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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.  

 

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Safeguarding Child Development

In our 2009-11 biennial review of Serious Case Reviews, Marian Brandon and I highlighted the crucial importance of an understanding of child development to effective safeguarding of children. This is not a new perspective however, and the relevance of such understanding spans a range of areas, including:

  • recognition of the influence of development on vulnerability towards abuse
  • recognition of developmental delay as a possible indicator of abuse or neglect
  • the influence of children’s development on our interpretation of the signs and symptoms of abuse
  • the long-term impact of abuse and neglect on children’s development and how we may intervene to improve developmental outcomes, and
  • the particular vulnerability of disabled children.

These are all themes that have been explored within Child Abuse Review over the years. 25th anniversary issue 1 cover

We have now published a new virtual issue which picks up on some of the themes through a selection of some of the most important papers on the theme, particularly from recent years.

The virtual issue with a full editorial and seven papers is freely available for download from the Child Abuse Review Website

Virtual Issue on Child Development and Safeguarding

Contents

Why Have We Made Neglect So Complicated? Taking a Fresh Look at Noticing and Helping the Neglected Child
(Volume 24, Issue 2, 2015)
Brigid Daniel

Health, Developmental and Support Needs of Vulnerable Children – Comparing Children in Foster Care and Children in Need
(Volume 23, Issue 6, 2014)
Shanti Raman and Sharmishta Sahu

Out-of-Home Care versus In-home Care for Children Who Have Been Maltreated: A Systematic Review of Health and Wellbeing Outcomes
(Volume 25, Issue 4, 2016)
Miriam J. Maclean, Scott Sims, Melissa O’Donnell and Ruth Gilbert

Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and Improvements in Child Development
(Volume 18, Issue 1, 2009)
Mogens Nygaard Christoffersen and Diane DePanfilis

Child Abuse, Child Protection and Disabled Children: A Review of Recent Research
(Volume 21, Issue 1, 2012)
Kirsten Stalker and Katherine McArthur

The Connections between Disability and Child Abuse: A Review of the Research Evidence
(Volume 1, Issue 3, 1992)
Liz Kelly

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Evidence-informed Practice, Practice-informed Research

This Friday, 18th November, we are celebrating 25 years of the journal Child Abuse Review with a special anniversary conference in Birmingham.

To mark the occasion, we have launched a virtual issue of Child Abuse Review which is freely available to download from the journal website:

Child Abuse Review

Evidence-informed Practice, Practice-informed Research

In this virtual issue we have pulled together a selection of papers from across the 25 years of the journal’s publication within the four conference themes of neglect, child sexual exploitation, domestic violence, and research into practice. We include papers by each of our four keynote speakers, as well as papers by several of the other free-paper authors who are speaking at the conference.

Over the 25 years of the journal, we have seen an increasing emphasis on evidence-informed practice: ‘the application of appropriate evidence, combined with the experience of the practitioner and their responsiveness to the current context’ (Sidebotham, 2013). Equally important is the emphasis on research being informed by and relevant to practice.

 

Neglect

Neglect is one of the most prevalent and most challenging forms of child maltreatment. Our keynote speaker, Marian Brandon, is well known for her work on Serious Case Reviews, and has given a lot of thought to the role of neglect in child fatality and serious injury (Brandon, Bailey, Belderson, & Larsson, 2014). She points out that while neglect is rarely the direct cause of a child maltreatment fatality, it is a contributory factor in a much larger proportion of cases, and we need a more nuanced understanding of the different forms of neglect and their potential impact on the child. Given all that we know about the prevalence and impact of neglect, it is perhaps surprising that this topic is relatively under-represented in published research. One of our other conference speakers, Katherine Kloppen, undertook a systematic review of prevalence studies of child maltreatment in Nordic countries and found only one study reporting on the prevalence of neglect (Kloppen, Mæhle, Kvello, Haugland, & Breivik, 2015). Within Child Abuse Review, we have been able to publish a number of original research articles focusing specifically on neglect, including our 2014 special issue, from which we would particularly highlight the papers by Elaine Farmer, another conference speaker: (Farmer & Lutman, 2014).

 

Child Sexual Exploitation

Child sexual exploitation (CSE) has come to prominence more recently, although it is clearly not a new phenomenon, as was pointed out by Nina Biehal, another conference speaker, in her 1999 paper on the risks associated with going missing from substitute care (Biehal & Wade, 1999) and in a highly cited review of CSE by Elaine Chase and June Statham (Chase & Statham, 2005). Our conference keynote speaker on this theme, Jenny Pearce, has been a leading advocate for appropriate responses to dealing with the issues raised by sexual exploitation, as highlighted in an early discussion paper (J. Pearce, 2006) and a more recent review of how Safeguarding Children Boards work to protect children from sexual exploitation (J. J. Pearce, 2014).

