Vulnerable Children And Youth In Brazil

This book presents the results of researches conducted with children and youth at risk for over 20 years in Brazil. It addresses a series of topics related to children and youth living in poverty or in situations of social vulnerability, such as family, sexual and dating violence; adolescent mothers and mothers who put their children for adoption; children and youth living in foster and institutional care; and adolescents involved in drug trafficking or incarcerated in juvenile detention centers. Building upon the Bioecological Theory of Human Development, this volume emphasizes the innovative knowledge about psychosocial development of vulnerable children and youth produced in Brazil and aims to present theoretical and methodological approaches developed especially for the countries of the Global South, in an attempt to overcome the scientific divide between the North and South. Northern research agenda defines as global the theories, methodologies, and application of knowledge on social policies and interventions. However, the contexts, histories, and cultural processes are essential for producing and applying research knowledge according to specific regional characteristics, organizations, and conditions. Human development is related to contextual features and cannot be directly imported from one place to another. Departing from these original theoretical and methodological approaches, the book also presents the results of evidence-based interventions, showing its effectiveness in specific contexts. All of this makes Vulnerable Children and Youth in Brazil – Innovative Approaches from the Psychology of Social Development a valuable tool for psychologists, educators, social scientists and public health professionals studying or working with children and youth at risk in different parts of the world, contributing to the understanding of human development in cultural context.

This book presents an overview of the work of the most important Psychology researchers in Brazil, contributing to the internationalization of the discipline and fostering cross-cultural approaches in the field. Over the last two decades, Psychology research has experienced an enormous growth in Brazil, which has placed the country among the ten nations with the highest scientific output in the area. A big part of this output, however, remains inaccessible to the majority of the international community because it’s mainly published in Portuguese. This book intends to overcome this barrier, presenting a highly relevant sample of the best Psychology research produced in Brazil to those who are unable to read in Portuguese. In each chapter, a top Brazilian researcher is invited to present a summary of his/her main contributions to the field. The result is a rich overview of the main areas in which Brazilian psychologists have concentrated their work over the last decades, such as Developmental Psychology, Community Psychology, Educational and School Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Health Psychology, History of Psychology and Social Psychology. By putting together such a wide array of topics, Psychology in Brazil – Scientists Making a Difference offers a rich overview of the research in the country to psychologists, educators and social scientists in general interested in cross-cultural approaches within the Behavioral Sciences.

Of the 1.2 billion adolescents in the world today, 90% live in low- and middle-income countries. These adolescents face many challenges in their lives. Enrollment in secondary schools is still low in many parts of the world, with illiteracy rates approaching 30% in the least developed countries. Further, adolescents not in school are more vulnerable to trafficking, recruitment into armed conflict, and child labor. Many adolescent girls marry and begin bearing children at a young age, contributing to the perpetuation of poverty and health problems. Despite these many challenges, adolescents also represent a resource to be cultivated through educational opportunities and vocational training to move them toward economic independence, through initiatives to improve their reproductive health, and through positive interpersonal relationships to help them avoid risky behaviors and make positive decisions about their futures. Edited by Jennifer E. Lansford and Prerna Banati, the Handbook of Adolescent Development Research and its Impact on Global Policy tackles both the challenges and the promise of adolescence by presenting cutting-edge research on social, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and physical development. In addition to providing actionable strategies for policy-makers and practitioners, this volume consciously adopts a positive framing of adolescence, representing young people as opportunities, rather than threats. Throughout the book, readers will find a valuable investment at the individual and societal levels as a way to contribute to a positive shift in the public discourse around young people today.

This volume, written by experts in the field across 3 different continents, explores the condition of childhood with a particular focus on the fundamental rights of children and young people and how this translates into living conditions in different socio-cultural realities.

