That’s how the light gets in

And so the 10^th BASPCAN child protection congress is over. The banners have come down, the delegates have gone their various ways, and the PowerPoint slides deleted from the desktops.

It has been an incredible four days: a time of inspiration and challenge, of hard grind and relaxed friendship, of shared laughter and shared tears.

I have been inspired by meaningful research, emerging ideas, and examples of innovative practice. I have had some of my own perspectives challenged. I have been encouraged equally by young and enthusiastic researchers, and by committed practitioners who have walked many years. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity, commitment and hard work of all those who have contributed to the congress, and the feedback and encouragement of so many participants. And I have been amazed at the vigour and resilience of children, young people and adults – survivors in the fullest sense of the word.

For me, though, the essence of this congress was captured in the fragile, vulnerable daffodils that decorated our plenary lecture hall. In spite of all our efforts, they kept flopping over and looking muddled. And yet, they continued to bloom, bringing their bright colour and life into that hall.

Perhaps we are all a bit like that – fragile, vulnerable children; wounded, hurting survivors; struggling practitioners and academics – dependent on each other for encouragement and support; and yet, in spite of all our limitations, bringing hope and life. And united in our longing for a world in which no child ever has to experience the terror and pain of abuse or neglect, and where each of us is valued as a unique, wonderful and beloved person.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There’s a crack, a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in

– Leonard Cohen

March 17, 2018

The Impact of Neglect on the Developing Brain

Clare Shaw, Poet in Residence for the BASPCAN 10th International Child Protection Congress considers the impact of neglect on the developing brain.

With just 3 weeks to go, it’s not too late to register for the congress and what promises to be an exciting and stimulating programme combining cutting edge science, evidence-informed practice, and reflective creative space.

You can read all of Clare’s poems and find out more about the congress here.

The Impact of Neglect on the Developing Brain

Dreams:

you can’t find your mother.

A series of rooms

one after another

each smelling of urine

and dust.

And of course

there are ghosts –

you fear them like murder.

By night, there are spiders and mice.

Then sleep is a space

with no air.

It’s too hot.

All of your words have been sucked out.

The books on the shelves

are rotten. You read them.

You almost forgot that door

and the corridor leads to outside.

In the yard,

how small you are

in this rain

you will never own.

It’s all falling around your ears.

The rabbits are still in their hutches

and no-one has fed them

for years.

March 8, 2018

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to celebrate so many amazing women who have made a difference to our world. And, for me, to remember with gratitude the many incredible women I have had the privilege to know.

It is also an opportunity to recognise the ongoing violence and abuse that affects so many women and girls across the world.

The statistics are horrific.

But even more salutary are the individual stories that lie behind those statistics – salutary not just because of the appalling circumstances so many women and girls have to live with, but also because of the amazing courage, resilience and hope that they embody.

Today also marks one month till our 2018 BASPCAN international child protection congress. And, as it approaches, I am looking forward to it more and more. And not least because of some of the incredible women whom we have lined up as speakers.

People like:

Elaine Storkey, former president of Tearfund, and long-standing campaigner for women’s rights, who has powerfully documented the reality of violence against women and girls in her book, Scars across Humanity

Clare Shaw, our poet in residence, whose poems reflect the depth of expertise held by someone who has walked with trauma

Siobhan Beckwith, whose talk, Hearts in the Goldfish Bowl, draws on her experience coming alongside mothers who have had to live apart from their children

Kish Bhatti-Sinclair, a reader in social policy and social work, who will be challenging us to rethink our own prejudices, discrimination and unconscious bias

Anne Fine, the celebrated author, whose novels capture, in a very human way, the reality of many children’s lives

There are so many more I could mention. And I’m really looking forward to meeting them and hearing what they have to say.

