Children's Rights: Policy and Practice

Gain insight into the practical realities and theoretical conflicts of ensuring a safe childhood for all!This comprehensive appraisal of children's rights encompasses legal, psychological, sociological, policy, and child advocacy issues. Children's Rights: Policy and Practice addresses the situation of minors at home, at school, in foster care, and in residential facilities. Throughout the book, the author clearly presents the practical and ethical dilemmas inherent in balancing a child's right to self-determination against the same child's need to be protected.Children's Rights begins with a concise history of the children's liberation and child protective movements and the legislation and court decisions they spawned. It analyzes how these rights compete with parents’rights, legitimate government concerns, and socioeconomic realities. The chapter on advocacy offers effective new strategies and little-known legal precedents that give a much-needed advantage to parents battling to ensure the educational rights of children with special needs.Children's Rights offers in-depth discussion of the essential issues, including:

• the causes of abuse and neglect
• help for families at risk
• techniques for case and cause advocacy
• children’s rights in schools and day care
• the role and function of child protective services and the juvenile justice system
• family and individual therapy
• effective social policy to protect and care for children

Balancing theoretical considerations, solid information, and practical advice, Children's Rights is an essential resource for child welfare workers, attorneys, academicians, parents, and social workers.

• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. The Children's Rights Movement
• Child Maltreatment and Children's Rights
• Foster Care and Adoption
• Litigation and Children's Rights
• Child Advocates
• Summary and Conclusion
• Chapter 2. The Rights of Children and Parents
• Dangers of State Interference
• Justifying State Intervention
• Minority Status of Children
• The Legal Rights of Children and Parents
• Child Liberationists versus Child Protectionists
• Summary and Conclusion
• Chapter 3. The Rights of Able Children and Children with Disabilities in Schools
• The Rights of Children in Public Schools
• Children with Disabilities and School Rights
• Comparison of the ADA and IDEA
• Summary and Conclusion
• Chapter 4. The Rights of Able Children and Children with Disabilities in Day Care Programs
• The Day Care System
• Day Care and Children with Disabilities
• Complaints and Enforcement of the ADA
• Children with Disabilities and Admissions to Day Care
• Summary and Conclusion
• Chapter 5. Children's Rights and Residential Treatment
• A Brief History of Residential Treatment and the Juvenile Court
• Children's Rights in Institutional Settings
• Summary and Conclusion
• Chapter 6. Children's Rights and Protective Services
• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Separation and Loss
• Protective Services
• The Court and Protective Services
• Summary and Conclusion
• Chapter 7. Advocacy and Children's Rights
• Effective Advocacy Skills for Parents
• Family Policy and Child Advocacy
• Professional and Child Advocacy
• A Case Example
• Summary and Conclusion
• Chapter 8. Children's Rights: Implications for Policy and Practice
• Family Policy
• Social Work Practice and Children
• Family Health and Children
• Summary and Conclusion
• Appendix: Organizations Focusing of Children's Rights
• Glossary
• References
• Index