The Area and Community Components of Children's Well‐being

Abstract

Until recently, mainstream services for children in the UK have largely relied upon individual and reactive approaches to safeguarding children's welfare. However, recent legislative and policy reforms require the development of a more preventive orientation, capable of promoting the well-being of all children. This will require that agencies responsible for the integrated delivery of children's services develop strategies that, for the first time, take full account of the area and community components of children's well-being.The challenges presented by these reforms, to existing organisational and professional cultures and ways of working, are examined in the light of recent research evidence.

Social Support, Social Justice, and Social Capital: A Tentative Theoretical Triad for Community Development

“…In terms of social capital, Bronfenbrenner's (1979) well-known 'Russian dolls model' illustrates that any person is enshrined in a set of players and relationships which include the community in which they live, and as such, this constitutes his/her social ecology. This is also seen to relate to the interplay between these systems at micro, meso and macro levels (Garbarino, 1983 Whereas family social capital relates to the strengths and bonds among kin members, and human social capital relates to those beyond family (Pinkerton and Dolan, 2007), economic capital relates exclusively to instrumental wealth and accessible resources within and across communities (Jack, 2006). In terms of assessing such capital or measuring the strength of a social ecology present within a community, it is more than reasonable to focus on members' "assets" (Bourdieu, 2003) and most pragmatically in terms of 'what is there for someone when needed.'…”

“…In communities struggling to survive, methods whereby positive solidarity can be developed among members can enable them to 'get by.' This is conceptualised as bonding social capital both for individual members and communities as a collective (Jack, 2006). More specifically in terms of the development of communities, advancement which tends to be the goal of most community groups and organisations can be described as 'getting ahead' (Bourdieu, 1999).…”

“…Having said this, over the last three decades within the social science literature there is increasing interest in the potential of community as both an agent in social networks (Chaskin, 2008) and as central to social ecological development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979;Jack, 2006). Similarly, social support is now seen as strongly connected to community in terms of urban and rural geography (Brennan, 2008) and community groups constructed on the basis of common bonds and interests (Dolan & McGrath, 2006).…”

“…More recently, additional related theories have been forwarded. For example, both social ecology (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and social capital (Jack, 2006) have been developed as having strong resonance for understanding community in relation to its formation, operations and limitations. Notwithstanding the fact that to date no 'overriding' theory has been agreed on for community development, this paper suggests that three 'core' social theories may have particular currency.…”

‘We are the ones that talk about difficult subjects’: nurses in schools working to support young people’s mental health

“…This paper demonstrates that the potential of nurses is undermined by lack of capacity coupled with diverse and sometimes conflicting demands, and competing conceptualisations of their role. As in other children"s services, where resources are scarce, the priority tends to lie with reactive responses to crises often linked to child protection, rather than more upstream support of the wider population (Jack 2006), raising questions as to whether the nurse"s role is to engage with issues that young people deem to be important or to deliver adult agendas driven by existing policy. This paper reports on a small exploratory study which was confined to analysis of managers" perceptions of nursing in schools.…”