The Relationship between Children, Parents and the Welfare State

Dear colleagues,

The state’s interest, in and obligation to, protect the welfare of children is recognized by most nation-states. Furthermore, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that states must take measures to protect children against abuse and neglect while in the care of parents (article 19) and must separate a child from their family environment if necessary (article 20). In child welfare policies, a balance needs to be struck between the obligation of the state to protect children and the obligation to respect family autonomy. Some would refer to this need as a balancing of the rights of the child and the rights of parents, others as the balancing of the child’s right to protection and permanency in placements and the child’s right to not be separated from, or be reunited with, their family. The balance between these priorities varies among countries in terms of child welfare policies. Gilbert (1997) identified two general orientations in child welfare policies, a child protective orientation and a family service orientation, where the former focuses primarily on protecting children against harm inflicted on them by their parents and the latter prioritizes the development of a partnership with parents. Such orientations were used to determine the nature of policies and practices concerning the removal of children from their family homes, voluntary and involuntary interventions, transfer of custody, adoption, and family reunification. In a follow-up study fifteen years later, however, Gilbert (2012) claimed that these orientations had begun to converge and a third approach emerged, which more broadly emphasizes the state's responsibility to promote the development of children. In subsequent critiques of child welfare policies, the state has alternately been accused of not offering sufficient protection to children and of using child rights discourses for legitimate interventions in family life in a manner that violates the rights of a family to autonomy.

This Special Issue aims to bring together articles that contribute to the discussion of child welfare policies and practices in light of the interests and rights that are ascribed to children, parents and the family, and the role ascribed to the state. We invite contributions from all national contexts, including empirical studies on child welfare policies and practices and political debates and public discourse as well as critical discussions of policy approaches.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Child protection;
• Foster care;
• Adoption;
• Institutional care;
• The removal of children from their family homes;
• The transferral of custody for a child;
• Voluntary/involuntary care;
• Family reunification following a care placement.

References:

Gilbert, N (ed.) (1997) Combatting child abuse: International perspectives and trends. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gilbert, N (2012) “A comparative study of child welfare systems: Abstract orientations and

concrete results”, Children and Youth Services Review 34: 532–536.

If you want to receive comments on a paper proposal before submitting a full manuscript, you can submit an abstract (about 250 words) by using the 'Submit abstract to special issue' form. Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors and you will hear back from them within two weeks.

As to the full manuscripts submission process, please turn to "Manuscript Submission Information" section below.

Dr. Judith Lind
Dr. Cecilia Lindgren
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genealogy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• child protection
• child welfare
• foster care
• adoption
• child removal
• family reunification