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

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

Table of Contents

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.

 

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.

 

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

Table of Contents

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’