Rejecting 'the child', embracing 'childhood': Conceptual and methodological considerations for social work research with young people. (November 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Williams, Timothy P; Rogers, Justin
• Is Part Of: International social work. Volume 59:Number 6(2016:Nov.)
• Page Start: 734
• Page End: 744
• Publication Date: 2016-11
• Subjects: Children -- foster care -- participation -- social work research -- sociology of childhood; Social service -- Periodicals; Social problems -- Periodicals; Globalization -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Community development -- Periodicals; 361
• DOI: 10.1177/0020872814539985
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-8728

Abstract

This article examines how the social studies of childhood can inform social work research. The first half of the article considers how notions of 'childhood' as a social construction diverge from normative, uniform and universal ideas of what might otherwise constitute 'the child'. The second half then considers this discussion in regards to social work research. It considers the extent to which childhood scholarship has been used within the discipline of social work and illustrates this point by drawing upon recent empirical contributions to the foster care literature in the UK.