1. Jane Aldgate OBE Professor of Social Care The Open University
Child Well-Being, Child Development and Family Lives The James Seth Memorial Lecture 12 May 2009
Jane Aldgate OBE
Professor of Social Care
The Open University

2. What is well-being? Many different approaches and definitions
‘Well being is no less than what a group or groups of people collectively agree makes a good life’
(Ereat and Whiting 2008)

3. Different approaches to measuring well-being
Includes:
Welfare indicators
Child’s welfare and relationships
Wellness/strengths developmental approach
Well-becoming and well-being
Practitioners using well-being indicators to assess and plan for children – Getting it right for every child
Children’s definitions of well-being

4. Welfare indicators York/Oxford definition 2009 (Bradshaw et al.)
7 domains of well-being:
Income
Health
Education
Housing
Environment
Crime
Children in need

5. Children’s welfare and relationships: UNICEF’S definition From UNICEF (2007) Child poverty in perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries, Florence, UNICEF
The true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children - their health and safety, their material security,their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they are born

6. The wellness/strengths developmental approach
Ecological concept allows for many influences, such as family, school, peers, neighbourhood (Prillentensky and Nelson 2002)
Approach gets away from success/ failure model to progressing (Lorion 2000)

7. A more optimistic view of the potential for positive change in childhood
Stress in early years need not affect children permanently
With the right circumstances children can develop resilience
Children who miss out on particular experiences can make up ground
Healthy development can occur under a far wider range of circumstances than was thought possible in the past
Schaffer, R (1998), Making Decisions About Children, Oxford, Blackwell

8. Well-becoming (Ben Arieh 2001)
Investment on children’s well-being now will influence how they are as adults

9. Well-becoming: the Scottish Government’s Outcomes for Scotland’s Children
We want all children to become
Confident individuals
Effective contributors
Successful learners
Responsible citizens

10. Practitioners’ use of well-being
The Getting it right for every child practice model
Scottish Government (2008) Guide to Getting it right for every child

11. What is Getting it right for every child?
Common coordinated framework for planning and action across all agencies
Child at the centre
All children, young people and families get the help they need when they need it

13. Influences on well-being – a developmental-ecological approach
There are many influences on children’s well-being, including:
parents
wider family
school
play
space
community
children themselves

14. Your should also be familiar with the this as the approach
Your should also be familiar with the this as the approach. As with the well wheel, immediate risk and need is covered by “keeping me safe”. Interested to hear from your child protection perspective how you see – or don’t see – the triangle applying. But remember “intensity”. This is a positive model to emphasise strengths and – in the next slide – resilience.

16. A network of support for every child

17. Well-being and people in the child’s world
Too simplistic to say parents are primarily responsible for children’s well-being
Children can be influenced by their relationships with many others in their environment, including other family, friends, other adults outwith the family
Good attachments significant in building trust and confident individuals

18. Attachment and children’s well-being
Attachment applies to a specific aspect of a child and parent or carer relationship and how a child represents this internally
Important because it shapes the way children relate to others: their social and emotional well-being

19. Attachment and caregiving
Helpful to look at attachment from two perspectives:
The child’s attachment behaviour
The caregiver’s response

20. When does attachment occur?
From around 6 months old
In situations where children are stressed and fearful and seek the proximity of another who is seen as stronger and wiser
When fear is activated, attachment behaviour occurs
When attachment behaviour is activated in a young child, curiosity and exploration are suppressed
Loss and change will affect attachment but not necessarily permanently

21. The caregiver relationship
Children’s patterns of attachment will be influenced by the behaviour of their caregivers
The caregiver relationship refers only to those aspects of the caregiver’s behaviour that promote attachment
behaviour in the child.

22. Sensitivity of caregivers
Early sensitivity very important – influences children’s internal working model
But little connection between physical contact and later attachment in premature babies
Sensitive caregivers can respond to individual children

23. Attachment and multiple carers
Three schools of thought
1. Hierarchy of attachment figures
2. Children integrate all their attachments into an internal representation
3. Attachment relationships are independent in their quality and influence

24. Multiple attachments
New thinking emphasises children’s network of attachments:
1.Does the person provide physical and emotional care?
2. Is this person a consistent presence in the child’s social network?
3. Is this person emotionally invested in the child?
See Aldgate and Jones in Aldgate, J.Jones, D.P.H, Rose, W. and Jeffery, C.(eds) 2006, The Developing World of the Child, London, JKP

25. Well-being can change
Attachment patterns are established early in life but we now know that they can be modified by sensitive caregiving
Attachments and caregiving can be modified throughout the life cycle.
Children’s emotional well-being is not fixed

26. Children influencing their own well-being
Children as social actors - competent commentators on their well-being (Moss 2002)
Children have the right to comment on decisions affecting their well-being (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Children (Scotland) Act 1995)
Well-being should include definitions of what is important to children (Tisdall and Davies 2004; Hill et al. 2004)
Well-being is promoted by children being in control of their activities (Ben-Arieh 2002)

27. Findings from Time Well Spent*
Qualitative study of 24 ‘looked after’ children in Scotland (7-18 years old)
Children’s time diaries over 48 hours
Case studies of 6 individuals
Children’s evaluation of their participation built in
* Aldgate, J. and McIntosh, M. 2006, Time Well Spent: a study of well-being and children’s daily activities, Edinburgh, Astron.

28. Children’s daily activities influence well-being
Sleep
Productive activities
Contributing to the community
Spiritual activities
Travel time
Personal care: eating, getting ready
Social interaction with carers/friends
Leisure/recreation
From Ben-Arieh, A. (2002) in Vechiato et al, Evaluation in Child and Family Services, New York, Aldine de Gruyter

29. Relationships with adults important
Children spent at least 3 hours a day with important adults. They liked:
Talking to adults
Eating with adults
Getting advice from adults
Being affectionate with adults (hugs important)
But little time spent reading with children

30. Relationships with other children important
Breaks and lunchtimes important
Friends outside school vary- limited by distance
Eating together part of learning social behaviour
Children able to define use of space when with peers
Children value their friendships

31. Children need time alone
Being able to choose to be alone important
Listening to music highly significant
Reading less popular
Watching TV way of de-stressing for some

32. Can children enjoy being active?
23 of 24 children in the study chose to do some sport
Time varied between 1-5 hours a day
Some needed encouragement - role of adults significant
Several children from adverse circumstances relished the opportunity for achievement and new experiences
Children test themselves in different ways: mountain-climbing, dancing, arts and crafts, sport

33. Giving children responsibility contributes to well-being
A 10 year old school monitor:
I stop dogs and cats coming into the playground or people who aren’t welcome to the school. I protect all the wee yins

34. The role of adults allowing children to take risks
Children in the study enjoyed testing themselves in different ways
Balance between keeping children safe and allowing them freedom away from adults
Controlled adventure can enhance self-esteem
How far can we return to the days of ‘The Famous Five’?

35. Children as competent commentators on their well-being From Aldgate and McIntosh Time Well Spent
I’ve learnt how important the time I spend with people is
I was quite astonished at all the things I do all day.
It made me think that I don’t do much with my time. I don’t get out enough, I sit around and watch TV and should get out more
Yes, I have learnt I am a boring person and I do the same routine over again. But then I am not boring because I keep myself busy
I do a lot of interesting things