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 25, 2016

Child Sexual Exploitation: marginalised perspectives and temporal shifts

‘They can show some love or caring, instead of this “we’re moving you there”. They need to stop moving people around like bags of rubbish nobody wants’

Christina, 21

That quote was taken from research with young women who had been in Local Authority care that is featured in the latest virtual issue of Child Abuse Review. The researchers from London Metropolitan University drew their findings from life story interviews with 14 young women, and point out the cultures and systems that made them vulnerable to sexual exploitation.

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is not a new phenomenon, but we are, perhaps, just starting to get to grips with the extent of the problem and what we can do about it.

Our guest editors, Caroline Bradbury-Jones and Jenny Pearce, have drawn together 9 papers on CSE published in Child Abuse Review over the past 25 years. They point out some of the achievements that have been made in both policy and practice to better understand the nature of the abuse and protect children from it. However, as they point out, there is still a lot to be done to raise awareness with families and communities about the nature of CSE, to train staff in identifying indicators of CSE, to improve information sharing between professionals working in different disciplines, and to work for more child-centred practices and coordinated interventions between statutory and voluntary service interventions.

All the papers in this virtual issue are freely available online for a limited period along with Caroline and Jenny’s helpful editorial. Do take a look.

‘In all, the articles in this virtual issue show us how far research, policy and practice has moved in advancing the protection of children from CSE over the last few decades. They also remind us that research can, and does, helpfully inform policy and practice but that recommendations from the work and dissemination of findings is important to effect change. The articles also bear ongoing resonance with current issues, many of which need further development of the evidence base and improvements in policy and practice. We look forward to such future activities to further protect children from CSE in the future.’

Contents of the Virtual Issue on Child Sexual Exploitation

Bradbury-Jones C., Pearce J. 2016. Child Sexual Exploitation: marginalised perspectives and temporal shifts

Ireland K. 1993. Sexual exploitation of children and international travel and tourism. Child Abuse Review 2(4): 263-270.

Lillywhite R, Skidmore P. 2006. Boys are not sexually exploited? A challenge to practitioners. Child Abuse Review 15(5): 351-361.

Ward J, Patel N. 2006. Broadening the discussion on ‘sexual exploitation’: ethnicity, sexual exploitation and young people. Child Abuse Review 15(5): 341-350.

Scott S, Harper Z. 2006. Meeting the needs of sexually exploited young people: the challenge of conducting policy-relevant research. Child Abuse Review 15(5): 313-325.

Coy M. 2009. ‘Moved around like bags of rubbish nobody wants’: how multiple placement moves can make young women vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Child Abuse Review 18(4): 254-266.

Melrose M. 2013. Twenty-First Century Party People: Young People and Sexual Exploitation in the New Millennium. Child Abuse Review 22(3): 155-168.

Dodsworth J. 2014. Sexual Exploitation, Selling and Swapping Sex: Victimhood and Agency. Child Abuse Review 23(3): 185-199.

Brayley H, Cockbain E. 2014. British Children Can Be Trafficked Too: Towards an Inclusive Definition of Internal Child Sex Trafficking. Child Abuse Review 23(3): 171-184.

Ahern E, Sadler LH, Lamb MEL, Gariglietti G. 2016. Wellbeing of Professionals Working with Victims of Child Sexual Exploitation. Child Abuse Review.

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.

Children’s Oral Health and Wellbeing: Table of Contents

An overview and pilot study of the dental practitioner’s role in child protection. Cairns A, Murphy M, Welbury R. (2004) Child Abuse Review 13(1): 65–72

An audit of a child protection basic awareness programme within the dental hospital setting: are we effective or not? Soldani F, Robertson S, Foley J. (2008) Child Abuse Review 17(1): 55–63.

Clinical Audit of Children’s Missed Dental Appointments in a City-Wide Salaried Community Dental Service in Relation to Guidance on When to Suspect Child Maltreatment. Harris JC, Firth LM, Chadwick BL. (2015) Child Abuse Review Early View: 16 Nov 2015

Child abuse, child protection and disabled children: a review of recent research. Stalker K, McArthur K. (2012) Child Abuse Review 21(1): 24–40.

Resistant Parents and Child Protection: Knowledge Base, Pointers for Practice and Implications for Policy. Tuck V. (2013) Child Abuse Review 22(1): 5–19.

Why Have We Made Neglect So Complicated? Taking a Fresh Look at Noticing and Helping the Neglected Child. Daniel, B. (2015) Child Abuse Review 24 (2): 82–94.

Early indicators of child abuse and neglect: a multi-professional Delphi study. Powell C. (2003) Child Abuse Review 12(1): 25–40.