It is not too late to book, so do take a look at the programme on our congress website:

BASPCAN Congress 2018

February 17, 2018February 17, 2018

Safeguarding in, around and through sport

Throwing yourself headlong down a sheet of ice

Over the past few days I have enjoyed watching the winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. While I have no desire to throw myself headlong down a sheet of ice at speeds faster than I would drive, I am nevertheless amazed at the skill, courage and grace of these athletes. Seeing the way the athletes interact with each other, their coaches, families and supporters, and even some of the political developments going on in the background reminds me of the incredible potential of sport to bring out goodness, beauty, and all that is best in our humanity.

Sadly, though, sport also carries the potential for some of the worst in humanity. And Barry Bennell’s conviction last week on 43 charges of sex abuse against young people under his care as a football coach truly highlights that. As has been shown now in so many different areas, striving for excellence also brings vulnerability. And that vulnerability can be exploited.

I am pleased that FIFA and other bodies in sport are taking their safeguarding responsibilities seriously. They have a long way to go to ensure that children are safe in sport, and it won’t be an easy road. But it is a road that must be travelled.

Safeguarding in, around and through sport

Four years ago, at a summit in Johannesburg, Unicef launched its ‘International Safeguards for Children in Sport’. This ground-breaking initiative was based on research by Daniel Rhind and colleagues from Brunel University. I am really pleased that Daniel will be presenting at the BASPCAN 2018 child protection congress, exploring the development, implementation and evaluation of these international standards.

This presentation will consider safeguarding in, around and through sport. Safeguarding ‘in’ sport concerns the prevalence of the different forms of abuse along with the factors which may make children more vulnerable to abuse. Safeguarding ‘around’ sport will be discussed with reference to research on how mega sports events can impact children. Safeguarding ‘through’ sport concerns how participation can help to safeguard children beyond the context of sport.

To join the congress and hear Daniel’s talk, or to find out more about the other great presentations and opportunities to get involved, take a look at the congress website:

https://www.baspcan.org.uk/congress-2018/

February 10, 2018

Love as a Yoga Class in Bradford

Clare Shaw, Poet in Residence for the BASPCAN 2018 child protection congress reflects on Yoga, social connection, and safety…

You can find out more about Clare, and read all her congress poems here

Love as a Yoga Class in Bradford

I believe that knowledge is power

I believe that social connection is as vital as food and shelter

I believe that when you bend the front knee and bring the fists down

you feel like a warrior

I believe there’s a lot of bollocks out there

but yoga provides tangible relief

and we breathed and moved and made shapes together

and the women lay there in a line under blankets

and some of them fell asleep.

I believe that what I’m doing has a lineage

at least three thousand years old

I believe that when people breathe together, their hearts synchronise.

It transcends language.

I believe that when you’ve lost everything

to rebuild your life here

along with a house, a visa, safety,

there’s also being so fucking alone

I believe that in none of my training

did anyone talk about love –

I mean, all of these women

who’ve been through horrific stuff

– beyond comprehension horrific –

felt calm enough to lie down, rest,

even safe enough

to fall asleep –

I believe that however shit we’re feeling

connecting to someone we feel safe with

is so unbelievably precious

I believe that when I started going to yoga classes

in a small room on an island in Hong Kong

it changed my experience of life,

it felt like hope

and when I think about what the system does to those women

and all they’ve been through

I’m a she-wolf

and it feels like this gentle fierceness

on their behalf

because I believe that ‘yoga posture’ is a weird word

and I like the word “shape” better

I believe in the neurophysiology of trauma.

I believe that when you stretch

the belly of the muscle begins to pull on the tendons

they release a neuro transmitter that makes that muscle relax

I believe that to be trusted to hold that safety

it’s a total honour.

A group of women under their blankets.

I’ve been thinking, is it okay –

is it weird that this feels like

love?

February 8, 2018

Addressing the Disconnects in Child Protection Practice

Our latest issue of Child Abuse Review has been published and is freely available online. It is packed with thought-provoking articles that look at some of the disconnects in our thinking and practice around protecting children.

