叙事性思维和儿童道德教育

长期以来,儿童道德教育的内容和方法侧重于例证性思维和抽象道德观念的灌输,其弊端是道德教育疏离于儿童的心理世界,凌驾于儿童的生活世界之上.根据布鲁纳提出的两种思维模式--例证性思维和叙事性思维及其特点,儿童的思维更多地具有叙事性思维的特征,叙事在儿童社会性和道德认识发展上起着核心作用;同时,叙事是儿童道德教育的基本途径之一.     

‘Robust and Raring to Go?’– Judges' Perceptions of Child Witnesses

This article explores judicial perceptions of child witnesses. It considers the impact of recent legislation in England and Wales as well as in Scotland which classified all child witnesses as vulnerable and introduced a series of special measures to facilitate children's evidence. The article reports the findings of an empirical research study conducted with the judiciary in Scotland which suggests that judicial perceptions of child witnesses extend across a complex spectrum where a child may be viewed as vulnerable but is also likely to be seen as suggestible, reliable or resilient. The article advances two propositions. First, that the statutory conceptualization of children as invariably vulnerable has not displaced established beliefs concerning children's suggestibility and therefore has made little difference to perceptions of their ability to produce reliable testimony. Second, that focusing on children's potential for resilience rather than their vulnerability may prove a more productive conceptualization of children, one which could better support their capability as witnesses.     

PLANNING FOR POSTDIVORCE FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

This article proposes that the focus of child custody evaluation and mediation needs to be broadened beyond custody arrangement to consideration of the range of factors that may impact on postdivorce relationships. A review of current social science literature shows that factors such as quality of parent-child relationships and level of parental conflict may be as important as residence schedule in influencing children's postdivorce adjustment. The article offers strategies for involving parents in drafting agreements to guide relationships with each other and with the children. The goal is for parents to thoughtfully tailor relationships and parenting practices to children's needs during the transition from a one-household family to a new family plan.     

STATUS OF COURT-CONNECTED PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS ARE SEPARATING OR DIVORCING

This article reports on programs for children whose parents are divorcing or separating. Data were obtained from 67 courts and 81 program providers across the United States. Most court systems with children's programs used community providers and encouraged rather than required children's attendance. The average program consisted of one or two sessions, with a length of 4 to 5 1/2 hours. A partial list of commercially available curricula is provided in the appendix.     

PROGRAMS FOR PROMOTING PARENTING OF RESIDENTIAL PARENTS: Moving From Efficacy to Effectiveness

This article reviews prevention programs that target primary residential parents as change agents for improving children's postdivorce adjustment. First, we review parental risk and protective factors for children from divorced families, including parenting quality, parental mental health problems, interparental conflict, and contact with the nonresidential parent. Following a discussion of brief informational interventions, we describe the findings of evaluations of three multisession, skill-building interventions for divorced parents. Impressive evidence is presented that parenting is a modifiable protective factor and that improving parenting leads to improvements in children's postdivorce adjustment. We then discuss, in greater detail, the New Beginnings Program, which we highlight because it has shown repeated, immediate effects on children's mental health outcomes as well as long-term effects on a wide array of other meaningful outcomes, such as diagnosis of mental disorder in the past year, externalizing problems, alcohol and drug use, and academic performance. Also, mediational analyses have shown that program-induced changes in parenting accounted for changes in mental health outcomes. The remainder of the article describes a research and action agenda that is needed to successfully implement the New Beginnings Program in domestic relations courts.     

ELIJAH AND ISHMAEL

This article examines the leading custody cases in Canada dealing with children's cultural and racial identity. The author argues in favor of fluid and open understandings of culture in custody assessments rather than static notions of culture.     

FROM CHILDREN'S SHOES TO CHILDREN'S VOICES

This article considers the sudden rush of enthusiam to hear children's voices in divorce proceedings in countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and elsewhere and points to the problems that are likely to occur if the family law system really does mean to treat children seriously. It argues that children give complex accounts that may not fit neatly into either adult or legal agendas. Notwithstanding the difficulties that flow from this development, it is argued that it is essential to include children's understandings in the formulation of future policy and practice.     

