Teen Life in Latin America and the Caribbean


Book Description

Teens in Latin America and the Caribbean generally face a difficult path to adulthood. Poverty and unemployment, violence, political instability, and emigration are frequently the norm in their native countries. Those from poorer families must often work as well as attend school, and opportunities for higher education and good jobs are limited. Wealthier teens, on the other hand, are sheltered from harshness and enjoy private schools, vacations abroad, and access to American consumer products. Yet family is important no matter what the class, and most of these teens share a love of parties, music, and current fashions. Latin America and the Caribbean are important regions to the United States, since large numbers of Americans can trace their roots there. Teen Life in Latin America and the Caribbean allows U.S. teens to understand the unique challenges and opportunities of teens in 15 Latin American or Caribbean countries. Photos complement the text.




Every Right for Every Child


Book Description

Despite some acknowledgement over the years of the significance of seeing children as rights holders, children’s concerns continue to run the risk of not being considered political and mainstream: they continue to be viewed as extensions of adults or simply as members of families and communities. This when the reality is that children are citizens the minute they are born, and entitled to as much attention, if not more than adults, given their age and vulnerability. Concerned with the mainstreaming of children’s interests in policy-making, this book raises such questions as: What is good governance vis-à-vis children? What are the standards and indicators? Can there be one answer for this question that is applicable to all countries? In order to arrive at a better understanding of what good governance for children means and how the realization of the political, cultural, social and civil rights of children may be achieved, the book draws on the diverse and yet comprehensive body of knowledge that has developed over the years from initiatives taken by organisations across the world who work with policy makers to make governance systems more accountable and responsive to the well-being of children as citizens in themselves, simultaneously empowering children to take part in decision-making processes that impact their lives.




Evidence-based Approaches to Sexuality Education


Book Description

This is the first book to provide a multidisciplinary and global overview of evidence-based sexuality education (SE) programs and practices. Readers are introduced to the fundamentals of creating effective programs to prepare them to design new or implement existing programs that promote healthy sexual attitudes and relationships. Noted contributors from various disciplines critically evaluate evidence –based programs from around the globe and through the lifespan. Examples and discussion questions encourage application of the material. Guidance for those who wish to design, implement, and evaluate SE programs in various social contexts is provided. Each chapter follows a consistent structure so readers can easily compare programs: Learning Goals; Introduction; Conclusion; Key Points; Discussion Questions; and Additional Resources. The editor taught human sexuality and family life education courses for years. This book reviews the key information that his students needed to become competent professionals. Highlights of the book’s coverage include: Interdisciplinary, comprehensive summary of evidence-based SE programs in one volume. Prepares readers for professional practice as a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) or sex educator by highlighting the fundamentals of developing and implementing SE programs. Exposes readers to evidence-based SE programs from various social contexts including families, schools, communities, and religious institutions. Considers the developmental context of SE across the lifespan along with programs for LGBT individuals and persons with disabilities. Critically reviews SE programs from around the world including the US, Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other developing countries. The book opens with an historical overview. Part I focus on general frameworks of sexuality education including UNESCO’s International Technical Guidelines. How to develop, deliver, and implement evidence based SE programs, including ethical concerns, are explored in Part II. Part III exposes readers to evidence-based programs in various social contexts--families, schools, communities, and religious institutions. Part IV considers the developmental context of SE from early childhood through adolescence and adulthood along with programs for LGBT individuals and persons with disabilities. Part V examines diverse global contexts from the US, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and other developing countries. The book concludes with future trends and directions. Ideal for graduate or advanced undergraduate courses in sex education, sexual health, human sexuality, sex or marriage counseling, intimate relationships, family life education, or home, school, and community services taught in human development and family studies, psychology, social work, health education, nursing, education, and religion, and in seminaries and family clinics, the book also serves as a resource for practitioners, counselors, researchers, clergy members, and policy makers interested in evidence based SE programs, or those seeking to become CFLEs or sexuality educators.




