International Perspectives on Secure Childcare
A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Childhood and Youth Studies".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 793
Special Issue Editors
Interests: residential childcare; secure care; child well-being; qualitative methodologies
Interests: residential childcare; legal education; animal law
Interests: residential childcare; decision-making; innovative technologies; qualitative methodologies
Interests: criminal law and justice; mental condition defences; human trafficking; vulnerable offenders
Interests: youth justice; children’s rights; innovative methodologies
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Secure childcare has long been an under-researched topic, despite it being a significant intervention in the lives of vulnerable children. However, in recent years, academic interest in secure institutions, and the possibility of alternatives to depriving children of their liberty, has grown. Now, voices nationally and internationally are reimagining what ‘secure’ might look like, rethinking the design of and/or need for locked institutions, and reigniting debate about how best to intervene with children who are considered to pose a risk to others and/or themselves. This Special Issue invites contributions from across the globe to capture the synergies and contrasts in academic thinking and explore possibilities for the future.
Authors are encouraged to submit original articles based on quantitative or qualitative empirical research, secondary data analysis, literature reviews or theoretical work from scholars, policymakers, practitioners and those with lived experiences on any issue relating to secure childcare. This may include, but is not limited to, articles focusing on the following:
- Lived experiences of secure institutions;
- The nature and purpose of secure care;
- Alternatives to secure care and/or innovative examples from practice;
- Characteristics of children in secure care;
- Health and well-being;
- Education;
- Race, ethnicity, diversity and inclusion;
- Workforce issues, including recruitment, retention and well-being;
- Comparative studies on practice models, institutional arrangements and/or legislative approaches;
- Issues and experiences of deprivation of liberty orders;
- Methods for engaging children and staff in secure childcare in research;
- Experiences of carrying out research in secure childcare and/or ethical dilemmas.
The editors welcome an intial discussion of proposals for papers that fall within, or outside of the above scope.
Dr. Caroline Andow
Dr. Rachel Dunn
Dr. Stefan Kleipoedszus
Prof. Dr. Nicola Wake
Prof. Dr. Raymond Arthur
Prof. Dr. Adeela ahmed Shafi
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. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 1800 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.
Keywords
- secure care
- secure alternatives
- deprivation of liberty
- residential childcare
- vulnerable children voice of the child
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