Children and Families and the Care System

The latest issue of Child Abuse Review is now available online, with an editorial by my co-editor, Jane Appleton in which she explores some of the complex issues of working with these children and young people, and the huge challenges they may face:

The papers in this issue revisit the very important subject of children in public

care, which Child Abuse Review most recently examined in a themed issue in

2014 (Appleton and Sidebotham, 2014). Signiﬁcantly, the latest statistics on

children looked after in England show a steady rise in the numbers of children

in care since 2009, with 69 540 children being ‘looked after’ at 31 March 2015,

‘an increase of 6% compared to 31 March 2011’ (Department for Education,

2015, p. 1). While this trend is not mirrored in Scotland or Wales, children

in the public care system are recognised as being some of the most vulnerable

in society with high levels of need, particularly around emotional wellbeing

and mental health (Bentley et al., 2016). In the UK, most children are placed

with foster families, with other placements including children’s homes, secure

units, hostels and with their parents under social care supervision. Children and

young people enter the care system for different reasons, but for many it is as a

result of abuse and neglect. The experience of being in care, as DEMOS (2010,

p. 11) has noted, ‘clearly serves some g roups of children better than others’ and

there is considerable interest in the outcomes of young people’s care

experiences.

Children in the public care system are recognised as being some of the most vulnerable

in society with high levels of need, particularly around emotional wellbeing

and mental health

You can read the full editorial, which is freely available online, here.

Children and Families and the Care System (pages 247–250)

Jane V. Appleton

Out-of-Home Care versus In-home Care for Children Who Have Been Maltreated: A Systematic Review of Health and Wellbeing Outcomes (pages 251–272)

Miriam J. Maclean, Scott Sims, Melissa O’Donnell and Ruth Gilbert

A Life Less Ordinary: Foster Carers’ Views and Experiences of Negative Peer Interactions in Fostering Households (pages 273–286)

Christine Barter and Eleanor Lutman

Applications of the Dynamic-Maturational Model of Attachment with Children Involved in Care and Family Proceedings (pages 287–299)

Daniel T. Wilcox and Clark Baim

Maternal Borderline Personality Disorder and Risk of Child Maltreatment (pages 300–313)

Sarah Laulik, Jayne Allam and Kevin Browne

‘Teachers Matter’: The Impact of Mandatory Reporting on Teacher Education in Ireland (pages 314–324)

Ashling Bourke and Catherine Maunsell

November 1, 2016

Evidence – Informed Practice, Practice – Informed Research

Celebrating 25 years of BASPCAN’s Journal

‘Child Abuse Review’

Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham

Friday 18 November 2016

As one of the editors of Child Abuse Review, I would really like to invite you to join us on the 18th November in Birmingham for our 25th Anniversary conference. It promises to be an exciting and challenging programme, with some great guest speakers and inspiring free papers.

The day will include:

An optional pre-conference breakfast meeting for delegates on how to get published in Child Abuse Review

An opening plenary session setting the theme, with four parallel sessions on the themes:

Child Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse
Domestic Violence and Parenting Issues
Translating Research into Practice
Neglect

Each parallel session will include a keynote lecture, a number of short presentations from submitted abstracts, and a plenary discussion.

Interactive poster presentations will be held at morning coffee and lunchtime. The posters will be up for viewing all day from 9am until 4.30pm

A closing plenary and celebration of 25 years of Child Abuse Review.

Book online at http://www.baspcan.org.uk/booking.php

To see the full programme, click here

4-page-programme-25th-anniversary-flier

August 29, 2016

Thinking Outside the Box

I am really excited about the BASPCAN 10th International Congress which we will be hosting at the University of Warwick in April 2018. It may be 2 years away, but I think it promises to be one of the most inspiring and creative conferences on child protection ever!

Have a look at this brief video which introduces the congress (photos courtesy of Motionhouse, one of our congress partners)

Thinking Outside the Box

We will be continually updating this information over the next few months: to register your interest and receive the latest updates as they become available, please email conferences@baspcan.org.uk with your email address and the header ‘Congress 2018 Updates’.

August 5, 2016

Parental mental health problems and child protection

Our recent triennial review of Serious Case Reviews found a high proportion (53%) of parents whose children died or were seriously harmed through abuse and neglect had mental health problems. This finding is in keeping with other research from the UK and elsewhere which has shown links between parental mental ill-health and child maltreatment.

