Safeguarding disabled children in residential settings: what we know and what we don't know

Research in America, Canada, Australia and Britain has revealed that disabled children are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Their likelihood of attending residential institutions, their dependency on others for personal care and the lack of opportunities for them to alert others to maltreatment or comprehend the nature of abusive acts all increase levels of risk. Over the last decade, there has been increasing public and professional concern about the abuse of children in residential establishments, resulting in a number of inquiries. However, the abuse of disabled children in residential settings has received little attention. Despite residential schools, care homes and respite care being widely used by disabled children, there is a paucity of knowledge regarding the standards of child protection in these establishments. This article explores the research literature revealing the vulnerability of disabled children to abuse when living away from home, what measures can be taken to help protect them and the limitations of available data as a basis for planning child protection measures. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring and reporting campus sexual assault: Privilege and exclusion in what we know and what we do

As awareness of and national attention to campus sexual assault in the U.S. has grown, efforts to study and respond to the problem have increased. While these efforts are to be applauded, they have yet to fully challenge or correct the privileged and exclusive perspectives and assumptions regarding student experiences of campus sexual assault. Specifically, the experiences of white, heterosexual, cisgender, middle‐class, and American citizens who are students at primarily elite, traditional colleges and universities are taken as the norm, while experiences of students of color, LGBTQ students, and international students are neglected. Here we examine two primary sources of information regarding campus sexual assault: large‐scale self‐report surveys and individual reporting to authorities. We first review the content of select large‐scale surveys used to gather and measure self‐reported data from students on the scope, prevalence, and character of campus sexual assault, and identify areas of omission and neglect regarding marginalized students. We then review literature on barriers to reporting to authorities specific to these groups that further exclude them from our understanding of the problem. We end with recommendations for improved efforts to study and respond to campus sexual assault that are more inclusive and comprehensive.     

Beyond cultural competence: what child protection managers need to know and do

This article addresses issues for child protection managers, such as hiring, program design, service evaluation, and policy development. It presents three frameworks for levels of organizational change: cultural sensitivity, which modifies existing services to better meet the needs of target populations; self-reflective cultural sensitivity, which calls for managers to be aware of personal and organizational cultural values; and cultural solidarity, which acknowledges that organizational power is vested in managers, which can oppress clients.     

Boundaries & adolescents in residental teatment settings: what clinicians need to know

Working with adolescents in psychiatric treatment settings poses unique challenges related to boundaries. Staff are typically from a range of disciplines, and some are from nonregulated professions. Three potential boundary-crossing areas are touching, gift giving, and self-disclosure. To enhance quality of care, staff needs an orientation aimed at boundary education, including the concepts of transference and countertransference; an atmosphere of safety to discuss their observations of themselves and others; to be willing to provide feedback; and a sound knowledge base of adolescent growth and development.     

Informal care substitution: what we don't know can hurt us

Empirical studies focusing on the relationship between formal and informal home care do little to quell the fears of policymakers that expanded access to public home care services will result in the withdrawal of informal support. A close examination of the studies designed to measure the withdrawal of informal support justifies this skepticism. Concerns about the withdrawal of informal care may hinder the introduction of more extensive home care benefits. Researchers have come some distance in trying to address this policy question. The conflicting nature of empirical findings, thus far, demonstrates that the answer depends heavily on how the question is framed, how home care is measured and over what time frame, and what sorts of analytic approaches are used to model the relationship between formal and informal community-based care. This article discusses these issues in greater detail and suggests strategies to address these problems in future research.     

Lessons learned from children who have experienced homelessness: what services need to know

Children who accompany their parents or guardians during a period of homelessness make up 37% (more than one in three) of all people accessing the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) services. This paper describes an Australian qualitative study that explored the experiences of children who accompanied their families during periods of homelessness. It focuses particularly on what children and young people say they want from the services that they come in contact with; particularly specialised homelessness services such as housing support services and refuges. Key themes that emerged from the research include: the need for services to engage with children as individuals in their own right, to listen to and acknowledge their stories, to have services that meet their individual needs, to act and respond when children feel unsafe and for workers who can provide support to children to talk to parents about what is going on. Children and young people wanted workers to know that they felt their parents were doing their best to keep them safe. They focused on what their parents could do and did do rather than what they were not able to provide. They called on the human service system to do the same.     

Affirmative action after the Supreme Court's 1988-1989 term: what employers need to know

Three recent Supreme Court decisions have aroused fears about the future of a key weapon against employment discrimination: the affirmative action plan. The author reviews these cases and pronounces affirmative action alive and well--but warns that thoughtful planning is required to ward off challenges by nonminority groups claiming adverse impact.     

