The Association of Child Protection Professionals: 3 months’ free membership

I have had a lot of discussions recently with professionals worried about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and consequent lockdown on children. It seems there are some real risks presented by the increased stresses and the enforced social isolation. Meanwhile, social workers, health professionals, police officers and teachers are all working really hard to try and support vulnerable children and families in really challenging circumstances.

So it is exciting that the Association of Child Protection Professionals is now offering 3 months’ free membership. By joining the Association you will be part of a network of practitioners and academics working to protect children and prevent the damaging effects of child abuse and neglect.

Over the years that I’ve been working in child protection, I’ve found the support of the Association to be really invaluable. And right now, they are delivering a great programme of podcasts, special interest groups, regular news and updates. And free access to the journal, Child Abuse Review, including a forthcoming special issue on abusive head trauma with a virtual conference on the 5th August.

Membership is open to practitioners and academics from all agencies and the voluntary sector, both in the UK and internationally.

If you are working in any way with vulnerable children and families, I’d really encourage you to take advantage of this.

Click here to find out more

February 3, 2020February 3, 2020

Ground-breaking child safeguarding research freely available for a limited time

I’m pleased to announce that five of our top-cited papers from Child Abuse Review are freely available for the whole of the month of February. Do make the most of these inspiring articles on contextual safeguarding, Healthy Eating, Active Living in residential care, child sexual abuse within religious setting and peer exploitation:

Peer Exploitation: Findings from a Romanian National Representative Sample of Children Living in Long-Term Residential Centres

November 20, 2019November 20, 2019

A Children’s Rights Act? Are our politicians serious about building a society where every child matters?

A letter to The Times

from Article 39, The Association of Child Protection Professionals and over 70 other signatories

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the UK ratified in 1991. This treaty grants every child the right to an adequate standard of living, the best possible health, to inclusive education which nurtures their talents and personality, and to protection from all forms of violence and exploitation.

It cherishes child-parent relationships and entitles parents to positive support from the state. Special protection and assistance is granted to those children unable to live with their families. Compassion, dignity and humanity are extended to all children, including those caught up in our immigration and criminal justice systems. The treaty’s general principles entitle children to be heard and taken seriously, to develop their full human potential and to enjoy all of their rights without any form of discrimination. Governments and public authorities are meant to treat children’s best interests as a primary consideration in all actions concerning them.

Earlier this month we published a document setting out 30 general election pledges. Our first call to political parties is to commit to incorporating the Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law. If we are serious about building a society where every child is respected and can thrive, then let’s show we mean it with a Children’s Rights Act.

Are our politicians serious about children?

The election manifestos are all being published; the leaders of the political parties are actively campaigning and appearing on TV. Let’s hold them to account on their attitudes to children – will any of the parties truly show they are serious about building a society where every child is respected and can thrive?

November 19, 2019

Austerity, income inequality, and the unprecedented rise in infant mortality for the poorest in our society

Changes in infant mortality

For the past twenty years I have been researching child mortality both in our country and overseas. One of the most encouraging aspects of this has been the steady decrease in child deaths over this period and for many decades before throughout the world. There have been some particularly positive achievements in this, with deaths from cancer, external causes and violent deaths in children all falling by more than 50% in England and Wales since the 1970s, while Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) fell by over 80% (Sidebotham, Fraser, Fleming, Ward-Platt, & Hain, 2014). Globally, under five mortality rates have fallen by more than 50% since 1990 (Unicef, 2019).

Sadly, though, those huge achievements have not been maintained, and a recent paper in the British Medical Journal has shown that, for those in the most deprived areas of our country, infant mortality has actually been rising since 2013 (Taylor-Robinson et al., 2019). The gap between the most wealthy and the most deprived, having been reducing for many years, has now started to increase. While there are some limitations in their research, the overall pattern seems very clear. In this graph from that paper, infant mortality in the most deprived local authorities is in pink at the top of the graph, with the least deprived in brown at the bottom.