Reaffirm your political and spiritual commitment to helping the poor and oppressed! How can teachers and social workers reach the endangered kids who seldom come to school? By going to the streets, where the children live, work, fight, steal, get sick, sell their bodies, and all too often die. Working with Children on the Streets of Brazil is an in-depth study of Brazil's homeless children and the street youthworkers who offer them food, clothing, beds, hope, medical attention, education, and simple respect. The street children of Brazil live in unimaginable poverty and squalor, stealing jewelry or selling their bodies to survive, wandering homeless and untaught, pursued by death squads who clean up the streets by washing them with blood. Yet the street youthworkers interviewed in this moving, powerful book--some inspired by the Catholic Church's Liberation Theology movement, some employed by the government or private agencies--continue their efforts to help and heal these children, often with remarkable success. Their work is widely respected, and their unique viewpoint on serving throwaway children can offer creative solutions for social service workers around the globe. Many of the issues discussed in Working with Children on the Streets of Brazil will be painfully familiar to social service workers everywhere, including: the problems of how to identify, classify, and count the children of the streets the reasons children leave or lose their homes the implications of policy decisions and socioeconomic forces on the children's lives the clash between law-and-order advocates and social service professionals the negative effects of deinstitutionalization and overcrowded youth homes the tragic societal consequences of the widening gap between rich and poor the problems of youth crime and violence the difficulties in delivering education, health care, and basic services for homeless children This impressive book offers a detailed history of the development of street social education; a study of the aims, methods, and experiences of youthworkers; and solid advice on using the principles and practices of street social education to reach the at-risk youth of any country, including the United States. Working with Children on the Streets of Brazil is both a scholarly work on the phenomenon of homeless children and a rousing call to action that will remind you of the reasons you chose to work in social services.

This new edition of A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation brings together work from research and practice to reflect on some of the key developments in the field since the first edition published in 2010. Subtitled ‘Conversations for Transformational Change’, the collection focuses on both ongoing and new discourses that enable us to advance thinking and practice to better understand what it means for participation to be transformational. Featuring all new content, it explores the developments that have been achieved in theory and practice in the last decade as well as the challenges and, indeed, the limitations of dominant participation approaches with children and young people in achieving genuine societal transformation. A key feature of the Handbook is the inclusion of young people as co-authors in many of the chapters. Foregrounding aspects of participation as experienced by diverse groups of children and young people, the book especially illuminates the experiences and perspectives of participation relating to groups of children who face particular challenges, such as displaced children and children living with disabilities and young people from indigenous groups in a range of contexts. The broad spectrum of debates that the text covers will be invaluable in challenging and transforming thinking and practice for a wide range of scholars, practitioners, activists and young people themselves. It will additionally be suitable for use on a wide range of courses including childhood and youth studies, sociology, law, political studies, community development, development studies, children’s rights, citizenship studies, education and social work.

For centuries, societies have relied upon residential care settings to provide homes for children, and for much of that period a debate has raged over whether such settings are appropriate places for children to be raised. In recent years this debate has taken on an international dimension as human rights policies have called into question the legitimacy of residential care of children. Unfortunately, the ideological fervor that usually accompanies such discussions prevents a more nuanced understanding of the reasons that countries continue to make use of residential care. Residential Care of Children: Comparative Perspectives fills major gaps in knowledge about residential care and is intended to inform debates within and between nations about the appropriate use of such institutions. Eleven country-specific chapters, written by child welfare experts from around the world, provide an in-depth understanding of the historical development of residential care, the current state of affairs, and predictions for the future. Chapters describe how residential care is defined in each country, how it has evolved over time, factors that have contributed to the observed pattern of development of residential care, and potential concerns for the future. An integrative chapter presents a critical cross-national perspective, identifying common themes and analyzing underlying factors. Seeking to explain rather than cast judgment, Residential Care of Children: Comparative Perspectives will be fruitful reading for policymakers, program administrators, advocates, practitioners, and scholars interested in creating better services for vulnerable children and youth.

Valuable contributions on different aspects of sexual and reproductive health among young people are presented in this book, with a focus on developing country contexts. Key discussions on issues relating to young people and their sexual activities are brought together in one volume, exploring how these issues are affected by the wider contexts in which they live. The interdisciplinary team of contributors examine the practical and ideological barriers that inhibit progress in the development of educational and service level improvement of young people’s sexual health as well as presenting examples of efforts made to overcome such difficulties. Promoting Young People's Sexual Health looks to the future, proposing ways forward in terms of policy and legislative changes necessary for long term improvements in young people’s sexual health.