Child Development

Knowledge of child development is the foundation for work with children, and therefore is a requirement for all those seeking to protect children. It influences every aspect of a child from physical growth and mental abilities, to how they express emotions, think and behave.

Healthy development takes children through stages, whereby they obtain an increasing number of physical, mental, and emotional skills in order to become independent adults. These stages provide benchmarks for determining if a child is developing normally. Without knowledge of the normal developmental stages of a child, a worker cannot identify developmental delays, assess the impact of abuse, or make recommendations regarding the child’s physical, mental or emotional health. Understanding what a child is capable of allows adults to communicate on their level and provide age-appropriate responses and interventions.

Knowledge of early childhood development and attachment behaviour is particularly important for protection workers. The physical health and care a child experiences as an infant will affect their development into adulthood. A child needs to have experienced a positive attachment by the age of 3 in order to develop cognitively, physically, socially, and psychologically. Healthy attachments come from the close bond a child experiences when provided with the responsive and stable care of at least one adult. In a residential home, children are less likely to receive the amount of individual attention from a permanent caretaker that they require. Children under 12, in particular, benefit more from a kinship, foster or adoption placement where they can experience closer relationships.

Observation of a child’s attachment to caretakers will influence the type of care, permanency plan, and level of support services offered. It can also aid in the identification of abuse.

This section contains information on the importance of child development knowledge, guidance on the ages and stages of children, and attachment theory.

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Three Trimesters to Three Years: Promoting Early Development

The Future of Children - Princeton-Brookings, 2020

This issue of the Future of Children focuses on the first years of life starting with in utero experiences.

State Investments in Head Start to Support At-Risk Children and Families: More Important Than Ever

National Head Start Association, 2020

This brief from Head Start provides an overview of state funding for Head Start, a collection of comprehensive birth to five programs in the U.S. specifically designed to strengthen families, promote school readiness, and improve child health.

Psychological and Social Issues Affecting Orphans and Vulnerable Children

Zoleka Ntshuntshe & Simon G. Taukeni - Addressing Multicultural Needs in School Guidance and Counseling, 2020

This chapter from 'Addressing Multicultural Needs in School Guidance and Counseling' focuses on the psychological and social issues that orphans and other vulnerable children experience when their parents are no longer alive.

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The Case for Investing in Early Childhood Development

Thrive Coalition, 2020

This two-page document from the Thrive Coalition - a community of over 30 organizations and individuals dedicated to addressing U.S. Government support for global early childhood development - makes a case for U.S. investment in global early childhood development.

Socio-emotional challenges and development of children left behind by migrant mothers

Xueqi Qu, Xi Wang, Xiaona Huang, Ashish KC, Yuning Yang, Yue Huang, Chunyi Chen, Yaqing Gao, Yinping Wang, Hong Zhou - Journal of Global Health, 2020

The present study aims to explore the specific influence of migrant mothers on early child development, especially on social-emotional problems.

Stress sensitization among severely neglected children and protection by social enrichment

Mark Wade, Charles H. Zeanah, Nathan A. Fox, Florin Tibu, Laura E. Ciolan, Charles A. Nelson - Nature Communications, 18 Dec 2019

The current study uses data from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial to examine whether severe early neglect among children reared in institutions increases vulnerability to the effects of later stressful life events on externalizing problems in adolescence, and whether social enrichment in the form of high-quality foster care buffers this risk.

Early lexical development of children raised in institutional care in Russia

Marina A. Zhukova, Sergey A. Kornilov, Stella N. Tseitlin, Marina B. Eliseeva, Elena A. Vershinina, Rifkat J. Muhamedrahimov, Elena L. Grigorenko - British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 02 Dec 2019

To investigate the early language development of children raised in institutional settings in the Russian Federation, the authors of this study compared a group of children in institutional care to their age‐matched peers raised in biological families, who have never been institutionalized using the Russian version of the CDI.

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Global resource guide on public finance for children in early childhood development

UNICEF, 01 Dec 2019

This resource guide aims to support UNICEF country teams, development partners and governments to deliver at-scale and sustainable results for early childhood development (ECD).

Developmental Effects of Parent–Child Separation

Anne Bentley Waddoups, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, and Kendra Strouf - Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 01 Dec 2019

This article reviews the effects on children and youth of parent–child separation due to several of the most common reasons that are responsible for the growth in this family circumstance worldwide.

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Foster children are at risk for developing problems in social-emotional functioning: A follow-up study at 8 years of age

Heidi Jacobsen, Hans Bugge Bergsund, Tore Wentzel-Larsen, Lars Smith, Vibeke Moe - Children and Youth Services Review, 22 Nov 2019

The first aim of this study was to investigate foster children’s social-emotional functioning (externalizing, internalizing and total problem behavior) reported by female and male caregivers, as well as by teachers, at 8 years of age, as compared with a non-foster group. The second aim was to investigate the predictive power of internalizing and externalizing behavior from age 2 and 3 years.

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