CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Children, Families, and Young People

Children, Families, and Young People

Introduction

Parenting any child is a challenging, dynamic process. When a child's disability requires special care or places physical, economic, social, and emotional demands on the family, this challenge to family resources may in itself become a risk factor for the healthy development of that child and others in the family. However, Masten (2001) reminds us of the “ordinary magic” associated with the adaptive capacities of all children. She asserts that resilience is more common than not and concludes that very little evidence has emerged … to indicate that severe adversity has major or lasting effects on adaptive behaviors in the environment unless important adaptive systems, such as cognition and parenting, are compromised prior to or as a result of the adversity, Given this, Masten suggests that we should emphasize strategies that protect or strengthen these basic protective systems (Ward, 2006).

A second mutually influencing relationship is that between families and communities. It summarizes key research findings on the effects of neighborhoods on children and families, concluding that the ecological concentration of families and children affected by low income, racial isolation, and social problems has grown over the last two decades. Sampson emphasizes that economic stratification and social problems are powerful predictors of child outcomes, particularly when considered together. In addition to the negative influences of community characteristics on families, however, there appears to be a cycle where families' responses to neighborhood conditions can exacerbate problems in the community. When families respond to neighborhood deterioration through withdrawal, demoralization, and retreat, they become less involved in setting and enforcing standards of behavior or engaging in mutual support. It describes a phenomenon of “resilient mothers” who act to protect their children from unsafe neighborhood conditions by restricting contact with neighborhood residents and events. Low community involvement does avoid exposure to negative community influences for individual children and families, but when many residents behave in this way, the cumulative result may be that fewer residents are engaged and available to contribute to neighborhood life. This, in turn, reduces the amount of collective social control that is correlated with decreased rates of delinquency and problem behaviors in children (Parker, 2006).

Discussion

The phenomenon of collective social control is illustrative of the third major relationship portray that between the child and community. The child's entry into community life, including the educational system, provides the opportunity for youth to form relationships with peers and unrelated adults, engage in a variety of activities, and gain access to resources not available to them within their families. Entry into community life may also expose them to negative influences as well. Youth, however, can act as contributors to the collective good of their communities. Lerner (2003) describes a “developmental approach” that is reciprocal and interactive, with youth development and community development each influencing and building on the other.

• In the thirty-first of March 2001, there were 26 600 children in the register of child protection in Britain this number represents a child 24:10,000

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