Search Results (8)

Background/Objectives: To effectively support children’s learning and well-being, primary educators must thoroughly understand child trauma. Being ‘trauma informed’ means recognizing the impact of trauma and responding supportively, which can help mitigate its adverse effects on learners. This study explored the understanding of childhood trauma among primary school teachers in Limpopo province, focusing on the circuits of Mvudi and Dzindi due to their high prevalence of childhood traumatic experiences. Methods: An exploratory descriptive and contextual design was used in this study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 26 teachers, utilizing total population sampling for schools and purposive sampling for respondents. Results: The findings revealed that teachers typically define trauma in terms of domestic issues and abuse and identify symptoms in learners’ behavior, emotions, and academic performance. Teachers employ strategies to assist affected learners, such as building rapport and involving social workers or school authorities when needed. Conclusions: This study highlighted teachers’ critical role in identifying and assisting traumatized children and underlined the necessity for effective training programs and school-based support systems. A comprehensive strategy is necessary, including advocacy for equitable support services and standardized training on trauma-informed practices. Full article

Infantile occult exposure to cocaine in domestic environments represents a complex clinical and medico-legal problem, which can be associated with abuse and neglect and with potential short- and long-term health risks for children. The authors present a retrospective study on 764 children under 14 years old who accessed the Emergency Department of IRCCS Meyer from 2016 to 2023 and were included in the GAIA (Child and Adolescent Abuse Group) protocol for suspected maltreatment and abuse, and for which a urine toxicology analysis was performed. The aim is to discuss the medico-legal implications and highlight the need for a thorough evaluation and management of such situations. Urine screening tests for substances of abuse (e.g., cocaine, opiates, etc.) were performed with an EMIT^® Siemens VIVA-E drug testing system (Siemens, Newark DE) in 124 cases for which the child’s clinical condition raised suspicion of intoxication, or the family context indicated distress or substance abuse dependency. The screening results revealed the presence of cocaine and its main metabolite, benzoylecgonine, in the urine of 11 children. In one case, a single girl was brought to the Emergency Department by staff from the facility where she and her mother were staying. In most of the cases, children were brought to the Emergency Department by their parents who accessed the Emergency Department due to various clinical manifestations (drowsiness, agitation, seizures, hypotonia, diarrhea, vomiting, etc.), except for one case of eye trauma suspected to be caused by abuse or neglect by one of the parents. Three of the children did not have signs or symptoms attributable to substance exposure, whilst eight of the cases presented some of the symptoms associated with occult infant exposure to cocaine, such as neurological manifestations, seizures, gastrointestinal symptoms, and respiratory depression. The probable mode of intake was mostly through breastfeeding and continuous environmental exposure due to domestic contamination or inhalation of “crack”. In the case of a 12-hour-old infant, there was probable prenatal in utero exposure. All the children were hospitalized, some for medical reasons and others solely as a precautionary measure for proper care. In all cases, a report was made to the Prosecutors as required by the Italian Penal Code, as well as to the Court of Minor. The study highlighted the importance of a multidisciplinary approach involving pediatricians, social workers, and forensics, as well as close collaboration with the relevant authorities, as the Gaia service at IRCCS Meyer offers. The occasional detection of cocaine in cases that showed no suspicion of intoxication led to a modification of the procedure and the development of a standardized protocol at IRCCS Meyer both in terms of prevention and in the detection and interception of hidden cases, in order to intervene early and initiate the necessary care pathways (secondary prevention). This protocol includes routine toxicological urine testing in all suspected or confirmed cases of child abuse, not just in those where symptoms might suggest a suspicion of intoxication. Full article

The new Domestic Workers Dataset is the largest single set of surveys (n = 11,759) of domestic workers to date. Our analysis of this dataset reveals features about the lives and work of this “hard-to-find” population in India—a country estimated to have the largest number of people living in forms of contemporary slavery (11 million). The data allow us to identify child labour, indicators of forced labour, and patterns of exploitation—including labour paid below the minimum wage—using bivariate analysis, factor analysis, and spatial analysis. The dataset also helps to advance our understanding of how to measure labour exploitation and modern slavery by showing the value of “found data” and participatory and citizen science approaches. Full article

The care crisis has become a global trend, and the demand for child and elderly care is increasing worldwide. The increasing number of home care workers plays a significant role in meeting this demand in developing countries. The mental health of these workers is associated with the quality of care they provide, which has rarely been studied. This paper explored the factors that affect home care workers’ depression, including their socio-demographic characteristics, working environment, relationship with clients, social support networks, economic burden, and subjective perceptions of discrimination and work. It utilized data from the Shanghai Domestic-work Professionalization Survey (SDPS), which was conducted among four types of in-home caregivers (n = 1000) in Shanghai over a period ranging from May to September 2021. The results show that the variables of marriage, education, self-reported health, relationship with client, economic burden, and subjective perceptions of discrimination and care work are significantly associated with home care workers’ level of depression. However, the variables of gender, age, household registration, and work environmental factors have no significant effect on their level of depression, which differs from the findings of previous studies on care workers in other institutions. Full article