I am particularly inspired by Jo Aldridge’s paper, ‘This is not just about history…’ Jo, herself a survivor of childhood abuse, reflects on the process and progress of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), a long-running public inquiry investigating the extent to which public bodies and other non-state institutions in England and Wales have taken seriously their responsibility to protect children from sexual abuse (https://www.iicsa.org.uk). Her paper provides a pertinent and meaningful critique of the process being undertaken by this inquiry – a critique that has implications for all those involved in responding to and learning from historical child abuse, but also because it has important lessons for all who are involved in safeguarding children in the present.

If we are to work effectively with children and young people, we need to listen carefully to those children and young people, and to the adults they grow up to become. The voices of survivors are an essential part of our reflection, learning and improvement.

Jo will be speaking at the BASPCAN International Congress in April – along with many other survivors and survivors’ organisations. That, too, promises to be a really worthwhile time of learning, reflection and dialogue. There is still time to register, so do take a look at the website for the full programme and further details.

www.baspcan.org.uk/congress-2018/

Our current issue of Child Abuse Review includes papers on reporting child sexual abuse within religious settings, on the Parents under Pressure support programme, and on peer-on-peer abuse and exploitation in the UK and Romania, and a challenging critique by Michael Preston-Shoot of the recent Wood review into children’s safeguarding systems in England. I encourage you to have a browse and to reflect on some of the disconnects these papers highlight.

‘…just as safeguarding children involves a practice which is inherently social and relational, full of complexity, uncertainty, dilemmas, tensions and complicated truths, so too is the practice of reviewing cases and understanding how to go on better than before.’

Michael Preston-Shoot

You can access my editorial and all the papers in this issue by clicking on the links below:

Child Abuse Review Volume 27, Issue 1

Editorial

Addressing the Disconnects in Child Protection Practice (pages 5–10)

Peter Sidebotham

Reviews

What is Really Wrong with Serious Case Reviews? (pages 11–23)

Michael Preston-Shoot

‘This is Not Just About History…’ Addressing the Disconnect in Historic (Non-Recent) Child Abuse Investigations (pages 24–29)

Jo Aldridge

Original Articles

Reporting Child Sexual Abuse within Religious Settings: Challenges and Future Directions (pages 30–41)

Craig A. Harper and Colin Perkins

Contextual Risk, Individualised Responses: An Assessment of Safeguarding Responses to Nine Cases of Peer-on-Peer Abuse (pages 42–57)

Carlene Firmin

Peer Exploitation: Findings from a Romanian National Representative Sample of Children Living in Long-Term Residential Centres (pages 58–71)

Adrian V. Rus, Ecaterina Stativa, Max E. Butterfield, Jacquelyn S. Pennings, Sheri R. Parris, Gabriel Burcea and Reggies Wenyika

Assessing Capacity to Change in High-Risk Pregnant Women: A Pilot Study(pages 72–84)

Paul H. Harnett, Jane Barlow, Chris Coe, Caroline Newbold and Sharon Dawe

Training Update

Neglect Toolkit: Guidance for Practitioners by Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Board, 2016.

Wendy Hill

Book Review

Tackling Child Neglect: Research, Policy and Evidence-Based Practice Edited by Ruth Gardner

Claire Monk

February 6, 2018

#EndFGM

Women’s Rights

Today is the 100^th anniversary of women being granted the vote in the UK. In the past 100 years great strides have been made in women’s rights. And yet the reality is that both in the UK and across the world, women continue to experience inequality, discrimination, disenfranchisement and abuse. This is particularly prominent in the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) – a cruel and abusive practice that leaves millions of girls and women scarred for life, both physically and emotionally.

The UN estimates that globally at least 200 million girls and women have undergone FGM, with rates as high as 97-98 percent in Guinea and Somalia. Most of those subjected to FGM are infants and young girls, who cannot possibly understand the awful trauma they are subjected to.