Changes in infant mortality rates by local authority deprivation quintile (Taylor-Robinson et al.., 2019)

Politics, Poverty and Austerity

In the run up to a general election, with all the political posturing going on, it is hard not to conclude that this reversal in infant mortality is linked to a combination of poverty and austerity, with increasing wealth inequalities, reductions in welfare benefits for families with children, and real-terms cuts to the NHS, local authority children’s services, social care and public health budgets. It is notable that throughout the Labour administration from 1997 to 2010, infant mortality fell, particularly in the most deprived areas of the country. The reversal in this trend seemed to kick in just a few years after the change of government.

It seems to me that we need a clear change in policy (and not just electioneering promises) if we are going to see a reversal of this recent trend and a change in the life-chances of those who are most disadvantaged in our society. Perhaps we should be judging our political parties, not so much on what they promise to do, but on their actual track record in tackling poverty and inequalities, ill-health and child mortality.

In the context of increasing health inequalities in England, policies that reduce poverty and social inequalities and investing in child health and social care are likely to reduce the occurrence of infant mortality and that of many other adverse child health outcomes. – Taylor-Robinson et al., 2019

Sidebotham, P., Fraser, J., Fleming, P., Ward-Platt, M., & Hain, R. (2014). Patterns of child death in England and Wales. Lancet, 384(9946), 904-914. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61090-9

Taylor-Robinson, D., Lai, E. T. C., Wickham, S., Rose, T., Norman, P., Bambra, C., . . . Barr, B. (2019). Assessing the impact of rising child poverty on the unprecedented rise in infant mortality in England, 2000-2017: time trend analysis. BMJ Open, 9(10), e029424. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029424

September 10, 2019

In praise of teachers

I have been immensely privileged, over the years, to have known a large number of truly wonderful teachers: first as a pupil and student; then, in the course of my career, as a colleague in the multi-agency child protection arena; and again, on a personal level, as some valued friends. Increasingly, though, I am struck by the huge pressures that teachers are under, and the incredible dedication and commitment they bring to their role. It seems that austerity measures, inspection regimes, the challenges of many children’s lives, and the complexities of our 21^st century culture all contribute to increasing stresses for those who so faithfully strive to educate our children.

To teach, to nurture, care and protect

The primary role of a teacher is to teach: to educate, impart knowledge and facilitate learning. It is what teachers are trained to do, and what they do best. And yet, the teachers who tend to stand out are those who see their role as something more than just to teach, but to nurture, care and protect those in their charge. This is the theme picked up in the first paper in our latest issue of Child Abuse Review. In a qualitative study based in 16 primary schools in Ireland, Margaret Nohilly explores the care practices and systems that support child protection work in the schools. One of the most consistent findings from their interviews was a consensus ‘that the ethos of a school, by its very nature, was one of caring and that attending to the pupils’ needs was the priority’. This emphasis on nurture, care and protection was most prominent in those schools designated as disadvantaged and a special school, and it included providing meals, addressing other care needs, running before and after school activities, and programmes to support parents.

This ethos of care seemed to permeate all areas of school life and was felt to contribute in a significant way to pupil safety and protection. And yet, these elements of nurture, care and protection appeared to fall outside the statutory interagency framework of child protection to the extent that it was perceived that the Child and Family Agency was not aware of the care practices established at the school level.

This carries some important implications for the value and validity of such care, and raises some important questions for schools:

To what extent should this aspect of the teaching role be recognised? If this forms a major part of a teacher’s role, and yet is neither remunerated nor allocated time, and is not recognised in training, supervision or inspection, how sustainable is it?
Should such work be subject to inspection as are other aspects of the teaching and management of schools? If it were, what implications would that have for the quality or spontaneity of the care provided? Would it enhance or stifle these elements of a school’s ethos?
Is the provision of care and nurture within a school setting always the most appropriate response to a child in need? Does such an approach merely provide a sticking plaster, patching over the problems and not addressing the root causes? Does it counteract the duty of the teachers to report child abuse and neglect? Does it undermine the interagency approach to child protection?

