Social Welfare
Year:2003 | Volume:2 | Issue:7|Papers Count:16

Participation can be defined as a decision making process influencing on life. This term has been used and discussed more or less by other scholars but recently it has got new versions of application. One of the recent versions can be called children's social participation which came to existence in recent decades following Children Rights Convention. This fact can be brought into account according to development and accountability related to citizenship. The education based on rights and accountability will be of great advantage toward children social participation and is known as a prerequisite for the development of society. In this article, the main attention has been paid to practical participation and citizenship according to a scheme of education and experience. Basically it is believed that Iranian society needs a thoughtful revolution to take advantage of children participation and give them a sense of responsibility.

In traditional societies and tribes, a particular attention has been paid toward adolescence. It was referred to as a former stage of being adult and included the facts such as bearing and accepting commitments, responsibilities and special credits. A ceremony was held under special conditions in order to make the society recognize the adolescent. These ancient ceremonies have been gradually forgotten and faded and it falls on future generation to revive it. The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was officially set up in September 2002. UNICEF general approach rests on this tact that in order to create a global society and a world full of peace and happiness, and so we should respect the children and youngesters' opinions, viewpoints and experiences. Therefore, the staffs and members of UNICEF have held different meetings in this field and No, doctor! previous, present and future attitude toward children and adolescents, participation.

The children and young generation health problems are one of the most and major' or ones in our country, because they are called as "Today" and ''Tomorrow''. So we should put more emphasis to meet their needs because tomorrow will be too late and the future of any country relies on them.This selection views children's health problems according to social framework changes nationally and internationally and points to the deficits in this regard.The health problems are generally discussed from physical aspects and less attention is paid to mental ones. But there has recently been an epidemiologic transformation as well as the change in health problems. In fact, the social, behavioral and mental disorders will replace the infectious diseases, and that is the one which is brought under concentration.

Approving the children's protecting laws, we confront with the samples of criminal and ethic policies taken in order to keep children safe against any discrimination. Taking a short brief of issues discussed in this framework, we can recognize that the lawmakers are under the influence of children rights convention and the facts related to it. The law which is based on children abuse, brings this item to Iran law literature for the first time and the age of being under the torturing according to children right convention is assigned as 18 years old.There are some hopes while formation of such legislations come into appear and cover the public aspect of children abuse, they have to report it regularly.But this legislation may have a lot of obstacles on his way to be implemented.

On the basis of estimates, about 10 percent of people all around the world are facing a sort of physical or mental disability, among which there are 150 million children under the age of 15.Besides civil, social, economic, cultural and many other difficulties for disabled children and their families, a huge investment is also needed to obtain their many kinds of necessities that affect their lives, such as health care, rehabilitation, education, and employment.In the recent years, the issue of" Right of Disabled children" has turned into a noticeable challenge worldwide. According to the facts, however, only one article of "The convention on the Rights of the children" has allocated for disability subject.The attempts in drafting actions for obtaining' 'rights for children" have started since 1926. The most accomplished effort fruited in adoption of the Declaration of Human Rights for children (1924), as well as "the convention on the rights of the child" (1989) for all children everywhere.Although disabled children issues are not explicitly stated in any of principles, Declaration of mental retardation (1971) and, Declaration of disabled person (1975) , as well as article 23 of convention on children rights , are included as the most effective subjects relating to the protection of disabled children.It is also feasible to engage in disability issue under the light of convention of the rights of disabled.

Educational psychology has approved that children will become accountable if we let them to make their own decisions, and they will be grown up self-confidence. if we trust them. According to the same matters, the article No.l2 of Children's Rights International Convention suggests providing opportunities for children to be able to make decisions whether by themselves or their representatives.The Islamic Republic of Iran joined this convention in 1372 and undertook to implement all the legislations in case having no contrast with islamic rules.This article takes a glance over the performance of the article No. 12 in Iran.

One of the most sensitive problems, facing child psychiatry, is the attempt to destroy oneself among children and adolescents. Consideration of a child's way of thinking in regards of self destruction and parents understanding of the problem is of utmost importance.Suicide constitutes the third most prevalent cause leading to untimely deaths among adolescents between 15 and 24 years of age, and it claims 6000 lives annually only among adolescents. The most prevalent methods employed by boys are the use of firearms and explosives, while girls prefer poisons and drugs. Poisoning, which may occur after the age of six, is rarely accidental and should be contemplated as a behavior pertinent to self destruction attempt. Nine-to-ten year - old children do not genuinely understand death, and suicidal attempts among them are rare. These attempts must not be regarded as their serious desire to die. Among adolescents the strong belief in revenge and animosity is too obvious, which is normally aimed at others or themselves. The relevant risk factors regarding children and adolescents self  destructive tendencies include: depression and threat to self destruction which usually implicates their despair and must be taken into consideration seriously.It's highly recommended that suicidal patients in doctors, offices and hospital emergency wards be hospitalized for 2-3 days so that a better appraisal of their mentality and their environment as well as their relationship with their parents can be made.