Red skies, risk factors and early indicators. Sidebotham P. (2003) Child Abuse Review 12(1): 41–45.

The Contemporary Politics of Child Protection: Part Two (the BASPCAN Founder’s Lecture 2015). Parton N. (2016) Child Abuse Review 25(1): 9–16

May 4, 2016

What Helps Children and Young People Move Forward Following Child Maltreatment?

‘It is known that some young people show remarkable resilience to very negative experiences. For others, however, alongside a broad range of multiagency interventions, appropriate individual/family psychological support and therapeutic approaches are desirable and/or necessary to facilitate recovery and prevent a severe impact on the function and quality of victims’ lives.’ – Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis

Our latest, themed, issue of Child Abuse Review focuses on a number of different interventions for children and young people following child maltreatment, and presents a positive picture of what can be done to help them move forward. Central to any effective intervention is an approach that learns from and engages with the ‘experts by experience’: both children and young people affected by abuse and neglect, and their parents. As Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis points out in her accompanying editorial, two themes coming across in the included papers are ‘the role of parents, including communication style, warmth, sensitivity and responsiveness’ and ‘hearing the voices of young people’.

While the full articles are only available to BASPCAN members and subscribers to the journal, all abstracts can be accessed freely online.

Themed Issue on Interventions following child maltreatment. Child Abuse Review, 2016, 25:2

Table of Contents

Editorial: What helps children and young people move forward following child maltreatment? Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis

Intervening with severely and chronically neglected children and their families: The contribution of trauma-informed approaches. Tristan Milot, Diane St-Laurent, Louise S. Éthier

Predictors of group treatment outcomes for child sexual abuse: An investigation of the role of demographic and abuse characteristics. Atara Hiller, Craig Springer, Justin Misurell, Amy Kranzler, Shireen Rizvi

Turning it around: What do Young women say helps them to move on from child sexual exploitation? Philip Gilligan

Head Start’s impact on cognitive outcomes for children in foster care. Kyunghee Lee

When preschool is not enough: Head Start and foster care (Invited Comment). Adam J Zolotor

Interrupting the intergenerational transmission of violence. Keri L.M. Pinna

Book Reviews and Training Updates

Practitioner toolkit: Getting it right for children and families affected by parental problem alcohol and drug use (Training Update)

FGM aware: Sara’s story (Training Update)

Attaching through love, hugs and play: simple strategies to help build connections with your child by Deborah D Gray (Book Review)

Treatment of child abuse: Common ground for mental health, medical and legal practitioners (2^nd Edition) edited by R. M. Reece, R. F. Hanson and J. Sargent (Book Review)

April 23, 2016April 22, 2016

Child Abuse Review: 25 years of supporting professionals and still improving

Yesterday we had our editorial board meeting for Child Abuse Review. It was encouraging to reflect on how the journal has been going and think about how we can make it even better for our readers and our authors.

Improving our readers’ experience

Child Abuse Review has always prided itself in publishing high quality research that is relevant to practitioners, accessible and readable. So it was encouraging to hear from our publishers that our article downloads have increased another 3% last year to nearly 80,000 from across the globe. We are always looking for ways to improve what we produce and how, so if you have any ideas do let us know. One particularly successful initiative last year was to produce a virtual issue on Child Protection in Nordic Countries, available freely for a short time. This has been followed by one on child sexual abuse and children’s rights, and others now in the pipeline:

Children’s oral health and wellbeing
Child sexual exploitation
Parental mental health problems

Keep an eye on the website for details of those, or sign up for our free contents alerts.

The number of full-text downloads for articles published in the journal has also increased this year, with our top 10 articles receiving an average of over 1,000 downloads:

If I saw Mum was upset… Children’s experiences of coercive control

‘If I saw Mum was upset I’d give her a cuddle or something like that, try and make her feel happy.’ (Bob, aged 12)

The Archers –

a ‘contemporary drama in a rural setting’ – is apparently the world’s longest-running radio soap opera.

Recently it has barged its way into our national consciousness with the unfolding storyline of the increasingly controlling behaviour of one of the main characters, Rob Titchener, towards his new wife, Helen. The narrative appears to have captured something of the reality of coercive and controlling behaviour that many women (and also fewer, though still many, men) in our society suffer as a daily, lived experience.

It is a reality that I am coming across increasingly in the Serious Case Reviews I have been studying as part of a Department for Education-funded project to explore the lessons that can be learned nationally from serious and fatal child maltreatment. Out of 175 case reviews where a child has died or been seriously harmed through abuse or neglect, 94 (54%) have had evidence of domestic violence within the parents’ relationships. I suspect the reality may be even higher.