The Involvement of Children in Decisions about Shared Residence

This article discusses the relationship between law and socialchange in connection with the child's right to participate indecisions on residence. The empirical data are drawn from asurvey of parents who have arranged shared residence for theirchildren. In line with earlier research on children's participationin court disputes over contact and residence, we found thatthe age of the child is decisive regarding the degree of influencethey have in private agreements. But, surprisingly, it was foundthat the educational level of the parents had a major impacton children's participation in decisions about shared residence.When we controlled for gender it turned out that highly educatedfathers were least likely of all parents to report that thechild had been taken into a co-decision process. This resultmight add a new dimension to our understanding of the relationshipbetween law and social change.     

FOSTERING RESILIENCE IN THE AFTERMATH OF DIVORCE: The Role of Evidence-Based Programs for Children

The negative impact of divorce is a concern with far-reaching ramifications for children's well-being. This article reviews divorce-related risks and protective factors that provide an empirical guide for the content of effective programs for children. The promising potential of child-focused interventions is highlighted, including examples of programs with evidence of effectiveness. The Children of Divorce Intervention Program is described in greater detail as an example of a preventive program with six controlled studies documenting multiple benefits to children, including reductions in anxiety, behavior problems, somatic symptoms, and increases in their healthy adjustment at home and at school. A vision for future research and practice is discussed, including best practices for adapting children's programs to court-connected services and a paradigm shift involving systematic preventive outreach to all separating parents with minor children, before difficulties become rooted and chronic.     

胎儿人身利益保护的法理思考--兼论胎儿在我国未来民法典中的民事主体地位

胎儿没有民事权利能力,其人身利益一旦受到侵害,无法以民事主体身份获得法律保护.文章结合案例和学者观点,检讨了传统法律人格的缺陷,借鉴了国外及我国台湾地区胎儿保护的立法经验,认为未来民事立法应当赋予胎儿一定的民事主体地位.     

EVALUATING "NONTRADITIONAL" RELIGIOUS PRACTICE IN CHILD CUSTODY CASES

This article suggests a model for objectively evaluating "nontraditional" religious practices in child custody and visitation rights cases. The model draws a distinction between religious beliefs and religiously motivated behavior. This distinction assists the evaluator in approaching the family in an unbiased, objective, and respectful manner. Emphasis is placed on considering the religiously motivated behavior in a constitutionally sensitive procedure that simultaneously protects the fundamental rights of parents and children and the children's best interests.     

USING CHILD DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH TO MAKE APPROPRIATE CUSTODY AND ACCESS DECISIONS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

Decisions regarding custody and access are most often made without reference to the research on child development, although this literature can be useful in conceptualizing children's needs after separation and divorce. Research on attachment processes, separation from attachment figures, and the roles of mothers and fathers in promoting psychosocial adjustment are reviewed in this article. It concludes with a discussion of the implications for young children's parenting schedules.     

INTERPARENTAL CONFLICT AS A RISK FACTOR FOR CHILD MALADJUSTMENT: Implications for the Development of Prevention Programs

This article reviews research on the effects of interparental conflict on children and examines its implications for divorce education programs designed to reduce conflict after divorce. Basic research indicates that prevention programs for parents will be most effective in fostering children's adaptation to divorce if they can reduce the level of destructive conflict that children are exposed to, foster good parent–child relationships, and keep children from being caught in the middle of parental tensions and disagreements. Programs for children are likely to be most helpful if they help children learn ways to cope with situations in which they feel pressured to side with one parent against the other and avoid feeling responsible for parental problems. Although psycho-educational programs are widely available and often court-mandated, evaluation studies are rare and support for their efficacy is mixed.     

FAMILIES IN TRANSITION

This article describes one of the first mandatory divorce orientations in the country. Beginning in 1976, this program has served as the model for other highly successful programs throughout North America. The program helps couples deal with the psychological and social divorces as well as the legal divorce. It also provides information for parents about how to tell their children and to monitor the effect of divorce on their children's lives.     

Children's Medicaid enrollment: the impacts of mandates, welfare reform, and policy delinking

