1st Edition

Children, Spirituality, Religion and Social Work

By Margaret Crompton Copyright 1998

    Attention to children’s spiritual and religious well-being is required by legislation, Government guidelines and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. Margaret Crompton has worked with and on behalf of children as a social worker, lecturer and writer. Her recent publications include Children and Counselling and a training pack, Children, Spirituality and Religion. This jargon-free book develops and adds to those ideas and materials, focusing on everyday practice in social work, education and health care. Reference is made to several religions and to ideas about spirituality, which is not necessarily associated with religious belief and observance. Practitioners’ experience is also cited. Topics include, spiritual and religious rights, spiritual development, needs and well-being, implications of religious beliefs and observances for daily life and care, abuse and neglect, death, including suicide and abortion and communication, including stories and play.

    Contents: Spiritual and Religious Rights: Spiritual and religious rights. Children and Spirituality: Ideas about spirituality; Experience of spirituality in childhood; Spiritual distress. Children and Religion: Religion in everyday life; Rites of passage; Fasts and festivals; Worship; Symbols and sacred objects; Daily care. Spirituality, Religion, Abuse and Neglect: Abuse and neglect; Abuse associated with religious and ritual practices. Children and Death: Spiritual and religious care; Suicide and termination of pregnancy. Communicating with children: Stories, myths and legends; Communicating about death and loss; Spiritual and religious well-being; Useful organizations.

    Biography

    Margaret Crompton

    ’...well researched and full of relevant quotations and case histories.’ The Friend ’This is an interesting and comprehensive book and would be a useful resource for individuals and projects.’ Youth and Policy ’...the book works well on a number of different levels as a source book with excellent bibliography, as a training resource with questions and suggestions for individuals or informal groups, and as an uplifting read in which the author’s generosity of spirit is never far from the surface.’ Community Care ’...the text is accessible, well organised and written in an encouraging style. It is a book which will make an extremely valuable and timely contribution to spiritual, moral, social and cultural education in a wide range of caring professions.’ British Journal of Religious Education ’The writing is accurate...the presentation fair and the text relatively jargon-free...a sensitive and user-friendly examination of a wide and inter-related field.’ British Journal of Educational Psychology ’A wide-ranging, perceptive and sometimes disturbing book...deserves to be read widely by those in the fields of social work and education.’ Journal of Beliefs and Values ’...a useful resource both for teaching purposes and for workers wishing to work with children in a spiritually and religiously sensitive manner...’ Child Abuse Review