Human Rights and Adolescence


Book Description

While young children's rights have received considerable attention and have accordingly advanced over the past two decades, the rights of adolescents have been neglected. This manifests itself in pervasive gender-based violence, widespread youth disaffection and unemployment, concerning levels of self-abuse, violence and antisocial engagement, and serious mental and physical health deficits. The cost of inaction on these issues is likely to be dramatic in terms of human suffering, lost social and economic opportunities, and threats to global peace and security. Across the range of disciplines that make up contemporary human rights, from law and social advocacy to global health, history, economics, sociology, politics, and psychology, it is time, the contributors of this volume contend, for adolescent rights to occupy a coherent place of their own. Human Rights and Adolescence presents a multifaceted inquiry into the global circumstances of adolescents, focusing on the human rights challenges and socioeconomic obstacles young adults face. Contributors use new research to advance feasible solutions and timely recommendations for a wide range of issues spanning all continents, from relevant international legal norms to neuropsychological adolescent brain development, gender discrimination in Indian education to Colombian child soldier recruitment, stigmatization of Roma youth in Europe to economic disempowerment of Middle Eastern and South African adolescents. Taken together, the research emphasizes the importance of dedicated attention to adolescence as a distinctive and critical phase of development between childhood and adulthood and outlines the task of building on the potential of adolescents while providing support for the challenges they experience. Contributors: Theresa S. Betancourt, Jacqueline Bhabha, Krishna Bose, Neera Burra, Malcolm Bush, Jocelyn DeJong, Elizabeth Gibbons, Katrina Hann, Mary Kawar, Orla Kelly, David Mark, Margareta Matache, Clea McNeely, Glaudine Mtshali, Katie Naeve, Elizabeth A. Newnham, Victor Pineda, Irene Rizzini, Elena Rozzi, Christian Salazar Volkmann, Shantha Sinha, Laurence Steinberg, Kerry Thompson, Jean Zermatten, Moses Zombo.




Un Nino Los Pastoreara


Book Description




Social Institutions and Gender Index SIGI 2020 Regional Report for Latin America and the Caribbean


Book Description

Gender equality and women’s empowerment can only be achieved if countries take action to tackle and eliminate discrimination in their legal frameworks, social norms and practices. The SIGI 2020 Regional Report for Latin America and the Caribbean provides new evidence-based analysis on the setbacks and progress in achieving gender equality between 2014 and 2019.




Abuse in the Latin American Church


Book Description

This book addresses the crisis of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America, the region of the world with the highest percentage of Catholics. Bringing together research from across the continent, it demonstrates that abuse within the Church is indeed a global phenomenon, though abuses have taken different forms according to varying sociocultural contexts. With attention to abuses committed against children, women and vulnerable adults – by both men and women – within the settings of parishes, new religious movements and international religious organizations, it also raises questions of justice, asking how to assess the suffering of victims, how to deal with abusers and how to prevent abuses. It will therefore be of interest to scholars of religious studies, sociology, Latin American studies, criminology, theology, and religious leaders with interests in the abuses and scandals that have been revealed in the worldwide Church.




International Handbook on Adolescent Health and Development


Book Description

This comprehensive reference uses an ecological perspective to sort out the complex mix of biological, psychological, social, and other factors influencing adolescent health as well as shaping professional responses to the needs of adolescents. Describing critical concerns at the global level and innovative strategies from selected countries, the book urges readers to develop and support practices and policies to enhance optimal youth development. Expert coverage centers on key areas: the global state of adolescent health and development, adolescent health issues and public health answers, making health systems more responsive to youth, and improving school health services. And bedrock themes such as social determinants of health, young people’s right to health care, and health and gender disparities are discussed throughout these chapters. Included among the topics: • The epidemiology of adolescent health • Adolescent sexual health and sexuality education • Restorative justice and the mental wellbeing of adolescents • Critical issues in adolescent nutrition: needs and recommendations • Towards an adolescent competent workforce • Pairing children with health services: the changing role of school health services in the 21st century The International Handbook on Adolescent Health and Development is essential to medical schools, public schools, and college libraries; teaching faculty; graduate and post-graduate students in public health, medicine, social work, other behavioral sciences and health disciplines (e.g., nursing, allied heath); as well as practitioners interested in better orienting their services to the health needs of adolescents.





Book Description




Latin American Social Work in the Justice System


Book Description

Social work has long been working directly with the criminal and civil courts of the justice system. The work of Latin American practitioners in the legal system, however, is little known at global and local levels. This book is the first to go beyond Western-centric appraisals and presents a truly Latin American portrait of social work in the justice system. The long-term interaction of social work practitioners with the judicial system enabled them to develop an expertise to dialogue with other disciplines such as law and psychology. This knowledge is very important to identify and share with other professionals to develop specialized programs for education and training. In this sense, positive and negative experiences of social work in the justice system allow one to improve its practice. It is crucial to identify local experiences and the great dilemmas that the profession faces on this subject. The volume's chapters deal with these dynamics in Latin American countries including: Forensic Social Work: The construction of possible ways of the criminal intervention Socio-Legal Social Work in the Field of Criminal Defense Family and Community Life: Contributions of Social Work to the Debate in Family Courts Support to Victims in High-conflict Scenarios: An approach from the socio-legal, the pedagogical, and the care perspectives The Assessment of Child and Adolescent Sexual Abuse Allegations from a Social Work Perspective Latin American Social Work in the Justice System is essential reading for students, researchers, academicians, policymakers, and practitioners who are interested in international social work with a special focus on Latin American countries and legal culture. Students and scholars in law, development studies, and public policy as well as psychologists working with and interested in the judicial system would also find this book a useful resource.