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Child Protection System (child + protection_system)
Selected AbstractsBUILDING A MULTIDISCIPLINARY, COLLABORATIVE CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEMFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 4 2003The Challenge to Law Schools The process of preparing lawyers and other professionals to work for the benefit of troubled children requires an understanding of concepts that extend far beyond the traditional course structure currently employed in American law schools. It is clear that mental health problems of children and families, compounded by substance abuse, influence behavior, resulting in children entering family and juvenile courts as victims of abuse or neglect and committing criminal acts. It is incumbent on law schools to incorporate training in fields far different from the traditional didactic experience in legal curricula if they are to address the current needs of children and familes who are ensnared in the nation's juvenile justice system. The beginning point of this process is within the legal training apparatus of America. Law schools must expand their curriculum to incorporate other disciplines to produce an advocate capable of serving the interest of children and society. [source] REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF CONSENSUS-BASED DECISION MAKING IN CHILD WELFAREFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 1 2009Bernie Mayer Consensus approaches to child protection decision making such as mediation and family group conferencing have become increasingly widespread since first initiated about 25 years ago. They address but are also constrained by paradoxes in the child protection system about commitments to protecting children and to family autonomy. In a series of surveys, interviews, and dialogues, mediation and conferencing researchers and practitioners discussed the key issues that face their work: clarity about purpose, system support, family empowerment, professional qualifications, and coordination among different types of consensus-building efforts. Consensus-based decision making in child protection will continue to expand and grow but will also continue to confront these challenges. [source] Co-creating change within a child protection system: integrating art therapy with family therapy practiceJOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2003Hilary Manicom This paper considers family art therapy intervention using a partnership developed between an art therapist and a family therapist within a child protection system. The aim of this co-working relationship is to bring together skills that can amplify the child's voice within the family, using art as a means of extending the family story. The use of metaphor adds to the repertoire of skills available when working with families, and offers a particular form of communication in which children can more easily engage. By co-working, we also bring together our personal and professional stories, creating multiple ideas and ways of seeing and taking account of differences in the life experiences of individual families. [source] Child protection: crisis management or learning curve?PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH, Issue 4 2008Ruth Gardner As the media portrays England's child protection system as being in dire straits, Ruth Gardner and Marian Brandon state the case for concentrating resources on improving the amount and quality of contact that professionals have with children and their parents [source] Effective casework practice with adolescents: perspectives of statutory child protection practitionersCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2010Virginia Schmied ABSTRACT Many child protection practitioners struggle with the complexity of problems and the limited casework time for adolescent cases. However, there is little research on child protection practice or case management that can guide a practitioner working with adolescents in the child protection system. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the nature of effective child protection practice with adolescents from the perspective of statutory child protection practitioners in one state in Australia. Data were collected through focus group discussions and interviews with child protection practitioners and managers currently working with adolescents (n= 44). A grounded theory approach was used to identify the dominant themes or categories and form linkages and relationships through constant comparison techniques. Seven key categories emerged from this analysis: characteristics of the young person and their family; ,walking it together', the centrality of relationships; ,looking back/looking forward', practice strategies; practitioner attributes and skills; ,walking a fine line', working with the families of adolescents; ,walking with services', effective inter-agency work; and organizational context in effective child protection practice with adolescents. Key implications for practice and areas for further research were discussed. [source] Imaging the future: theatre and change within the child protection systemCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2000Spratt The use of social pedagogy as a paradigm for critically appraising developments within child and family social work has been largely neglected. This paper outlines the work of Augusto Boal and his adoption of social pedagogy as a method for empowering oppres-sed social groups in Brazil. It is argued that Boal's approach can be adapted by using action research techniques to analyse and effect change in situations where child care professionals face daily contradictions in their attempts to both protect children and support families. To demonstrate its relevance to child care practice, a description is provided of how the approach was used with two groups of social work students , one undertaking qualifying training, the other post-qualifying training. The results of this application suggest a new theoretical framework for practice which aims to establish communicative consensus around the needs of children and a mutual appreciation of roles and responsibilities. [source] Cleveland 20 years on: what have we learned about intervening in child sexual abuse?CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 4 2008Heather Bacon Abstract This is the first of two linked papers. It examines the main changes in approach to child sexual abuse that have occurred since the events in Cleveland 20 years ago. Comparison between estimated prevalence rates and registrations for sexual abuse suggests that we are aware of only the tip of the iceberg. It is argued that in many cases uncertainty may have to be accepted, and that protection may be better achieved through a protective parent than through the child protection system. Clinical examples of cases presenting to a specialist child and adolescent mental health service are given. It is argued that, although society is now more willing to recognise the existence of child sexual abuse and professionals are better at dealing with families, outcomes for this group of children are not much improved. