Attachment and Child Abuse

Summary Defects in the bonds of attachment between parent and childare put forward as a precursor in cases of child abuse and neglect.It is suggested that therapeutic work with such families shouldbe focussed on the re-establishment or strengthening of thesebonds, if they are found to exist. Ways of determining theirexistence and building upon them are discussed. It is suggested that, with the safeguard of a regular and intensivecontact with the family, separation can often be avoided. Thisallows an immediate start on the basic task of strengtheningthe bond, and avoids weakening it still further as a resultof separation. A case example is given.     

The Role of Media in Reporting Child Abuse

ABSTRACT

This study looks at the short-term impact that the media coverage of children in need of protection had on the number of cases reported to child protection agencies. The number of reports (N = 11,646) made to these agencies in Canada was tallied each week during a 24-month period. During the same period, a content analysis of print media was conducted regarding child maltreatment and/or child protection services (CPS) to identify and count the number of articles published (N = 1,211) and single out media frenzy events. Results show a statistically significant relationship between media coverage and the number of cases reported to child protection agencies.     

The Association between Child Abuse and Attempted Suicide

Summary A recent survey by the authors has demonstrated that attemptedsuicide is common in parents, particularly mothers, who abusetheir children. However, the nature of the association betweenchild abuse and attempted suicide is complicated. Here somepossible types of association are suggested. In management ofchild abuse, special note should be taken of a history of attemptedsuicide in the parents because, in some cases, it suggests apoor prognosis. Similarly, young children of parents who attemptsuicide should be assessed in case they are at risk of abuse.     

The Manifest and Latent Lessons of Child Abuse Inquiries

Correspondence to University of Glasgow, Department of Social Administration and Social Work, Lilybank House, Bute Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RT. Summary This article examines some of the key implications of publicchild abuse inquiries for social work services and practice.It recognizes the positive value of certain of their findingsand recommendations. However, equally important are the unintendedconsequences and latent social functions of inquiries. Thesehave meant that the general public has been able to distanceitself from responsibility for protecting children. Attentionhas been diverted from wider social processes, including adult-childand male-female power relationships. At the same time, the dominantrole of child protection procedures in the statutory sectorhas inhibited the development of preventive practice strategies.     

Child Abuse and Family Stress

Child abuse is one example of violence in the family. This paper reviews sources of stress on the family, and especially considers infants as specific sources of stress within the family system. The problems of unrealistic expectations, use of physical punishment for child training and discipline, and the escalation from punishment to abuse are explored. Abuse cases are currently managed through mandatory reporting, official investigation, and disposition by authoritative bodies. This system of management appears both inadequate and inappropriate. Effective prevention programs are needed. This paper reviews current prevention efforts using three criteria of assessment. The mass media are presented as an important untapped resource for prevention efforts. Attractive media programs can address parents' feelings as well as provide information and advice.     

Child Sexual Abuse and the Family Court

This paper examines judicial decision-making in the Family Court in custody and access disputes where allegations of child sexual abuse have been made. In seven cases examined judges took a sceptical view of such allegations and most commonly granted access in spite of strong evidence of abuse. The interpretation of the ‘best interests of the child’ often favoured continuing contact with both parents, and judges rarely denied access outright. Supervised access, the most common outcome, represents a compromise between familial ideology and child protection.     

Problems in the Perinatal Prediction of Child Abuse

Summary The aim of this paper is to consider and comment criticallyupon the recommendation by some eminent authorities that effortsbe made to design and implement procedures to predict the abuseof children. My view is that this move toward prediction—‘sponsored’largely by American paediatricians—is less of a new departurethan an extension of the dominant conceptual tradition wherebychild abuse is seen as analogous to a disease. However, in spiteof its basis in a medical model, it is clear that the idea thatthe abuse of children can be accurately predicted has greatappeal for many social workers. I shall argue, however, thatserious obstacles stand in the way of prediction; that theseobstacles are insufficiently appreciated by the advocates ofprediction; and that—consequently—social workers(and others) should temper with scepticism their enthusiasmfor these developments.     

