Social Work and Social Planning

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/2328/26004

Browse

Browsing Social Work and Social Planning by Subject "Children"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    'The contented faces of a unique Australian family': privilege and vulnerability in news media reporting of offshore surrogacy arrangements
    (Taylor & Francis, 2014-09-03) Riggs, Damien Wayne; Due, Clemence
    In a paper recently published in Citizenship Studies (Riggs and Due 2013), we argued that media accounts of Australian citizens entering into offshore commercial surrogacy arrangements frequently evoke notions of the agentic reproductive citizen in order to represent medical or social infertility as a form of vulnerability that can be overcome through fertility travel. In that paper (and elsewhere, e.g., Riggs and Due 2010) we have also argued that media accounts of offshore commercial surrogacy undertaken by Australian citizens rely upon the depiction of women who act as surrogates as equally agentic in their decisions in regards to entering into surrogacy arrangements. Central to our argument in these previous papers has been the claim that if discussions about privilege remain at the periphery of media representations of offshore commercial surrogacy, then issues of vulnerability in relation to all parties will all too easily be discounted through a neoliberal narrative of agency. In addition, and following Millbank (2012), we would suggest that media commentary on issues such as surrogacy often shapes policy decisions, and thus it is important to examine how the news media in particular represents surrogacy. As such, in this commentary we extend our previous exploration of media coverage of offshore commercial surrogacy by examining a recent example of Australian news media reporting on the topic. Our aims in doing so are to examine how this example repeats the concerns raised above (thus suggesting something of a script evident in media reporting on the topic of offshore surrogacy), and to suggest some necessary changes to media reporting on offshore surrogacy that may help to engender a more holistic account of the topic.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Gay men's narratives of pregnancy in the context of commercial surrogacy
    (Demeter Press, 2015) Riggs, Damien Wayne; Dempsey, Deborah
    Historically, gay men have primarily become fathers in the context of heterosexual relationships, or for some men through foster care, adoption, or co‐parenting arrangements as sperm donors (Riggs and Due). Since the beginning of the 21st century, however, gay men living in western countries have increasingly made use of commercial surrogacy services (Everingham, Stafford‐Bell, and Hammarberg). The increased use of these services has become possible as a result of legislative change in countries such as the US (in which many states now allow for the contracting of surrogacy services), in addition to the provision of services in countries where the regulation of commercial surrogacy has not occurred until relatively recently (such as India and Thailand). The rapid growth in the use of commercial surrogacy services by gay men has been shaped by factors such as 1) a desire for genetic relatedness between children and at least one of their fathers (in a couple), 2) the perception that commercial surrogacy allows men to have greater control over the process of having a child, and 3) the perception that commercial surrogacy arrangements offer greater legal security to gay men (Murphy; Tuazon‐McCheyne).
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Research with children of migrant and refugee backgrounds: a review of child-centered research methods
    (Springer Verlag, 2013-09-13) Due, Clemence; Riggs, Damien Wayne; Augoustinos, Martha
    This paper outlines a participatory research methodology we have found to be successful in researching the educational experiences and perceptions of children with migrant or refugee backgrounds in Australia for whom English is a second language, aged between 5 and 7 years. As such, the paper focuses on research methods that are effective in research with (rather than on) young children who have experienced transitions involved with forced or voluntary migration and resettlement. The paper outlines these methods, together with their effectiveness and usefulness in allowing children to express themselves on their own terms and become fully involved in the research process. In particular, the paper is interested in allowing children to have voices in research concerning perceptions of ‘doing well’ at school. Finally, the paper addresses the ethical issues of working with migrant and refugee children, and the common critiques of participatory research with young children.