Determining the skills for child protection practice: from quandary to quagmire?

This article, the first of two, provides an account of an extended literature review that was undertaken in order to establish the evidence base for the learning and teaching of skills for child protection practice. It considers the contribution to the knowledge base from child abuse inquiries and from policies, guidelines and other documents from governmental departments and professional bodies. The subsequent analysis of terminology used for the review illustrates the complexity of searching for evidence that relates to concepts about which there are many differing perspectives, and also highlights the relevance to the study of activities undertaken by practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds. The paper describes the review method beginning with an initial search from which several hundred articles were located, only six of which generated evidence of value to the study. These six, however, highlighted a range of skills that provided the basis for a second, more focused search. Following an account of organisation and analysis of material, the paper concludes with discussion of some of the challenges presented during the process of this review, the complexities of which are reflected in the paper's title. A second paper will present the findings. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parental mental health as a child protection issue: data from the NSPCC national child protection helpline

Analysis of a sample of 2084 child abuse referrals to the NSPCC Child Protection Helpline showed that in 10% a parent or carer was reported as having a mental health problem. Mothers were the parent affected in the majority of these cases. The mental health sample differed from the other referrals in an increased concern about emotional abuse and less about sexual abuse; greater levels of violence and discord between parents; and more agency involvement. Issues of potential labelling and therapeutic needs are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Child protection training in sport‐related degrees and initial teacher training for physical education: an audit

This article reports on an online survey of child protection training for students on sport‐related and Initial Teacher Training Physical Education degrees, and on the views of recently graduated teachers of the usefulness of such training in their everyday work. The results indicate that child protection training is provided in most courses but in varying amounts. Respondents to the survey reported positively, in the main, about the effects of new requirements for teacher training (Every Child Matters: Change for Children, Department for Education and Skills, 2004). Reasons given for not including child protection in courses were: lack of time; the perceived vocational nature of the topic; lack of fit with course aims and objectives; lack of relevance; and the research rather than professional orientation of the course. Recently graduated teachers' views on their pre‐service child protection training differed from the claims made about this in the survey. In particular, they raised concerns about their lack of preparation for dealing with potential child protection situations. The article concludes that child protection training within sport‐related degrees is deficient in both consistency of delivery and in content, and that, in addition to preparing students to recognise signs and indicators of abuse, curricula should also address undergraduates' confidence and skills for responding to abuse in their everyday professional practice. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Partners for protection: a future direction for child protection?

The development of an innovative group working with female, non‐abusing carers is described. Part educational and part therapeutic, it sits squarely within child protection procedures and forms part of an interagency approach to protecting children from sexual abuse. Group processes are described and difficulties are explored, including those experienced by the women themselves in relation to child protection procedures. Current service approaches and attitudes may have potentially adverse consequences for the ultimate aim of child protection and these are considered together with a discussion of the value of alternative approaches. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Subsequent child protection contact for a cohort of children reported to child protection prenatally in one Australian jurisdiction

Repeated reporting to child protection is common. One approach to early intervention is for jurisdictions to receive and respond to child protection concerns raised before children are born. Despite this, little research has comprehensively examined subsequent child protection contact for those first reported prenatally. This study aimed to examine the subsequent child protection contact for up to a two-year period for a cohort of children who were reported about prebirth. Child protection administrative data were extracted for 640 children reported for a concern about an unborn child in a single jurisdiction during 2014. Data about child protection contacts included reports, investigations, substantiations and out-of-home placements for children reported prenatally. Of the 640 children, 79% reported about prenatally also had contact with child protection between birth and age two. From birth and up to age two, children reported prenatally had between zero and 21 reports. Twenty-two per cent of the children reported prenatally were removed from their birth parents and placed in out-of-home care prior to age two. These findings highlight the importance of intervening and supporting families prior to and during pregnancy to reduce harm to children and reduce the need for contact with child protection.     

