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Foundations
Child and Adolescent Development
CONTENTS
BRIEFING NOTES FOR FACILITATORS Page
Introduction............................................................................................................. 2
Topic 1: Defining Children and Childhood .............................................................. 6
Topic 2: Introducing Child Development Thinking into Programme Planning....... 10
Topic 3: Risk and Resilience in Children and Adolescents................................... 15
Topic 4: Some Critical Threats to Child Development in Emergency Situations .. 20
Topic 5: Promoting Child and Adolescent Development in Programming ............ 29
Topic 6: Action in “the Best Interests of the Child” ............................................... 35
Topic 7: Child and Adolescent Participation ......................................................... 41
Sample Programmes............................................................................................ 47
TRAINING MATERIALS
Overheads ............................................................................................................ 55
Exercises .............................................................................................................. 80
Handouts ............................................................................................................ 128
RESOURCES
Further Readings and Websites ......................................................................... 131
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Child and Adolescent Development
Introduction
Facilitators who have not recently trained or worked in the area covered by this Resource Pack, should read carefully through the various Topics, Overheads, Exercises, and Handouts before starting to plan their training activity. Please note when using these materials, that they are to be used in conjunction with stated policy (they do not replace it) and aim to stimulate learning and discussion.
INTRODUCTION
Children and adolescents are not short adults - they are qualitatively different. They have physical, psychological and social needs that must be met to enable healthy growth and development. The extent to which parents, the family, the community and the society are able to meet these developmental needs (or not) has long-term consequences for the kinds of adults they will become. Armed conflict, displacement, disruption of normal life, and separation from family and/or community can have powerful, long-lasting effects that need to be compensated for in protection and assistance interventions. The fact that almost half of the people of concern to UNHCR are children and adolescents, gives quantitative significance to these operational issues.
Children and adolescents are not a homogenous group. While they share basic universal needs, the expression of those needs depends on a wide range of personal, social and cultural factors. The protection and assistance interventions of UNHCR and its partners are less likely to achieve their intended impact if a population of concern is treated as an undifferentiated group. To be effective, an understand is necessary, in a given situation, of what differences among gender, age, maturity, social class or caste, cultural or religious background have operational implications. Taking these factors into account is basic to good programming.
Children need the care, protection and guidance which is normally provided by parents or other care-givers, especially during the early years when they are most dependent. While their emerging abilities and capacities change the nature of this vulnerability from infancy through adolescence, their need for attention and guidance at each stage remains. Parents and communities have the primary responsibility for protecting and caring for their children, and initiating them into culturally relevant skills, attitudes and ways of thinking. Interventions by outsiders are significant largely to the extent that they strengthen (or inadvertently undermine) family and community capacities to provide this care and protection. There are some circumstances where the urgent needs of children or adolescents must be met directly, but maintaining a long-term view is essential to finding ways
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culture, gender and age, and the real commitment by the adults involved will greatly facilitate effective implementation of this important principle.
OVERVIEW AND DEFINITIONS
This resource pack does not aim to offer a comprehensive account of child and adolescent development: rather it seeks to provide some introductory material which relates particularly to some of the critical isues facing children with a refugee background. It is mainly knowledge based: facilitators will find many references to other ARC Resource Packs and may find it helpful to turn to these both to amplify some of the issues and to find more skill-oriented training materials.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines “child” as everyone under the age of 18 unless, under applicable law, majority is attained earlier (Article 1): for most purposes in this Resource Pack, this definition is adopted. However, as Topic 1 argues, the concept of childhood is understood differently in different cultural and social contexts.
“Child development”, or “child and adolescent development” refer to the process of growth and maturation of the human individual from conception to adulthood. The term “adolescence” has particular connotations in particular cultural and social contexts. In this resource pack, it is used to describe young people who are in the stage of development that occurs between the beginning of puberty until adulthood, without any implication that this period is characterised by any particular behaviour or attitudes. However, a distinction between children and adolescents is sometimes necessary in order to highlight the particular issues facing older young people, whose needs can be, and are frequently, overlooked in programming.
In many cultures, the care of children is shared among a wider group of adults, and often older children, than is common in western societies. The term “carer”, “care-taker” and “care-giver” are used interchangeably to refer to those people who play significant roles in the care of children.
