Read a series of stories from Young Lives children that set the issues affecting their lives against the wider picture.

One of the strong themes running through the stories is how parents, even those with little education, are supportive of their children and hopeful about their future. The children themselves are frank about their hopes and fears. Above all they show remarkable resilience. As 12-year-old Hadush from Ethiopia, who does not go to school but is proud of his work looking after cattle, said brightly: 'Nothing is impossible for me.'

Early childhood development (ECD) has become a priority for research, policy and programming, at national and global level, with increasing recognition of the interconnections between a nation’s development goals and the quality of services for all young girls and boys, and their families. The term ‘ECD’ is increasingly being used to reflect the evidence that young children’s survival, health, care and learning involves interconnected and dynamic growth processes from well before the infant is born through into their early school years.

This chapter discusses the ethics questions raised in undertaking research on children?s well-being. First, we describe the background to the rise of attention to the ethics of social research with children and set out ten topics for consideration. Second, we discuss some of the ethical difficulties associated with researching the concept of well-being with children in a range of countries and contexts. Third, we explore some of the specific ethics questions that need to be addressed in such research.