political freedom or cultural values – from the perspective of people. 17 Thus a person centred approach is key to the conceptual framework underpinning the CRC. 18 The universality of the human rights of children as envisaged by the CRC stresses the importance of the human rights of every child. It is essential to go beyond good averages or a high rate of progress. Their fulfillment is not a design feature but the engine room of an ethical society. The CRC presents a deeper, wider and more systemic framework founded on the ethical imperative of human rights. The ramification of applying this framework is not simply about changing the policy, systems and services but internalising a radical shift of mind 19 in the culture of State provision. A rights based approach gives us a framework in which to set policy, systems and services in the context of the rights of children. It has “changed the lens through which governments must regard children, a change from protecting vulnerable children against a range of specified ills, to a holistic approach guaranteeing all rights for all children”. 20 3. Policy Theory and Initiatives for Children
I have arrived now at the final theme focusing on creating new approaches that can appraise and judge progress by government in relation to policy, systems, and services for children. What is attempted here is embryonic and may usefully add to a wider circle of exchange. The work of government can and does impact positively on children. Of specific interest is to examine the policy theory adopted by selected government departments. A policy theory is the explicit or more often implicit set of postulated casual connections between policies and desirable outcomes. The following
classification is adapted from work undertaken by the US Rockefeller Institute of Government. 21 The purpose of the classification exercise is to bring clarity to the services that are provided, in what sequence, to which persons, and to what apparent ends. Furthermore, the analysis may help us to understand what exactly the systems are organised to do and what they do not seem to be doing at all. The three policy theories are (1) family structure, (2) resource and (3) environmental.
contends that children benefit from being born only to families who are able to care for them. It is underpinned by an assumption that children require responsible fatherhood and motherhood. The National Family Support Initiative (NFSI) of the Department of Social and Family Affairs (DOSFA) may be primarily though not exclusively located within this theory. This theory is supported by the research tradition of family specific studies and is illustrated quite well by a short aside from a study by Kieran McKeown and John Sweeney. 22 This research found 1. The family structure theory
evidence that echoes the type of concerns found in a family structure theory. These are: that children are happier having regular and secure communication with each of their parents; that children's self-identity and social skills develop better through observation of, and interaction with, father and mother; that 17 This understanding is outlined in detail in the United Nations (1995) Human Development Report 1995, New York: UN, pp 11-12.
18 M.S. Pais (1999) op. cit. pp 5-25. A idea of a personalistic norm in human rights constantly needs to be nurtured among signatories of the CRC. This raises the need for further investigation that is not within the scope of this paper. For instance, it would be useful to have an historical expose of the way that democratic institutions and government have related to the individual, the society, and other nations vis a vis a rights based approach. See J. Dunn (2000) Western Political Theory in the Face of the Future, UK: Cambridge University Press.
19 The idea of a ‘shift of mind’ is a central tenet of organisation and system change literature. At the core of systems development is the ability to change and convert its capacity so as to create its future. B. Lonergan states that conversion is about walking a different path, becoming aware of a different horizon and moving towards that horizon in B. Lonergan (1958) Insight: a study of human understanding, London: Darton, Longman and Todd. See also P. Drucker (1996) Managing the Non Profit Organisation: Principles and Practices especially pp 223-224, London: Harper Collins and P. Senge (1990) The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation, Century Business.
20 Quote from Professor Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St. John’s College.
21 This type of mapping exercise is based on a conceptual inquiry into public policy developed by T. Gais of the Rockefeller Institute of Government and C. M. Johnson of Williams College. It was outlined in Welfare Reform, Management Systems and Policy Theories of Child Well-Being, presented at “For Better and For Worse: State Welfare Reform and the Well-Being of LowIncome Families and Children,” conference sponsored by the Joint Center for Poverty Research, in Washington, DC, on September 16, 1999. See also R. P. Nathan and T.L. Gais, (1999) Implementing the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996: A First Look, Albany, N.Y:The Rockefeller Institute of Government, especially pp. 39-42. See also C. King and D. O’Shea, Texas Field Research Report, State Capacity Study(Albany, N.Y.: Rockefeller Institute of Government, 1998) and D.C. McCool (1995) Public Policy Theories, Models and Concepts, Univ. of Utah.
22 K. McKeown & J. Sweeney
(2001) Family Well-Being and Family Policy: A Review of Research on Benefits and Costs: Dublin: Government Publications 6