A consortium approach for child and family practice education

Child and family practice and child protection are extraordinarily complex. They require in-depth understanding of intra- and inter-personal skills and intricate service systems, and capacity to operate in a constantly changing policy environment. One way of meeting the needs of such practitioners is facilitating their access to experts working across direct practice, management and leadership and policy-making contexts. This article discusses the rationale for collaboratively delivered post-qualifying courses for child and family practitioners, and discusses a highly successful example of such courses delivered through La Trobe University. It outlines the unique developmental process and model of delivery adopted by the consortium responsible for the postgraduate programme. It concludes with reference to early evaluative findings indicating it as a promising pedagogical model.     

Performance measurement in child protection

Abstract

The increasing use of performance measurement by government means that child protection services are under pressure to demonstrate effectiveness in protecting children from harm and efficiency in the use of public funds to help children and families. From a policy perspective, the way performance measurement is conceptualised and implemented can have major consequences for service delivery. This paper examines key issues raised in the literature about performance measurement, the context for its introduction in child protection, how the concepts of effectiveness and efficiency are dealt with, how client outcomes are defined, and assumptions about ‘good performance’. An overview of performance measurement in child protection in Australia is provided. The paper argues that a critical approach to performance measurement in child protection can contribute to improved service delivery to clients.     

Building community: a conceptual framework for child protection

This paper proposes a community-building framework as an innovative strategy to begin to re-claim children and families at risk. It is a strategy that identifies a purpose, a value base, knowledge and theoretical dimensions, and methods of practice that present as an approach for child welfare systems to consider shifts in thinking in order to meet what is considered the most important challenge of the next century: that of rediscovering community. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Family participation in child protection

The paper summarizes a Department of Health funded research study of the extent to which parents and children were involved in the child protection work of seven English social services departments. The child protection process and the social work practice with a cohort of 220 consecutive cases is described for the period before the initial conference and the 6 months following it. The authors draw on interview data from parents, young people and social workers and on social work records to assess whether the process and practice were participatory and the extent to which family members were actually involved in the decisions and the work. They concluded that there was benefit for parents and children in attempts to involve them, even thought only 3% of 378 family members were rated as partners in the protection process and a further 13% were rated as participating to a considerable extent. There was a statistically significant association between the participation of family members and the interim outcomes for the parents and children being rated by the researchers as good or moderately good.     

Maintaining front-line workers in child protection: a case for refocusing supervision

This paper suggests that a refocusing of supervision be seen as one possible strategy for lowering high attrition rates among child protection workers. Research findings from a qualitative study undertaken in two rural regions in the State of Victoria, Australia illustrate that the current model of supervision gives insufficient attention to the emotional intrusiveness of the work, to building resilience in workers and the implications of adult learning theory. An argument is made for a refocusing of supervision which moves beyond task, encompassing much of what is already known from the supervision literature. The supervisor can be thought of as a messenger who must send and receive messages to and from workers. What message is sent and how supervisors respond to what they receive are critical if the objective is to retain front-line staff. Critically, the supervisor must affirm both the merit and necessity of exploring the impact of feelings and thoughts on action and perception. A key message for supervisors to deliver is the value of individual workers to the organization, leading to increased self-esteem and self-efficacy. The paper also argues for adult learning via reflective supervision. This change to supervision involves a fundamental shift in organizational priorities and an acceptance throughout of the impact of anxiety on all those working in this field. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The characteristics and extent of child abuse: findings from a study of the Swedish Social Services child protection

This paper addresses child abuse and the Social Services protection and builds upon a study of verdicts concerning § 2 Care of Young Persons Act (CYPA). The aim was to explore the extent of, and what characterised, the violence the children were being subjected to. A central finding was that of all the applications of § 2 CYPA during one year concerning 196 children, 13–18 years, 70% concerned children reported as subjected to violence. The violence was in most cases described as severe and systematically exerted over many years with intimidating tactics of power and control. More girls than boys were in question for care because of violence. Girls were also to a greater extent reported as having been subjected to sexual abuse or coercive control of their sexuality in relation to standards regarding honour and virginity. In an international perspective the findings can be said to confirm the need to analyse such factors as gender, power and control when research and interventions concerns children abused by their parents. In a Swedish context the findings can be said to suggest that the § 2 CYPA is a crucial intervention to protect children from violence.     

