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HarvardX: FXB001 Child Protection: Children's Rights in Theory and Practice

Learn how to protect children from violence, exploitation, and neglect through law, policy, and practice in a human rights framework.

Teaching Team:

About this course

Across the world, children are at risk of violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect. Conflict and natural disasters have forced millions to flee their homes and confront the dangers of migration and displacement. Commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, child labor, and child marriage are problems in many countries. At-risk children and adolescents need their rights enforced to protect them from harm and to ensure they develop to their full potential.

In this course, you will learn about the causes and consequences of child protection failures. You will consider the strategies, international laws, standards, and resources required to protect all children. You will be able to link legal frameworks and child rights approaches to the work of policymakers, lawyers, health workers, educators, law enforcement, and social workers. Learners will understand how they can ensure the protection of children and apply child protection strategies to their work.

Join Harvard faculty, practitioners, and a global community of learners to master a child-centered systems approach to preventing and responding to violence, exploitation, and abuse against children.

What you'll learn

  • The origins of child protection in international human rights law
  • How to analyze global child protection issues and the diversity of actors involved in child protection
  • The impact of violence, exploitation, and abuse (VEA) on children’s emotional, social and physical development and strategies for preventing and responding to these harms
  • The standards of protection for children in conflict or in contact with the law
  • How to assess and strengthen a child protection system

Course Outline

Section 1: Every Child's Right to Protection

    • 1.1 The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): The Legal Foundation of Child Protection
    • 1.2 Defining Child Protection and Measuring Child Protection Issues

Section 2: Violence Against Children

    • 2.1 Causes and Consequences of Violence
    • 2.1.A. Violence in Early Childhood
    • 2.1.B Violence in Late Childhood and Adolescence
    • 2.2 Strategies for Preventing and Addressing Violence
    • 2.3 Examples of Preventing and Addressing Violence

Section 3: Children and the Law

    • 3.1 Children in Conflict with the law
    • 3.2 Children in Contact with the law
    • 3.3 Migrant Children and the law

Section 4: A Systems Approach to Child Protection

    • 4.1 Components of a Child Protection System
    • 4.2 Identifying Problems in Child Protection System
    • 4.3.A Global Action to Strengthen Child Protection Systems
    • 4.3.B Local Action to Strengthen Child Protection Systems

Grading, Progress and Performance

This course assumes substantial and informed student participation. At a minimum, being informed requires completion of assigned readings, videos. Performance in the course will be evaluated based on the following:

  • Section 0: Welcome to the Course (5%)
  • Section 1: Every Child's Right to Protection (20%)
  • Section 2: Violence Against Children (20%)
  • Section 3: Children and the Law (20%)
  • Section 4: A System's Approach to Child Protection (20%)
  • Final Project and Assessment: (15%)

Inclusivity Statement

It is a requirement that you have an open mind and respect differences of all kinds. Harvard University and HarvardX are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational and work environment in which no member of the community is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination or harassment in our program. All members of the HarvardX community are expected to abide by Harvard policies on nondiscrimination, including sexual harassment, and the edX Terms of Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact harvardx@harvard.edu and/or report your experience through the edX contact form.

Academic Integrity

  • HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of the edX honor code. HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.

Research Statement

  • HarvardX pursues the science of learning. By registering as an online learner in an HX course, you will also participate in research about learning. Read our research statement to learn more.

Verified Certificate

EdX offers an optional fee-based ($99 USD) verified certificate to those who have passed the course. If you achieve a passing grade of 60% in this course, you are eligible to receive a verified certificate. Your certificate will indicate you have successfully completed the course, but will not include a specific grade. You can find your current score on the Progress page. Your score is based on the assessments and self-assessments in each unit.

EdX provides optional verified certificates to those who have:

  • passed the course by August 31, 2019
  • verified their identity
  • paid the certificate fee

Some content in edX is available only to learners who have purchased a verified certificate. Locked content is marked with a lock icon, as shown to the right. Click the image to see a full-sized version. If you are using screen reader software, you will hear "Content available only to verified-track learners."

When you see this icon, it indicates there are one or more graded assignments on this page. Verified learners will be able to see and complete these assignments, which will count toward their certificate of completion.

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If you have questions, please use the Contact Us link.

Feedback

We would appreciate hearing both your positive and constructive feedback about the course content and your learning experience. Your feedback will be invaluable as we improve future iterations of the course. Please contact us through the feedback section of any unit of the course or here for more general feedback.

For technical or non-content related assistance, please contact edX Learner Support at https://courses.edx.org/support/contact_us. See edX FAQ for more frequently asked questions.

Acknowledgments 

The course team is indebted to the children and communities whose lives and experiences form part of the videos, case studies and examples in this course. We would like to thank our guest speakers and interviewees for so generously sharing their knowledge and expertise. And we would like to thank you, the students of this course, for your interest in child rights and child protection and for participating in the course.