New Article: Ben-David, Families at High Risk of Child Maltreatment

Ben-David, Vered. “Profiles of Families at High Risk of Child Maltreatment in Israeli Court Cases Dealing with the Termination of Parental Rights.” Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal 32.4 (2015): 359-73.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10560-015-0378-4

 

Abstract

The present study analyzes the characteristics of children and parents in court cases dealing with the termination of parental rights, in order to draw a profile of families at high risk of child maltreatment and shed light on the professional decision-making process. The analysis of a sample of 127 cases identified various child, parent and child–parent characteristics and inter-characteristics which served as a rich database for understanding the profiles of children at risk and their parents. On the basis of these profiles, the study was able to draw a prototype of a family at high risk of child maltreatment and identify the main factors considered by the courts when determining whether or not to terminate parental rights. This paper discusses the implications of these results on the need for early and extensive professional intervention in such families.

 
 
 
 

New Article: Shalhoub-Kevorkian, A Universalist Perspective for How Israel is using Child Arrest

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Nadera. “Childhood: A Universalist Perspective for How Israel is using Child Arrest and Detention to further its Colonial Settler Project.” International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 12.3 (2015): 223-244.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aps.1456

 

Abstract

Drawing from reports and documentation published by Israeli and Palestinian human rights and children’s rights organizations, and establishing the analyses from the voices and stories of Palestinian children suffering from politically motivated abuses, the present paper examines child abuse in settler colonial contexts. Through the analyses of the various voices, narratives, and reports, the paper examines the inscription of state power over children’s bodies and lives, marking the connection between biopolitics and geopolitics, as well as the resultant suffering of children. The analyses of the collected data suggest that knowledge about child maltreatment and the violations of children’s rights cannot be dislocated from the history, politics, and structure of settler colonialism. The paper concludes by arguing that living a childhood situated in spaces of exterminability, as the voices of the studied children reveal, should be defined as child abuse and maltreatment.

 

 

 

New Article: Gross-Manos, Material Deprivation and Social Exclusion of Children

Gross-Manos, Daphna. “Material Deprivation and Social Exclusion of Children: Lessons from Measurement Attempts among Children in Israel.” Journal of Social Policy 44.1 (2015): 105-25.

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047279414000646

 

Abstract
Measuring child poverty using a ‘poverty threshold’ has many drawbacks. Thus, this study sought to develop two alternative measures, a material deprivation index and a social exclusion measure. These new measures were developed and tested using data from the first wave of the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being in Israel among twelve-year-olds. The results show it is possible to develop child-centered material deprivation and social exclusion measures that are valid and reliable. The measures can help policy makers decide on priorities and create policies that better meet the needs of children.