This Resource Pack introduces the key concepts of “risk” and “resilience”: risk refers to any factor or circumstance which poses any kind of threat to the normal and healthy development of the child, while resilience is defined as the capacity of the person to cope with risk or adverse circumstances. The term “normal”, however, should be understood as indicating the norms of the particular society or community, and not referring to any supposed universal standards.
STRUCTURE OF THE RESOURCE PACK
This Resource Pack provides an introduction to some aspects of child development to inform and complement the material contained within the ARC Critical Issues Resource Packs. It is organised in seven topics:
Topic 1 argues that there is no universal definition of who is a child, adolescent or youth, and that the concept of childhood is understood differently in different cultural and social contexts.
Topic 2 considers the process of child development and the importance of integrating both a child rights and a child development perspective into
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programme planning. It demonstrates how children’s needs and capacities are significantly different from those of adults, and that armed conflict and displacement are likely to have a particularly serious impact on children’s development.
Topic 3 introduces the concepts of risk and resilience in children and adolescents, and outlines some approaches which may reduce risk and enhance resilience.
Topic 4 examines some particularly critical threats to children’s development: experiences of violence and fear; separation from parents or other carers; exploitation and abuse; and young people’s involvement in fighting forces.
Topic 5 outlines some strategies to promote child development in adverse conditions: these seek to restore a sense of normality, and to prevent further harm.
Topic 6 examines the important concept of the child’s Best Interests and considers some of the issues involved in implementing it.
Topic 7 looks at the principle of child and adolescent participation from both a legal and child development perspective. It considers the potential beneficial impact of participation on young people and discusses some implementation issues.
Participatory exercises, case studies, overheads and handouts are provided. In most situations, Facilitators will probably wish to use this Resource Pack in conjunction with others which consider implementation strategies in more detail. Facilitators are strongly recommended to develop regional or country-specific materials such as case studies and group exercises, in order to make the training more relevant and engaging.
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new-borns may not be formally named or even recognised until they have passed a full year, when it becomes more certain that they will survive.
In many cultures there is a distinction between different stages of childhood - especially between stages of the “innocence” or “ignorance” of childhood and a later stage of “reason” and “responsibility”. Many legal codes define the age at which children are legally deemed to be responsible for their actions.
CULTURAL FACTORS
In different cultural contexts, factors other than age may be important in determining who is a child or an adolescent: factors such as social roles, gender, marital status and the capacity to contribute economically may be more important than chronological age in shaping expectations of children.
Rituals of religion or custom may also confer social status, clearly marking points of transition in rights and obligations in the eyes of the wider community. These may be indirectly linked to age, notably the onset of puberty. In many cultures, adolescents, both boys and girls, go through rites of passage which, once successfully completed, confer adult rights and responsibilities. The ability to maintain such customs is often difficult in the context of displacement, where lack of income and access to important resources may delay or dilute these practices.
An assessment of the way universal principles, national laws, local regulations and customs shape expectations of children at various ages should be the starting point for intervention.
In the context of displacement and other circumstances of severe adversity, children may find themselves assuming roles that have not been traditionally prescribed. This can include becoming the head of a household. Some illustrations are given in Overhead 1..
CHILDHOOD AS A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONCEPT
Childhood is neither timeless nor universal: it is not determined only by age, or by biological and psychological factors. Rather childhood is understood by reference to particular cultural and social contexts and to particular periods in history. Childhood in Mexico is not the same as childhood in Madras or Madrid: childhood at the beginning of the third Millennium in London is not the same as it was two hundred years ago. In the more developed countries of the north, for example, childhood is now seen as an extended period of economic dependency and protected innocence during which play and schooling are seen as central components: but this is far removed from childhood in many other cultures, where work (whether paid, or work within the household) must take precedence over both schooling and play. In many countries of the south, the child-rearing environment is characterised by large families and high infant mortality: a heavy emphasis on parents’ efforts to ensure the physical survival of their children means that parents must devote much of their time to economic and domestic activity, with many “parenting” tasks delegated to other people, often older children. Western notions of childhood often place an emphasis on children’s vulnerability and innocence, but again in other contexts this may be much less appropriate.