Chronic Child Abuse: The Characteristics and Careers of Children Caught in the Child Protection System

The introduction of the Quality Protects initiative in Englandand the focus on performance management has challenged socialservices departments to examine the systems, processes and outcomesfor children who have their name on a child protection register.Research indicates that approximately one-quarter of the situationsin which children are registered could be described as chronic—thatis, they remain on the child protection register for significantperiods of time, experience more than one period of registrationor suffer a further incident of significant harm whilst subjectto a child protection plan. In this article, the findings froma research study conducted into this group of vulnerable childrenare reported, focusing on the characteristics of the childrenand their families, and their careers in the child protectionsystem. The paper concludes with observations about the weakconceptualization of performance management and the need torecognize the complexity of the factors that influence children’scareers in the child protection system.     

Competing Orientations in Child Abuse Management

Summary This case study illustrates some of the problems which occurwhen different professionals are involved in the managementof child abuse cases.     

Neighbourhoods, Networks and Child Abuse

Correspondence to Tony Vinson, The University of New South Wales, P O Box 1, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia 2033 Summary The ecological framework for the study of child abuse is brieflydescribed and the present stud—of two adjoining economicallydepressed localities with contrasting rates of child abuse—istheoretically located within the framework. The study focuseson the neighbourhood as a potential source of support for families,the study design emphasizing the character of the neighbourhoodsas social entities. The social character and reported childabuse histories of the two study neighbourhoods in Western Sydney,Australia, are presented, and the research instruments and proceduresused in a household survey, are described. Demographic data,parents'/carers' ratings of (i) the social environment, (ii)the locality as a place to raise children, (iii) transport andcommunication patterns, together with membership of nine sub-networksof each carer's support network, are analysed. The one outstandingdifference between the two localities was found to be the structureof the networks of the two samples of residents. In the areawith a higher rate of abuse there was a relative lack of connectionbetween more immediate (familial) and more distant parts ofthe social networks, a finding which parallels the results ofseveral earlier studies of clinical and non-clinical populations.     

Child Abuse: Risks and Resources

Correspondence to Chris Mills, Dept of Sociology, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbonr Building, Myrtle Street, Liverpool L69 38X. Summary This article is based on observation of 55 child abuse caseconferences held in one metropolitan borough between 1981 and1984. In the past criticism of such conferences has focussedon issues such as inter-departmental rivalry and group dynamics.However, the focus of this study was on the rationality of thedecision-making process. It was found that were few explicit criteria used for makingdecision. In particular the role of the central child abuseregister was found to confuse the situation. Suggestions forimprovements are put forward with paticular emphains on therisk factors involved in individual cases and the need to ensurethat resources appropriate to the degree of estimated risk aremade available.     

Mandatory Notification of Child Abuse and Neglect

The New South Wales Child Protection Council recently issued a Community Consultation Paper detailing a wide range of proposals in relation to the physical abuse and neglect of children. The Paper recommends a considerable expansion of the current requirements for mandatory notification of child abuse and neglect. The rationale behind the Council's support of mandatory notification is, however, open to question in the light of available research findings as well as broad policy considerations.     

Group Therapy Techniques for Work with Child Sexual Abuse Victims

Group therapy techniques used by the Washington University Child Guidance Center's Child Sexual Abuse Treatment Team are described for clinicians working with child sexual abuse victims. Activities and tasks used to promote the therapeutic process are presented, broken down into three age groups: preschoolers, latency age children, and teenagers. The intent is to disseminate ideas found to be useful in the treatmcnt process.     

A National Survey of the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse

Correspondence to Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH, UK Summary The article reports a national survey of social services andpolice arrangements for investigating child sexual abuse (CSA).It is now officially accepted as good practice for police andsocial workers to jointly investigate such allegations. To evaluateinvestigative practice, the survey aimed to (i) document existingarrangements for police/social services investigation and managementof CSA cases; (ii) identify the main organizational models informingsuch work, and (iii) explore the perceptions of police and socialservices managers of the key policy and practice issues posedby such work. The criteria for judging the benefits of jointwork were: reduction in the number of occasions children wereinterviewed, clarification of the role of professionals involved,increased coordination of service delivery, and establishmentof group support for difficult decisions. While there were signsthat some benefit was being achieved, there were also indicationsof the endurance of problems long associated with multiagencywork.     

