International News
These pages hold news about international research and practice in other countiries. It also lists International events and conferences. if you would like information loaded onto this site please email us at Include Project
Global Perspectives on Children's Unpaid Caregiving in the Family:
Research and Policy on 'Young Carers' in the UK, Australia, the USA and Sub-Saharan Africa
by Professor Saul Becker
University of Nottingham, UK
Global Social Policy, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 23-50 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1468018107073892
© 2007 SAGE Publications
This article provides the first cross-national review and synthesis of available statistical and research evidence from three developed countries, the UK, Australia and the USA, and from sub-Saharan Africa, on children who provide substantial, regular or significant unpaid care to other family members ('young carers/caregivers'). It uses the issue of young carers as a window on the formulation and delivery of social policy in a global context. The article examines the extent of children's informal caregiving in each country; how young carers differ from other children; and how children's caring has been explained in research from both developed and developing countries. The article includes a review of the research, social policy and service developments for young carers in each country. National levels of awareness and policy response are characterized as 'advanced', 'intermediate', 'preliminary' or 'emerging'. Explanations are provided for variations in national policy and practice drawing on themes from the globalization literature. Global opportunities and constraints to progress, particularly in Africa, are identified. The article suggests that children's informal caring roles in both developed and developing nations can be located along a 'caregiving continuum' and that young carers, globally, have much in common irrespective of where they live or how developed are their national welfare systems. There is a need in all countries for young carers to be recognized, identified, analysed and supported as a distinct group of 'vulnerable children'.
For details of how to download this article (either through an institutional subscription or a one-off temporary access subscription which allows you to download the article and print off, etc), please go to:
http://gsp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/1/23
Bouncing Back Conference- Ontario Canada
Young Carers Initiative Niagra held The 1st Canadian Conference on Young Carers “Bouncing Back” (The role of resilience in strengthening young carers, their families and their community.
What is resilience?
Resilience is the capacity to “bounce back” from challenging and stressful life situations such as being a young carer during your growing up years.
Keynote speakers Included:
Jenny Frank
Programme Manager, Young Carers Initiative (YCI) Great Britain
Terrance J. Wade, PhD
Canada Research Chair in Youth and Wellness, Associate Professor, Departments of Community and Health Sciences, and Child and Youth Studies at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.
Click here for more information.
DfES Symposium for Young Carers
8-10 May 2006, Nairobi.
An international symposium was held in Nairobi for Practitioners and Policy Specialists on addressing the needs of Orphans and Vulnerable Children
This was a 3 day Symposium in Nairobi for practitioners and policy specialists drawn from the UK, East, West and South Africa. The objective was to gain an overview of the possible benefits of the integration of services for children and how this could overcome obstacles to educational and economic participation in the African context.
The Symposium was jointly funded by DfES It was organised by CfBT in partnership with the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work (Kenya) and The Children’s Society (UK).
A Report wriiten by the young people attending is available to download here.
A short DVD was produced around this event, it is avaliable to view on the Commonwealth Youtube site.
The young carers from Kenya also produced a newsletter about their project and current activities when they visited the UK in November 2007. You can read 'Young Carers in Kenya' here.