This, however, presents us with a dilemma: while the prevalence of parental mental ill-health in this population (parents of children seriously or fatally harmed through abuse and neglect) is high, and undoubtedly higher than in the general population, the numbers are small (31 per year) in comparison to the overall numbers of adults with mental illnesses. So, for example, the UK Biobank study, which assessed 172,751 adults from 2009-10, found that 27% met criteria for a mood disorder (major depression or bipolar disorder)[1]; extrapolating this to the 13,887,000 parents with dependent children living in the UK[2], suggests that there will be at least 3.7 million parents with a current or previous mood disorder. If you extend that to include lower levels of anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems, the numbers are likely to be even higher.

So while it may be true to say that children who suffer severe or fatal child maltreatment have a high likelihood of having a parent with a mental health problem, it does not follow that any parent with a mental health problem is likely to abuse his or her child.

Hence the dilemma. Parents with mental health problems need care and support, including support around managing their mental ill-health and support in their parenting. This will not be helped by taking a stigmatising approach, nor by assuming they are not able to effectively parent their children. The vast majority of parents with mental health parents are undoubtedly good parents who love and care for their children. Nevertheless, there will be some for whom the nature or severity of their mental health problems, or the interaction between their mental health problems and other factors, do affect their ability to care for their children.

Our research identified the co-existence of parental mental ill-health with domestic violence, with substance misuse, with social isolation, or with criminal activity all as contributing to presenting risks to children. In particular, the presence of domestic violence, when combined with mental health problems in either parent, may increase the risk to the child, even (and perhaps especially) after separation. Likewise, there may be indicators in the nature or severity of the mental illness itself. So, those parents with a history of attempted suicide, or with delusional thoughts, or who had expressed some intent to harm the child may pose a distinct risk.

So the message of these Serious Case Reviews is not to label all parents with mental health problems as potential child abusers, but rather to consider what impact their mental health may be having on the child, to work with the parent to fully explore any additional risks, and to offer respectful, supportive care for the parent and the child.

Learning to respond appropriately to parents with mental health problems is a challenge for professionals. In our research report we consider some of the implications of this and how we can facilitate better quality child- and family-oriented care. In our journal, Child Abuse Review, we have recently compiled a virtual issue bringing together a number of papers from 1999-2014 which explore some of these issues in greater depth. All of these papers are freely available online for a limited period on the journal website: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0852

Contents The articles below are freely available online until 31 August 2016.

The mental health problems of mothers experiencing the child protection system: identifying needs and appropriate responses (Volume 8, Issue 1, 1999) Nicky Stanley and Bridget Penhale

Parental mental health as a child protection issue: data from the NSPCC national child protection helpline (Volume 8, Issue 3, 1999) Vanessa Lewis and Susan J. Creighton

Building bridges: the interface between adult mental health and child protection (Volume 8, Issue 3, 1999) Charmian Tye and Gretchen Precey

Parental mental health and child protection — making the links through training (Volume 12, Issue 2, 2003) Jennifer Pearce

The experiences of children living with and caring for parents with mental illness (Volume 15, Issue 2, 2006) Jo Aldridge

The mental health of mothers of physically abused children: the relationship with children’s behavioural problems — report from Japan (Volume 15, Issue 3, 2006) Tsuneo Takei, Hiroshi Yamashita and Keiko Yoshida

Maternal mental health and faltering growth in infants (Volume 16, Issue 5, 2007) Laura Dunne, Helga Sneddon, Dorota Iwaniec and Moira C. Stewart

Championing the interface between mental health and child protection: evaluation of a service initiative to improve joint working in Northern Ireland (Volume 21, Issue 3, 2012 Gavin Davidson, Joe Duffy, Liz Barry, Patsy Curry, Eithne Darragh and Judith Lees

Making Decisions about Parental Mental Health: An Exploratory Study of Community Mental Health Team Staff (Volume 21, Issue 3, 2012) Khadj Rouf, Michael Larkin and Geoff Lowe

[1] Smith DJ, Nicholl BI, Cullen B, Martin D, Ul-Haq Z, Evans J, et al. (2013) Prevalence and Characteristics of Probable Major Depression and Bipolar Disorder within UK Biobank: Cross-Sectional Study of 172,751 Participants. PLoS ONE 8(11): e75362. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075362

[2] http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families/bulletins/familiesandhouseholds/2015-11-05#families

July 6, 2016

Continuity and change in child protection: challenges in research and practice

I am pleased to announce that the latest issue of Child Abuse Review is now published and available online. Six research papers and a freely accessible editorial focus on continuity and change in child protection.