#EndFGM

The Sustainable Development Goals have called for an end to the practice by 2030. Tuesday 6^th February is International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.

http://www.un.org/en/events/femalegenitalmutilationday/

We, in BASPCAN, are doing what we can to support national and international efforts to end FGM.

One of the keynote speakers at the BASPCAN international child protection congress, Elaine Storkey, has long campaigned for an end to FGM, addresses it in her book, Scars Across Humanity, and will be speaking on the topic as part of her closing keynote speech.

“Power, ideology and children at risk. How can we work together across cultural and faith divides to bring change?”

Children, especially girls, are at risk in cultures across the globe. In India, campaigners suggest that the population has lost 50 million girls over the last few decades, through infanticide and foeticide. Because of a marked preference for sons, the ratio of girls to boys in the population is also decreasing, rather than increasing, with affluence. In other countries, girls are subject to brutal female genital mutilation which leaves them with health problems for the rest of their lives. In the UK, 140,000 women currently live with its aftermath, and 10,000 girls this year may be in danger of being cut. Early enforced marriage, ‘honour’ attacks and trafficking for sexual exploitation all add to the list of atrocities which spell danger for young female populations.

This keynote suggests that behind these practices is not simply ‘culture’ but power, money, organized crime and lack of legal protection. Safeguarding is a global issue which needs to cross many boundaries. Progress is made when organisations and campaigners can work together, despite often deep-seated differences to address attitudes and develop strategies for change. We will explore how.

The issues faced in providing services locally for women and girls who may have undergone or be at risk of FGM are also the topic of a symposium by Dr Deborah Hodes and colleagues from University College London Hospitals.

Look out also for an interactive poster from Rasul Alis on ‘Why haven’t there been any prosecutions for FGM?’

The full congress programme, further information and registration details are available on our congress website:

https://www.baspcan.org.uk/congress-2018/

January 27, 2018

Restorative approaches in family services: an inspiring workshop at the BASPCAN congress

One of the greatest challenges those of us involved in family services face is getting the right balance between support and intervention, care and challenge. With that in mind, many practitioners and academics are promoting moves away from methods targeting individual family members towards strength-based family-focused approaches. A Restorative Approach (RA) is one such approach increasingly adopted in belief this practice supports families more effectively.

Restorative Approaches: The concept, process, skills and effect in family service provision

This workshop led by Annie Williams and Jeremy Segrott from Cardiff University is just one of the many inspiring workshops at the BASPCAN child protection congress. The workshop will interest practitioners, managers and policy-makers concerned with children and family services. By the end they will be familiar with RA, its core values and some skills essential in its use. The workshop will outline the concept of RA, present emerging research on its use in family-services and offer an interactive session that allows participants to try RA skills and discuss its relevance to their field.

Thinking Outside the Box: innovative perspectives on protecting children and young people

It’s now just 11 weeks till the start of the congress, so if you haven’t done so already, why not get your registration in. Take a look at our website to see the full programme and to register: www.baspcan.org.uk/congress-2018/

What’s in the workshop?

The first half of the workshop will be presented by academic researchers. The initial presentation will be of an article concerned with the RA concept and how it relates to family-service delivery. Attention then turns to empirical findings. Firstly, from a study exploring family-service delivery that links using RA as a delivery framework to practice as recommended. This will be followed by results from an evaluation of the Restorative Approach Family Engagement Project (RAFEP): a family-practitioner training programme delivered across Wales with the aim of promoting RA and increasing family engagement. The evaluation collected data via questionnaires before; immediately after; three/six months post-training; and focus groups three months post-training. Findings indicated that practitioners believed RAFEP promoted RA, increased confidence when working with service-users, helped families engage better, and led to better relationships between practitioners and service-users. The final interactive part, delivered by staff from an agency committed to RA training and practice, will focus on RA values and skills. During this participants will participate in facilitated discussions of how RA relates to existing practice, organisations and working systems. They will then have opportunity to take part in activities that develop essential skills underlying RA practice.

BASPCAN: For Child Protection Professionals