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Many child-rearing practices also reflect particular cultural contexts: in some contexts in Asia, mothers may be quite protective of their children, seeking to keep their infants quiet and contented, and as they grow up there may be an expectation of compliance and conformity, and an acceptance of adult authority: by contrast, many American parents may encourage open, expressive, autonomous and assertive behaviour and allow a pre-school child to take physical risks that would be unacceptable to many Asian mothers.
In both instances there may be marked ways in which girls are treated differently from boys. In some contexts, being a boy, or a girl, may be more significant than the fact of being a child. Different societies have contrasting ideas about both children’s vulnerabilities and their capacities, about how they best learn, about what is good for them and what is bad for them. Within a given context, childhood is often highly differentiated not only according to gender, but also according to social class or caste. Approaches to discipline and punishment will also vary greatly between cultures: severe corporal punishment may be the norm in some societies but be regarded as abusive in others. Clearly, for families who seek refuge in countries where norms are very different from those to which they are used, there is considerable potential for conflict and confusion. Exercise 1. provides an example. Exercise 1.3 provides an example of the different ways in which young people may be considered to be responsible for their actions.
It has sometimes been suggested that the CRC and other international instruments reflect a “globalised” conceptualisation of the child and of childhood which do not always sit comfortably with the reality of many countries of the South. The CRC, for example, tends to emphasise schooling and play rather than acknowledging work as a legitimate aspect of childhood. On the other hand, it is widely acknowledged that the CRC does provide an extremely valuable reference point which offers universal standards to be aspired to.
Care must be taken to avoid introducing expectations and norms of childhood derived from one situation into another, different cultural context. The ARC materials contain many examples of situations where it is essential to have a comprehensive grasp of the culture in order to understand and make sense of what children experience - whether in respect of separation from the family or other carers, exploitation, disability and so on. Without an informed cultural lens, and the capacity to communicate with children, negotiations around different child- rearing practices and norms are likely to produce conflicts that do not serve the best, long-term interests of the child.
AVOIDING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT VULNERABILITY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
Children may be especially vulnerable because of their immaturity and reliance on adults for their care and protection. But it is also important to remember that resilience as well as vulnerability is a characteristic of the growing human organism. This will be explored in more detail in Topic 3. Many different factors, relating to the individual child, the family, the immediate social situation and the wider cultural context may combine to place children in a position of risk of threats to their well-being, development and rights. The capacity to anticipate, acknowledge and assess such factors is fundamental to the effective protection of children.
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Child and Adolescent Development
Topic 2
Introducing Child Development Thinking into Programme Planning
KEY LEARNING POINTS
- It is important to integrate both a child rights and a child development perspective into programme planning.
- Although certain aspects of child development are predictable and universal, there are significant cultural differences in the ways in which children and adolescents develop.
- The process of child development can be described as transactional: children and adolescents are not the passive subjects of socialisation, but play a central role in their own development.
- Children and adolescents have needs and capacities which are significantly different from those of adults.
- Armed conflict and forced migration are likely to have a particularly serious impact on children’s development which may have long-term consequences.
CHILD RIGHTS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Although there is a growing recognition of the importance of a child rights perspective in emergency situations, it is equally important to integrate knowledge of child development into programming.
Child Rights refers to a set of universal rights and principles which have been given legal status through their expression in the articles of the CRC. The CRC lays down fundamental principles which are necessary to promote and secure the survival and development of children. Some articles in the CRC do employ concepts of child development – e.g. the concepts of immaturity, evolving capacities, “the child’s health, or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development” etc. – see Articles 6, 12, 14, 23, 27, 29 and 32. Children’s rights issues are explored in more detail in the ARC Resource Pack on International Legal Standards.
Child Development concerns the process of growth and maturation of the human individual from conception to adulthood. Development is best understood within a lifespan perspective, with growth and change beginning at conception and throughout the foetal stage, continuing throughout childhood and adolescence and, in some respects, during adulthood and old age. During the whole period of
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his or her development, the individual child will develop a mature body, brian and nervous system and progressively acquire competence in a wide range of functions and skills which enable him or her to adapt and survive in many different types of environment. There are significant cultural differences in children’s developmental pathways, goals for development and the conditions under which children develop satisfactorily. For example, while in the West the “ideal norm” is often seen as child rearing within a small, two-parent family, in other cultural contexts, child rearing tasks are shared among a wider network of adults and, significantly, among older siblings.