These are challenging questions which warrant some reflection. Nohilly, in her paper, suggests that ‘student support teams’ and having allocated social workers in each school may be helpful approaches to improving the quality of care and interagency working. Others may have developed other initiatives to support the care and protection of children in schools.

Given that, outside the home, children spend a majority of their time in school, it is clear that professionals in the school environment are in a unique position to support children and respond to particular care needs. Whatever systems are developed, these underlying cultures of care and support should be encouraged and not stifled, and our teachers supported in the amazing job they do, not just to teach, but to nurture, care and protect.

You can download and read my editorial for free here. Margaret Nohilly’s paper and the other papers in this issue are freely available to members of the Association of Child Protection Professionals, and those whose institutions have a Wiley licence.

Child Abuse Review, Issue 28:4

Table of Contents

Editorial: Peter Sidebotham. Broader Concepts of Safeguarding: To Teach, Nurture, Care and Protect

Margaret Nohilly. Cultures of Care in Primary Schools in Ireland that Support Child Protection Work

Karen Wells. ‘I’m here as a social worker’: A qualitative study of immigration status issues and safeguarding children in Private Fostering arrangements in the UK

Marianne Strydom and Ulene Schiller. The transferability of family assessment tools between countries: Reflections on intervention research as approach

Emma Smith et al. Evaluating the Graded Care Profile 2: Comparisons with the original tool, plus factors affecting uptake and use of the updated tool

Jeremy Gibson et al. Communication, communication, communication: the key to improving GP report submission for Initial Child Protection Conferences

August 9, 2019August 9, 2019

From Prevention through to Therapy: Supporting Evidence‐Informed Practice across the Spectrum of Child Maltreatment

Supporting Evidence‐Informed Practice

In a helpful review article in the British Journal of Social Work some years ago, Nevo and Slonim‐Nevo[1] emphasised the importance of practitioners using findings from research ‘in an integrative manner, taking into consideration clinical experience and judgement, clients’ preferences and values, and context of intervention’ (p. 1193). Drawing on Sackett’s original definition of evidence‐based medicine[2], we could thus define evidence‐informed practice as

the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence, integrated with relevant expertise and an understanding of the context and clients’ views, to guide decision‐making in relation to individual cases.

Such an approach takes us away from a very rigid and narrow concept of evidence‐based practice which does not sit well with the complexity of the world of child protection[3].

From Prevention through to Therapy

The papers in our latest issue of Child Abuse Review, now available online, explore some of the nuances of evidence‐informed practice across the spectrum of child maltreatment and safeguarding encompassing: issues of preventive work, recognition and intervention, through to therapy and rehabilitation; different forms of maltreatment, from infancy to adolescence, including neglect, physical abuse and complex issues such as trafficking; and the challenges for professionals within a range of agencies.

In my accompanying editorial, I review some of these issues and the content of the various papers. We include a reanalysis of a systematic review of parenting interventions to reduce physical child abuse recurrence; a literature review on the trafficking of children in the Greater Mekong Region; a qualitative study with focus groups of teachers and family support workers to explore their experiences of working with neglect; and an evidence‐informed approach to develop and implement a therapeutic service for children who have experienced abuse and neglect in Victoria, Australia. We have a CPD article looking at issues around adolescent neglect, a training update and two book reviews. The full contents are listed below and all are freely available to members of the Association of Child Protection Professionals, or those who have library access to Child Abuse Review.

