Editorial: Child Care in Practice

Boyle, Clionagh (2021) Editorial: Child Care in Practice. Child Care in Practice, 27 (1). pp. 1-3. ISSN 1357-5279

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Abstract

One of the pleasures in writing an editorial is the invitation to consider a broad range of articles and reflect on how these individually and collectively illuminate the focus and scope of the multi-disciplinary journal Child Care in Practice. This edition reflects a range of perspectives from child health, child care, social care, child protection and mental health. Importantly, reflection is also drawn from a breadth of socio-cultural contexts including Kenya, Ireland, Albania, the United States and South Africa. Considered together, these offer different ways of seeing, researching, making and critiquing policy and developing practice. Within this diversity however, there are clear threads of connection; a focus on child rights and voice is evident in contributions by McGregor, Devaney, and Moran (2020) in relation to children in foster care while protection rights in the context of migration are addressed by Vathi and Richards (2020). Bronfenbrenner’s bi-directional framework (1979, 2005) is a common point of reference in research, policy and practice across the social scientific disciplines. Another unifying aspect is in the sustained reference to the ecology of childhood which provides a critical framework for the study by Sonkola, Kvalsvig, Brouwer, Holding, and Taylor (2020) which has a focus on paternal involvement and child health. Similarly, a systems perspective and a focus on the enabling and challenging features of the ecological context for adolescent mental health are captured by Harrison, Loxton, and Somhlaba (2020) while the study by Flynn (2019) is focused on the implications for social care practice of broader systemic change. Asymmetry within the system, inequalities of access and the impact of poverty is a key focus of Moran’s (2020) work on childcare transitions, of Vathi and Richards (2020) in relation to migration and of Harrison et al. (2020) in relation to adolescent mental health. The placement of the child at the ecological centre is not only concerned with systemic impact and professional concern but also agency and voice.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Education
Depositing User:	Clionagh Boyle
Date Deposited:	05 May 2023 08:50
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2024 13:06
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3915

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