Last year’s special issue on domestic abuse and safeguarding children generated an unprecedented number of submissions to the journal. This emphasises just how crucial the issue is for children’s safety and wellbeing. In their editorial for that issue, Cathy Humphreys and Caroline Bradbury-Jones identified seven key principles in relation to safeguarding and domestic abuse, relating to focus, response and intervention (Humphreys and Bradbury-Jones 2015). In this issue of Child Abuse Review we pick up on those, with two papers exploring interventions with violent fathers, drawing on Humphreys and Bradbury-Jones’ assertion that risk assessment and risk management of the perpetrator should be a focus of intervention.

To reduce the prevalence and impact of domestic violence, we need to engage both with those affected by it (the women and children) and with the perpetrators

We include two papers which consider some specific vulnerable situations for young people: those who run away or go missing from home; and those who are involved in gang membership. They present some challenging and perhaps surprising results. We include an analysis of national data on under 5 mortality rates in the former Soviet Union, and a nationwide survey of teams providing medical evaluations for possible sexual abuse in the USA.

Young people consistently cited family difficulties as the main issue influencing their decision to run away from home, including difficulties in parental that management of their child’s behaviour, and significant family stresses. They also identified problems at school and the young person’s own emotional health as key underlying factors.

Young people who go missing want to be heard, to be treated with respect, to be able to exercise autonomy, and to feel that someone cares (Taylor, Bradbury-Jones et al. 2014).

Read the full editorial here.

List of Contents

Gray “I’m working towards getting back together”: Client accounts of motivation related to relationship status in men’s behaviour change programmes in New South Wales, Australia

McConnell and Taylor Evaluating programmes for violent fathers: challenges and ethical review

Hill ‘No-one runs away for no reason’ Understanding safeguarding issues when children and young people go missing from home

Cepeda et al Childhood Trauma among Mexican-American Gang Members and Delinquent Youth: A Comparative Exploratory Study

Pritchard and Mirza Under-fives Child Mortality and Child-Abuse-Related-Deaths in the former USSR: Is there an under-reporting of abuse related deaths?

Greeley et al A Nationwide Survey of Peer-Review Practices on Child Maltreatment Teams

Book reviews: Critical Perspectives on Child Sexual Exploitation and Related Trafficking edited by M. Melrose and J. Pearce; Child Maltreatment and High Risk Families by J. Taylor and A. Lazenbatt; Safeguarding and Protecting children, Young People and families: A Guide for Nurses and Midwives by Gill Watson and Sandra Rodwell

References

Humphreys, C. and C. Bradbury-Jones (2015). “Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding Children: Focus, Response and Intervention.” Child Abuse Review 24(4): 231-234.

Taylor, J., C. Bradbury-Jones, H. Hunter, K. Sanford, T. Rahilly and N. Ibrahim (2014). “Young People’s Experiences of Going Missing From Care: A Qualitative Investigation using Peer Researchers.” Child Abuse Review 23(6): 387-401.

June 21, 2016

Evidence-Informed Practice, Practice-informed Research

Every day in the UK, thousands of children are living with the reality of child abuse or neglect. A huge amount of positive work goes on throughout the country, with professionals working alongside children and their parents to offer support and protection, and to mitigate against the devastating short- and long-term impact of abuse.

All too often, however, professionals get blamed when things go wrong: on the one hand, being criticised for failing to act to protect vulnerable children; while on the other, being accused of interfering unnecessarily in family life. It is essential, therefore, that the work we do to protect children and support families is informed by high-quality research, and applied by skilled professionals working within appropriate guidelines.

Evidence-informed practice is one of the hallmarks of authoritative child protection, a concept I have explored in an editorial for Child Abuse Review.

Evidence-informed practice is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence, integrated with relevant expertise and an understanding of the context, to guide decision making in relation to individual cases.

Sidebotham, 2009, based on Sackett, 1996

Equally important, the research we undertake into child maltreatment and child protection needs to be informed and driven by practice: by the needs of children and families and through listening carefully to them and to practitioners.

