Even before the ‘credit crunch’ of 2008 and the economic crises of 2011, the globalization of neo-liberal economic and fiscal regimes was generating growing social, economic and cultural polarization.

This has resulted in ever increasing numbers of children, young people and families finding themselves located in areas of concentrated social disadvantage on the margins of society.

These forms of offending are also evident amongst marginalised young people in other North American and European cities and, as Malcolm Stevens the IJJO’s UK Commissioner has observed, they represent….. a new and quite different entrée into crime and delinquency, with different justification values and a different perspective of safety and respect.

Therefore, the International Juvenile Justice Observatory is pleased to announce that the 5th Biennial Conference will be held at the London 2012 Olympic Park on Monday 5 to Wednesday 7 November 2012.

The conference aims to address the reality that, as a result of social and economic polarisation and global financial crises, growing numbers of children, young people and parents are finding themselves located in areas of concentrated social disadvantage on the margins of society.

To read more about the convention, please see here.

In the USA our colleagues are struggling to achieve recognition and a fair pay for what they do.  This is an extract of the most recent newsletter from the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) in America:

“The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) has been working to enhance the status of direct support professionals and promote the development of a highly competent human services workforce for more than fifteen years. As the leading advocacy organization that represents 1.2 million direct support professionals who support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, we strongly support the United States Department of Labor’s proposed regulations (RIN 1235-AA05) to ensure that all direct support workers receive the same labor protections as other American workers.

Fewer people are being drawn to direct support as a career due to extremely low entry-level wages, where the national average is $9.40 per hour, while turnover and vacancy rates remains extraordinarily high. Given that the average Direct Support Professional may be a single parent of two children or more, many of these workers qualify for public assistance, are uninsured and are forced to work more than one job to make ends meet.”

To learn more about the issues and problems faced by our American colleagues, continue reading here.

Fair Start – a free e-learning and organizational development program for orphanages and foster families in quality care giving.

The free online education program in quality orphan care is now spreading from Europe to 3rd World countries.

The program was developed in the European Union project www.fairstart.net and tested by orphanages and foster family managers in 7 EU countries for two years, before launching the 15 session education www.fairstart.net/training  for staffs and orphan care leaders, in 8 language versions (English, German, Romanian, Turkish, Spanish, Italian, Catalan and Greek).

The sessions demonstrate quality infant stimulation, attachment based care and social organization of daily life to ensure continuity in care. Video examples of quality care – produced by participants – makes the program hands-on and practical, it’s child care research transformed into simple principles of quality care. Have a look!

Thanks to volunteer researchers and caregivers, many new language versions are being produced: Arabian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bahasa (Indonesia), Bulgarian, Burmese, Egyptian, Ethiopian, French, Hungarian, Karen, Latvian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Mandarin Chinese, Urdu, Vietnamese.

In this paper, read further about the background of Fair Start and find instructions on how to use www.fairstart.net/training for educational and organizational development. Feel free to use this tool for your professional development and child care work.

For those of you who understand French, the Swiss series “Les editions ies” have released a new book that focuses on the educational activities created for and performed by adults with intellectual disabilities.

La vitalisation au cœr de l’intervention – Analyse d’activités éducatives auprès d’adultes en situation de handicap psychique

To read more about the book and make your order, please see the flyer.

APEG, the national federation of social educators in Luxembourg who are hosting the World congress in 2013, have published their 2^nd newsletter about the progress in preparations for the congress.

18th January: Meeting with the Minister of Family and Integration and with the Minister of Gender Equality and Tourism

Five members representing the Organization Committee of World Congress 2013 have been received by Mrs Jacobs, Minister of Family and Integration and Mrs Hetto-Gaasch, social pedagogue and Minister of Gender Equality and Tourism.  In a very friendly atmosphere, the first budget estimation has been introduced to the two ministers, who consider themselves as partners who try to take responsibility for the success of AIEJI World Congress next year. Representative for the government of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, the two ministers will stand up for some financial support for the realization of the event. During the next weeks, the OC will work on more detailed financial estimations concerning major costs of the event in order to present a new version of the budget for the end of February.

To read more, go to the APEG’s website.