Child sexual abuse (CSA) is believed to affect one in eight children worldwide (UNICEF, 2020). This authoritative book challenges widely-held problematic beliefs about CSA and discusses societal responses and attitudes to survivors. It brings together multidisciplinary expertise from key researchers and practitioners around the world to better understand CSA in Black and racially minoritised communities and to provide recommendations for improving legal, policy and practical responses. It provides an international overview, covering theory, practice and policy and action-oriented research to determine how countries can individually and collectively work to prevent CSA with specific, vulnerable groups and in general. It also examines how intersectional marginalisation affects experiences of, and responses to, CSA. This essential body of work is thoroughly researched and includes first hand testimony which will deepen the understanding of students, academics, policy-makers and professionals including social workers, service staff and activists working at the frontline. Chapter 7 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The Routledge Handbook of Childhood Studies and Global Development explores how global development agendas and processes of economic development influence children’s lives. It demonstrates that children are not only the frequent targets or objects of development but that they also shape and influence processes of economic, political and sociocultural development. The handbook makes the case for the importance of placing children at the heart of development debates and demonstrates how researchers, policymakers and practitioners can engage children in development. Through reports on field research as well as a critical engagement with theories in development studies and childhood studies, contributors contest normative assumptions about childhood and global development. They tease out and tease apart the complex social, historical, cultural, economic, epidemiological, ecological, geopolitical, and institutional processes transforming what it means to be young in the world today. Showcasing research from both established scholars and early career researchers, and with particular prominence given to the work of authors from the global south, this book will be an essential reference for policymakers, practitioners, and for researchers and students across childhood studies, education, geography, sociology, and global development.

From the denial of abortion rights in Ireland to sexual violence against British South Asian women in England, the state and its institutions continue to fail women. This book offers a counter-narrative to contemporary injustices and a persistent culture of victim-blaming. The academic and activist contributions to this collection explore contemporary research areas and pursue new discursive directions in order to present a feminist criminology, built on feminist praxis, for the 21st century. Providing a direct challenge to regressive and ineffective theory, policy and practice, this book resists the politics of gendered victimization through extending feminist analyses of the state and documenting interventions into contemporary injustices.

Providing an exploration of the key issues, this book offers practical advice on how to improve the safeguarding and welfare of black children and young people in need. With contributions from academics, researchers and practitioners, it promotes an understanding of the particular cultural and social issues that affect black children in relation to child protection. It highlights how race and racism, as well as culture, faith and gender, can influence the ways need and risk are interpreted and responded to. Drawing on insights from research evidence, case examples and practice guidelines, it outlines the range of factors that contribute to the vulnerability of black children and describes how to improve techniques of working with minority ethnic families. The book covers issues such as the effects of parental mental health problems, living with domestic violence, child maltreatment, and demonstrates how these might be understood differently for black children and young people. There are also chapters on topics such as female genital mutilation, witchcraft and forced marriage. Essential reading for all social workers and child protection workers, as well as students and support managers, Safeguarding Black Children provides the tools and understanding needed to better support these children.

Drawing on two empirical studies and influential theoretical frameworks, this book provides a critical overview of the key regulatory challenges concerning cyberbullying and sexting behaviours among young people (persons under 18 years). The author explores issues such as conceptualising the behaviours, examining the prevailing presence of sexism, myths and stereotypes surrounding gender roles and identity, and the limitations of criminal law as an effective regulatory tool. In doing so, identifying peer-based sexting behaviours as part of a continuum of sexual behaviour is promoted alongside the need to consider interventions beyond the legal landscape and in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the main, priority is given to non-legal responses and the need for more effective and comprehensive gender-sensitive education programmes. The book therefore provides a more developed conceptual understanding of sexting and cyberbullying behaviours among young people.

This book challenges Western-centric views on sex in later life by exploring diverse cultures from the majority world. It advocates learning from overlooked perspectives and dismantling stereotypes about their sexual conservatism. It critiques cultural binaries, emphasising the need to decentre Western perspectives as the benchmark.

This volume examines existing research documenting racial disproportionality and disparities in child welfare systems, the underlying factors that contribute to these phenomena and the harms that result at both the individual and community levels. It reviews multiple forms of interventions designed to prevent and reduce disproportionality, particularly in states and jurisdictions that have seen meaningful change. With contributions from authorities and leaders in the field, this volume serves as the authoritative volume on the complex issue of child maltreatment and child welfare. It offers a central source of information for students and practitioners who are seeking understanding on how structural and institutional racism can be addressed in public systems.