Within a particular culture, children of the same chronological age will nevertheless differ in their level of development because of the complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors. So, for example, although it can be safely predicted that children will enter puberty at around the ages of 11 - 15, the onset of puberty will differ from individual to individual, between the genders (girls typically mature earlier than boys) and between contexts – for example, the onset of puberty may be delayed in situations in which there is chronically poor nutrition. Moreover there will be marked cultural differences in the way that various changes which characterise the early adolescent period are understood, and in the expectations for young people’s behaviour, especially in relation to their gender.
Some general patterns of development can be predicted and observed across cultures and individuals, although the expression of these universal patterns will always be embedded in, and shaped by, local conditions and cultural practices. Child development is not a smooth and continuous process, but rather tends to proceed in stage-like patterns of growth. Many attempts have been made by developmental psycyhologists to define these typical stages: one example is given in Annex 1 in UNHCR’s “Working with Unaccompanied Minors in the Community”. The problem with such charts is that they do not represent universal stages, but rather reflect particular cultural contexts. Child development is not to be seen as the unfolding of a genetically-determined blueprint, but as a process which is shaped by particular cultural and environmental experiences. For these reasons, such charts of child development need to be used with some caution.
The process of child development can be usefully described as transactional - i.e. “actions which pass between”. This simply means that a child interacts with his/her physical and social environment over time, each having an effect on and shaping the other. It is now generally recognised that this is a more useful way of looking at the process of child development than either maturation or socialisation which sometimes implies that the child has a relatively passive role in his/her development. For example, a baby smiles and babbles to her mother, causing the mother to respond by smiling and talking, and in turn this causes the baby to again respond - hence a dialogue begins to take place. Not only is the mother shaping the baby’s development: the child is actively shaping the mother’s role as a parent - hence the interactional or transactional element in development.
As the child grows up, he or she contributes to an increasing degree in forming his or her growing-up environment, though this varies according to the context (for example, there may be differences between very authoritarian child-rearing practices, and more democratic ones): this environment typically consists of the child’s closest care-givers - parents, grandparents, older siblings etc. and later, friends, neighbours, teachers etc. Again there will be pronounced cultural
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Armed conflict and forced migration impose a potentially wide range of threats to children’s development. Not infrequently in such situations, children face the potential for an accumulation of risks: for example, the malnourished child may do less well at school, and poor school performance may pre-dispose the young person to exploitative work. Separation from the family may place the child at risk of exploitation while the child who is being abused within the family may be vulnerable to recruitment into armed forces.
It is important to understand what kind of risks children may be facing and how these may pre-dispose children to other risks so that appropriate intervention can be planned. Similarly, when any kind of programme is planned, whether or not children are targeted, it is important that the question is posed “What effect will it have on children’s rights and child development”?
Armed conflict and displacement occur in many different social, cultural and political contexts, and last for different lengths of time, but there are a number of factors which pose particular threats to the growing child which are characteristic of conflict and forced migration situations. It is vital for protection and assistance agencies to be aware of these in order that they can take steps both to prevent their worst effects and to deal with them if they do occur. It is also important to understand how families, children themselves and communities recognise these risks, and how they respond to lessen them and handle the consequences.
Some of the most common impacts on child development of situations of forced displacement (apart from the four specific areas dealt with in Topic 4) are listed below.
- Wholesale loss of the child’s home, familiar circumstances, people, possessions etc.
- Cold and excessive heat can be life-threatening to very young children who do not yet have fully-developed temperature regulation systems and have little fat under the skin. Even in relatively hot climates, night temperatures may become very low. Intense heat without fluid replacement can also be life-threatening.
- Crowded accommodation, lack of health services, lack of clean water and adequate sanitation can conspire to pose particular threats to the health of the growing child. Inadequate immunisation programmes, lack of capacity to control infectious diseases and poor health services are likely to have a considerable impact on the healthy development of children and adolescents.
- Malnutrition is closely linked to disease, especially infectious diseases. Under-nourished children have less resistance to disease, and once they have a diarrhoeal or respiratory infection, eat even less so that a cycle of disadvantage is set up which can quickly lead to death. Children’s nutritional needs are significantly different from those of adults. Severe clinical malnutrition which can begin in the foetal state and continue into the first one or two years of life is associated with long-term effects on the development of the cognitive and behavioural aspects of development as well as competence in motor functioning. It appears that the risk is greatest if there is also growth failure. Chronic malnutrition can lead to stunted growth.
