Aldrie Henry-Lee - Endangered and Transformative Childhood in Caribbean Small Island Developing States

This well-established series embraces global and multi-disciplinary scholarship on childhood and youth as social, historical, cultural and material phenomena. With the rapid expansion of childhood and youth studies in recent decades, the series encourages diverse and emerging theoretical and methodological approaches. We welcome proposals which explore the diversities and complexities of childrens and young peoples lives and which address gaps in the current literature relating to childhoods and youth in space, place and time.

Studies in Childhood and Youthwill be of interest to students and scholars in a range of areas, including Childhood Studies, Youth Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Geography, Politics, Psychology, Education, Health, Social Work and Social Policy.

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Studies of childhood are fascinating and important, as that phase of life remains a mystery despite attempts to decipher, explain and understand how children steer or are steered along their paths into adulthood and the factors that influence this journey. Aldrie Henry-Lee shares with us, in this valuable publication, the dangers which children in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face as they grow, develop and survive within this environment in which the very nature of childhood is threatened, and also proposes ways in which these dangers could be averted through a transformative childhood. Henry-Lee has used the various United Nations (UN) proclamations on the status of children as the foundation of her discourse on policy, legislation, practice and experiences of childhood in the Caribbean, focusing mainly on four countries: Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica and St. Lucia. Barbados and Haiti are at opposite ends of the ratings on the Human Development Index (HDI), with Jamaica and St. Lucia falling in between the two. The 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2019 warrants an assessment of progress in the Caribbean, particularly in light of the need to focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have been designed to bring an end to poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. The data assembled and presented force the conclusion that Caribbean childhoods are endangered, and the author proposes a model of transformation devised to reduce or eliminate much of the danger posed by the social, political and cultural factors currently in play.

Chapterof the book provides a context for examining the various policies relating to children and their lives. Global concern with the status of children is recorded in an historical review of policy statements emanating from the international community since 1919, when the Save the Children Fund was established. Several other initiatives led to the founding of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) in 1946 and later to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. This Convention addresses issues such as the definition of who is a child, ensuring inclusiveness of children with disabilities, immigrant and refugee children, those who are in conflict with the law and those who are parents, and justifying this in the face of cultural and social norms which contradict the criteria. Identification of mechanisms which need to be established for the provision, protection and participation of children from different countries and cultures of the world and making suggestions and recommendations for implementing such mechanisms were critical components of the Convention. Ratification of the Convention by several Caribbean countries was endorsed by the involvement of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and provided a stimulus for national policy initiatives which would reflect the importance, relevance and value of the Convention in improving the lives of Caribbean children. Response and uptake by regional and national agencies and development of policy and practice in response to the Convention are set out as they evolved in the Caribbean.

The authors concern is focused on childhoods in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a categorization which identifies the unique features of certain geographical entities and which creates special vulnerabilities for their populations. Chapter) to propose what she terms an Endangerment Theory: the central tenet of which is the possibility of extinction of quality childhood because of the interactions of factors among and within the micro-, meso- and macro-environments of childrenfactors such as family structure, health, education, social services and international trade. While accepting that resilience on the part of some children can allow them to overcome endangerment, such children are in the minority. Using data to identify the vulnerabilities which arise from international, regional and local contexts and their effect on children in the target countries, Henry-Lee develops a profile of endangered childhood in these Caribbean islands.

Climate change and its potential for endangerment of childhood in SIDS is the focus of the next chapter, in which policy issues relating to this phenomenon are discussed. Agreements and decisions taken as part of the Kyoto Protocol highlight the discipline and responsibility which developed countries need to embrace in order to ensure that developing countries can adapt to and counter the negative impact of climate change. Particularly vulnerable in the face of the potential effects are women and children, whose shelter, food and mere survival are threatened. Data on the natural disasters to which Caribbean SIDS have been exposed support the view of UNICEF that the major casualties of such disasters are children.