The Potential of Telephone Helplines to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect

1
The Potential of Telephone Helplines to Prevent
Child Abuse and Neglect

• Professor Kevin Browne
• Director of the Centre for Forensic and Family
  Psychology University of Birmingham (UK) and
  Consultant to World Health Organisation Regional
  Office for Europe

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Advantages of Telephone Helplines

• Service to the Community that gives personal
  support (at a distance) to those who have usually
  failed to secure help from elsewhere.
• Used to deal with sensitive/taboo topics of vital
  importance to the people that seek help.
• Enhances public awareness and professional
  concern to problems such as the sexual abuse of
  young people.
• Gives an idea of prevalence

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To What Extent Can Telephone Helplines

• Contribute to the prevention of child abuse and
  neglect ?
• Help identify potential or actual cases of child
  abuse and neglect for intervention to take place?

4
Incidence of Child Abuse and Neglect and helpline
calls from children

• 70 of children on the child protection register
  are under 10 years of age.
• Only 6 to 10 of calls to telephone helplines
  are from children less than 10 years old.
• 66 of children counselled for abuse over the
  telephone have suffered for more than one year.
• Potential of telephone helplines for children to
  prevent child abuse and neglect is limited.

5
Rates and Percentages of Child abuse and Neglect
in England by Age of Child (Dept. of Health, 2003)
25,780 children on Child Protection Register at
31/3/02
6
Type of Maltreatment by Age of Child(Department
of Health, 2003)
No significant difference in No. of Male and
Female victims
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Type of Maltreatment by Percent of Children on
Child Protection Registers (CPRs) and Calls to a
Telephone Helpline for Children
8
Gender and Type of Caller to Telephone Helplines
for Children
Data from Childline,UK May 1987 (Browne
Griffiths,1988)
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Type of Calls to Telephone Helplines for Children
Data from Childline,UK May 1987 (Browne
Griffiths,1988)
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Intervention Possibilities ?

• Only a minority of callers give their correct
  names and address details.
• Number of referrals to health and social services
  is less than 2 of calls.
• Limited number of cases of child abuse and
  neglect identified for intervention to take place?

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Key Components of Child Protection Systems
Awareness/ Knowledge
Services
Legal System
Data
Education
Report/ Investigation Services
Courts
Enforcement/ police
Protection/ Placements
Prevention Services
Media
Advocacy
CAN Laws
Tertiary Treatment
_Primary_
Shelters_ _Foster Care_ Group Homes __Adoption_ _I
nstitutions
______Custody Laws___ ____Reporting
Laws____ Mandatory services(system)
Secondary
_Victims Offenders __
12
Recognised Risk Factors for Abusing Parents by UK
Police

• Five most common risk factors found in police
  Child Protection Unit reports involving 255
  children
• Spouse Abuse 46
• Criminal Behaviour 42
• Alcohol Abuse 27
• Mental Health Problems 19
• Learning Difficulties 17
• from Browne and Hamilton (1999) Child
  Maltreatment 4(2)136-147.

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Types of UK Police Response Child
Spouse

• No Concern/Accident 19 3
• No Further Action 64 72
• Arrested/Pending 4 16
• Caution/Charged 13 8
  
• No. of Cases (100) N 400 118
• Prior Referral 27
  47
• Offender Known to Police 30 27
• from Browne and Hamilton (1999) Child
  Maltreatment 4(2)136-147.

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Public Health Approach to prevent child abuse and
neglect

• Assessment of childrens developmental needs in
  general.
• Parents capacity to respond appropriately to
  their childs needs.
• Impact of wider family and environmental factors.
• Child protection integrated within Health and
  Social Services to families.
• Child Abuse and Neglect considered within the
  broader context of mother and child health,
  family and community welfare.

CHD
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LEVELS OF PREVENTION

• Primary Prevention with Universal Services
  offered to the whole population on a routine
  basis -peri-natal care, promotion of good feeding
  practices, immunisation, safety measures.
• Secondary Prevention with Targeted Services
  directed at high risk groups and offered
  intervention before health and developmental
  problems in the child become severe.
• Tertiary Prevention with Specialist Services
  for treatment of families where
  parents/caregivers are failing to care for the
  child. Intervention is offered only after
  significant harm has occurred.

CHD
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The Build up of Health Services that Children and
their Families Receive
Hospital Teams
Specialist Services - 1/10 of targeted families
Targeted Services - 7 of population
Universal Services
To all
Primary Care Teams
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Cycle of Violence (Adapted from Patterson et al,
1989)
Early childhood
Middle childhood
Late childhood and adolescence
Rejection by normal peers
Child conduct problems
Poor parental discipline and violence
Commitment to deviant peer group
Delinquency and crime
Academic failure
Teenage pregnancy/problem parenthood
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WHO Core Training on Prevention of Child Abuse
and Neglect

• Objectives of the public health approach to safe
  childhood
• Definition and extent of the problem
• Current situation in the country
• Universal prevention services
• Targeted prevention services
• Specialized assessment and treatment services -
  Interventions
• Legal aspects and working together to promote
  safe childhood
• Recommendations for change