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The Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, housed within the Office of the Vice President for Global Engagement and located in 303 Maguire Hall, launched in September 2021 to foster cross-disciplinary research and dialogue on critical and emerging challenges affecting children around the world, with a particular focus on children in adversity and pathways to resilience. The Collaborative seeks to hire a Graduate Student Fellow to support a new initiative effective immediately through September 30, 2023. The forum on Faith and the Family is convened by Catholic Relief Services and Georgetown University’s Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, in coordination with the Changing the Way We Care initiative and strategic partners. The forum focuses on Christian faith communities and their contributions to both the propagation and prevention of child-family separation across time and contexts. The forum will explore the theological dimensions of these issues and growing evidence about the effects of child-family separation on developmental outcomes across the life course. Decades of research have shown that children’s well-being is seriously impacted by involuntary child-family separation and lack of family care. Family separation, combined with the inappropriate use of alternative care, can lead to immediate and long-term physical, social, psychological and emotional harm. Children in such circumstances often experience abuse, neglect, lack of stimulation, and extreme and toxic stress, all of which have a profoundly negative effect on a child’s development and adult outcomes. This has led to a global care reform movement. However, well-meaning support for orphanages – through donations, volunteering, faith-based missions, student service-learning and gap-year programs – undermines this effort and perpetuates the use of systems that separate children from families. Supported by a sponsor/supervisor and reporting to Gillian Huebner, Executive Director of the Collaborative, the student fellow will work with the Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, other university partners and external stakeholders to research the extent to which U.S. Catholic universities, including Georgetown, engage with issues related to children living outside of family care, global care reform efforts, and best practices for the care and protection of vulnerable children in experiential learning opportunities, volunteer activities, and research. The student fellow will research Georgetown University policies and practices related to protection of minors, child safeguarding and how these intersect with service-learning, volunteering and missions programs and opportunities for students. The fellow will document child-sensitive best practices related to such activities and the extent to which these have been adopted by Georgetown and other Catholic universities in the United States. The fellow will also develop a process by which to assess Georgetown students’ attitudes and knowledge related to child safeguarding and child-sensitive research, volunteering, service-learning and missions opportunities. The project will culminate in a written report of findings and recommendations for improved child-sensitive policies and training for the Georgetown community and the Catholic university network in the United States. The Fellow will be expected to work at least 20 hours/week during summer 2023 and 12 hours/week during the period August 28, 2023 through September 30, 2023 at the hourly rate of $20.29. To apply, please submit a cover letter, writing sample, the name of two faculty references, and an unofficial transcript to globalchildren@georgetown.edu by February 17, 2023. (If posting is still active, then applications are still being accepted.) Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Interviews will take place by February 24, and an offer is expected to be made by around this date. Applicants will be assessed based on their expertise and demonstrated interest in the project’s subject areas, their experience working on research projects of a similar nature, and their analytical abilities. Georgetown University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer fully dedicated to achieving a diverse team of employees. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation), disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. |