Children Flashcards
How do we define a “child” in the social and legal contexts?
-
Social – Dependent on cultural context
- Eg: Child labour in the past ➝ Child abuse now
-
Legal – Elastic and varied
- Children and Young Person’s Act
- Min age of criminal responsibility: 7 (2019 PCR proposing 10)
- Child: < 14
- Young Person: 14 - < 16 (2019 MSF proposing to extend CYPA to offenders up to 18)
- Prisons
- Young Person: < 21
- Women’s Charter
- Child: < 21
- Adoption of Children Act
- Infant: < 21
- Children and Young Person’s Act
What are the four principles of the UNCRC?
- Children of any background should not be discriminated against
- Children have a right to survival and development in all aspects (physical, emotional, psychosocial, cognitive, social, cultural)
- Always consider best interests of child when making decisions pertaining to child
- Children should be allowed to voice opinions on matters relating to themselves
What does there tend to be underreporting of cases of child abuse?
- Tricky distinction b/w discipline vs physical punishment
- Public’s perception of child abuse as a private home affair
- Public may not believe that it has an active role in reporting child abuse
How is family violence dealt with in Singapore, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
- Approach
- Mandatory counselling
- Not a criminal offence, hence no criminal record
- Unless fail to abide by state requirements
- Unless severe enough to be charged under Penal Code
- Advantages: Alllows for rehabilitation
- Trying family violence in criminal court may be at expense of rehabiliting and reintegrating perpetrator into family
- Disadvantages: Hard to deal with recalcitrant perpetrators
When should society intervene to safeguard the interests of children, and what doctrine is this based on?
- When child is
- Being harmed
- Harming themselves
- Harming others
Or when intervention is deemed as necessary for their care and protection
- “Parens Patriae” doctrine: State has the right to intervene and protect its subjects who are unable to protect themselves
What are some reasons why child abuse rates are increasing? (Physical > Sexual > Neglect)
- True increase as mentally stressed parents may vent on children
- Increased awareness leads to greater reporting
- Greater resources in the community facilitate greater reporting
What is MSF’s Policy on Child Welfare?
Children need safe and nurturing env for optimum growth & development
- AFAP, children should stay with their families for stability
- But when families become dysfunctional or unsafe, must intervene to put child in secure place
What is the structure and function of the Family Justice Courts?
- Structure
- One of 3 court systems (others: state courts, supreme courts)
- Consists of
- Family Court (Divorce, PPO, adoption & guardianship)
- Juvenile Court (CYPA, probation)
- Function
- Separated from criminal courts so family issues can be dealt in less adversarial manner
- Leverage on social support services to rehabilitate families
What are examples of some social work jobs in Child Welfare?
What approach is adopted for child protection under CYPA?
- Person-in-environment, multi-discplinary intervention
- Mandatory reporting of suspected cases of child abuse by professionals who work with children, but not the broader public
What are the aims of Substitutive Child Welfare Services?
Provide some examples.
- Substitutive Services – Take over role of natural providers
- Substitute for parental care when parents are not able to carry out their functions; child must be removed for his best interest
- Return predicated on improvement in home condition
- Examples:
- Foster care service
- Adoption service
- Group care – emergency shelters, children’s homes, residential treatment centres
What are some Preventive Child Welfare Services by the State and Community?
- By State:
- CDA – dollar-for-dollar matching, savings used for child’s educational & developmental needs [SUPPLEMENTAL]
- Edusave – account to fund enrichment needs, awards to motivate achievement [SUPPORTIVE]
- HOPE scheme – housing and child education support for young low-income parents who keep families small [SUPPLEMENTAL]
- Child Abuse and Protection Work [SUPPLEMENTAL]
- Fresh Start Housing Scheme – help second-timer families with young children living in rental flats buy a home
- By Community:
- Childcare centres – maximise child’s potential through early development, universal childcare subsidy for working mothers [SUPPORTIVE]
- Student care centres – prevent children from loitering or becoming ‘latch-key’ kids, SCFA for low-income families [SUPPORTIVE]
-
Healthy Start Programme (HSP)
- Community agencies work with hospitals to identify new-borns from at-risk very low-income families
- Provide them with family support and financial assistance for kindergarten / childcare [Supplemental]
What is the definition of a life stage need?
What are the complications in defining a need vs a want?
- Smth necessary for the person to function and develop within reasonable expectations
- Thick notion of needs – What individual needs to thrive in particular society; culturally-determined
- Thin notion of needs – What individual needs to thrive in any society; universal essentials of human functioning
- What constitutes a need changes over time:
- Mobile phones now a need to access info
- Marrying and starting a family is now less of a need
What Child Welfare Legislation does Singapore have?
- UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989, SG acceeded 1995)
- Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA, 1949)
- Women’s Charter
- Penal Code
- Probation of Offenders Act
- Adoption of Children Act
- Guardianship of Infants Act
What are the difficulties faced in identifying and addressing a child’s needs?
- Children’s whose needs are not met may act out, but we may unknowingly punish them further
- Sometimes even though the straightforward solution seems like to remove child from home, must still consider the child’s emotional needs (eg: child wants to go home)