Reflecting the focus of this Special Issue on “Rule of Law and Human Mobility in the Age of the Global Compacts,” this article contributes to the discussion on the threats to the rule of law posed by immigration detention through the lens of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). In GCM’s Objective 13, states committed to use immigration detention only as a measure of last resort, work towards alternatives and draw from eight sets of actions to realise this commitment. Given the attention the GCM attracts, its nonbinding character and the voluntary nature of its review can be used by states as justification for their inadequate implementation of binding human rights obligations and insufficient reporting on implementation to the supervising bodies. While acknowledging these challenges to the rule of law, this article explores the ways the GCM can actually foster the rule of law in the area of immigration detention. To strengthen the rule of law principles of legality, legal certainty, prohibition of arbitrariness, access to justice and the right to an effective remedy, Objective 13 needs to support a binding human rights regime by preventing arbitrary detention and its implementation at the domestic level. The article discusses the interplay between Objective 13 on the one hand, and, on the other, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and Convention on the Rights of the Child at three levels—the detention provisions, the support provided to states for the implementation of these provisions and the monitoring of states’ implementation—and it proposes means to strengthen the synergies between the two frameworks. Full article

Child domestic work is a hidden form of child labour driven by poverty and social norms. However, little is known about the situations of child domestic workers. This study aims to describe and analyse gender-specific working conditions, health, and educational outcomes among hidden child domestic workers (CDWs) living in third-party homes relative to married children, biological children, and other children in kinship care. Data from the 2019 Zimbabwe Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) were analysed. Descriptive statistics and bivariable logistic regression were used to describe frequency and estimated prevalence. Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) were used to identify exposures and inform the selection of covariates. Multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to estimate the effect of each exposure variable. The prevalence of CDWs was 1.5% and CDWs were mainly girls and living in much wealthier households with more educated household heads while married girls were living in much poorer households. When compared among girls themselves, being a CDW was significantly associated with having a functional disability, while married girls were more frequently engaged in hazardous working conditions. We provide the first intersectional analysis comparing work, violence, and health outcomes among CDWs, married children and other children. Child protection measures are needed to safeguard children in domestic work and marriages. Full article

This rapid systematic review describes violence and health outcomes among child domestic workers (CDWs) taken from 17 studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries. Our analysis estimated the median reported rates of violence in CDWs aged 5–17-year-olds to be 56.2% (emotional; range: 13–92%), 18.9% (physical; range: 1.7–71.4%), and 2.2% (sexual; range: 0–62%). Both boys and girls reported emotional abuse and sexual violence with emotional abuse being the most common. In Ethiopia and India, violence was associated with severe physical injuries and sexual insecurity among a third to half of CDWs. CDWs in India and Togo reported lower levels of psycho-social well-being than controls. In India, physical punishment was correlated with poor psycho-social well-being of CDWs [OR: 3.6; 95% CI: 3.2–4; p < 0.0001]. Across the studies, between 7% and 68% of CDWs reported work-related illness and injuries, and one third to half had received no medical treatment. On average, children worked between 9 and 15 h per day with no rest days. Findings highlight that many CDWs are exposed to abuse and other health hazards but that conditions vary substantially by context. Because of the often-hidden nature of child domestic work, future initiatives will need to be specifically designed to reach children in private households. Young workers will also benefit from strategies to change social norms around the value and vulnerability of children in domestic work and the long-term implications of harm during childhood. Full article

Little is known about interventions to support the education, skills training, and health of female child domestic workers (CDWs). This rapid systematic literature review followed PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO registration: CRD42019148702) and summarises peer-reviewed and grey literature on health, education, and economic interventions for CDWs and interventions targeting employers. We searched six electronic databases and purposively searched grey literature. We included observational studies, which included an intervention, quasi-experimental, and experimental studies. Two reviewers independently screened articles. Data were extracted on intervention description, inputs, activities, type of evaluation, outcomes, effect size or impact where applicable, limitations, and ethical considerations. All studies were quality appraised. We identified eight papers from five studies. Six papers reported on health-related outcomes, two on education-related outcomes, and three on economic outcomes. No evaluations of employer-related interventions were identified. Only one intervention specifically targeted CDWs. Others included CDWs in their sample but did not disaggregate data for CDWs. Findings suggest that the evaluated interventions had a limited impact on CDW’s health, education, and economic outcomes. While it appears feasible to reach CDWs with outreach interventions, further work is needed to improve the consistency of their effectiveness and their ability to improve CDWs’ current and future prospects. Full article