Developing Ethical Guidelines for Safeguarding Children during Social Research
A working party of academics from both professional safeguarding backgrounds and research backgrounds developed and wrote ethical guidelines on safeguarding children in research on behalf of their faculty research ethics committee. The working party encountered a lack of useful precedents while developing the guidelines leading to a lengthy process of debate and consideration of the issues. This paper explores the various issues and dilemmas arising during this process, particularly the tension between safeguarding children from abuse and maintaining research confidentiality. One of the main areas of discussion was how to establish the limits of confidentiality without compromising the research in hand. The role and responsibilities of researchers in supporting children's welfare, and the development of procedures for ensuring that safeguarding is effective are discussed as key elements. In addition, the issues researchers may face when determining thresholds for intervention are considered alongside the uncertainties created by considerations of the extent to which children can give informed consent in research contexts. The paper reflects the process of considering these issues and the conclusions the working party drew as to how best to support children's welfare during research. It also outlines the key elements of the guidelines and the structures developed to ensure researchers could get advice if suspected child abuse became an issue in their research. The paper includes a short version of the guidelines which were eventually approved across the Higher Education Institute.
Children's Voices: Conflict‐Affected Orphans in Residential Care in Jammu and Kashmir
This paper is based on a study of thirty-one children who lost their parent(s) in the course of armed conflict in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India, and were put in various orphanages across the state. The qualitative research method was employed in order to examine and understand and the nature of problems faced by these children. It explores ways in which these children seek to come to terms with the reality, and highlights the importance and relevance of incorporating their views in programmes meant for their rehabilitation and reintegration into the society.
Rethinking Sexuality Foucault and Classical Antiquity
In this collection of essays, historians and literary theorists assess the influence of Michel Foucault, particularly his "History of Sexuality", on the study of classics. Foucault's work presents a theory of sexuality for both ancient and modern times. These essays should help the reader to explore Foucault's model of Greek culture and see how well his interpretation accounts for the full range of evidence from Greece and Rome.