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- Chronic poor health , often associated with malnutrition, can affect the child’s natural inclination to explore and learn from the environment and opportunities for taking part in school and other social activities. Overheads 2.2 and 2.3 illustrate the effects of nutritional deficiency.
- Physical injuries can also be associated with armed conflict: for example, bomb blasts can lead not only to shock and anxiety but to hearing loss, which in turn may affect school performance. Bombs, shells, bullets and land-mines can cause a wide range of physical disabilities and psychological threats.
- Loss of educational opportunities can have far-reaching effects on children’s development. Children whose primary education is disrupted often find it difficult to return to schooling later in their childhood. Girls are particularly likely to be disadvantaged educationally. The absence of basic education violates the rights of children and often proves to be a life-long handicap.
- Lack of opportunities for play: although children’s play takes different forms for children of different ages and genders in different cultures, play is an essential and universal feature of childhood through which children explore, learn, co-operate, cope and adjust. Through play, children not only develop skills and competencies, but also handle and re-enact difficult life experiences and express their feelings about them. In conflict and refugee situations, play may be inhibited by a number of factors, including pressures on the time of parents and other carers; the possibility of their own anxieties making them emotionally unavailable to the children; lack of spaces for play; and anxieties about security which may lead parents to restrict their children’s movements.
Topic 4 of this Resource pack examines some of the more specific and critical threats to child development which are particularly encountered in the context of armed conflict and forced migration. These consist of; experience of violence and fear; separation; exploitation and abuse; and association with armed forces. Firstly, however, Topic 3 of this Resource Pack will examine the linked concepts of risk and resilience.
TRAINING MATERIALS FOR TOPIC 2
Overhead 2.1: Key Learning Points for Topic 2 Summary of key learning points
Overhead 2.2: The Effects of Nutritional Deficiency (1)
How Nutritional Deficiency can Affect Children’s Development and Behaviour – Unborn children, Infants and Toddlers Overhead 2.3: The Effects of Nutritional Deficiency (2)
How Nutritional Deficiency can Affect Children’s Development and Behaviour – School-aged Children and Adolescents Exercise 2.1: Personal Time Lines Examines the Impact on Child Development of Particular Life-events
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who cope relatively well - their personal attributes, the quality of their family life, their social supports etc. It is important to emphasise that resilience is not just about personal qualities, but about the way in which these qualities interact with external factors within the family and wider environment.
The term “resilience” is derived from the natural sciences and describes the capacity of a material or product to recover its original shape after being stretched or stressed: when applied to people it describes the capacity of the person to “bounce back” after difficult or stressful experiences.
RISK AND RESILIENCE IN CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
The psycho-social well-being of children in difficult circumstances can be seen as a product of the balance between, on the one hand the presence of certain risk factors and, on the other, the existence of certain protective factors. Where the presence of protective factors helps to counteract the effects of risk factors, the person can be regarded as resilience.
Risk Factors
Many aspects of the situation of displaced children and adolescents can be seen as risk factors. Many of them will have had experiences of violence, loss and wholesale disruption to their lives, and often such stresses are compounded by other factors in the context of displacement. The many risk factors commonly experienced by displaced children and adolescents include:
- previous traumatic experiences of violence, separation, fear etc.;
- loss of the family home, familiar surroundings, friends, familiar people etc.;
- loss of self-respect and self-confidence;
- poor diet and nutritional status;
- lack of opportunities for education;
- lack of opportunities for play and recreation;
- excessive burden of paid and/or unpaid domestic work;
- uncertainty about the future.
These points appear as Overhead 3.2.
In addition, children’s well-being is intrinsically linked with that of their parents: this means that the risks to which parents (or other carers) are exposed will also affect the children. These risks may include, in addition to the above:
- poor health;
- mental health problems such as depression and anxiety;
- lack of access to health and support services;
- separation from spouse;
- relationship problems and tensions in the marriage;
- excessive demands on their time;
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- unemployment and lack of access to economic opportunities;
- lack of material resources;
- worries about other family members and about the future.