How addiction happens, how change happens, and what social workers need to know to be effective facilitators of change

During the last two decades, neuroscience research has proliferated examining brain mechanisms that explain why some people are compelled to pursue drugs and alcohol. The findings suggest that addiction is independent of pleasure, and that drug seeking can be triggered outside of conscious awareness (Berridge, Robinson, & Aldridge, 2009; Goldstein et al., 2009; Kalivas, Volkow, & Seamans, 2005). The observations and conclusions from this research can be used to advantage in treating addiction. The use of social psychological principles, in the context of motivational interviewing, offers a platform for taking advantage of these new insights. After a brief sketch of the latest understanding of the physiological forces operating in addiction, the author examines those ways to interact with substance dependent clients that promote change without provoking resistance in this article. Action plans are later described that can supplant automatic, addiction-induced behaviors (Gollwitzer, Fujita, & Oettingen, 2004). Mechanisms such as building coping skills are discussed, that help in maintaining new behaviors. Some of these mechanisms are efficacious because they bolster the brain's self-regulatory capacity (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice, 2007; Littrell, 2010). Thus, for every step in the change process, from resistance to change maintenance, validated guidelines for altering the outcome from addiction will be provided.     

The financial abuse of mentally incompetent older adults: a canadian study

ABSTRACT This article reports the results of a pilot study on the financial abuse of mentally incompetent seniors. The objectives of the study were to: (1) establish the incidence of suspected financial abuse among the clientele of the Office of Public Trustee, Province of Manitoba, (2) identify the characteristics of mentally incompetent older adults most at risk, and (3) identify indicators of financial abuse. Approximately 20% of the cases opened in a one year period were under suspicion of abuse. Findings were consistent with those of other research projects on elder abuse, in general, showing an over-representation of women over the age of eighty as victims of financial abuse. Unpaid personal care home bills when money should have been available was the most common indicator. In addition to providing a list of indicators of financial abuse that are of potential use to professionals, devising prevention programs, practical implications for service providers are presented.     

The legal rights of LGBT youth in state custody: what child welfare and juvenile justice professionals need to know

Youth in state custody, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, have federal and state constitutional and statutory rights. These rights guarantee a young person safety in their placement as well as freedom from deprivation of their liberty interest. Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth have these rights violated on a regular basis. Many cases in both the child welfare and juvenile justice contexts have resulted in extensive and time-consuming consent decrees as well as sizable damages awards. Knowledge of a youth's legal rights can help providers avoid legal liability while creating a safer and healthier environment for LGBT youth. This article provides a general overview of the successful federal legal claims that youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems have made, discussion of the rights generated as a result, particle application of these rights to the experiences of LGBT youth with hypothetical scenarios, a focus on specific rights that emanate from certain state laws, and a focus on specific concerns of transgender youth.     

Conceptual model and map of psychological abuse of older adults

Psychological abuse of older adults is a hidden and pervasive problem that is not well conceptualized nor well measured. Goals. The goals were to (a) conceptualize psychological abuse using three-dimensional concept maps, and (b) develop theoretical models. Methods. Statements describing the construct were generated by local and national panels. These were sorted and rated using Concept Systems software whereby the concepts were depicted as a map. Results. The concept maps guided development of theoretical hierarchies. Significance. Theoretical models may help to develop measures to estimate prevalence better and may enable more precise screening for triage into appropriate interventions.     

Cleveland 20 years on: what have we learned about intervening in child sexual abuse?

This is the first of two linked papers. It examines the main changes in approach to child sexual abuse that have occurred since the events in Cleveland 20 years ago. Comparison between estimated prevalence rates and registrations for sexual abuse suggests that we are aware of only the tip of the iceberg. It is argued that in many cases uncertainty may have to be accepted, and that protection may be better achieved through a protective parent than through the child protection system. Clinical examples of cases presenting to a specialist child and adolescent mental health service are given. It is argued that, although society is now more willing to recognise the existence of child sexual abuse and professionals are better at dealing with families, outcomes for this group of children are not much improved. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Screening for elder abuse in hospitalized older adults with dementia

When older adults with dementia are hospitalized for psychiatric treatment, which elder abuse screen to use is questionable. This article reviews screens to identify desirable characteristics. For clinician completion, the Elder Assessment Instrument and the Brief Abuse Screens for the Elderly are recommended. For the older adult, the brief Hwalek-Sengstock Elder Abuse Screening Test is suitable. The Modified Conflict Tactics Scale, which can be used by both the older adult and the nonprofessional caregiver, has many of the recommended characteristics. Research is necessary in the application of these screens within hospitals to detect elder abuse within this specialized population.     

The need for empathy in the hospital experience of older adults

As health care has become increasingly sophisticated, health care providers struggle to ensure that patients do not become isolated and overwhelmed with the many specialists, support personnel, and technology they encounter in their hospital experiences. Hospitalized older patients often have complex diagnoses and pain issues and may have fewer external supports than younger patients. Nurses may find a renewed focus on empathy valuable in enriching health care experiences for hospitalized older adults.