a frame of reference to critically engage in policy analysis and is essential reading for social workers, teachers, police support officers and anyone working to support CYPF to become empowered.

Perspectives on Wellbeing: A Reader explores the multifaceted notion of wellbeing from different disciplinary perspectives in the social sciences, contributing to an understanding of human flourishing and of inclusive and empowering social relations.

For centuries, residential child and youth care systems worldwide have provided homes for vulnerable children and adolescents. The implementation of children's rights, especially the right of participation, is assessed as an important base for promoting the best interests of the child in an out-of-home care environment. Featuring contributions from distinguished international authors, this volume offers an in-depth understanding of crucial participation processes and underlying power structures when involving young people in decision-making about their care and everyday life in different out-of-home care institutions. Contributions cover a broad spectrum of current research findings concerning the participation of young people in foster families and residential living groups in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland as well as cross-nationals perspective on children and young people’s participation in foster and residential care placements in Great Britain and France. The volume fills major gaps concerning the participation of young people in different out-of-home care and policy settings and will be required reading for policymakers, researchers, practitioners, scholars, and students interested in increasing opportunities for young people’s participation and creating better out-of-home care settings for vulnerable young people.

For many children and young people, Britain is a harmful society in which to grow up. This book contextualizes the violence that occurs between a small number of young people within a wider perspective on social harm. Aimed at academics, youth workers and policy makers, the book presents a new way to make sense of this pressing social problem. The authors also propose measures to substantially improve the lives of Britain’s young people in areas ranging from the early years to youth services and the criminal justice system.

This book is a vital new resource in the sociological study of family life in the 21st century. The chapters in this volume explore a diverse range of family and intimate life experiences, such as personal choices about reproduction and how life choices and family forms are mediated by factors including geographical location, race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, income and government policy. Through a series of evidence-based chapters, leading sociologists explore a diverse range of family and intimate life experiences and the contexts within which they are lived and experienced. Each chapter delves into the lives and experiences of people whose choices in some way seem to disrupt normative and traditional ideas of family, parenting and childhood. Family patterns and experiences of living apart together, troubled families, children in care, culture, coupledom, same-sex families and digital technology are covered and examined innovatively through theoretical engagement. Chapters also incorporate innovative technologies and their use within family spaces that shape the nature of human relationships and interactions. These negotiations within the family are globally contextualised within the political and ideological frameworks of societies at any given moment in time. The work recognises the sensitivity of family and personal lives and incorporates the increasing need of the impact of emotionality that forms part of knowledge production. Additionally, innovative methods are showcased in chapters on researching the family through socially just methods, researcher emotionality and visual data. By bringing together thought-provoking research findings and innovative methodological and theoretical approaches, this collection of essays raises and articulates relevant, timely and future thinking for its readers. This book will therefore be indispensable for students and researchers as well as professionals and policymakers interested in understanding family life in the 21st century.

Children and Adolescent’s Experiences of Violence and Abuse at Home is a unique book that explores some of the main controversies and challenges within the field. The book is organised into three sections, the first covering work that has focused on the experiences of living in DV settings as a child or young person, the second offers overviews of the impact of child victimisation and the final section is about working with children in practice and service-based settings. It includes extensive reviews of the literature, empirical research and practice observations, all of which provide compelling evidence of a need to change how we construct victims and design services. It provides evidence for the need to work sensitively, inclusively, and responsively around issues of victim identification, support, and prevention. Moreover, the evidence urges us to include children’s and adult victim/survivor’s experiences and contributions in the creation of services. Concluding with a series of recommendations for both future research, and ways in which we can help use the research findings to inform practice, it is a must-read for researchers, practitioners and educators working with children and young people within the field of domestic violence and abuse. It will also be of interest and value to policy makers who are reviewing legislation and those involved in commissioning psychological services, and victim services that work with child and adolescent victims.

The result of collaboration between European universities as part of an Erasmus+ funded project, and bridging practical, empirical and theoretical questions, this edited collection delves into the narratives of young respondents that have experienced severe challenges in their school life.

Avoiding both over-simplification and jargon-riddled complexity, this book is an invaluable, straightforward guide to participatory research for you and your fellow practitioners working with community groups and organisations. The book offers a route map for co-research projects with groups and communities, taking you through each stage of the participatory research process, from planning a project to sharing the findings. Keeping in mind imperatives such as engagement and voice, the book explores how to carry out research in ways that are meaningful for communities. This book includes valuable resources such as reflection points, tasks and further reading lists, offering support to practitioners to plan and undertake participatory research projects with confidence.