Children are the most vulnerable segments of each society because of their disabilities, lacking of different skills and unfamiliarity with their rights. They are mainly dependent upon their adults to keep them out of danger. So, if parents are not proper enough for this responsibility, the incident of child abuse will be inevitable and most of them will originally start in their own family. Child abuse and torturing is one of the social disorders which can be seen in almost any societies whether developed or developing ones. The short term and long term impacts may have a forever lasting effect on persons. So taking actions as precautions is a must that I should be paid attention regarding to this disorder while setting up social plans.

Physical child abuse is a psycho-social and health problem that has been ignored for many years. Although the official report of child abuse ignored for many years, and the official reports of child abuse cases are very limited, but there are evidences that show the significant extent of physical child abuse prevalence rate in two regions of Tehran, which are completely different in socioeconomic status (SES) of the inhabitants.In this cross-sectional research which was conducted in regions XX and III of Tehran in 1996, a total number of 840 children with equal number from both regions, two sexes, and three levels of primary, middle and secondary school in regions were selected by systematized random selection. Children in two regions were significantly different in family size, the education level of parents, unemployment rate of father, and employment rate of mother. There was no significant difference in the age of parents and immigration rate.The lifetime prevalence rate of physical abuse was 37 to 16 percent in region XX with low SES, and 16 to 24 percent in region III with high SES with 95 percent confidence rate. Most of the perpetuators were mothers in region XX. In region Ill, equal number of children reported mothers and fathers as the most common perpetuator of physical abuse to them. The most important risk factors were early adolescence, and unemployment of father in region XX, and adolescent girls and low level of education in region III.

The evaluation of prevalence and appearing the social disorders involve having exact statistical information during a fixed time series. In Iran, unfortunately, there is no access to this kind of information - at least in this regard.In some social disorders which originally have risen some misunderstanding and disagreement in their definitions, importance, and soon, the lack of statistic information can be seen much more obviously. Child abuse is one of those disorders suffering lack of exact and proper statistical information. This article provides an evaluation of this disorder in terms of its main cases such as poverty, addiction, and mental disorders.

This article is not with homeless or unattended children, or children with physical diseases, or other kinds of "common problems." This article, which is the result of researcher's close observation, focuses on the state of children who live under such conditions which will most probably have harmful effects on their future lives and these are due to their" parents' mistakes" not outside factors. However, this state passes unnoticed since the victims are hidden within the family.The research compares 5-12 year old children of addicted fathers with those of non - addicted fathers. This study was carried out on one hundred families of the addict, on one hand, and another similar one hundred families on the other hand. These children have not been subjects for social scientists and health experts because of the following facts:-They live with their parents.- They are not criminals yet.- They show no signs of improper behavior.These facts, however, do not deny their possible uncertain future. In order to understand the conditions under which these children live and the consequences of the father' addiction, it is possible to look for addiction factors in the problematic structure of the society, availability of drugs, incorrect function of society, incorrect function of social institutions , troubled social relations, and the state of individuals.If we draw an analogy between society and family, will the children's state be like in the addicted family? Is the structure of the family healthy? Do parents play their roles well? What are the  individual states of the children within particular family structure?Studying such families and their conditions become more important when we consider this fact that most studies carried out about Iranian families are concerned with divorce. But, unfortunately, there is no information about problems in the families. We know nothing about parents who have not a mutual emotional relationship and who merely live in one house without supporting each other emotionally. Children of such families are overlooked by researchers and are not even included in divorce statistics. Actually, they suffer more than the children of divorce.

The recent studies point to this fact that modifying the people's viewpoints on drugs from positive to negative can play an important role as a preventive step, because of a direct link that exists between attitude and getting involved with drugs. As an introductory, the youngsters' viewpoints on drugs has been brought into consideration to make possible such a planning. In this regard, 1403 secondary school students in Tehran (49.3 percent girls, 50.7 percent boys, ranging between 11-16 years old) were surveyed and the results were as follow:1- Twenty-five percent of the students' have a positive attitude to word drugs. 2- The prevalence of drug abuse among them is about %5. Meanwhile it declared that 60 percent of students don't have any desire toward drugs, 3.6 percent a slight, and 4 percent a severe one.

The street children phenomenon is categorized as a social disorder that not only includes a great number of children and youngsters as society future capital with danger but also makes the society suffer of harms. Therefore, in order to decrease this disorder we should understand its different dimensions and the factors influencing on it to find various scientific and practical solutions for it .Doing a research on these children seems a bit difficult due mainly to their living conditions, setting up relationship and confidence with them and their families, mobility from one point to another from time to time, and other obstacles.In this research, during a 5-year-period, the street children and their families were investigated in 5 areas of Tehran using a questionnaire and interview and then their problems regarding to physical, emotional, mental and so on came in to attention.The result, point to a growing number of street children and their problems consequently and taking immediate steps and actions seem vital followed with a good planning.