Child Abuse Review 25^th Anniversary Conference

So, with that in mind, I am particularly excited about a conference we are holding in Birmingham later this year.

We have five exceptional key-note speakers, and are anticipating a wide range of high-quality free papers.

The deadline for abstract submission is 30^th June, so get your abstract in quickly.

Further details and an abstract submission form can be found on the BASPCAN home page.

Friday 18 November 2016

Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham

Join authors and editors past and present for this special one-day conference to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Child Abuse Review

The day will include:

Optional pre-conference breakfast meeting for delegates on how to get published in Child Abuse Review
Opening plenary session setting the theme
Two parallel sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon on the following themes:
- Child Sexual Exploitation
- Neglect
- Domestic violence
- Translating research into practice
- Each parallel session will include one invited keynote lecture, a number of short presentations from submitted abstracts, and a plenary discussion.
A closing plenary and celebration of 25 years of Child Abuse Review.

Keynote Speakers:

Professor Nicky Stanley, University of Central Lancashire

Professor Marian Brandon, University of East Anglia

Professor Jenny Pearce, University of Bedfordshire

Dr Stephanie Holt, Trinity College, Dublin

Professor Kevin Browne, Nottingham University

Find out more:

Visit the BASPCAN website for the full programme, speaker updates and booking information – www.baspcan.org.uk

BASPCAN, 17 PRIORY STREET, YORK, YO1 6ET – TEL: 01904 613605 – conferences@baspcan.org.uk

Book online at http://www.baspcan.org.uk/booking.php

Registered Charity No. 279119

You can sign up for free contents alerts for Child Abuse Review at the journal home page

June 15, 2016

Child Abuse Review: Making a positive impact on safeguarding children

2016 is a significant year for our journal, Child Abuse Review, as we celebrate 25 years of journal production. During that time the journal has proved a positive forum for the publication of research, policy and practice in relation to child abuse and neglect. So we were particularly pleased to hear this week that, once again, the journal’s impact factor has risen by 12% on last year’s figure. This puts us 17^th out of 41 social work journals and on a par with much larger journals such as the British Journal of Social Work and the Children and Youth Services Review.

We are obviously really pleased with this progress and hope to be able to build on it. But mostly I am pleased because this is on a base of striving to ensure that the journal is relevant and accessible to those on the front line of child protection practice.

We will shortly be publishing issue three of this anniversary year, with an emphasis on continuity and change in child protection research and practice, and our special issue, due out later in the year, will focus on digital technologies, child abuse and child protection. You can view these, our open access virtual issues, and sign up for free contents alerts at the journal home page.

‘Evidence–Informed Practice, Practice-Informed Research’

On the 18^th November in Birmingham we will be hosting a special anniversary conference. This will include parallel sessions on child sexual exploitation, neglect, domestic violence, and on translating research into practice. We are inviting submission of abstracts for research to present at the conference, and it promises to be a really engaging day, with high quality free papers, and prominent keynote speakers.

The deadline for abstract submission is 30^th June, so if you have some research or practice evaluation to present, I would encourage you to submit an abstract.

To submit an abstract or register for the event, go to the BASPCAN events page:

http://www.baspcan.org.uk/events-national.php

May 18, 2016

Safeguarding Children’s Oral Health and Wellbeing

This month marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of a great training manual and online resource for dental teams in recognising and responding to concerns about abuse and neglect.

I had the privilege of working with a great team of dentists and others to pull together Child Protection and the Dental Team (http://www.cpdt.org.uk/) and it has been encouraging to see how it has been used across the country. The lead author, Jenny Harris, has recently pulled together a virtual issue of Child Abuse Review, freely available online, to highlight the ongoing needs to safeguard and protect children’s oral health and wellbeing. This was launched at the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry’s inaugural Stakeholder Day last week in London.

As Jenny points out in her editorial, this is about more than simply recognising when children’s oral health needs are being neglected, but also about awareness of wider patterns of neglect, and of the much broader public health issue of promoting good oral health and wellbeing.

Untreated dental disease not only causes pain and infection but also has an insidious impact on children’s growth and development and interrupts their play, education and social interaction.

The virtual issue consists of 9 papers covering issues specific to dental practice, as well as some wider articles considering different aspects of abuse and neglect and how we work with these. It is our hope that these papers will be of interest, not just to dental practitioners, but to all who share our concern for protecting children and promoting their health and wellbeing. Do take a look.