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‘God, she's gonna report me’: the ethics of child protection in poverty research
Author(s) -
Bostock Lisa
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1002/chi.712
Subject(s) - disadvantage , poverty , welfare , child protection , child abuse , qualitative research , sociology , child poverty , criminology , research ethics , focus group , ethical issues , political science , psychology , engineering ethics , law , social science , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , medicine , environmental health , psychiatry , anthropology , engineering
The ethics of social research with children has been the source of considerable debate. In particular, issues of how to address potential disclosures of child abuse have been highlighted. What ethical implications are raised, however, when children are the indirect focus of the research? This paper explores the ethical dilemmas of conducting research with mothers about their experiences of caring for children. It is based on qualitative research with 30 mothers on low incomes. The paper concludes that strategies to tackle structural disadvantage as well as those that take account of individual risk are key features of future child welfare. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.