ABSTRACT

The very notions of childhood and youth are intimately connected to contemporary norms, practices and spaces of care, caring and care-giving. The provision of care is widely figured as both the primary responsibility of parents, carers and practitioners who work with children and young people, and the primary factor in shaping children and young people’s development, education, socialisation, wellbeing and contentment. However, children and young people themselves are rarely figured as key actors in the provision of care. An overwhelming presumption that children and young people are to be cared for has effectively marginalised their agency and responsibilities as carers, or in relation to practices and spaces of care.

Bringing together a significant array of multidisciplinary work on children, young people and families, this collection draws together new research on the diverse lives and experiences of children and young people as carers, as cared for, and in relation to spaces and institutions of care. It is the first collection specifically devoted to the subject of care in relation to childhood and youth. As such, the book will be a key resource for academics, practitioners and students seeking leading-edge empirical and conceptual material on this topic.

chapter 1|25 pages

Introduction

Children, young people and ‘care’

chapter 4|20 pages

State of care

The ontologies of child welfare in British Columbia 1

chapter 5|15 pages

Caring citizens

Emotional engagement and social action in educational settings in New Zealand

chapter 7|16 pages

Carefully controlled

Young people and their pathways through spaces of secure care

chapter 8|20 pages

Children creating spaces of care in diverse early childhood centre built environments

A complex interplay of social relations and materialities

chapter 9|14 pages

Children and young people as providers of care

Perceptions of caregivers and young caregiving in Zambia

chapter 10|17 pages

Caring after parental death

Sibling practices and continuing bonds

chapter 11|17 pages

Kindness

Caring for self, others and nature – who cares and why?

chapter 14|16 pages

Globalising child circulation

The care of children who are privately fostered across international borders

chapter 15|4 pages

Reflection 1

Distance, connection and the power, freedom and obligation (not) to care

chapter 16|6 pages

Reflection 2

Providing care: challenges for practitioners and service providers

chapter 17|5 pages

Reflection 3

Children, young people and ‘caringscapes’