Reference no: EM133273021
Child and Adolescent Development
Exercise 1.1:
Discussion Questions
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this exercise, you will be able to:
• Understand more clearly factors involved in defining a child's state of maturity;
• Consider how these definitions might affect the way in which a child or young person is treated/cared for.
QUESTIONS
1. In what ways do you (and your colleagues) differentiate children and adolescents in assessing needs and planning programs? Give examples from your current or past work of the practical implications of distinctions made among "children, adolescents, youths and adults"
2. How do these definitions adhere to the CRC definition and what are the implications for programmes and policies?
3. Are there rituals or social markers that define for the community of concern, transitions between childhood, adolescence and adulthood? Are there any points of conflict between traditional practices, and the CRC or other legal codes?
4. What are the prescribed traditional social roles for children and adolescents in this population? How do they differ with factors of age, gender, social class/caste, kinship and ethnic group? -
5. How have these roles been affected by factors of displacement and what have the developmental costs and benefits been for children and adolescents?
6. In the eyes of the community who are the children who are considered to be most at-risk?
Exercise 1.2: (Participants' Notes)
Child or Adult?
OBJECTIVE
By the end of this exercise, you will have had the opportunity to:
• consider how the perceived role and status of a young person might determine how s/he is treated by those in authority.
TIMEFRAME
30 minutes
METHOD
In small groups, read the following case study and consider the questions at the end.
CASE ILLUSTRATION: DIFFERING INTERPRETATIONS OF ROLE AND
STATUS
In a refugee camp in Southern Africa, a dispute broke out between local camp authorities and refugee leaders over the fate of a thirteen year old Mozambican refugee girl, Maria. As a separated child, she had been placed in the care of a foster family from her province of origin. When a refugee worker learned that the girl had been promised (against her will) as a second wife to an older Mozambican refugee man, the worker went to the camp authorities in protest. Camp authorities stated that this would be against the law of the host country and would also change the status of the girl as a separated child, searching for her family. In contrast, the camp's refugee leaders noted that the girl carried adult responsibilities in her foster home, was considered an adult, and it was customary practice for a girl of her age and status to marry in her home district. They felt that camp authorities were intruding on their culture and traditions, and undermining their leadership in the community.
The situation was finally resolved when a Mozambican traditional healer stated that the marriage could not take place, because the foster family was not entitled to collect the "lobola" (bride price) that had already been promised. The girl was placed with a different foster family and her situation was monitored by a women's association in the camp.
It is of note that although the girl's wishes were known, they remained, along with an assessment of her long-term best interests, quite secondary to the major points of contention and debate.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the refugee leaders' understanding of childhood in this context? Would they define Maria as a child, an adolescent or an adult?
2. How might the different stakeholders (refugee leaders, camp authorities, foster parents UNHCR staff etc.) understand Maria's status as a child, adolescent, youth or adult? What implications would their different understandings have in terms of protection and her best interests?
3. What about Maria herself? How do you think she would classify herself? Is she old enough to make her own decisions about her long-term future? How could she have been more effectively involved in the process of deciding her future?
Exercise 1.3: (Participants' Notes)
Are Children Responsible for Their Actions?
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this exercise, participants will have a greater understanding of the concept of responsibility in relation to age.
TIMEFRAME
10 minutes groups
20 minutes plenary
METHOD
In small groups, read the case study below and then discuss the questions posed.
Each group should feed back into the plenary and discuss the points made.
CASE STUDY
Following large-scale displacement, local community members may also express ambiguity about who is a child or adult and to what extent they are responsible for their actions. In situations of armed conflict, adolescents have often been drawn into the conflict as combatants. In the context of Mozambique, some former child soldiers who had fought with RENAMO and were known to have participated in attacks on their own villages returned after the peace accords. It is reported that through village meetings and traditional ceremonies some of these youth were forgiven by their communities and have managed to reintegrate into daily life. A particularly complicated issue revolves around the role and culpability of children and adolescents during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Hundreds of children and adolescents under 18 years of age were in prison in Rwanda, having been accused of participating in the genocide. A paper based on community focus group interviews with Rwandan citizens concluded that the majority believed "children who committed crimes during the genocide are no longer children; they have become adults"(Archey; Children, Genocide & Justice,1996). However, Rwanda is a signatory to the CRC and Article 37 states "neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age". Article 40 demands that states party to the convention "recognise the right of every child...recognised as having infringed the penal law... to be treated in a manner consistent with....the desirability of promoting the child's reintegration and the
child's assuming a constructive role in society". Rwandan national law governing punishment of children (Article 77 of the Rwandan Penal Code) is similar in providing special protection of those under 18 years of age. This tension between legal justice and social justice prompts a range of questions.
QUESTIONS
• Are those under 18 who participated in the gamut of crimes associated with the genocide "children"?
• If charged and found guilty, are those under 18 responsible and culpable for their crimes?
• What criteria would you use in making these determinations? Should "developmental" principles be applied - e.g. children's capacity to understand their actions?
Exercise 3.1: (Participants' Notes)
Risk Factors and Protective Factors
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this exercise, you will be able to:
1. explain the concepts of risk factors and protective factors;
2. describe ways of reducing risk factors and develop or strengthen protective factors.
TIMEFRAME
30 minutes
METHOD
Read the following case study and then, in the large group, you will all be invited to assist in the construction of a diagram illustrating risk and protective factors.
THE CASE STUDY
A family with four children who have been displaced on account of the Balkans conflict. The father is driving a car with the 15 year old son as a passenger and has an accident in which the boy is killed and the father is severely injured. The mother blames her husband for the death of her favourite child and both parents are so devastated that they have little time to help the other children with their grief. Father's incapacity is a further factor, leading to financial worries for the family on top of an already uncertain future.
