Peer-reviewed article
Child Maltreatment, Child Protection and Child Well-being - Research across Borders
Timo Ackermann, Friederike Lorenz, Meike Wittfeld ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This is the introduction to a special issue based on a 2019 conference at Freie Universität Berlin on child maltreatment and well-being. It argues that research on child maltreatment and research on child well-being should be linked more closely. Combining them supports a broader idea of child protection, which covers improving the living environments of children and families and not only protecting children from endangerment. The introduction outlines the three fields (child maltreatment, child well-being and child protection) and previews how the articles in the issue address them.
Key points
- The special issue grew out of the CMW II conference held at Freie Universität Berlin on 21-22 March 2019.
- Conference discussions concluded that it is productive to interrelate research on child maltreatment and child well-being more strongly.
- The articles cover methodological questions about researching child well-being, as well as results on child maltreatment and on child well-being.
- Linking the fields supports a broad concept of child protection, aimed at improving living environments for children and families and not only guarding against endangerment.
Limitations
Only the opening of the introduction is available, so it gives no empirical findings and does not describe the individual articles in detail. The text does not say which countries the articles cover beyond the Berlin conference setting.
Abstract
This special issue is based on contributions from the conference "Child maltreatment and well-being (CMW) II: challenges across borders, research and practicese" that was held at the Freie Universität Berlin from 21st -22nd March 2019. One result of the conference discussions in Berlin 2019 was that it is productive to interrelate research on child maltreatment and well-being more strongly. The articles gathered in this issue discuss methodological questions about doing research on child well-being as well as results from research on child maltreatment and on child well-being. What is beneficial about combining these perspectives? An interconnection between both fields results, for example, in a broad understanding and concept of child protection, in which child protection is not narrowed down to protection against endangerment, but understood as an effort to improve living environments for children and families (see e.g. Biesel/Urban-Stahl 2018, Cancian 2013). However, since the research fields were developed separately, we first outline child maltreatment, child well-being and child protection individually in this introduction and then formulate benefits and challenges in the combination of analytical perspectives on children in different social situations (1). Afterwards we shall give a brief overview of how the articles in this special issue address the three fields (2).