Handbook of Resilience in Children of War

Worldwide, children suffer a diverse and toxic array of effects of armed conflict, which increasingly are protracted and intermixed with problems such as terrorism. To support war-affected children, it is necessary to understand how children have been affected by war and to use appropriate conceptual analyses to inform the design of effective interventions. This paper introduces 2 thematic Special Issues of this journal that are devoted to children and armed conflict. The present Special Issue focuses on the task of understanding how children are affected by war, whereas the second Special Issue will focus on how to intervene on behalf of war-affected children. This paper situates the empirical papers in the present Special Issue in the context of recent changes in the developing study of children and armed conflict. Featuring the rise of systems thinking evident in ecological frameworks and child protection systems, it emphasizes resilience approaches and the movement away from deficits frameworks that underscore disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It also identifies numerous obstacles to achieving a comprehensive understanding of war-affected children. Primary among these are a weak evidence base, insufficient attention to contextual diversity, use of nonholistic approaches, and the marginalization of children's agency. Against this backdrop, it provides an overview of each of the 6 papers in this Special Issue, and concludes with a brief overview of the second, companion issue on children and armed conflict to be published in this journal.

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confidence: 99%

Children and armed conflict: Introduction and overview.

Wessells

2016

“…Drawing on their personal insights and savvy assessments of their contexts and their futures, they made insightful decisions and adapted to the turnings of loss, violence, and isolation in ways that assured their very survival and underscored their power and capacity to protect themselves. The stories of Rose and David exemplify and support existing research and literature on armed conflict, resilience, and youth capacity to contribute to their own well-being (Denov & Bryan, 2012; Fernando & Ferrari, 2013; Lenz, in press). The stories also point to the value and importance of future research addressing the realities of war-affected youth over time and across space to ensure a more nuanced understanding.…”

Section: Discussion: Turnings and Adaptations—implications For Resear...mentioning

confidence: 52%

Trajectories of violence and survival: Turnings and adaptations in the lives of two war-affected youth living in Canada.

Denov

Blanchet‐Cohen

2016

Each year, thousands of children enter Canada, fleeing from countries and communities in which there has been war and political violence. These refugee children are sometimes accompanied by a parent or caregiver and sometimes arrive alone as refugees, or without documented legal status, seeking asylum. Children displaced from war zones witness or directly experience unimaginable violence and upheaval. They have often lived in societies in which basic social structures have been degraded. Moreover, the experience of flight from their country of origin may present additional threats to their safety, alongside the complexities of resettlement to a new context. However, as refugee children in Canada, this group has been largely overlooked, and there is limited understanding of the challenges and opportunities that youth encounter in the resettlement process. Drawing upon a life histories approach, alongside the concepts of "turnings" and "adaptations," this article seeks to trace the trajectories, voices, and lived experiences of 2 war-affected youth living in Canada across time and contexts. In stark contrast to portrayals of youth as pathological or as hapless victims, these 2 young people made thoughtful decisions and engaged in reflective strategies to ensure their own safety and survival in dire situations. Through their narratives, the youth highlight the turnings and adaptations that informed their decision-making during war, flight, and resettlement to Canada, alongside the challenges and opportunities within each of these key phases of their lives.

“…Despite the weak evidence base (Betancourt & Williams, 2008; Steel, Silove, Phan, & Bauman, 2002; Tol et al, 2011), a rapidly growing literature has attested to the fact that much can be done by both international and local actors to support war-affected children (Betancourt, Meyers-Ohki, Charrow, & Tol, 2013; Boothby, Strang, & Wessells, 2006; Derluyn, Mels, Parmentier, & Vandenhole, 2013; Fernando & Ferrari, 2013; Jordans, Pigott, & Tol, 2016; Miller & Rasco, 2004; O’Sullivan, Bosqui, & Shannon, 2016). Table 1 shows some relatively widely used mental health, psychosocial, and peacebuilding interventions in support of war-affected children…”

Section: Comprehensivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children and armed conflict: Interventions for supporting war-affected children.

Wessells¹

2017

Mental health, psychosocial, and peacebuilding supports are badly needed to support war-affected children in diverse countries. To meet the scale of the needs in an accountable manner, it is essential to have a broad vision of systemic supports for populations of war-affected children. This article, which introduces the 2nd Special Issue on Children and Armed Conflict, outlines 3 pillars of systemic supports for war-affected children: comprehensiveness, sustainability, and Do No Harm. It shows how supports should be multileveled, resilience-oriented, multidisciplinary, tailored to fit different subgroups, and attentive to issues of policy and funding. The achievement of sustainability requires additional attention to building on existing supports, adapting to the local culture and context, focusing more on capacity building than on projects, greater power sharing with local actors, embedding supports in local institutions, and strengthening the evidence base regarding sustainability. The Do No Harm principle requires self-critical practice and the prevention and management of unintended harms related to issues such as discrimination, the use of orphanages as the first resort for war orphans and separated children, raised expectations, dependency, and picking open the psychological wounds of war-affected children. With these pillars as a framework, the article ends with a brief overview of the 8 articles that comprise this 2nd Special Issue.