Applied Life Studies

Reunification is a primary goal of foster care systems and the most common permanency planning decision. It is defined as the return of children placed in protective care to the home of their birth family and used to describe the act of restoring a child in out-of-home care back to the biological family.  Yet reunification decision-making and the process of reintegrating children into birth families remains under researched. This Brief takes a look at family reunification knowledge and research in Australia where there is evidence that most children placed in protective care are eventually reunited with their birth parents. It explores how a knowledge of reunification decision making and outcomes can contribute to strengthening practice and informing policy formulation and program planning in Child Welfare.

Child Care and Education, Fifth edition, is a core textbook for a range of Early Years and Early Childhood Studies courses including Foundation Degrees and Higher Education courses.This author team has an exceptional range of experiences and knowledge that covers teaching, practice, research, policy development, research and, of course, textbook writing. This new edition will continue to give generations of students substantial success and enjoyment in their training, studyand their work with children and young people.

Child Development for Child Care and Protection Workers is a classic text for students and practitioners in the child care and protection field which summarises important current thinking on child development and applies it directly to practice. The book covers key issues such as resilience and vulnerability and the impact of protective or adverse environments. Different stages of development (infancy, school age and adolescence) are discussed, and attachment theory is used to offer insights into the impact of abuse and neglect on development. A key feature is the inclusion of case studies and activities to allow the reader to improve their understanding and reflect on good practice. This second edition is fully updated to reflect the new policy context and multi-disciplinary practice, and contains updated practice examples to take into account contemporary issues affecting children and young people. This book encourages practitioners to consider each child as an individual with unique circumstances, and links theory and practice in an imaginative and sympathetic way. It will be essential reading for all child care and protection workers.

 When the first edition of this seminal work appeared in 1990, the sociology of childhood was only just beginning to emerge as a distinct sub-discipline. Drawing together strands of existing sociological writing about childhood and shaping them into a new paradigm, the original edition of this Routledge Classic offered a potent blend of ideas that informed, even inspired, many empirical studies of children's lives because it provided a unique lens through which to think about childhood. Featuring a collection of articles which summarised the developments in the study of childhood across the social sciences, including history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, feminist and developmental studies, scholars and professionals from developed and developing countries world-wide shared their knowledge of having worked and of working with children. Now with a new introduction from the editors to contextualise it into the 21st century, this truly ground-breaking text which helped establish childhood studies as a distinctive field of enquiry is being republished.

Information from neuroscience is growing and being properly used, and misused wich makes it imperative that educators receive accurate and practical information. This book provides the accurate and practical information educators (pre-service and in-service) and caregivers serving children birth through age 8 need to know. This volume takes a practical and cautionary stance. It reminds educators to consider the ethical implications of neuroscience when it is applied to education, reviews current findings from neuroscience and reveals the dangers of oversimplification and inappropriate extensions of neuroscience into curricula. It brings together a group of authors with varied expertise writing on an array of inter-related educational topics that will help educators use neuroscience to understand and address the cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral needs of all young children, including those with exceptionalities. They believe neuroscience can be insightful and useful to educators if applied ethically and with care. The book offers strategies educators and caregivers can use to affect children today and the adults they can become.

In recent years, there has been an explosion of research on the early origins of adult health. A growing body of evidence documents that maternal health before conception, prenatal and perinatal exposures, and conditions in childhood play critical roles in health over the life course. Scientific understanding of the multiple and interacting influences on child health and their role in later health continues to evolve rapidly, but greater attention to how families shape the conditions of early life that underlie childhood health is needed. This volume aims to advance understanding of this topic, with attention to mechanisms through which health disparities emerge and are sustained across the lifespan.

From Birth to Five Years, based on the pioneering work of Mary Sheridan, has become a classic guide to the developmental progress of pre-school children. It is widely recognised as an invaluable reference for professionals training or working in health, education and social care. Features of this completely revised edition include: Charts describing key stages in the development of motor, perception, communication, play, independence and social skills, updated in the light of recent research and supported by over 120 illustrations Information on what we know about how children develop. A new section on the development of attention and self-regulation Guidelines for the assessment of children through observation and interaction Advice on when to refer to specialist services Guidance is offered on ages at which children typically achieve key stages, whilst recognising individual variation in the rate of development and the influence of the child's environment. Based on an ethos of health promotion and the need for a common assessment framework, the book will be welcomed by all those who work with infants and young children. Dr Ajay Sharma is a Consultant Community Paediatrician in Southwark, London Helen Cockerill is a Consultant Speech and Language Therapist, working at the Evelina Children's Hospital in London.

