The impacts of accessible child protection services on services, jobs, and families

This multi-faceted study assessed the differences between accessible and central child protection service delivery sites in Ontario on: (1) family functioning; (2) front-line child protection service providers' satisfaction with services; (3) parents' satisfaction with services; (4) the services and supports available to families; (5) front-line service job satisfaction; and (6) front-line helping relationships in child welfare. A quasi-experimental outcome design gathered data from parents at case-opening and approximately 10 months later. Semi-structured individual or group qualitative interviews were conducted with parents, front-line service providers, and supervisors/managers. Information also was gathered from agency files. Front-line service providers completed an employment questionnaire. Findings indicated that the accessible sites were able to foster a greater proportion of cooperative helping relationships with families and to create more service partnerships. Parents at the accessible sites were more positive about their service involvements and more willing to ask for help again in the future. Front-line child protection service providers at both service delivery models described positive aspects of their jobs as well as frustrations with the expectations of the formal child protection system.     

Reframing child protection: A response to a constant crisis of confidence in child protection

Child protection systems appear to be in a continual crisis of confidence. They get criticised for not doing enough to protect some children, whilst at the same time being criticised for being too intrusive or not managing demand. This constant balancing act drives almost continual reforms, none of which appear to reduce further crises of confidence. The central issue facing tertiary child protection systems stems from their function as makers of sometimes highly uncertain risk screening decisions. Uncertainty leads to errors; false positives and false negatives. Two recurring issues challenging child protection agencies are concerns about these errors. Fears about doing too much are concerns about false positives and fears of doing too little are concerns about false negatives. The need to address both issues within the context of uncertain high stakes decision making, in a highly risk intolerant environment leads to poorly formed sentinel event driven policy that in turn leads to organisational fragility. A decision outcome-based performance model based on Signal Detection Theory provides indicators that explicitly outline the link between these two strategic issues facing child protection systems. This has improved dialogue, understanding and support from sponsors. It has led an informed focus on improving decision making and stabilisation of decision thresholds. It demonstrates that Child protection systems are in fact very responsive and do perform well in their decision making (risk screening) function. Social work decision makers provide value in their decision making in spite of highly uncertain decisions to make. Child protection systems do not need reform, they need to be “reframed” to better understand true performance and so avoid poorly informed reactive policy responses to the genuine challenges that they face.     

Social work with violent men: a child protection file study in an English local authority

This paper reports on a study of 40 child protection case files that were open in an English local authority in 2007. The study aimed to explore continuities and change in the engagement of men in the child protection system in England. The files recorded that 63 men were involved in the lives of the 71 children who were the focus of the child protection concerns. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the minutes of the initial child protection meeting, strategy meetings, professional reports and the first review meeting. The study found high levels of violence in the cases and domestic violence was the most common reason for convening an initial child protection meeting. In common with earlier studies, men were found to be much less engaged in the child protection process than women, domestic violence was underplayed and little attention was paid to men's practical caring skills. Possibly as a result of changes to definitions of child abuse in recent years, this study also found that domestic violence may be used as a lever to initiate child protection processes where there are other concerns and that much more attention was paid to the likely emotional and physical impact of violence on children than on women. It was also found that violent men in this small sample were more likely to be engaged by professionals than men about whom there was no record of violence. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How early is early intervention and who should get it? Contested meanings in determining thresholds for intervention

The latest wave of reforms of the child protection system in Australia have been based on attempts to provide support to all families with vulnerable children, rather than increasing surveillance of ‘at risk’ families and forensic responses to incidents of maltreatment. This includes a drive to widen the remit of child protection from the statutory child protection agency and involve other government agencies such as health and education as well as the non-government sector in child protection. This paper reports on the effects of one such reform, the NSW initiative Keep Them Safe. It focuses on the classification of families as needing either early intervention or intensive support, using thematic analysis of qualitative interview data.MethodInterviews and focus groups were conducted with practitioners and managers from human service agencies (total n = 115), and discussed their perceptions of the initiative and the changes it had introduced to service delivery.FindingsPractitioners discussed family needs in ways which contested the policy meanings of ‘early intervention’: whether families are conceptualised in terms of their needs or risk; whether engagement with services should be voluntary or mandated; and whether the agencies to support them should be the statutory agency or an NGO. The implications for these tensions, in terms of policy and practice, are discussed.     

