Child Safety, Welfare and Well-being Issues and Challenges

This book provides a focused and comprehensive overview of the status of children across society, with special reference to emerging features and measures of child safety, welfare, and overall well-being. The book is arranged into four parts covering various dimensions of child welfare and well-being. In this second edition, highly experienced academics, researchers, child rights activities, and policymakers from both developed and developing countries have contributed chapters on topics such as status of children living under institutional care, sexual abuse of male children and tribal girl children, issues and challenges faced by children living in conflict zones, children living on the streets, COVID-19 and its impact on the education of children. The status of marginalized children gets special importance in the second edition. The new chapters include field-based experiences of researchers in protecting child rights and preventing child abuse. It also considers the promising strategies and promising future directions in enhancing effective prevention, intervention and responses to child abuse and neglect. This volume is essential for a wide range of professionals and researchers from the social sciences, law, medicine, and behavioral sciences. It is also beneficial for policymakers and law enforcement agencies working with children.

1 Introduction—Child Safety, Welfare, and Well-being:

Need of the Hour. . ……………………………………………………. . …………..

Sibnath Deb

Part I Nature and Extent of Child Abuse and Neglect

2 Fifty Years of Child Abuse: Milestones, Misconceptions,

and Moving On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……………

Kim Oates

3 Cyberbullying: Its Prevention and Intervention Strategies . . . . . . . …………..         

Rebecca P. Ang

and Protective Measures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……………          

Sibnath Deb & Mrinalkanti Ray

Punishment in Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………….

George W. Holden & Rose Ashraf

Trauma or Confusion?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………….

B.N. Roopesh

Waheeda Khan

8 The Law and Practices of Ritual Male Circumcision:

Time for Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …………..

Esther I.J. Erlings

9 Child Well-being At The Crossroads: Impact of Work-Life Interface,

Consumerism, and Adult Lifestyle Choices……………………………………

Tusharika Mukherjee

10 Children Witnessing Violence in India: Nature, Risk factors,

Impact and Prevention Strategies  …………………………………………….

Rituparna Chakraborty  & Aneesh Kumar P 

Tribal Adolescent Girls of Kerala………………………………………………..

Saranya S & Sibnath Deb

Part II: Status of Children under Difficult Circumstances

12 Plight of Nomadic Children: In Search of Consideration and

Inclusions   ………………………………………………………………………

Jagdish Jadhav, Priya Rajput & Swati Amrale-Jadhav

13 Safety and Welfare of Children Under Institutional Care:

A Situation Analysis…………………………………………………………….

K.Bhuvaneswari & Sibnath Deb

14 Children in Armed Conflict: Concerns for Safety and Measures Towards Well-being

Raveena Kousar & Subhasis Bhadra

15 Child Safety and Wellbeing During the Covid-19 Pandemic ………..

Bishakha Majumdar

16 Unfolding Children’s Agency in Ensuring Child Protection………………..

Virgil D Sami

17 Children of Stigmatized Parents: Concerns and Fostering Holistic Development

Aishwarya Gautam &  Subhasis Bhadra

18 Male Child Sexual Abuse: Current Status and Future Directions……..

P. Swathisha & Sibnath Deb

Part III Child Rights and Its Practice

19 Adoption: Right to Information Versus Right to Confidentiality. . . …….

Jagannath Pati

20 Dropouts to Learners: The Challenge of the Right

to Education Act 2009. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……….

Vimala Veeraraghavan

Part IV Rights of Vulnerable Children

21 Child Rights in the Context of HIV/AIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …….

Seema Sahay, Archana Verma, Suhas Shewale

& Murugesan Periyasamy

22 Adoption: A Source of Maltreatment

and Violation of Child Rights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……….

Nilanjana Sanyal

N.K. Chadha & Vandana Gambhir Chopra

24 Rights of Children with Disability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …...

Prerna Sharma

25 Prevention of Abandonment of Children with Special Needs

Through Community-Based Programs and Intervention. . . . . . . . . ………

Chitra Shah

26 Psycho-Social Support for Protection of Children in Disasters. . . . ……

Subhasis Bhadra

Part V Protective Measures

Jenny Gray

28 Governance and Social Spaces for Children ………………………….

Akila Radhakrishnan

29 Developing Countries and the Potential of Mandatory

Reporting Laws to Identify Severe Child Abuse and Neglect. . . . . . . …….

Ben Mathews

30 Child Sexual Abuse in Brazil: Awareness, Legal Aspects

and Examples of Prevention Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………

Lucia C.A. Williams & Sabrina M. D’Affonseca

Bharti Ali

32 A Multidisciplinary Approach to Child Protection

from Sexual Abuse in India: The Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …..

Lina Acca Mathew

33 Child Protection: The Grassroots Issues and Challenges. . . . . . . . …

Mala Bhandari

Sibnath Deb, Ph.D. and D.Sc., is Director of Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD) , Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India. Prior to joining RGNIYD, he taught at the Department of Applied Psychology, Pondicherry University (A Central University), and at the University of Calcutta. In 1994, he completed an intensive course on ‘HIV/AIDS and Qualitative Research’ from the University of Western Australia. During April 2009 to August 2009, he visited the School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia, as Visiting Faculty. Currently, he is also Adjunct Professor of the School of Justice, Faculty of Law, QUT, Australia. He has 31 years of teaching, research, and administrative experience and has published a large number of research articles in leading national and international journals as well as in edited books. He has written six books and edited five books. His latest book titled ‘Disadvantaged Children in India: Empirical Evidence, Policies and Actions being’ has been published by Springer in 2020. His other books include Upholding Justice: Social, Psychological and Legal Perspectives (Routledge, 2021); Delivering Justice: Issues and Concerns (Routledge, 2021); Community Psychology: Theories and Applications (Sage, 2020); Childhood to Adolescence: Issues and Concerns (Pearson, 2020); Social Psychology in Everyday Life (SAGE, 2019); Positive Schooling and Child Development: International Perspectives (Springer, 2018); Child Safety, Welfare and Well-being (Ist Edition, Springer, 2016), and Distance Education: Prospects, Challenges and Way Forward (Pearson, 2018). His research interests include child safety, students’ mental health, adolescent reproductive health, family relationships, child care, happiness, and applied social psychology. He has got three international and five national awards for his contribution in academics and research including an award from the Asiatic Society, Kolkata (an institute of national importance under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India) in 2018 and “Visitor’s Award 2019” from Hon’ble President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind for his contribution in the field of child protection, students’ mental health and HIV/AIDS.