The Development of Child Health and Welfare Services in England (1900–1948)

Foley, Pam

doi:10.1007/978-1-137-24714-8_1

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…In particular, it was the children of the poor who appeared to present the greatest danger to Britain's world position'. Another key factor was the growing concern regarding the general health of the nation, as conscription for the Boer War had proven that worrying numbers of the population were not 'fighting fit' (Foley 2001) which could hamper the nation's security and its ability to exercise its military strength in a global context. Lavalette and Cunningham (2002) noted there was also growing concern amongst the dominant class within Britain, about the threat of serious social disorder because of the rise of 'unionism' in response to the extent of poverty amongst the urban poor who were increasingly being exposed to the brutal realities of industrialisation.…”

Section: The Reluctant Statementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This process operates to both formalise the state-approved purpose of childhood, i.e., to produce law abiding, hard-working, compliant adults and to locate 'anomalies' or 'problem' children who need treatment or correction to ensure they adhere to the required norm. This standardisation or 'normalisation' of childhood provided the opportunity for the state to maximise the potential of the national resource that babies and children represented (Foley 2001). Subsequently, particular interest was paid to the social problems children pose and almost exclusively poor working-class children became the subject of the state's attention as many social problems became attributed to them (Goldson 2002;Hendrick 2003).…”

Section: The Reluctant Statementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This language implied that 'normal' child development was the responsibility of the mother and she was to be held accountable for this by the state. Subsequently, 'schools for mothers' opened in the early part of the 20th century which provided guidance in appropriate 'mothercraft' (Foley 2001). This complemented the existing work of charitable organisations, which saw middle-class women offering advice and guidance on the correct form of domestic organisation.…”

Section: Moral Salvationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The state-approved private nuclear family became charged with the moral and social guidance of their children, as it was felt that 'natural bonds of love and affection between mother and child were also likely to be seen as an insurance against criminality' (Wyness 2006, p. 97) and other social problems. Many of the social problems which the working-class mother and her family were charged with addressing could easily be attributed to the widespread poverty, unemployment and hardship of the time; however the state was determined to locate the responsibility for these problems with the working-class family (Goldson 2002;Jones 2002;Foley 2001). Lavalette and Cunningham (2002, p. 21) noted 'the dominant class focused on the need to pursue a 'remoralising' agenda that focused on the control of the unruly working-class youth and the promotion of a set of family values to curb disorder and family breakdown'.…”

Section: Moral Salvationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Looked After Children: The Reluctant State and Moral Salvation

Cronin

2019

Genealogy

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Over the past fifty years, public care for children in England has undergone a significant transformation moving almost exclusively towards foster care as the preferred mode of delivery. The most recent data from the Department for Education for the year ending 31 March 2018, reported that 73% of all Looked After Children (LAC) were placed in foster care with just 8% in residential placements. Compared to an almost even split of 45% of children in Foster Care (or ‘boarded out’) and 42% of children in residential care in 1966, the scale of this shift becomes apparent. This transformation has taken place in the context of a social policy discourse promoted by successive governments, which has privileged foster care as the most suitable place for children needing out-of-home public care. The main argument in this article is that the rationale for the state’s growing interest in children (in particular those children who are considered a social problem) and the emerging social policy solutions, i.e., foster care, are driven by particular political and economic agendas which have historically paid little attention to the needs of these children and young people. This article explores the relationship between the state, the child and their family and the drivers for this transformation in children’s public care making use of a genealogical approach to identify the key social, political and historical factors, which have provided the context for this change. It examines the increasing interest of the state in the lives of children and families and the associated motivation for the emerging objectification of children. The role of the state in locating the family as the ideal place for children’s socialisation and moral guidance will be explored, with a focus on the political and economic motivations for privileging foster care. Consideration will also be paid to the potential implications of this transformation for children and young people who require public care.

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Section: The Reluctant Statementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Reluctant Statementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Moral Salvationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Moral Salvationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Looked After Children: The Reluctant State and Moral Salvation

Cronin

2019

Genealogy

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“…The notion that children need to be saved from harm and the concerns of the adult world is strongly embedded in (modern) Western ideology and practices. The implicit view, stemming (in part) from a Victorian view of children as a ‘national resource’ (Foley, 2001, p. 11), is that children are our future and need safeguarding and a such has a strong emotional pull (Burman, 1998;O'Dell, 2003). Thus, ‘lost children’, child saving and ‘stolen childhood’ are common imagery and icons in liberal western imagery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representations of the ‘Damaged’ Child: ‘Child Saving’ in a British Children's Charity ad Campaign

O’Dell

2008

Children & Society

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This article discusses the representation of abused children as ‘damaged’, drawing on a series of three advertising campaigns for a British children's charity. The pictures and text of the advertisements seek to elicit readers’ concern for abused children by portraying them (a) as passive agents in their development and (b) as signifiers of the dangers of the world and the safeness of the home. The portrayal of abused children in the advertisements serves to reinforce a perception of the vulnerability of all children and the need for adult supervision and ‘care’. Without seeking to dismiss the seriousness of abuse or of the work done by children's charities, the article questions the implications of these representations of childhood and ‘damage’, and argues that the dominant representation of abused children drawn on in such campaigns oversimplifies many complexities in the worlds and the lives of children who have been abused.

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