Child Sexual Abuse Allegations in the Context of Divorce: Issues for Mothers

Correspondence to Catherine Humphreys, Department of Applied Social Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL Summary The investigation and assessment of allegations of child sexualabuse constitute a difficult and contentious area for practitionersinvolved in this process. When these allegations emerge in thecontext of divorce, the problems of assessment appear to becompounded. This paper argues that when mothers raise concernsabout child sexual abuse during divorce proceedings these areoften construed as vindictive or misguided. Such constructionsof mothers have significant implications for the protection,or lack of protection of children in these circumstances. Theway in which this ‘knowledge’ about mothers hasdeveloped is explored and held up against the results of empiricalstudies which show that there is little basis for this constructionof mothers. Possible explanations for this incongruity are suggestedwith a view to progressing child protection in this area. As the court cases go on I can see the hopelessness of the wholething. It's getting stronger in me to want to take the law intomy own hands. I wouldn't say it's revenge, it's not ... I meana mother protects its young. You wouldn't see a lioness lettingsomething attack its young. (A mother expressing her desperation that the Family Court ofAustralia has ordered her to send her child on visits to herex-husband who she believes sexually abused their child.)     

Child Abuse, Social Anxiety and Welfare

Summary This article attempts to locate the ‘moral panic’concerning child abuse within the context of broader changesin the material conditions and ideological forces in Britainin the early 1970s. It argues that the development of a senseof social anxiety amongst certain sections of the populationand the appeal of the New Right were crucial in the processof establishing the problem as the major issue for social workers.As a consequence social workers have been constrained into amore punitive and interventive relationship with children andfamilies, particularly the poor. The analysis illustrates thatthe way social workers experience role conflict and tensionin this area of their work reflects much wider historical andcultural confusions and contradictions.     

Prediction and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect

A high-risk population was successfully identified by the use of perinatal screening procedures. These children encountered significantly different parenting practices than the low-risk "control" group. There were also significant differences between "High-Risk" and "Low-Risk" families on issues concerning social adjustment and mother/infant attachment. Five children in a "High-Risk Nonintervene" group required hospitalization for serious injuries thought to be secondary to abnormal parenting practices. There were no such hospitalizations in either a High Risk Intervene group or a Low Risk group. Labordelivery observations, and postpartum interviews and observations provided the most accurate predictive information; prenatal interviews and questionnaires did not add significantly. Perinatal assessment and simple intervention with families at high risk for abnormal parenting practices significantly improves the infants' chances for escaping serious hospitalized physical injury.     

Developing a Sensitive Practitioner Research Methodology for Studying the Impact of Child Sexual Abuse

Correspondence to Andrew Durham, Warwickshire Social Services Department, The Grange, Coventry Road, Southam CV47 1QB, UK. E-mail: andrewdurham{at}warwickshire.gov.uk Summary This paper outlines the methodology of a research study whichused unstructured life-story interviewing to explore the impactof child sexual abuse on the lives of seven young men aged between15 and 24 (see Durham, 1999). In approaching this research,a theoretical relationship was established between ethnography(particularly a life-story approach), feminist praxis, anti-oppressiveresearch and social work practitioner research. Researchingexperiences of child sexual abuse is stressful for all concerned,and requires a methodology which establishes a safe environment,which facilitates an expression and discussion of painful andfearful feelings and experiences, and provides appropriate on-goingsupport. In setting up this environment and providing support,before, during and after the data collection phase, the valueand importance of social work practitioner research was established.The potential influence of this on the nature of data collectedwas acknowledged, both as a potential cost, in terms of objectivity,but also as a benefit, in creating a climate for the productionof sensitive knowledge. It is concluded that a life-story practitionerresearch approach, incorporating the principles of anti-oppressiveresearch practice, is an appropriate methodology for the studyof the experience and impact of child sexual abuse, producingknowledge of substantial depth.