Some key messages from this issue:

teaching concrete parenting strategies such as alternatives to physical punishment is important in reducing recurrence of physical abuse
child trafficking needs to be treated as a public health issue, recognising the huge adverse impacts on these children
while professionals may recognise neglect quite early on, and want to intervene, they typically felt the need to gather evidence of multiple examples of neglectful behaviour and actual harm to the child in order for the maltreatment to be considered serious enough to cross a threshold for statutory intervention
successful interventions in adolescent neglect require a sustained focus on the young person within the family and an agreed plan for improvements in parental care

Table of contents

Editorial – Peter Sidebotham. From Prevention through to Therapy: Supporting Evidence‐Informed Practice across the Spectrum of Child Maltreatment

Original Articles

J. Melendez‐Torres, Patty Leijten, Frances Gardner. What are the Optimal Combinations of Parenting Intervention Components to Reduce Physical Child Abuse Recurrence? Reanalysis of a Systematic Review using Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Carmelle Tsai, Melissa E. Dichter. The Trafficking of Children in the Greater Mekong Region: A Review of Recent Literature

Lydia Bullock, Miriam Stanyon, Danya Glaser, Shihning Chou. Identifying and Responding to Child Neglect: Exploring the Professional Experiences of Primary School Teachers and Family Support Workers

Margarita Frederico, Annette Jackson, Carlina Black, Ric Pawsey, Allison Cox. Take Two – Implementing a Therapeutic Service for Children who have Experienced Abuse and Neglect: Beyond Evidence‐Informed Practice

Continuing Professional Development

Phil Raws. Adolescent Neglect: Messages from Research for Policy and Practice

Training Update

Lynn Davies. Signs of Radicalisation: Gamer Zak and Zak at University (online simulation resources) by The Centre for Child Protection, University of Kent, 2018, 2014, £199 including the training and teaching pack. Available: https://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/ccp/simulationsindex.html

Book Reviews

Qays Stetkevych. Responding to Domestic Violence: Emerging Challenges for Policy, Practice and Research in Europe edited by Stephanie Holt, Carolina Øverlien and John Devaney,. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London and Philadelphia, 2018. 368pp. ISBN 978‐1‐78592‐261‐9 (Pbk). £30.00

Goodman Maddocks. The Short Guide to Social Policy (second edition) by John Hudson, Stefan Kühner and Stuart Lowe, Policy Press, Bristol, 2015. 216 pp. ISBN 978–1–44732‐568‐0 (Pbk). £12.99

[1] Nevo I, Slonim‐Nevo V. 2011. The myth of evidence‐based practice: Towards evidence‐informed practice. The British Journal of Social Work 41( 6): 1176– 1197. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcq149

[2] Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS. 1996. Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn’t. BMJ 312( 7023): 71– 72. Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8555924

[3] Stevens I, Hassett P. 2007. Applying complexity theory to risk in child protection practice. Childhood 14( 1): 128– 144. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568207072535

March 21, 2019

Child protection: challenging our beliefs

The awful events in Christchurch, New Zealand recently have highlighted, once again, how an individual’s belief systems (in that context, those of ‘white supremacy’) can have devastating effects on others’ lives; but also (as seen in the response of individuals, communities, and political and religious leaders) how they have the power to bring healing, reconciliation and change. What is equally clear is that those beliefs do not arise out of the blue, but for all of us reflect a complex web of family, societal and cultural influences.

Challenging Belief Systems and Professional Perspectives to Protect Children from Harm

Our first issue of Child Abuse Review for 2019 picks up on issues of how our beliefs (whether as parents, professionals, or as a society) impact on the safety and well-being of children and can both help or hinder our efforts to keep children safe.

We start the issue with a review and two original research papers that tackle uncomfortable issues around faith and beliefs, and their potential for harm. Between them, they highlight again how, while keeping our focus on the well-being of the child, a deeper understanding of an individual’s belief systems (even where these may differ considerably from our own) could help us in our efforts to protect children from harm.