Early childhood development research offers solutions to several of the world's social and economic problems - solutions that can break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, improve the health, education, and wellbeing of the global population, and yield high rates of return on investment inthe formative years of life. And yet over one-third of children worldwide under five years of age still fail to achieve their full developmental potential due to malnutrition, poverty, disease, neglect, and lack of learning opportunities. Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy calls for placing early childhood development at the top of the global policy agenda, enabling children to achieve their full developmental potential and to contribute to equitable economic and social progressworldwide. The volume presents evidence-based programs and policies for advancing the positive development of young children across the globe, focusing on developing countries. An international ensemble of scholars, policymakers, and practitioners present evidence from multiple disciplinary,sectorial, and analytical perspectives, emphasizing the importance of scientific findings in promoting child development and addressing programmatic challenges to quality, sustainability, measurement, finance, and capacity. Sponsored by the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the premier international association of developmental scientists, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), a leading organization for promoting children's wellbeing worldwide, this Handbook will be invaluable to policyadvocates, program managers of national governments, international NGOs, and development agencies, as well as to scholars and students in the areas of child development and global policy.

This book challenges traditional conceptions of readiness in early childhood education by sharing concrete examples of practice, policy and histories that rethink readiness. This book seeks to reimagine possible new educational worlds for young children.

Starting from the Child supports early years practitioners to be advocates for young children and their learning needs. In the fourth edition of this highly influential and inspirational book, Julie Fisher outlines the important theories and research which should underpin best early years practice. She takes a robust and principled stand against downward pressure to formalise young children’s learning too soon, and offers practical and meaningful ways to develop high quality learning and teaching in the early years. Starting from the Child challenges all early years practitioners to consider: How to build on children’s innate desire to learn and their competence and autonomy as effective early learners How to plan environments indoors and out that make learning irresistible How to plan for high quality child-initiated learning to take place seamlessly alongside learning that is adult-initiated The role of the adult in supporting and extending young children’s learning How daily observation of children informs and underpins planning for their individual and unique learning needs Revised and updated throughout, this fourth edition includes the latest research on early brain development and reference to recent government initiatives including the revised Early Years Foundation Stage. Starting from the Child is essential reading, not only for early years practitioners, but for all those who manage and make decisions about early learning. “In the fourth edition of this book, Julie Fisher once again demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the history of early childhood education, and the enduring principles that continue to underpin practice. She has skilfully blended these principles with contemporary research and theory in order to provide readers with deep understanding of young children as capable, competent and eager learners. Julie draws on her extensive work with practitioners to present the everyday realities and complexities of their practice, and to sound welcome notes of caution about the ways in which policy frameworks are used. She offers vignettes to illustrate key issues, provocations and challenges to stimulate thinking, and questions to engage readers with contemporary issues and dilemmas. The book also reflects deeply held convictions about the moral and ethical responsibilities we have to teach young children in ways that respect their extraordinary enthusiasm for learning. This book will be invaluable for students of early childhood education, especially those on professional development programmes such as Early Childhood Studies, Early Years Professional Status, and Post Graduate Certificate of Education.” Professor Elizabeth Wood, University of Sheffield, UK “The fourth edition of this classic text has been updated with recent research. This is very helpful in supporting readers but it’s the underpinning philosophy that makes this a continuing classic. The title says it all. Julie takes the reader by the hand and says ‘Look and listen, give these children your full and respectful attention and they will teach you how to be with them.’ All the practical ideas in the book support practitioners in using their skills and knowledge to recognise early childhood as valuable in its own right - to be relished and enjoyed, not to be rushed through or seen merely as preparation for the next stage. We owe it to our children to take heed.” Helen Moylett, Early Years Consultant and writer “Julie Fisher’s work has been a staple of Early Childhood Education since the first edition of Starting from the Child in 1996. Her fourth edition does not disappoint, and is a welcome development of her thinking. She delves in more detail, for example, into brain development, and leads her readers further into the latest scientific thinking on how children learn. She is, as ever, insightful about how adults work with children, with helpful advice about how to observe (and record) children’s learning, and how to plan effectively. Her inclusion of her own latest field work ensures that Julie’s advice on early years practice remains rooted in the everyday, while making accessible a range of theoretical and scientific perspectives. This is a book for students, teachers and other early years workers seeking to find their way through the conflicting needs of a rapidly changing area of work.” Nick Swarbrick, Programme Lead for the Undergraduate Modular Programme in the School of Education, Oxford Brookes University, UK