The organization that claims to represent the voice and interests of K-12 students and their parents is the Parent Teacher Association, widely known as the PTA. The organization aims to provide "parents and families with a powerful voice to speak on behalf of every child while providing the best tools for parents to help their children be…

Describes Elbridge T. Gerry's work from 1874 to about 1900 as founder and director of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Notes his place at the center of the controversy surrounding children on the professional stage in New York. (SR)

Compares responses to the issue of children caring for ill or disabled family members in the 1990s to resistance encountered in the implementation of child labor and education reforms toward the end of the nineteenth century. Discusses parallel ways in which the quality of childhood became problematized without sufficient recognition of the…

Discusses the worldwide problem of child labor and efforts to advocate for the welfare of these impoverished children. Considers factors that contribute to the continued use of child labor and the resistance of these labor practices to reform. Discusses child labor in the United States, and urges public advocacy for labor reform within child…

Examines representations of street children and child and youth prostitution disseminated through literature and by international and Brazilian media during the 1980s and 1990s. Argues that dissemination of images that stigmatize the poor is caused by the need of the media and of modern philanthropy to make an impact on the public. (Author)

Examines mainly practical activities of trade unions to fight child labor. Argues that trade unions can give the most significant contribution to the struggle against child labor by focusing on methods that are typical for, or even exclusive to, the trade union movement, in particular negotiations and collective bargaining. (Author)

Shows how social policy based on children's needs for protection is not only due to the implied power relationship that it evokes but also because the policy has been historically driven by adult fears concerning minority group children that have resulted in displacement and incarceration of young people. Suggestions for more promising policy…

Discusses the nature of child domestic work (children employed as servants in the households of families other than their own). Suggests a number of practical steps that can be taken to ensure that child domestic workers are afforded a measure of protection which they do not currently receive. (Author)

Explores tensions between universalistic and relativistic approaches in the establishment of standards and strategies designed to prevent or overcome the abuse of children's capacity to work. Tensions are discussed within the context of the International Labour Office's proposed new international convention on the prohibition and elimination of…

Details part of a larger project undertaken by Swedish Save the Children in order to inform the current debate about child labor with evidence from working children engaged in a range of occupations, in contrasting regions of the world. Summarizes issues, children's occupational preferences, and views on work and school. (SD)

Although NAFTA has proven profitable for U.S. growers who have relocated agricultural production to Mexico, it has helped create an economic crisis that has forced thousands of Mexican children to leave school in order to work and supplement their parents' shrinking income. In Mexicali Valley (Baja California), approximately a fourth of the…

Explores contributions from the Urban Childhood Conference for the purpose of developing the child-labor discourse further and indicating the implications of the new understandings for further research and policy development. Highlights the nine articles in this issue, which address child labor at the international level, children's viewpoints,…

Draws on increased international debate and concern about child labor to provide an overview of important apparent trends. Issues addressed include diversity of thinking, variety of work situations, effects on children involved, and traditional modes of action against child labor. Notes that traditional actions are ineffective and that ending the…

Traces the growing concern and sporadic efforts to address problems of exploitation, education, and neglect among child performers in turn-of-the-century England. Victorian social reformers and the press made the working conditions of English theater children a public issue. True reform, however, only occurred later. (MJP)

Examines possible solutions for improving the status of children in India. Suggests that there is a need to focus on child rights issues related to public awareness, attitudinal change, political commitment, mass sensitization, and outreach. Suggests an appropriate strategy for the restoration of the rights of children in India. (AA)