Framing children's lives through policy and public sphere debates on COVID-19: unequal power and unintended consequences

Toby Fattore, Robin Redhead, Nick Turnbull

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this paper we analyze five dominant policy frames adopted by governments in their responses to children during the COVID-19 pandemic–the institutional, developmental, pathological, normative family and rights-excluding frames. We argue that these frames serve to meet the interests of non-child stakeholders in politically expedient ways, rather than addressing the needs of children and their families. We provide some suggestions for alternative policy approaches that take into account the interests of children, including understanding the ambivalent implications of lockdown, taking into account the social ecologies of children, and a renewed focus on children’s rights, most importantly children’s participation rights.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)146-154
    Number of pages9
    JournalCritical Policy Studies
    Volume15
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2021

    Keywords

    • COVID-19
    • children
    • childhood
    • framing
    • public policy

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