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 socialization, 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 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 characterize 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 recognized that this is a more useful way of looking at the process of child development than either maturation or socialization 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 variations - with marked differences in child-rearing practices, and to some extent between families of the same culture. They are shaped by traditional practice, beliefs, level of education, external influences and many other factors. These practices will form an important framework for the child’s development in a particular family and culture. Child rearing practices will also change over time, and there may also be differences between urban and rural practices. In whatever environment the child is brought up, the child becomes a cultural and social being and in so doing he or she also contributes to the process.
All babies are born with their unique genetic make-up inherited from their parents, which are significant in determining their gender, appearance, temperament and intelligence: genetic factors also can cause particular diseases and disabilities. Genes also “steer” biological development, the “programme” of emergence of different functions and levels of competence as the child grows. But within a transactional model of development, many factors in the environment will interact continuously with the individual child’s biological potentialities and vice versa to produce developmental effects. For example, although certain genes determine the basic structure of the brain, it is known that the quality of adult-child interaction - the way the baby is held, talked to and stimulated - actually influences the more detailed structure of the brain, the quantity of interconnections between the brain cells and eventually how the brain functions.
Various physical, intellectual and
sensory disabilities can have an obvious and possibly profound impact on
the development of the child. Arguably, however, it is
not so much the disability itself, but the
way disability is viewed and disabled children are treated that has the
greatest detrimental effect. Here the transactional nature of child development
is clearly visible: the child who is slow to develop, for
example, may be unrewarding to his or her care-taker and as a consequence may receive less attention and stimulation. In many cultures, disability confers a sense of shame on the family, while in others there is to be found a fatalistic attitude which often results in an under-investment in the child. In some cases, ignorance about the nature of the child’s disability can have very adverse consequences – for example the mistaken assumption that cerebral palsy inevitably leads to learning disability. In such situations, children may be deprived of stimulation and attention, of food and comfort, and of contact with other children – all of which can have a massively adverse impact on the child’s development. Facilitators are referred to the ARC Resource Pack on Disability for further information on this subject: in particular, Exercise 7.1 may be used to illustrate the impact on the child of lack of educational and other opportunities.
SOME GENERAL FACTORS AFFECTING CHILD DEVELOPMENT IN CONFLICT AND DISPLACEMENT SITUATIONS
All children and adolescents have basic physiological, social and emotional needs which must be met to ensure healthy development. Some needs are shared in common with adults, but others are specific to particular ages and stages during childhood. For example, very young children have a particular need for consistent, secure patterns of care and nurturance, though these needs can be adequately met through a wide range of family and care systems. If their needs are not adequately met, young children’s development may be impaired and this may have long-term impact.
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 recognize 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 immunization 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.
· 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.