In a deeply disturbing conceptual review, Julie Taylor and colleagues explore the vulnerability of children with albinism in sub‐Saharan Africa. As well as their inherent vulnerability as children and the impairments caused by their albinism, the authors point out how these children

‘may face a society that demonises, marginalises, stigmatises and discriminates against [them], especially in rural areas where myths abound and traditional healers are very powerful’.

The very visible difference in appearance of these children may lead to them being rejected or ostracised as their albinism may be perceived by their family and society as somehow cursed. Even more disturbingly, though, are beliefs that their body parts may somehow bring good fortune, so they may be abused, mutilated and killed to obtain such ‘good luck’ charms. This presents a very complex and concerning situation which we in the West may find difficult, if not impossible, to comprehend – one in which deep‐seated beliefs, differences in culture and society, and other socio‐economic factors all interact to create situations of vulnerability and risk.

The beliefs and abuses documented in Taylor and colleagues’ review may seem a world away from the contexts within which most of us are practising. However, even in the UK, children have been harmed and killed in situations in which beliefs in witchcraft or spirit possession have played a part. What may be far more common, though, even less well recognised, and potentially harder to address are less extreme situations of abuse and neglect linked to faith or belief. This forms the subject of an original research paper by Lisa Oakley and colleagues from the National Working Group on Child Abuse Linked to Faith or Belief and the Victoria Climbié Foundation. As Oakley and colleagues point out, such cases are not limited to extreme beliefs in witchcraft or spirit possession, but include cases of medical neglect and excessive physical punishment. Within this context, the increased focus on safeguarding within faith communities is to be welcomed. Nevertheless, in their survey, the authors identified a lack of confidence among practitioners, community groups and faith groups in how to recognise and respond to cases of child abuse linked to faith or belief.

Building on an earlier National Action Plan, Oakley and colleagues identify a need for much more research in this area, along with greater dialogue between statutory and voluntary agencies and faith communities, increased faith literacy training for frontline practitioners and the adoption of a broader definition of child abuse linked to faith and belief.

Part of this broader definition could include the issues of clerical institutional child abuse and the interaction of belief systems, power and control within the church. The harm caused by such institutional abuse is now well recognised, although there is still a long way to go in terms of how the church and society respond to harms caused in the past and safeguard against similar abuse happening now. In our next research paper, Jeff Moore and colleagues look at the experiences of 102 Irish survivors of clerical institutional child abuse and factors that have helped with their resilience. There may be much wider lessons here for how we support young people who have experienced abuse of all kinds (and perhaps particularly those who have experienced abuse linked to faith or belief) in building resilience and coping with the trauma that they have experienced.

Working with vulnerable families

Our next two research papers by Jessica Wagner and colleagues (Intergenerational transmission of domestic violence) and Karen Hanson and colleagues (Family-based recovery) address practitioner issues in working with two common situations of family vulnerability: domestic violence and substance misuse. Both, interestingly, address some of the underlying belief systems that we, as practitioners, may hold – in the words of Jessica Wagner and colleagues:

‘Preconceived ideas can lead to prejudice and consequently to discrimination; practitioners’ preconceived ideas may, even unconsciously, affect their thinking, their assessment and finally the service that they may ‘gate keep’ or offer.’ (p. 40)

Both these papers challenge us to reflect on our own beliefs and perspectives as we work with vulnerable children and families. As with the earlier papers on faith and beliefs and our final CPD paper on mothers who have their children removed, they highlight that we all – practitioners, researchers and the families who we work with – hold belief systems and perspectives that can influence how we work together to ensure the safety and well-being of children.

All the papers in this first issue of the year for Child Abuse Review are freely available to read or download. Do click on the links below to browse the issue or to read my editorial or any of the papers.