Parental Imprisonment and Child Protection: A Study of Children Presented to the Melbourne Children's Court

Abstract

This paper reports on a study funded by the Criminology Research Council, Australia, which set out to investigate the intersection between the child protection and criminal justice systems and the extent to which children before the Melbourne Children's Court on child protection matters had a parent currently in prison, awaiting sentencing, or previously in prison. Magistrates identified 156 children as meeting these criteria during the study period June to December, 2006. Analysis of court records gathered quantitative and qualitative data about parents' offending, why the children had been brought to the attention of the court, and the health, welfare, and behavioural concerns the child protection service expressed about the children. There was no coordinated response by the child protection and justice systems to managing these children's situations. Early intervention and the development of child protection service protocols with the corrections system for children whose parents enter prison is essential, to better address the instability and disruption in care these children experience.     

Prevalence,people and processes: a consideration of the implications of Lord Laming's progress report on the protection of children in England

Media coverage of the death of Baby P revived national concerns about the standard of child safeguarding practice in England following the implementation of widespread structural changes in response to the Victoria Climbié Inquiry chaired by Lord Laming in 2003. This paper discusses the recommendations of Lord Laming's recent Progress Report. It questions whether the scale of the challenge in improving child protection is fully recognised and considers briefly the culture of social care in the UK and the barriers to effective reform. Copyright © 2009 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.     

Looking at engagement and outcome from the perspectives of child protection workers and parents

This paper reports a study that sought to understand what facilitates engagement between parents and child protection workers and to ascertain the relationship between such engagement and intervention outcome. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through personal interviews with 131 worker-parent dyads (workers and corresponding parents receiving service) from 11 child protection agencies in Ontario, Canada. Measures included scales for engagement, parental well-being (depression and stress), and worker well-being (burnout, job satisfaction, stress). Outcome measures included perception of child safety, changed parenting practices and satisfaction. A relationship was found between workers' perception of parent engagement and parents' perception of their own engagement, as well as between the perceptions that workers and parents had around their own respective engagement. Workers who were satisfied with service outcomes were significantly more engaged than those who were unsatisfied. Parents thinking that their children were safer as a result of intervention were significantly more engaged than parents who thought that their children were less safe. The strongest reason given by parents for positive change was being able to trust their worker (p < .001) and believing that their worker was knowledgeable about parenting (p < .01). Qualitative data suggested that parents valued experienced workers because they thought such workers could better understand their problems and how to deal with them. Correspondingly, workers felt that experience enabled them to better understand clients' problems and provide more effective support. No relationship was found between parent engagement and parental depression or stress, but the mean depression score for parents placed them at risk of clinical depression. There was a negative correlation between worker stress and engagement. The study demonstrates that engagement between clients and workers is related to positive outcomes (as reported by workers and parents) and supports the contention that promoting engagement is integral to a successful child protection intervention.     

Domestic violence and child protection: issues in safety planning

There is strong evidence for the link between domestic violence and child abuse. Agencies' policies regarding domestic violence and child protection are critical in determining the dimensions of practitioner intervention, including safety planning for women and children. This paper explores the issues identified in research around safety planning where there are domestic violence and child protection concerns which was conducted with practitioners in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 2001. In particular, the paper focuses on three of the factors that influence practitioner intervention with women and children. These are: definitional understandings of domestic violence and child abuse; child protection legislative changes, including mandatory reporting and domestic violence as a child‐at‐risk category; and the NSW child protection statutory authority's response to domestic violence. The interplay between these factors results in complexities of practice for practitioners as they attempt to maximize women's strengths and minimize risks to children's safety. The resultant inconsistent response to domestic violence and child protection by government and non‐ government agencies suggests the need for domestic violence interagency guidelines. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What's in a name? named doctor in child protection—interpretation and implementation of the role

Child protection issues are reported in the media with uncomfortable regularity, highlighting that all paediatricians need to be competent in dealing with cases of child abuse. The named doctor in child protection was introduced to improve this, but implementation of the role has varied widely. This paper describes how the role of the named doctor in child protection has been put into practice in Nottingham City Hospital and discusses some of the challenges that can arise. The importance of training and audit in maintaining the quality of service for the trust is emphasized and developments for the future and important avenues for research are suggested. We have shown that with three designated sessions in a large district general hospital (without an accident and emergency department), the named doctor can combine with the named nurse to increase the awareness and effectiveness of child protection in all parts of the hospital. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Power and Child Protection: The Need for a Child Welfare Service Users' Union or Association

Abstract

This paper reports a study in which parents who had received child protection intervention set out to develop a “Service Users' Guide” to help parents newly receiving intervention better understand and cope with the process. The study took place in Ontario, Canada between 2004–2009. Ninety-five parents took part in 13 focus groups and 20 individual interviews. A mix of Participatory Action and grounded theory methods were used to enable parents to develop their service uses guide. As the study progressed it quickly became evident that the biggest issue parents face when receiving intervention is an imbalance in power between themselves and workers. This paper describes the problems this power imbalance causes for parents and presents a potential solution suggested by parents themselves – the development of a child welfare service users' association or union. Parent's ideas about why this association is needed, how it could function, and the benefits it might bring, are discussed. The paper concludes by reviewing the benefits a service users' association might bring not only for those receiving child welfare intervention, but all social work services.     