Compassionate,safe and rigorous child protection practice with biological parents of adopted children

There is a worldwide trend towards re‐energizing the use of adoption as a tool of child protection, primarily designed to ensure that children do not languish in care. This paper poses the question: does this trend obscure the rights of relinquishing parents? By inquiring into a specific case, and reflecting on the themes surrounding this practice, the authors suggest that rigorous practice, which attends to the permanency needs of the child, is possible while simultaneously being responsive to the human rights of the biological parents. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comprehensive neighbourhood mapping: developing a powerful tool for child protection

This paper proposes ‘comprehensive neighbourhood mapping’ as a schema for gathering and interpreting information within a given geographical area which is informed by imaginative thinking about the safety of children and young people from sexual crime. It would build upon current forms of profiling by local authorities, health authorities and central Government. CNM would actively involve local people, in partnership with agencies, in ‘mapping’ danger points and support points. Eight components are discussed, including environmental issues, locations of sex offenders, sites where teenagers meet and share information, supportive individuals and organizations. Some issues for pilot projects are discussed, including the need to set up planning and implementation groups and to integrate CNM into wider child protection and community safety strategies. CNM is grounded in an ecological perspective which sees partnership approaches as essential and believes an overarching view of neighbourhood needs, based on detailed local information and understanding of how different forms of harm interconnect, is crucial in developing child protection strategies. At times of acute official anxiety about community ‘lynch‐mob’ reactions to known paedophiles, CNM aims to build communities which instead are informed and thoughtful about child protection. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dimensions for argument and variability in child protection decision-making

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to analyse the arguments presented by 181 professionals in the child protection system of the Basque Country (Spain) to justify their decisions regarding the implementation of measures related to family preservation or separation. The implementation of a case vignette demonstrated variability in professional decision-making, with 62% of professionals choosing family preservation and 38% opting for family separation. A series of argument categories which can be used by most professionals when making decisions are extracted from analysis of the content. However, in spite of using similar types of arguments, the professionals differed in the importance they attributed to such criteria and their interpretations. Differences in decision thresholds were directly related to professionals’ beliefs regarding the benefits of the interventions analysed. To reduce this variability, reflecting on these beliefs and analysing the effectiveness of interventions in child protection to incorporate evidence of professional judgement are recommended. The present study, on the one hand, identifies the argument categories used to justify decisions and, on the other, analyses the existing variability when interpreting these categories.     

Specialist assessment in child protection proceedings: problems and possible solutions

Specialist assessment is a crucial part of child protection intervention. This review considers problems surrounding the process of obtaining a specialist assessment in the child protection process, focusing especially on mental health assessment. Difficulties identified concern different professional frames of reference and agency functions, individual influences and power differentials, communication and decision-making at child protection conferences, court proceedings, ‘sensitive costs’ and resources. Particular attention is paid to difficulties associated with the multi-agency nature of the child protection process. Possible solutions are discussed under the following headings: structures and procedures, communication and role clarity, interpersonal relationships, the role of the keyworker, consultation and the responsiveness of specialists to referrer needs. A comprehensive strategy is advocated in improving the input of specialist services to child protection proceedings. This strategy should employ a combination of structural, procedural and interpersonal approaches and its effects should be thoroughly evaluated. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Clinical supervision in child protection for community nurses

