Citation

Bissell S. Child Abuse Negl. 2015; 50: 9-14.

Affiliation

United Nations, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.08.012

PMID

26360707

Abstract

David Finkelhor and Patricia Lannen make an excellent and long-overdue contribution to the subject of international strategies to combat child abuse and neglect (CAN). The literature on international economic and social development has, for decades, been dominated by legitimate concerns for macro-economic progress in low-income and resource-poor countries and related issues of health, education, population dynamics, and nutrition. Larger multinational and bilateral assistance programs, including those of the World Bank and various U.N. agencies, have only in recent years begun to address issues that reach beyond survival, physical well-being, and schooling in the “Global South.”

Protecting children from all forms of violence, including abuse and neglect, is a relative newcomer to the world of international development cooperation. It is arguable that the very terms international development and cooperation are ill-applied to child protection, violence, abuse, and neglect. These are truly global phenomena and are thus not limited to southern countries. Although poverty and inequity are factors in CAN, neither wealth nor equity alone necessarily lead to positive protection outcomes for children.

Indeed, one point addressed only superficially in Finkelhor's and Lannen's article is that protecting children from violence, abuse, and neglect requires social change research and practice. That is to say, much of what happens to children in the sphere of protection, or lack thereof, is socially determined. The economic development paradigm that shrouds – for better or worse – conversation about and support for efforts that prevent harm to children and respond to those affected is not particularly helpful. In this regard, Finkelhor and Lannen offer some meaningful suggestions to get beyond this paradigmatic divide. Among other important points the authors make, they question the transferability of successful models for protection children....

Language: en