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School psychology and children's rights have great potential, well beyond what has been realized, for advancing the best interests of children, their communities, and societies. A child rights approach infused into school psychology can significantly contribute to the fulfillment of this potential. To respect and illuminate these factors and possibilities, a brief history of children's rights is presented, its major components as embodied in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and their relevance for education and the school community are clarified, and the opportunities for school psychology to champion and deeply integrate children's rights in policy and practice are explored. Employing this base, a proposal is made for a new social contract between school psychology and those it serves which moves beyond reactive problem oriented interventions to give primacy to proactive promotion of the well-being and full holistic development of the child, employing a prospective human development models emphasizing progressive achievement of self-stewardship for all children.

This year, 2014, is the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child--the world's "positive ideology" and its clearest statement of commitments to and respect and aspirations for the dignity of the child. To commemorate this landmark, a program of articles by respected experts has been organized to advance understanding, appreciation and policy and practice investment in child rights approaches for psychology in schools. Psychology and particularly school psychology have been strong supporters of children's rights in words and deeds. The publication program announced here is a first of its kind for any profession. It is being achieved through the cooperation of editors of respected United States journals and an international journal, all of which are primarily focused on psychological service to children in schools. The articles are all being published in the first quarter of 2014. They will each bring into focus the particular implications and advantages of having school psychology apply a child rights approach to dealing with important opportunities and challenges of the school community.

Psychological maltreatment (i.e. emotional abuse and neglect) is probably more prevalent and potentially more destructive than other forms of child maltreatment. Rejection, one of its major forms, has been found to negatively affect child development in all countries where it has been studied. However, psychological maltreatment has been given relatively little attention by the general public and helping professions, and it has seldom been the primary target of research or intervention. This article reviews the state of knowledge of psychological maltreatment, giving attention to its position as the core issue in child maltreatment based on the assumptions that: (a) it is inherent in all forms of child maltreatment; (b) the major negative effects of child maltreatment are generally psychological in nature; and (c) the concept clarifies and unifies the dynamics that underlie the destructive power of all forms of child abuse and neglect. Prevention is identified as the general strategy having the most potential for dealing with psychological maltreatment. A conceptual framework and specific suggestions for preventing psychological maltreatment are presented which (a) target assistance to both perpetrators and victims; (b) emphasize satisfying basic psychological needs, developing critical knowledge and skills and reducing negative stress; and (c) have applications at individual, family and community/society levels. Special consideration is given to cross-cultural issues and the manner in which schooling practices may perpetrate, ameliorate, and prevent psychological maltreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]