On the Front Lines: The Voices and Experiences of Racialized Child Welfare Workers in Toronto,Canada

Drawing on focus group data highlighting the perceptions and experiences of racialized child protection workers in the Greater Toronto Area, this article explores the ways in which race operates in the Ontario child welfare system. Most study participants experienced the agencies in which they worked as White-normed environments characterized by systemic racial discrimination in promotion and advancement as well as ongoing instances of racial microaggression—common, everyday practices that denigrate people of color. Several participants spoke of having to contend with White-normed and middle-class-oriented policies, tools, and practices that often prevented them from meeting the unique needs of racialized service users. The article concludes with participants' recommendations for creating a more equitable child welfare system.     

Impact of the Indian Ocean Tsunami on the Well-Being of Children

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the plight of the “tsunami generation” detailing the social and physical conditions after the disaster. Children are most vulnerable and need protection and clear and sustained support for rehabilitation. The social psychological recovery and protection of children are key concerns of child welfare and internal social service organisations. Policy and programmes should build on the people's resilience and provide the psychosocial and community support.     

‘Like a fish in a bowl’: parents' perceptions of child protection services

This research involved a small qualitative study focused on family experiences of child protection practice, commissioned as part of a Best Value review of child protection services in a large rural Midlands local authority. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 18 families who had received child protection services. Findings were mixed in relation to perceived helpfulness of the processes of child protection interventions, with 50% of families reporting some positive bene?t and 22% reporting that such interventions had caused them harm. From the families' perspectives, factors that are associated with positive and negative outcomes are outlined. These include the availability of preventive services, crisis support, respite care, actual provision of services speci?ed in protection plans and an engaging style of practitioners. Conclusions emphasize the value of research focused on family perceptions of services as an important contribution to quality control and service development in child protection service provision. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Less effort in worsening child protection cases? The time-course of intensity of services

The need to intervene in a worsening child protection case may interfere with the involved professionals' expectancies of controlling the outcome. However, empirical data on intensity of services in child protection are scarce. To fill this gap, the present study analyzed a sample of Swiss child protection case files opened between 1993 and 2002. Intensity of services in worsening cases was compared to intensity of services in cases where child or family functioning improved. As hypothesized, the intensity of services in worsening cases declined over time and was significantly below the intensity level in improved cases. Unexpectedly, the intensity of services was already lower at the beginning of service provision in cases later classified as “worsening.” The alarming finding could both be associated with an instance of self-fulfilling prophecy or with the effects of “creaming”.     

Impact of the Indian ocean tsunami on the well-being of children

This article provides an overview of the plight of the "tsunami generation" detailing the social and physical conditions after the disaster. Children are most vulnerable and need protection and clear and sustained support for rehabilitation. The social psychological recovery and protection of children are key concerns of child welfare and internal social service organisations. Policy and programmes should build on the people's resilience and provide the psychosocial and community support.     

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.     

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.     

The child in family services: expanding child abuse prevention

Child welfare concerns have drifted to an inappropriate focus on crisis intervention and a punitive approach to child protection intervention at the expense of community-based preventive child welfare programs. Recent attempts to divert cases from the child protection system through differentiated response mechanisms have been criticised for failing to provide access to relevant services or preventing vulnerable families from re-entering the child protection process. A tension inherent in providing both child protection and family support within the one agency is also identified as a barrier to effective service delivery. This paper discusses the value of the UK Children in Need approach as a model for enhancing support to children and families outside the statutory child protection system. Information from an evaluation of a trial implementation of the UK Children in Need approach in Victoria is used to discuss the implications for policy and practice of placing responsibility for coordinating a response based on the needs of children and their families within family support services.     

Inadequate housing and the child protection system response

Involvement with child protective services (CPS) is common among families experiencing inadequate housing conditions. As with other issues of material deprivation, inadequate housing is an area where the distinction between neglect and poverty is difficult to ascertain, and the response of the child protection system to inadequately-housed families is largely understudied. This study uses a nationally representative sample of child protection investigations to explore the associations between two types of inadequate housing—doubling up and experiences of homelessness—and system outcomes. Specially, we identify that, after accounting for other risk factors, inadequate housing is significantly associated with the receipt of services, but not directly associated with either substantiation or case closure. Moreover, housing concerns may have a different association with case outcomes when interacted with other risk factors, specifically mental health and substance abuse, and domestic violence. Overall, results suggest that, while child protection workers do not view inadequate housing as neglect in and of itself, they do identify housing issues as a service need.