And, sadly, that doesn’t capture the far greater numbers of children living with the fear and intimidation of ongoing domestic violence (both physical and through other coercive behaviours).

Beyond the physical incident model

In our January issue of Child Abuse Review, we published an important paper by Emma Katz from Liverpool Hope University: Beyond the physical incident model: How children living with domestic violence are harmed by and resist regimes of coercive control. Dr Katz interviewed 15 mothers and 15 children who had managed to separate from perpetrators of domestic violence.

‘Lots of times when Mum was giving me attention he’d tell her to go over to him so she’d have to leave me to play by myself.’ (Shannon, aged 10)

The responses to her interviews demonstrated how, even in the absence of specific incidents of physical violence, these children and young people experienced horrific lives which were dominated by the coercive, controlling behaviour of the perpetrators, including:

Control of the women’s and children’s time, movement and activities within the home
Preventing mothers spending time with their children
Limiting the children’s ability just to be children
Isolating mothers and children from their families, friends and sources of support
Restricting what mothers could spend their money on

‘[Because of the perpetrator’s/father’s control] I just didn’t go out, so then the children didn’t go out. It was just school and home. So they missed out on days out, family trips, socialising with people. And they’ve missed out on knowing what healthy relationships are about in other families because children don’t make as many friendships if you can’t mix with other mums.’ (Marie, mother)

However, in spite of the extremely negative impacts on these children, Dr Katz also found examples of remarkable resilience: of children and their mothers finding ways to support and sustain each other, and ultimately to escape from the entrapment that had been built around them.

In her paper, Dr Katz argues that we need to move beyond models based on specific incidents of physical violence, to be aware of the daily lived reality of many of these mothers and children, and to seek ways to recognise and support their attempts to build resilience and break free.

You can read and download Dr Katz’s report for free from the Child Abuse Review website.

March 3, 2016

The shifting culture of child protection

The year 2016 marks the 25^th anniversary of Child Abuse Review and I am pleased to announce that our first issue of the anniversary volume is now freely available online. The issue contains five stimulating original articles along with two training updates, two book reviews, and our accompanying editorial.

The primary paper to launch this anniversary volume is Nigel Parton’s review of the contemporary politics of child protection, based on his Founder’s lecture at the 2015 BASPCAN congress in Edinburgh. Parton provides a wide-ranging review of the issues facing child protection in the UK today and his paper is well worth reading.

Over the past 25 years a lot has changed in the child protection field.

Parton argues that the child protection systems introduced through the Children Act 1989 were in response to a number of high-profile cases of physical and sexual child abuse within the family, and that this created a tension between professionals intervening ‘too little and too late’ or conversely, ‘too early and too much’.

‘The Children Act 1989 was thus centrally concerned with trying to establish a new set of balances between the state and the family in the care and protection of children. I argued (Parton, 1992) that the idea of child protection at that time, in the early 1990s, was essentially concerned with both the protection of children from ‘significant harm’ in the family and also the protection of the family from unwarrantable and inappropriate state interventions. Crucially the focus of law, policy and practice was how we could best address the abuse of children within the family and the primary concerns were physical and sexual abuse.’

Over the past two decades, however, the nature of child protection has changed, and reflects broader shifts in our culture. The recognition of both physical and sexual abuse within a variety of institutions and community settings, along with research highlighting the long-term impact of chronic abuse and neglect, has led to a broadening and an increasing complexity of what now constitutes child protection or safeguarding:

An increasing focus on the full range of the life-course from pre-birth to young adulthood, particularly as the dangers of child neglect in the early months of life and its impact on the brain and child development have received considerable attention;
The recognition that young people themselves, as well as adults, can perpetrate abuse;
The growth of new dangers including those related to the internet and a range of forms of social media and, most recently, the dangers of ‘radicalisation’;
The identification of new forms of abuse which include female genital mutilation, forced marriage and child sexual exploitation.

Within this context, child welfare professionals across the country work incredibly hard to support families and protect children. In the research I am currently working on for the Department of Education, we have identified a year-on-year increase in child protection activity, but in spite of this, no change in the number of deaths directly caused by maltreatment, and, if anything, a reduction in fatality rates in all but the late adolescent group.

During the years 2011-14, a total of 1,856,400 referrals were received by children’s social care services in England, an average of 619,000 per year.

However, in contrast to this recognition of the extremely good and sensitive work being done by professionals, Parton argues that ‘debates about child protection have become increasingly emotionally charged and politicised’ with what he calls ‘a politicised narrative of blame and failure’. Rather than being seen as motivated professionals who are committed to working for children’s safety and well-being, child protection workers are blamed both for failing to protect children and for disrupting families.

