We are not orphans. Children's experience of everyday life in institutional care in Mexico

Khoo, Evelyn; Mancinas, Sandra; Skoog, Viktoria

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.09.003

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The children are allowed little free time and time for leisure activities. This corresponds with a study of Khoo, Mancinas and Skoog (2015), in which institutionalized children in Mexico experienced their everyday lives as highly structured and regulated by professionals. The manual further states that the professional caregivers are obliged to watch the minors at all times and report all abnormalities to their superior, not unlike what Foucault (1995) calls a 'disciplinary gaze'.…”

Section: Producing Good Labourerssupporting

confidence: 76%

“…The number of children in institutional care continued to increase throughout the 1900s (Kuznesof, 2005). Despite an emerging deinstitutionalization movement over the past decades (Quiroga & Hamilton-Giachritsis, 2014), institutions remain the most widely used out-of-placement resource for children in Mexico today (Khoo, Mancinas, & Skoog, 2015). The work by Meichsner (2014 a, b) documents how many childcare institutions in northern Mexico are still run by Christian charities, construing the child as:…”

Section: Institutionalized Childhoods In Mexico Throughout Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Meichsner, 2014b, p. 74) Recent numbers reveal that there are approximately 77 children in institutional care per 100,000 in Mexico (UNICEF, 2013). Researchers have argued that poverty and inequality continue to be the greatest reasons for parents to lose custody of their children (Relaf, 2010in Khoo, Mancinas, & Skoog, 2015, see also Ursin, Oltedal, & Munõz, 2016)…”

Section: Institutionalized Childhoods In Mexico Throughout Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas most countries in the North have experienced a strong deinstitutionalization movement in the last few decades, moving from a correctional view towards a rightsbased child welfare, institutional care remains common in many parts of the world (Quiroga & Hamilton-Giachritsis, 2014). In fact, institutions remain the most widely used out-of-placement resource for children in Mexico today (Khoo, Mancinas, & Skoog, 2015). At the same time, studies investigating institutional childcare are mostly restricted to the global North, while regions such as Latin America remain under the radar (Quiroga & Hamilton-Giachritsis, 2014;Ayón & Aisenberg, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘The meaning of my life will always be to defend our Motherland’

Ursin¹

2019

JCSW

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EnglishThe point of departure of this paper is that childhood is socially constructed and continuously re-defined through public policies, laws, practices and ideologies. The paper explores the perspectives on children, upbringing and socialization as reflected in the manuals, forms and questionnaires of social workers in a child protection institution in Mexico. It employs a theoretical lens borrowed from Childhood Studies, using three dominant images of childhood—the Dionysian, Apollonian and Athenian—to examine the links between discursive constructions of childhood and ways of governing institutionalized children. Four overarching themes were identified as representative of predominant concepts of values concerning children and child rearing in an institutionalized context in the documents: (1) Patriotism, (2) Work ethics, (3) Hygiene, and (4) Physical experiences and sexuality. The analysis reveals how children are perceived primarily as future citizens, with their upbringing being a part of a wider nation-building project. Hence, there is an emphasis on how to become a ‘decent’ labourer, internalize the values of- and loyalty to the nation-state, and develop into a ‘moral’ and ‘civilized’ citizen. It is argued that institutional socialization is part and parcel of a political ideology that reinforces the idea of children as relatively passive socialization objects. Spanish"El sentido de mi vida siempre será defender nuestra patria”: Criando y educando ciudadanos en instituciones de protección infantil en México. El punto de partida de este artículo es que la infancia es construida socialmente, y que es continuamente redefinida a través de las políticas públicas, las leyes, las prácticas y las ideologías. Este artículo explora las perspectivas sobre los niños, la crianza, y la socialización según se reflejan en los manuales, planillas y cuestionarios de los trabajadores sociales en una institución de protección infantil en México. Se emplea la propuesta teórica tomada de los Estudios de la Infancia, usando tres imágenes dominantes (Dionisíaca, Apolínea y Ateniense) para examinar los vínculos entre las construcciones discursivas sobre la infancia y las formas que gobiernan a los niños institucionalizados. Se identificaron cuatro temas relevantes como representativos de los conceptos de valores predominantes en los documentos respecto a los niños, y cuidado infantil en un contexto institucionalizado: (1) Patriotismo, (2) Ética de trabajo, (3) Higiene, y (4) Experiencias físicas y sexualidad. El análisis revela cómo los niños son percibidos primeramente como futuros ciudadanos, y su crianza es parte de un proyecto más amplio de construcción de la nación. De este modo hay un énfasis en cómo convertirse en un trabajador “decente”, internalizar los valores de y la lealtad al Estado nación, y desarrollar un ciudadano moral y civilizado. Se afirma que la socialización institucional es parte de la ideología política que refuerza la idea de los niños como objetos de socialización relativamente pasivos.

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Section: Producing Good Labourerssupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Institutionalized Childhoods In Mexico Throughout Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Institutionalized Childhoods In Mexico Throughout Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘The meaning of my life will always be to defend our Motherland’

Ursin¹

2019

JCSW

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“…Children's influence on family life is regarded as an important part of Danish culture and as such is part of everyday life (Ringsmose and Kragh-Muller, 2017). The concept of 'everyday life' has been applied, for example, to studies of Mexican institutional care for children (Khoo, Espinoza and Skoog, 2015); to moral discourses among Finnish and Swedish mothers (Karlsson, Perala-Littunen, Book and Hultman, 2016); to Swedish and Polish fathers' practices (Suwada and Plantin, 2014); to refugee lives in Finland (Kohli and Kaukko, 2018) and Sweden (Bergnehr, 2017); and to clothing practices in Finnish day care (Paju, 2018).…”

Section: Why Now? Children As Social Actorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards recognising practitioners working in out-of-home care as experts in everyday life: A conceptual critique

Cameron¹

2020

International Journal of Social Pedagogy

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This conceptual critique elaborates on the phrase ‘experts in everyday life’, which the author first used in 2015 in connection with recognising the contribution of foster carers and residential care workers to the education of children in out-of-home care (OHC). The article examines the case for greater recognition of the children’s workforce in OHC, and situates the concept of ‘expertise’ in the rise of recognition of children’s status as competent social actors, as well as in professionalisation debates. The article examines two examples, drawing on the author’s prior research in residential care and foster care, of expertise in everyday life in OHC. It concludes that, viewed from a social pedagogical perspective, expertise in everyday life refers to the complex milieu, or environment, in which the activity is taking place, as well as the relational encounters and activities themselves. It refers to the capacity for supporting young people in the mundaneness and predictability of everyday events and routines. Recognition of practitioners as experts in everyday life is not a substitute for changes to the structural conditions of employment but is a first step towards it.

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The availability and role of non-parental identity agents for institutionalized male adolescent social orphans in Colombia

Novelle

Gonyea

2016

Children and Youth Services Review

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We are not orphans. Children's experience of everyday life in institutional care in Mexico

Cited by 12 publications

References 19 publications

‘The meaning of my life will always be to defend our Motherland’

‘The meaning of my life will always be to defend our Motherland’

Towards recognising practitioners working in out-of-home care as experts in everyday life: A conceptual critique

The availability and role of non-parental identity agents for institutionalized male adolescent social orphans in Colombia

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