These points appear as Overhead 3.3.
For both parents and children, the presence of multiple risk factors, especially if they stem from both past traumatic experiences and current stresses, can disproportionately increase the risk. An accumulation of risk factors is likely to adversely affect the child’s development, and in turn this places him/her at increased susceptibility to other risk factors.
Protective Factors
Protective factors serve to shield both parents and children from the worst effects of such risk factors and thereby contribute to resilience. Some of these protective factors relate to the characteristics, assets or resources of the individual such as the following:
- cognitive competence - a reasonable level of intelligence, skills in communication, realistic planning etc.;
- a positive sense of self-esteem, self confidence and self-control;
- an active coping style rather than a passive approach - e.g. a tendency to look to the future rather than to the past;
- a sense of structure and meaning in the individual’s life, often informed by religious or political beliefs, a sense of coherence etc.
In addition, protective factors are also a product of the child’s immediate social environment such as the following:
- good and consistent support and guidance from parents or other care-givers;
- support from extended family and friendship/community networks, teachers etc., and the re-establishment of a normal pattern of daily life;
- an educational climate which is emotionally positive, open and supportive;
- appropriate role models which encourage constructive coping.
These points appear as (^) Overhead 3.4.
In situations of conflict and forced migration, many of the child’s personal resources may have been undermined, and many of his or her social support systems may have been destroyed or disrupted.
For parents or other care-givers, various personal characteristics will serve to limit, or enhance resilience: within their immediate social environment, protective factors may include:
- a supportive marital relationship;
- support from the extended family;
- supportive community structures - e.g. informal support from community, neighbours, women’s associations etc.;
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reducing risk and in enhancing resilience. Issues of Child and Adolescent Participation are considered in Topic 7, while the community mobilisation of young people is considered in more detail in the ARC Resource Pack on Community Mobilisation , Topic 8. Topic 5 of the ARC Resource Pack on Working with Children provides more practical ideas on how the concept of resilience can be applied to children whose psycho-social well-being has been affected by their experiences of violence and displacement.
TRAINING MATERIALS FOR TOPIC 3
Overhead 3.1: Key Learning Points for Topic 3 Summary of key learning points
Overhead 3.2: Risk Factors for Refugee Children
Lists key points
Overhead 3.3: Parental Risk Factors Lists key points
Overhead 3.4: Protective Factors for Refugee Children
Lists key points
Overhead 3.5: Protective Factors for Parents Lists key points
Exercise 3.1: Risk and Protective Factors Ullustrates risk and protective factors in children and their families Exercise 3.2: The Importance of Community Resources for Children’s Development
A case study exercise which requires participants to identify risk and protective factors and their inter-relationship
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Child and Adolescent Development
Topic 4
Some Critical Threats to Child Development in Emergency Situations
KEY LEARNING POINTS
These are covered under each sub-section, as follows:
4.1 Experiences of Violence and Fear 4.2 Separation from Parents or Other Carers 4.3 Exploitation and Abuse 4.4 Children’s Involvement in Fighting Forces
INTRODUCTION
This topic is designed to provide a basis of knowledge which links directly with other ARC Resource Packs - notably Separated Children, Working with Children, Exploitation and Abuse and Child Soldiers. Facilitators are referred to these for further information on each of these subjects, and in particular on some of the key issues involved in programmes.
Throughout this Topic, it is important to remember that child-rearing practices vary a great deal between different cultures. Much of the research on threats to child development - separation and loss for example - have taken place in western societies and hence cannot simply be transferred to other cultural settings. Therefore there is no substitute for examining, within any particular context, how children have reacted to the situation facing them: this requires a child-centred situation analysis which directly accesses the views, wishes and feelings of the people involved - the children, their carers, community leaders, teachers etc. Facilitators are referred to the ARC Resource Pack on Situation Analysis – especially Topic 3 – for further information and ideas on this.
4.1 EXPERIENCES OF VIOLENCE AND FEAR
Key Learning Points
- Traumatic events such as violence, sudden flight, loss and intense fear are likely to have immediate, and maybe long-term, effects on children and adolescents.
- The nature of their reactions will depend on many different factors, including age, individual characteristics and temperament, and the quality of care and support they receive from their family and other significant people in their social environment.