In a complex world in which children grow and thrive, are abused, exploited and neglected, have fun and participate, laugh, play, cry and cower in fear, we need to challenge this culture of blame and failure, and instead work to support children and families, and the professionals who work with them every day. We need to move to a narrative of ‘progress and hope’, celebrating all that has been achieved in supporting children’s rights, and taking those opportunities to learn and improve.

I’d encourage you to take a look at Nigel Parton’s paper and the other papers in this special anniversary edition of Child Abuse Review.

Child Abuse Review, Volume 25, Issue 1: Contents

Jane V Appleton & Peter Sidebotham. 25 Years of Supporting Professionals in Safeguarding Children (pages 3–8)

#itsnotok: Sexual abuse and sexual violence awareness week

This week is the inaugural Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness week ‘#itsnotok’ (1-7 February 2016), a national awareness campaign supported by BASPCAN, the NSPCC, NAPAC and other organisations.

In support of this, we have published a special virtual issue of Child Abuse Review:

Child Sexual Abuse and Children’s Rights

This collection of eleven papers, all of which are available on open access, has been selected from a much larger body of work that BASPCAN has published in Child Abuse Review over the past 24 years. Each paper has helped to stimulate the ongoing debate in respect of child sexual abuse and children’s rights to better protection and therapeutic services.

In an accompanying editorial, Jonathan Picken, Independent Consultant; and Chair, Education and Learning Sub-Committee, BASPCAN points out the timeliness and importance of this issue:

Papers published during this period helped shape professional practice and supported colleagues who were often severely criticised for their attempts to bring the scandal of such abuse and exploitation to the attention of the public. It is apt, therefore, that the recent critical assessment of child sexual abuse (CSA) in the family network, ‘Protecting children from harm’ (Office of the Children’s Commissioner, 2015) should highlight the true prevalence of sexual abuse across England and help continue the campaign to ensure rights enshrined within the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) are fully recognised and protected.

I would encourage you to read Jonathan’s editorial and the associated papers of the virtual issue. Sexual abuse and sexual violence are crucially important issues that are not going to go away. Perhaps more than any other kind of maltreatment, sexual abuse hits at the core of a person’s identity, and leaves deep scars. We owe it to women and children the world over to take this seriously and to continue to strive to improve our responses to sexual abuse and violence, working to prevent such violence and to support those affected by it.

Like many other authors whose work has helped inform our understanding of CSA, authors of these 11 papers have contributed much to the ongoing battle to end such abuse and exploitation. Their work is celebrated here in the hope that it will continue to provoke debate across the coalition of partner organisations coordinating #itsnotok and efforts to raise awareness of sexual abuse and violence and the services available. The associated week of action comes at an opportune moment as the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse chaired by Justice Goddard progresses its work. The need for similar investigations across the five nations perhaps finally vindicates the efforts of BASPCAN members and other colleagues who have continued to highlight the needs of those affected.

Virtual Issue Contents

The pattern of child sexual abuse in Northern Ireland
(Volume 1, Issue 2, 1992)
M. T. Kennedy and M. K. C. Manwell

Pornography and the organization of intrafamilial and extrafamilial child sexual abuse: developing a conceptual model
(Volume 6, Issue 2, 1997)
Catherine Itzin

Prevention of sexual abuse in children with learning disabilities
(Volume 7, Issue 5, 1998)
Ana Maria Martorella and Ana Maria Portugues

The neglected priority: sexual abuse in the context of residential child care
(Volume 8, Issue 6, 1999)
Meg Lindsay

Assessment and intervention in cases of suspected ritual child sexual abuse
(Volume 10, Issue 4, 2001)
Bernard Gallagher

Commercial and sexual exploitation of children and young people in the UK – a review
(Volume 14, Issue 1, 2005)
Elaine Chase and June Statham

Twenty-first century party people: Young people and sexual exploitation in the new millennium
(Volume 22, Issue 3, 2013)
Margaret Melrose

Dealing with a problem that doesn’t exist? Professional responses to female perpetrated child sexual abuse
(Volume 16, Issue 4, 2007)
Lisa Bunting

In Demand: Therapeutic services for children and young people who have experienced sexual abuse
(Volume 21, Issue 5, 2012)
Debra Allnock, Lorraine Radford, Lisa Bunting, Avril Price, Natalie Morgan-Klein, Jane Ellis and Anne Stafford

Disclosure of child sexual abuse: Delays, non-disclosure and partial disclosure. What the research tells us and implications for practice
(Volume 24, Issue 3, 2015)
Rosaleen McElvaney

Social work intervention to protect children: Aspects of research and practice
(Volume 1, Issue 1, 1992)
Olive Stevenson

Tag: Child Abuse Review