Community nurses have been recognized as having a key role in the protection and care of children, particularly in relation to the identification and detection of child abuse. In order to fulfill this role in a competent manner, they need to have access to appropriate supervision. The aim of this paper is to explore community nurses' and health care managers' understanding and experience of clinical supervision in child protection. The findings presented here were collected as part of a larger study commissioned by the Greater Glasgow Primary Health Care National Health Service (NHS) Trust. Ninety‐nine nurses and nursing managers were interviewed, either individually or in groups, about their professional involvement in child protection issues and support for their involvement in child protection work, as well as their current knowledge and perceived training needs. The interview data was subjected to a thematic analysis. A lack of consensus was found among nurses and managers in Glasgow as to what constitutes clinical supervision and a good deal of variation in nurses' experiences of clinical supervision in the field of child protection. The historical difficulties with regard to supervision were attributed to several aspects of nursing culture. However, both nurses and managers emphasized the need for formal, regular, systematic supervision for all nurses regardless of their specific role with regard to child protection. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Domestic violence: a priority in child protection in New South Wales,Australia?

Over the last several years there has been increasing awareness of the connection between domestic violence and child abuse, yet only minimal attention has been paid to the implications of this for child protection practice. This article begins to address this gap. Drawing on research undertaken in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, it examines child protection practice in relation to children and young people who have been exposed to domestic violence. The research involved analysis of the responses of the statutory child protection authority in NSW (the Department of Community Services or DoCS) to abuse allegations involving domestic violence. The data are drawn from observation and analysis of the initial responses to referrals to DoCS and the ‘tracking’ of a sample of these referrals over an 18 month period. From the data obtained, it is evident that domestic violence referrals are treated less seriously than other referrals, with more being confirmed as abuse but fewer resulting in follow up or intervention. The implications of this for child protection practice are teased out. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's nurses' experiences of child protection: what helps?

This paper reports on one area of findings of a study undertaken in the spring of 2008 at a district general hospital in the south of England. Individual semi‐structured interviews using an interpretive phenomenological approach were undertaken with 15 nurses and midwives working in paediatrics who had been involved in child protection cases. The aim was to explore their views and feelings of the experience. Very little research was found to inform this subject and none specifically with nurses working with sick children. Interviews were taped, transcribed and analysed thematically. It was discovered that involvement in child protection has a lasting impact on individuals; nurses need procedural information from a knowledgeable supporter during a case; and they need support from the right person in the right place at the right time for them. The Named Nurse was identified as being crucial in giving effective support to individuals during child protection cases and trusted advice and support helps staff follow through on niggling concerns, potentially preventing abuse. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Baby K's unlawful removal: practice issues in the emergency protection of children

This paper addresses the legal and practice issues raised by a particular case in the UK. In January 2008, less than three hours after his birth, Baby K was removed from his mother's care by hospital staff and placed in a separate ward. At a High Court hearing later that morning, it was ruled that the removal of Baby K was unlawful. Important practice issues are raised by this ruling. After setting out the circumstances under which Baby K was removed from his mother, this paper considers a number of issues raised by the case: (i) what constitutes lawful removal under domestic law; (ii) European jurisprudence and domestic law in relation to emergency removal at birth; (iii) parental consent to removal; (iv) professionals' liability for breaches of human rights; and (v) the role of child protection plans in safeguarding children. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Child abuse,child protection and disabled children: a review of recent research

This paper reports the results of a scoping study that reviewed research about child abuse, child protection and disabled children published in academic journals between 1996 and 2009. The review was conducted using a five stage method for scoping studies. Several studies have revealed a strong association between disability and child maltreatment, indicating that disabled children are significantly more likely to experience abuse than their non‐disabled peers. Those with particular impairments are at increased risk. There is evidence that the interaction of age, gender and/or socio‐cultural factors with impairment results in different patterns of abuse to those found among non‐disabled children although the reasons for this require further examination. It appears that therapeutic services and criminal justice systems often fail to take account of disabled children's needs and heightened vulnerability. In Britain, little is known about what happens to disabled children who have been abused and how well safeguarding services address their needs. Very few studies have sought disabled children's own accounts of abuse or safeguarding. Considerable development is required, at both policy and practice level, to ensure that disabled children's right to protection is upheld. The paper concludes by identifying a number of aspects of the topic requiring further investigation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.