World Children’s Day | Interview with Dr. Graham Connelly—Editorial Board Member of Youth

World Children’s Day was first established in 1954 as Universal Children’s Day and is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and the improvement of their welfare. This year, under the theme “Listen to the Future, Stand up for Children’s Rights”, we were honored to interview Dr. Graham Connelly, an Editorial Board Member of Youth (ISSN: 2673-995X).

The following is a short interview with Dr. Graham Connelly:

1. Could you introduce yourself and share a brief overview of your research field?
My name is Graham Connelly, and I live in Glasgow, Scotland. I am an honorary senior research fellow in the Department of Social Work and Social Policy, and in CELCIS (Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection), at the University of Strathclyde. As well as my involvement with Youth, I am also Editor-in-Chief of the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care. Before retirement I was an academic engaged in teaching, research, and knowledge exchange in relation to the wellbeing of children in public care. More specifically, my main research interest has been in improving outcomes in education for children in care and care experienced young people and adults. In retirement, I have been developing interests in the history of care experience.

2. What was the biggest challenge you faced in your research career?
That’s an interesting question because every project brings unique challenges. One project was challenging because it involved a multi-disciplinary team where understanding the different perspectives of the various disciplines was vital, but also enlightening. This was a big data study of the dental health of children in care in Scotland. Sadly, it confirmed what we suspected: that children in care have considerably poorer dental health than all children, and this greatly impacts their lives, affecting confidence, with implications for education, employment and relationships. It also showed that children living in family foster care had the best dental health, identifying the need to give more attention to tooth brushing and dentist visits for children in group care. The good news is that the research helped to inform a debate which led to a change in the law, giving care-experienced adults in Scotland access to free dental treatment until age 25.

3. What does World Children’s Day mean to you, both as a researcher and as a member of the global community?
Having worked on a UNICEF-funded project, I have great respect for this and other international agencies that work across country boundaries to seek to protect the human rights of children. As a baby boomer—born in the year UNICEF became a permanent part of the UN—I grew up with the recent memory of family dislocation after World War II, and having celebrated the steady improvement in children’s rights I am saddened by current challenges caused directly by conflict and indirectly by lack of respect for international law. International days themselves can have limited impact, but they are important opportunities to get media attention and provide a consistent point in the year when we can assess whether children’s rights globally have improved or deteriorated and highlight examples of concerns and achievements. For example, in my own country, while improvements in the attainment of children in care have been disappointing, many more care-experienced people are now accessing post-school education and receiving better support.

4. Looking ahead, what changes or advancements would you most like to see in the next 10 years to ensure a safer, healthier, and more equitable future for all children?
For a while there was a government advertising slogan in the international arrivals area at Glasgow Airport: “Welcome to Scotland – a great place for children to grow up”. Many countries will make similar claims, and all will fall short in various ways. I’d like to see politicians of all stripes, everywhere, putting the best needs of children and families at the forefront of their manifestos. As a boomer, I’m aware of my good fortune in health and wellbeing, but as a grandparent I worry about the future. We need to protect children from being harmed by conflict and provide the best care for children affected by strife, dislocation, famine and poverty. We need to fund international children’s agencies better, and yes, of course hold them to account for the funds they receive. There are very good examples, worldwide, of ways of consulting with children that are not tokenistic. I’d like to see these being expanded. There will be another pandemic, and I hope we will have learned lessons from COVID-19 about how to put children’s needs, and rights, at the center of planning for population security.

5. As an Editorial Board Member of Youth, could you share your experience with MDPI?
As a Board Member, I am involved in screening articles received by the journal and checking they are a good match with the journal’s aim and scope and considering potential reviewers. I then monitor reviews and help to make judgements about suitability for publication. My first involvement with MDPI was an invitation to guest edit a Special Issue on residential care for children and young people. I was helped in that task by two wonderful colleagues—Sarah Deeley of CELCIS and Dan Johnson of Kibble Education and Care Centre. We were delighted with the quality, and diversity, of papers we received, and it was very satisfying to receive in the post a hardback copy of the collected papers. We dedicated the Special Issue to one of the authors, Dr. Ruby Whitelaw, who was also a colleague, and died suddenly before the final compilation was published.