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Reflections on training in child abuse and neglect prevention: Experiences in BrazilCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 6 2007Victoria Gabrielle Lidchi Abstract In cooperation with an international partner, Brazilian professionals based in Rio de Janeiro designed a training programme in child protection to respond to the particular challenges to effective practice posed by the local environment and to address obstacles to its achievement in the existing child protection system. Training participants used a structured process to identify and address such external challenges and internal obstacles. The use of the framework included an exploration of beliefs held by Brazilian child protection professionals. The training was itself envisaged as an intervention opportunity for participants to promote ,bottom up' processes of local systemic change. The programme aimed to provide training that accessed the experience of the international partner's ,community of expertise', but mitigated the risk to effectiveness of a ,transplant' programme that fails to engage with the surrounding social reality and culture. As part of a nine-country international training project initiative (ITPI, International Training Project Initiative by ISPCAN) sponsored by the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), standardised tools were adopted to monitor and evaluate the training process. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] ,From awareness to practice': children, domestic violence, and child welfareCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 4 2006Mark Rivett Abstract This paper traces the development of social care practice in relation to child witnesses of domestic violence. It suggests that this development has been dominated by subsuming the needs of these children into a child protection process. The paper outlines how this has led to significant (but often unclear) legal and policy initiatives which have failed, as yet, to be translated into practice. The paper argues that there are a number of important reasons why child witnesses of domestic violence should not always be assumed to need the response of a child protection system and that a future practice, legal and policy response should be based on a wider understanding of their needs. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Child protection at the community levelCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 6 2004Gordon Jack Abstract In the UK, individual and family-level interpretations of child protection have historically taken precedence over community-level interpretations, despite repeated attempts to balance these two approaches. With the publication of the Green Paper Every Child Matters (Department for Education and Skills, 2003) and the development of Children's Trusts, there is yet another opportunity to ensure that the community-level aspect of child protection is properly recognized and resourced. This is particularly important within the UK because of the large structural inequalities that exist in the distribution of income and other resources and services. As a result of the very close associations between these inequalities and health and welfare outcomes, large numbers of children are adversely affected in ways that are generally unrecognized by the present child protection system. Evidence about the role of parents' social support networks and the social capital of communities in promoting children's welfare and protecting them from signi,cant harm is considered. The potential of strategies designed to strengthen the capacity of disadvantaged families and communities to provide positive environments for children is also reviewed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Why a universal population-level approach to the prevention of child abuse is essentialCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 3 2003Matthew R. Sanders Abstract This paper argues for the importance of adopting a population-level approach to promote more effective parenting and to reduce the risk of child maltreatment. Family-based interventions based on social learning principles have been shown to make a useful contribution in the treatment of child maltreatment. However, typically such programmes have been used to treat parents who have already become involved in the child protection system. We argue that the creation of community-wide support structures to support positive parenting is needed to reduce the prevalence of child maltreatment. Such an approach requires several criteria to be met. These include having knowledge about the prevalence rates for the targeted child outcomes sought, knowledge about the prevalence of various parenting and family risk factors, evidence that changing family risk factors reduces the prevalence of targeted problems, having culturally appropriate, cost-effective, evidence-based interventions available and making these widely accessible. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The strategic leadership of complex practice: opportunities and challengesCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 5 2010Tony Morrison Abstract This paper addresses the issue of how strategic-level partnerships, such as Local Safeguarding Children Boards, know about and learn from practice. The death of Baby Peter in Haringey exposed the dangers of reliance on numerical performance data alone to inform leaders about the true state of practice. The drivers for, and impact of, regulatory, media and political pressures on front-line practice and partnership behaviour are discussed with reference to the rise of organisational risk management and ,rule-based' responses (Munro, 2009). These are exacerbated by an overload of negative data about child protection systems which results in contagious ,attention cascades' which lead to over-simplification of complex issues and the rush to quick-fix solutions. This results in compliance-based responses designed to avoid ,blame', based on individualistic analyses of complex situations. Under these conditions, ,learning', such as from serious case reviews, can become regressive (how to avoid future culpability) rather than progressive (how to improve knowledge skills and practice). It is argued that understanding and improving practice require strategic partnerships to have engaged with front-line staff in order to access practice narratives as well as performance numbers, and to achieve an accurate and systemic analysis of the state of practice and how it can be improved. This calls for collective forms of knowing and reflecting and the paper concludes by describing examples. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Context and its significance in identifying ,what works' in child protectionCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 3 2005Adrian Barton Abstract The repetitive nature of the underlying problems with child protection systems identified by many inquiries into child deaths suggests that the ability to transpose successful strategies from one area to another may be contingent on more than a ,technical' approach to best practice. Current policy responses to failing child protection systems are arguably based on an assumption that practices that work in one area may be applied in other areas without reference to the existing base for practice. Drawing on our own experiences in the field, we attempt to explore some methodological issues relevant to the evaluation of service provision and the dissemination of effective practice in interagency working. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||