AN INTRODUCTION TO CHILD ABUSE AND CHILD PROTECTION

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AN INTRODUCTION TO CHILD ABUSE AND CHILD
PROTECTION

• Michelle Lefevre
• Lecture to Psychology Undergraduates
• 18.10.04

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Basic principles - Children Act 1989

• Children have the right to protection from
  neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse
• Welfare of the child is paramount consideration
• Childrens views, wishes and feelings must be
  listened to and taken seriously
• The responsibility for child protection belongs
  to everyone but investigation by police/SSD

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Level of need/risk

• Vulnerable children - disadvantaged, risk of
  social exclusion, could fail in education system
• Children in Need - wont achieve/maintain
  satisfactory level without services requires
  assessment. All disabled children, looked after
  children and children on CPR.
• Children at risk of signficant harm - maltreatment

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Child Protection

• Balancing speed and decisiveness with careful not
  precipitate action
• Damned if you do/damned if you dont
• Child protection process is an interagency and
  multi-professional responsibility -Working
  Together to Safeguard Children 1999 issues of
  confidentiality
• Child Abuse Inquiries lead to policy
  developments, e.g. Maria Colwell, Cleveland

5
Death of Victoria Climbie Feb 2000

• Laming Inquiry report 28.1.03
• Gross failure of the system 1.17
• Widespread organisational malaise 1.21
• low priority to child protection 1.18
• basic tasks done poorly by hapless and
  inexperienced staff in all agencies 1.23
• sloppy and unprofessional performance 1.17
• role confusion, inadequate info collection

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Recent Policy Developments

• Safeguarding Children October 2002
• Every Child Matters Sept 2003 - improved
  outcomes for all children, Minister for Children
• Every Child Matters Next Steps Feb 2004
• Children Bill
• Safeguarding Children Boards
• register/tracking IRT
• Childrens Commissioner

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Death of Holly and Jessica

• Bichard Inquiry
• flawed IT
• attitudes to USI
• inadequate info sharing
• Recommended
• Better training and vetting
• Guidance on info sharing and notifications
• Outcomes
• Central register for work with children, code of
  practice
• National Police Intelligence Computer System

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What is child abuse?

• Reasonable cause to suspect that a child (under
  18) is suffering or is likely to suffer
  significant harm
• attributable to the care given which is not what
  we would expect a parent reasonably to give, e.g.
  ill-treatment
• affecting/impairing physical, intellectual,
  emotional, social, behavioural development
• Social construction requires contextualising

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Dynamics of harm

• chronic (impact over protracted period, e.g. high
  criticism/low warmth) or acute (e.g. single
  severe event)
• premeditation, threat, coercion, sadism, bizarre
• context - i.e. meaning to the child of this event
  by this carer
• particular vulnerability of the child (e.g.
  disability, language, racism)

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Types of abuse/harm

• physical
• sexual
• emotional/psychological
• neglect
• What is the risk of this occuring again?
• More important than what has occurred?
• Impact on the child

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Physical Abuse Definitions

• An injury which leaves a mark
• Could be deliberate or unpremeditated
• Sadistic or end of tether
• over-chastisement?
• frequency, severity, acute, chronic
• explanation does not fit injury
• child prevented from telling
• inconsistent/incoherent stories

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Physical Abuse Signs

• What to look out for
• Bruising - Position and type (e.g. fingertip)
• Weals
• black eye, partic 2
• burns, scalds
• bites
• unusual (e.g. tears to ears)

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Emotional Abuse Definitions

• Persistent or severe emotional ill-treatment or
  rejection
• Acts of omission and comission
• by someone who has power over child
• and makes them vulnerable
• damages way child thinks, feels, behaves or
  physically is
• pervasiseveness, persistence, inflexibility of
  carers behaviour

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Emotional AbuseActions of Parents/Carers

• withholding of affection
• criticism, berating
• verbal abuse, terrorising, scapegoating
• using child for own needs
• rejection or threat of rejection
• inconsistent or unrealistic expectations
• isolating, exploiting, mis-socialising

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Emotional Abuse - Signs in the child

• over anxious, frozen watchfulness
• poor/insecure attachment
• avoiding relationships (eg friendless)
• clinging to relationships (demanding, clingy,
  over-sensitive to others)
• internalising (e.g. withdrawn, apathetic, poor
  dev)
• externalising (e.g. aggression, naughty)
• somatic (e.g. stomach ache, bedwetting)

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Neglect Definitions

• Failure to meet childs basic essential needs for
  care, shelter, safety, attention, control
• by omitting basic parenting tasks and
  responsibilities
• despite having the economic resources to meet
  these needs at a basic level
• Chronicity and severity - negative incidents
  accumulate as if to remind a child that he or she
  is unloved

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Neglect - What you may observe

• hunger, poor growth, stealing food
• dirty, smelly - shunned by peers
• chronic lice or skin infestations
• repeated stomach upsets
• recurrent coughs/colds
• dry, patchy, pale skin, pallor
• vulnerability, poor self-esteem
• poor performance
• Drug misuse

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Particular Vulnerabilities

• Particular impact of parental mental illness,
  substance misuse and domestic violence
• Meaning of the child - particular vulnerability
• Disabled children, different language
• What mitigates against disclosure? e.g. racism

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Sexual Abuse - Defintions

• Cannot understand implications, dev. immature, no
  informed consent
• Dependence - abuse of power, pressure to comply
• May violate social taboos of family roles
• Coercion into sexual complicance via grooming
• Sexual arousal of perpetrator

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Sexual abuse - Physical Signs

• Genital trauma, itching, soreness
• difficulty in walking or sitting
• unusual bruising or bites (e.g. to breats,
  buttocks, inner thigh, forearms, mouth)
• pelvic or abdominal pain
• recurrent infections (eg UTI, cystitis, warts)
• pregnancy

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Sexual Abuse - Behavioural Signs

• Precocious or promiscuous sexual behaviour (incl
  prostitution)
• Oversensitivity about/avoidance of sexual matters
• internalising, externalising, somatic
• suicide attempts and self-harm
• substance misuse
• PTSD, depression, anxiety, social phobia

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Bibliography

• Beckett, C. (2003) Child Protection An
  Introduction. London Sage.
• Cleaver, H., Unell, I. and Aldgate, J (1999)
  Childrens Needs Parenting Capacity The impact
  of parental mental illness, problem alcohol and
  drug use and domestic violence on childrens
  development. London The Stationery Office.
• Dale, P. (2004). Like a Fish in a Bowl
  Parents Perceptions of Child Protection
  Services. Child Abuse Review, 13, 2,
• Department of Health (1995) Child Protection
  Messages from Research, London HMSO.

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Bibliography (2)

• Department of Health (1999) Working Together to
  Safeguard Children A guide to inter-agency
  working to safeguard and promote the welfare of
  children. London The Stationery Office.
• Iwaniec, D. (1995) The Emotionally Abused and
  Neglected Child Identification, Assessment and
  Intervention. Wiley.
• MacDonald, G. (2000) Effective Interventions for
  Child Abuse and Neglect An Evidence Based
  Approach to Evaluating and Planning
  Interventions. Chichester Wiley.
• Reder, P, Duncan, S and Grey, (1993) M. Beyond
  Blame Child Abuse Tragedies Revisited. London,
  Routledge.
• Teachernet - Government website which has a
  section on child protection guidance with many
  useful links http//www.teachernet.gov.uk/