From 1984 to 1990. Congress enacted a series of mandates that expanded Medicaid eligibility for low-income children by gradually delinking Medicaid eligibility from welfare eligibility. The 1996 national welfare reform law nominally completed the delinking process when the statutory phase-in of children's Medicaid coverage was preserved even as the states were given increased flexibility for administering welfare programs. This article provides estimates of the impact of these fedcral policy changes on children's Medicaid enrollment rates and analyzes the degree of success in uncoupling children's Medicaid enrollment from welfare. Data from the Current Population Survey for 1979 to 1998 are used to provide standardized enrollment probabilities for the United States and individual states. The results show important enrollment increases associated with the period of the mandated expansions, followed by enrollment declines associated with welfare reform. The largest increases in enrollment during this period were in states with historically restrictive welfare eligibility, but rates also rose in states that previously had relatively expansive welfare eligibility. The net effect was a reduction in the extent of state-to-state variation in enrollment. The Medicaid expansion peaked in 1995, prior to the advent of national welfare reform. Since then, children's Medicaid enrollment has fallen, with the largest declines falling on families with the very lowest incomes. Consistent with the desire to delink children's Medicaid coverage from welfare, the association between Medicaid and AFDC/TANF enrollment weakened during the expansionary period, but there still was a relatively strong relationship between policy outcomes for these two programs. Despite the policy changes, Medicaid coverage of children is still influenced by state-level welfare policy.     

Who should determine what is best for children in state custody who object to psychotropic medication?

This article explores a child's right to refuse medical treatment, in contrast to giving the state or the parents this choice. The article specifically explores a child's right to refuse psychotropic drugs, which are more limiting of personal liberty than physical restraints and can have long-lasting side effects. With a focus on children's competence and the significant side effects of psychotropic drugs, the author concludes that caseworkers do not know the best interests of children in state custody and thus adolescents should be allowed to make their own decisions about psychotropic medications.     

Accommodating Children's Rights in a Post Human Rights Act Era

This article considers why so little case law currently acknowledges that children have recognisable rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and argues that the family courts are not meeting the demands of the Human Rights Act 1998 in this regard. It suggests that a reinterpretation of the 'paramountcy principle' in the Children Act 1989 should be accompanied by a radically different judicial approach to evidence relating to children's best interests. The article considers the difficulties that such an approach might produce when applied to teenagers intent on refusing life-saving medical treatment. It further argues that the courts should call on the substantial body of rights jurisprudence to provide legal and moral support for this revised approach.     

The regulatory pyramid meets the food pyramid: can regulatory theory improve controls on television food advertising to Australian children?

This article examines whether responsive regulation has potential to improve the regulatory framework which controls free-to-air television advertising to children, so that the regulatory scheme can be used more effectively as a tool for obesity prevention. It presents two apparently conflicting arguments, the first being that responsive regulation, particularly monitoring and enforcement measures, can be used to refine the regulation of children's food advertising. The second argument is that there are limits to the improvements that responsive regulation can achieve, since it is trying to achieve the wrong goal, namely placing controls on misleading or deceptive advertising techniques rather than diminishing the sheer volume of advertisements to which children are exposed. These two positions reflect a conflict between public health experts and governments regarding the role of industry in chronic disease prevention, as well as a broader debate about how best to regulate industry.     

INDEPENDENT LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR CHILDREN IN CUSTODY AND ACCESS CASES

In this article, the author discusses the role of children's representation in custody and access cases, and in particular, considers whether the Stobridge case came to a correct determination of the most appropriate role for children's counsel. The three possible modes of child representation are considered: amicus curiae, litigation guardian, and advocate. The role of amicus curiae is rejected because it does not provide the child with an opportunity to be heard, thus defeating the purpose of representation. The role of litigation guardian is rejected on the basis that the guardian does not advocate the child's interests unless they are consistent with that of the guardian. The author concludes that Stobridge was correctly decided, and that the role of children's counsel in a custody or access dispute in which the children are capable of directing counsel should be that of advocate.     

儿童读经就是“蒙以养正”？——与郭齐家先生商榷

郭齐家先生是中国大陆力倡儿童读经的重镇之一,其关于儿童读经的言论在互联网上广泛流传、影响甚大.郭齐家先生倡导儿童读经的言论主要有:中国近百年成功引进和移植了西方教育;儿童读经能够回溯文化源头、传承文化命脉;儿童读经就是最佳的文化刺激和最佳的早期教育;儿童读经就是"蒙以养正";儿童读经能够开发脑力、增强国力;等等.郭齐家先生还对著名的"横渠四句"顶礼膜拜,以支持其儿童读经的主张.其实,黑格尔的"扬弃"理论,尼采的"上帝死了"和他的"重估一切价值"思想,胡塞尔的"回到事实本身"的思考,玛格丽特·米德对人类未来的发展如何处理后喻文明、互喻文明和前喻文明提出的告谕,都不失为我们审视郭齐家先生上述观点的重要理论视角.