The family are living in a collective centre which was formerly a children's holiday home. The accommodation affords little privacy, and though the children have friends in the centre the parents have no close friends and are aware of tensions among the refugees. The refugees have been told that they may have to move to another centre. The mother's own widowed mother is also there but she tries to
avoid burdening her with her own worries. The children attend a local school, but are often bored within the centre. The mother is pregnant but is no longer looking forward to the birth: she is neglecting her health and is smoking heavily.
1. explain the concepts of risk factors and protective factors;
2. describe ways of reducing risk factors and develop or strengthen protective
Exercise 3.2: (Participants' Notes)
The Importance of Community Structures for Children's Development
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this exercise, you will be able to:
• explain the concepts of risk factors and protective factors;
• describe ways of reducing risk factors and develop or strengthen protective factors.
TIMEFRAME
30 minutes in small groups
20 minutes presentations
METHOD
Read the case study below and then work on the tasks identified at the end.
CASE STUDY
The M family originally comprised Mr and Mrs M, boys aged 17, 15, 12, 8 and 2 and girls aged 10 and 6. Mrs. M's widowed mother also lived with them, helping with the younger children and various household tasks. They were relatively prosperous small farmers living in a village in the south of Maganda, a small African state. Although all of the children were expected to contribute to the family economy, they all attended school, the 15 year old showing some academic promise and hoping to become a teacher. Maganda was experiencing an insurgency movement which attacked villages in a seemingly random attempt to destabilise the country. The M's village was attacked suddenly towards dusk while Mr. M and the oldest son were at market and her mother, with theyoungest child, were also away from the family home. Mrs. M and the other children fled along with other villagers, but in the chaos of flight they became separated from other family groups, and when they encountered a girl aged 9 who had lost her parents, they took her with them. After travelling for 3 days, experiencing many frightening events, they crossed the border into Kenzania and were settled in a camp housing, at that stage, about 15,000 other refugees. Mrs. M's 15 year old son helped to build a house. Forced to survive on very meagre rations, the family suffered recurring bouts of colds and stomach disorders. Mrs. M and the older two girls had to walk considerable distances to find firewood and to collect water from a borehole some half kilometre from their home.
She has tried to find work locally as a labourer, but the rates of pay are so low, and the cost in time so high that she has given up this idea. The sons aged 15 and 12 are both expected to work in order to supplement the family's meagre economy - both resent the hard work and long hours. Worried at receiving no news about her husband, mother and other children, Mrs M became moderately depressed and felt isolated from former friends and neighbours. She has met up with a few former villagers who are settled at another location in the same camp. A devout Catholic, she misses the opportunity to attend mass. The camp has no school or other organised activities for young people. There is a camp committee formed mainly of men, elected in each zone of the camp, but political divisions have impeded the work of this committee and little has been achieved so far. The other children are also bored, and the 8 year old boy is resentful at having to carry out household tasks he regard as "girls' work", and denied the kind of task which he would find acceptable.
TASKS
Participants are invited, in small groups, to discuss the above scenario and to undertake the following tasks:
1. Looking at the situation of each child in the family in turn (including the 9 year old girl), identify the various factors which potentially impede "healthy" development. Identify what criteria you are using in determining of development is "healthy"
2. Compile a composite diagram (using worksheet provided) illustrating all of these various risk factors. Try to indicate how some of these risk factors might be connected with each other.
Risk Factors Domain Protective Factors
- Family
- Community
Peer/Individual
- School
3. Identify potential protective factors which might be developed within the refugee community and discuss how some of these developments might be initiated. Consider the potential impact of these on the development of the children.
THE DIAGRAM
The diagram on the following page can be used by the group to identify both risk factors (above the arrow) and the potential protective factors (below the arrow). The diagram can also be used toindicate the relationship between parental and child risk factors.
Exercise 4.1: (Participants' Notes)
The Effects of Frightening Experiences and Separation
OBJECTIVE
By the end of this exercise, you will be able to demonstrate an awareness of the effects of frightening experiences and separation of children.
TIMEFRAME
15 minutes small groups
20 minutes large group
METHOD
In small groups, discuss the case study below and identify the likely emotional and behavioural reactions of the child. Consider these within short, medium and long time-frames. Identify some of the factors that might alter the outcome of Dusan's experiences.
Write your ideas on a flip chart and share with the larger group in the plenary session.
CASE STUDY
Dusan is a tall and good looking 10 year old boy who was living happily with his parents in Tuzla before the war changed their lives for ever. He was born of a mixed marriage, his mother being a Croat, his father a Serb, and they lived in a predominantly Muslim town in Bosnia. When the war started, they faced both the physical dangers of the war and the risks stemming from their respective ethnic origins. Because of this, his father decided that he and Dusan would try to leave and seek refuge with the two grown-up children of a former marriage who lived in a predominantly Serbian part of Bosnia. His mother, however, preferred to stay, feeling safer in Tuzla.
Dusan and his father tried to cross the dividing line secretly at night, but in the process stumbled on a landmine which killed the father outright, severely injuring Dusan in the leg, arm and eye. He is thought to have lain unconscious by the body of his father before managing to continue his journey, eventually being found by soldiers who arranged for an ambulance to take him to hospital in Belgrade. He arrived in a very poor shape, not only injured but so severely traumatised by witnessing the death of his father that he was unable to eat or talk about what had happened.
Attachment:- Child and Adolescent Development.rar