Child Abuse Review Volume 28, Issue 1

Peter Sidebotham. Challenging Belief Systems and Professional Perspectives to Protect Children from Harm

Celean Camp, Wendy Thorogood. The Association of Child Protection Professionals: Moving Forward with a New Identity

Julie Taylor, Caroline Bradbury-Jones, Patricia Lund. Witchcraft‐related Abuse and Murder of Children with Albinism in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Conceptual Review

Lisa Oakley, Kathryn Kinmond, Justin Humphreys, Mor Dioum. Safeguarding Children who are Exposed to Abuse Linked to Faith or Belief

Jessica Wagner, Steph Jones, Anna Tsaroucha, Holly Cumbers. Intergenerational Transmission of Domestic Violence: Practitioners’ Perceptions and Experiences of Working with Adult Victims and Perpetrators in the UK

Jeff Moore, Marie Flynn, Mark Morgan. Social Ecological Resilience and Mental Wellbeing of Irish Emigrant Survivors of Clerical Institutional Childhood Abuse

Karen Hanson, Elizabeth Duryea, Mary Painter, Jeffrey Vanderploeg, Dale Saul. Family‐Based Recovery: An Innovative Collaboration between Community Mental Health Agencies and Child Protective Services to Treat Families Impacted by Parental Substance Use

Wendy Marsh, Jan Leamon. Babies Removed at Birth: What Professionals Can Learn From ‘Women Like Me’

Book Reviews

Effective Family Support: Responding to What Parents Tell Us by Cheryl Burgess, Ruth McDonald and Sandra Sweeten, Dunedin Academic Press, Edinburgh, 2018.

Scars Across Humanity: Understanding and Overcoming Violence Against Women by Elaine Storkey, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 2015.

March 18, 2019March 21, 2019

The Association of Child Protection Professionals

A fresh start for an inspiring association

Forty years ago, a small group of leading child protection professionals and academics came together to found BASPCAN, the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Their aims were to provide education and professional development opportunities for those working in the child protection field, and to educate and inform the public about safeguarding. For most of this time, the official journal of BASPCAN, Child Abuse Review, has been central to achieving these aims.

Now, with this first issue of 2019, we are launching a new look for the Association (now the Association of Child Protection Professionals) and for the journal. In an accompanying news piece, Celean Camp and Wendy Thorogood explain a bit more about the changes for the Association and some of the exciting developments that we can look forward to. As they point out,

‘Our name might have changed but our aims remain the same – working with members to:

Promote increased understanding of the causes, ways of identifying and reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect.
Encourage a greater understanding of the consequences for children of abuse and neglect and how these can be prevented and treated.
Improve cooperation and liaison between professionals and agencies locally, nationally and internationally.
Influence policy and practice based on high‐quality research evidence and practitioner experience.
Represent, support and advocate for child protection professionals.’

I encourage you all to take a look at our brand-new website and to consider joining the association – you will find a great community of people passionately committed to promoting the welfare and safety of children, and supporting each other in this highly-charged field.

From the perspective of the journal, we want to ensure that Child Abuse Review continues to contribute to those enduring aims of providing education and professional development for all those working in the child protection field, through publishing rigorous original research, comprehensive reviews of the scientific literature, book reviews and training updates, and commentaries on policy and practice.

With this first issue of 2019, we are also launching our brand new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) section. These papers are intended to distil the essentials of what practitioners/clinicians need to know about a particular area of practice. They should help practitioners review and reflect on what they have learnt and may be used to provide evidence for the purposes of professional revalidation or accreditation. Our first paper in this new section is from Wendy Marsh and Jan Leamon and explores the issues faced by mothers who have their babies removed at birth. The authors take a sensitive and compassionate approach to exploring the complex grief experienced by mothers in this situation and some of the coping strategies that these mothers can resort to – not all of which will necessarily sit well with professionals whose primary aim is to safeguard the wellbeing of children. As professionals in the child protection field, we will continue to be faced with situations where the removal of a child is necessary. Nevertheless, Marsh and Leamon’s paper provides compelling arguments for the importance of understanding what mothers in this situation are going through, and our moral and ethical responsibility to support mothers after the removal of a child.