(Broad Argument Reader Jeremy Roche page 81).
Traditionally, progress or development of a country was mainly measured in terms of economic growth or an increase in income per capital. While this approach has the advantage of being straightforward and easy to use, it overlooks crucial facts relevant to evaluate people's quality of life. A country, for instance, can very well have a high income per capital but nevertheless have a sizable section of population subject to premature mortality, malnutrition, illiteracy, social exclusion and so on. As an alternative to the orthodox approach, the Sen-inspired human capabilities approach focuses on the expansion of people's capabilities and freedoms.
The idea is that we should implement social policies that maximize children’s capabilities. Enhancing capabilities is better than maximizing a set of behaviors or goods, because children should be able to choose what to own and how to behave, within broad limits; and different things are valued in different cultures. Thus trying to maximize goods or behaviors is too prescriptive. Enhancing capabilities is better than simply giving people what they say they want or need. People can want bad things, or they can want too much, or they can want too little, which is a common problem among the world's very poor. If services provided to children (education, child care, health and social care) based on their capabilities instead of needs we may be able to see significant changes in the service provided to children.
When providing quality services for children it is first necessary to move from services designed to meet children’s needs to high quality children’s services. It is also important to form some definition of quality remembering that there is no single set of principles which can define quality for each individual. However, it is still necessary to define a framework in order for quality services to be planned and evaluated.
‘Quality is a subjective and dynamic judgement that entails negotiation between different stakeholders’ perspectives which change over time rather than being prescriptive, quality standards should be established within each context to respond to real needs of parents and children.’
(Quote by Bernard van Leer cited in Topic three page 14).
In order to provide high quality services to children it will be necessary to listen to children and ask them what they want, after all no one will know better than themselves. Due to the fact children are environmentally and socio economically dependant on their parents, many of the decisions that affect these areas have a direct affect on the child also. In previous years it has always been assumed that the parent knows best. Far too often children’s services are subjected to the perception of the adult and what the adult feels the child needs. Children are rarely seen as individuals with their own rights but extensions of their parents. In order to provide quality services for children it will be important for children to be given the opportunity to voice their opinions and be apart of the decision making in events surrounding them. Children are unique and complex and thus difficult to comprehend. They are often unable to engage in dialogue in order to fully explain themselves. In order to promote quality of life it is important for the professionals working alongside children to build strong relationships building the child’s self esteem and mutual trust. Allowing the child the opportunity to feel that his or her views are respected, encouraged and supported.
Policies can be administered and developed at different levels, when looking at policies made at International level the influence of the European Union within British policy making is omissible. When looking at policies influenced by the European Union that are directly aimed at benefiting the lives of children as a specific group rather than the family as a whole the European Union has done very little. For example when addressing policies which refer to the environment, factors such as the increasing numbers of cars on the road and the effect on children are still not taken into consideration. It has taken over forty years for the European Union Treaty to refer specifically to children as children were seen as a low political priority; this was shown by the lack of legislation and policies for them (Reader Foley p68).
However, there has been some progress within European Union policies which have a direct impact on the lives of children although many of the initiatives are aimed at older children and young adults through youth and employment schemes there have also been schemes funded which aim to eradicate issues such as violence and bullying surrounding younger children. Policies developed at national or regional level are largely influenced by the attitudes adopted by the particular government.
Under the new labour Government central government began to focus on local services provided for children and their families emphasizing on early years, education and childcare, an example of this the Sure Start government programme aimed at enabling the best start for every child, it brings together education, childcare, health and family support. Initiatives such as Sure Start were influenced by the Labour Governments need to eradicate poverty and anti-social behavior, although Labour was aware that poverty and anti social behaviour were just part of a bigger problem termed as ‘Social Exclusion’
However, most government or local policies are aimed at health, education and employment. As discussed earlier quality of life is not just based on health and material possessions. In order to promote quality of life in children we must also look at the emotional factors that are placed on children. Many children grow up in low income households, single parent families, parent with a serious illness (physical or mental) or parental separation and divorce. Some children also face bullying, sexual abuse, death of a parent or grand-parents, moving away from family and friends and having a disabled member of the family, in order to promote quality of life it is important to promote resilience. Resilience refers to an individual’s ability to prevent, minimize or overcome the damaging affects of trauma or adversity. It gives an individual the capacity to face adversity and even be strengthened by the traumas in life that we all inevitably face.
‘Weather certain experiences crush or strengthen an individual child depends in part on his or her resilience’
(Quoted by Grotberg cited in Topic Three page 27).
There are three suggested main sources of resilience (Grotberg). The first is called I HAVE - the external supports and resources available to the child that lay the foundation for a sense of security and safety. The second source is I AM - the child's internal, personal strengths, the feelings, attitudes and beliefs within the child. The third source of resilience is I CAN - the child's interpersonal and social skills, the skills learnt through interaction and communication.
In order to promote quality of life for children we must first start seeing each child as a unique individual with their own rights and views. Through developing policies based on the child’s capabilities instead of their needs we can bring about new approaches to policies and practices which are developed to promote the quality of life for children.
WORD COUNT -1498
REFRENCES
K204 Course Team (2001) Working with Children and Families, Topic 3.
A chapter in the K204 Course Reader, Jeremy Roche Quality of Life for children. In Foley, P., Roche, J. and Tucker, S. (eds Children in Society Contemporary Theory, Policy and Practice. Basingstoke, Palgrave.
A chapter in the K204 Course Reader, Sandy Ruxton Towards a children’s policy for the European Union? In Foley, P., Roche, J. and Tucker, S. (Eds Children in Society Contemporary Theory, Policy and Practice. Basingstoke, Palgrave.
