Child neglect from the standpoint of mothers

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dc.contributor.authorWeller, Fay Elizabethen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-15T20:15:37Z
dc.date.available2024-08-15T20:15:37Z
dc.date.copyright1997en_US
dc.date.issued1997
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Child and Youth Care|Faculty of Human and Social Developmenten_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractThis study documents the standpoint of mothers in relation to the child welfare system using institutional ethnography as the research method. Specifically this research explores the contradiction between the crucial role mothers play in protecting children and the absence of their standpoint in child welfare, an absence exemplified in the recent Gove Inquiry. The literature reveals that management tools, such as risk assessment and mandatory reporting organize the child protection process to ensure accountability without incorporating the experience of mothers. This study focuses upon why mothers' standpoint is left out, what happens when it is left out, and how mothers experience systems in which there is little or no acknowledgment of their work in caring for children. The starting point for the research is the mothers' stories. As consistent with the methodology, these stories provide a starting point for illuminating how documents, forms, legislation and policies impact mothers' experiences with the child welfare system. I argue that the knowledge held by mothers, which provides insight into the prevention of child neglect, is silenced through the official child welfare process. According to the findings, the official process of responding to reports of child neglect textually construct 'neglectful mothers' without including the context of mothers' lives, nor their knowledge. This unintentionally leads mothers to isolation, distrust and hopelessness. This research turned the official way of understanding neglect around, to hear about it from mothers themselves. As mothers with limited resources describe their daily work in caring for children, new definitions of the problem of so-called child neglect are highlighted from their stories. Associated with these definitions are potential responses to the issue of child neglect. I conclude that, including the standpoint of mothers in conceptualizing the problems underlying child neglect provides a greater depth of understanding and more effective response to so-called child neglect.
dc.format.extent113 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/20114
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleChild neglect from the standpoint of mothersen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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