 

Domestic Violence

Our awareness of the impact of domestic violence on children has similarly grown over the years, and it is now much more clearly recognised as always being harmful to children. Part of this has involved the recognition that children are harmed even if they are not directly involved in the violence, and that the ongoing context of coercive control may be as damaging to children (if not more so) as any physical incidents. In a landmark paper published earlier this year, Emma Katz explores these issues and considers how we as practitioners can respond more appropriately (Katz, 2016). Preventing and responding to domestic violence presents huge challenges to practitioners, particularly where children are involved. In a systematic review available online through our Early View function, William Turner and colleagues searched for evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to improve the response of professionals (Turner et al., 2015). They found good evidence of training interventions improving knowledge, attitudes and clinical competence, but less evidence around system level interventions. One of the biggest challenges in this area is how to work with fathers, and this is an issue which Stephanie Holt, our keynote conference speaker, has specifically explored in her research (Holt, 2015).

 

Research into Practice

Our fourth topic of research into practice is addressed by one of the former editors of Child Abuse Review, Kevin Browne. Kevin has been a leading advocate for child protection services, particularly in Eastern Europe, and his paper comparing institutional care and international adoption between Romania and Lithuania is published online through Early View (Chou & Browne, 2016). Translating research into practice isn’t always easy and the paper by Helen Buckley and colleagues exploring the factors that may influence practitioner uptake of research is well worth reading (Buckley, Tonmyr, Lewig, & Jack, 2013). They highlight particular ways in which practitioners can both access and use research evidence to inform their practice, and get involved in further study and research, thus promoting the full circle of evidence-informed practice and practice-informed research.

 

You can access all the papers from the 25th anniversary virtual issue by clicking on the link below:

Child Abuse Review 25th anniversary virtual issue

 

Content of the Child Abuse Review 25th Anniversary Virtual Issue

Neglect

The Role of Neglect in Child Fatality and Serious Injury
(Volume 23, Issue 4, 2014)
Marian Brandon, Sue Bailey, Pippa Belderson and Birgit Larsson

Prevalence of Intrafamilial Child Maltreatment in the Nordic countries: A Review
(Volume 24, Issue 1, 2015)
Kathrine Kloppen, Magne Mæhle, Øyvind Kvello, Siren Haugland and Kyrre Breivik

Working Effectively with Neglected Children and Their Families – What Needs To Change?
(Volume 23, Issue 4, 2014)
Elaine Farmer and Eleanor Lutman


Child Sexual Exploitation

Taking a Chance? The Risks Associated with Going Missing from Substitute Care
(Volume 8, Issue 6, 1999)
Nina Biehal and Jim Wade

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

Who needs to be involved in safeguarding sexually exploited young people?
(Volume 15, Issue 5, 2006)
Jenny Pearce

‘What’s Going On’ to Safeguard Children and Young People from Child Sexual Exploitation: A Review of Local Safeguarding Children Boards’ Work to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation
(Volume 23, Issue 3, 2014)
Jenny J. Pearce


Domestic Violence

Beyond the Physical Incident Model: How Children Living with Domestic Violence are Harmed By and Resist Regimes of Coercive Control
(Volume 25, Issue 1, 2016)
Emma Katz

Interventions to Improve the Response of Professionals to Children Exposed to Domestic Violence and Abuse: A Systematic Review
Early View: First Published 29 June 2015
William Turner, Jonathan Broad, Jessica Drinkwater, Adam Firth, Marianne Hester, Nicky Stanley, Eszter Szilassy and Gene Feder

Post-separation Fathering and Domestic Abuse: Challenges and Contradictions
(Volume 24, Issue 3, 2015)
Stephanie Holt


Research into Practice

The Relationship over Time between International Adoption and Institutional Care in Romania and Lithuania
Early View: First Published 14 July 2015
Shihning Chou and Kevin D. Browne

Factors Influencing the Uptake of Research Evidence in Child Welfare: A Synthesis of Findings from Australia, Canada and Ireland
(Volume 23, Issue 1, 2014)
Helen Buckley, Lil Tonmyr, Kerry Lewig and Susan Jack

 

 

 

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Evidence – Informed Practice, Practice – Informed Research

Celebrating 25 years of BASPCAN’s Journal

‘Child Abuse Review’

Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham

Friday 18 November 2016

 

 

25th anniversary issue 1 coverAs 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

 

 

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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 25th 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 30th 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

 

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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.

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I had the privilege of working with a great team of dentists and otherscpdt cover 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. 25th anniversary issue 1 coverCairns 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

 

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Child abuse in fact and fiction: Seminar notes from ethics and children’s literature event, Warwick University, 2015

 

Peter Pan

All children, except one, grow up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So said JM Barrie in the opening words of Peter Pan. Only it isn’t true. The reality is that far too many children never get the opportunity to grow up; or have to grow up before their time; or find that childhood isn’t the wonderful experience portrayed by Peter Pan, and all because of abuse or neglect suffered at the hands of their parents.

 

james 1Right from the beginning they started beating him for almost no reason at all. They never called him by his real name, but always referred to him as ‘you disgusting little beast’ or ‘you filthy nuisance’ or ‘you miserable creature’… His room was as bare as a prison cell.

 

Roald Dahl. James and the Giant Peach, p8.

 

 

victoria climbieThe food would be cold and would be given to her on a piece of plastic while she was tied up in the bath. She would eat it like a dog, pushing her face to the plate. Except, of course that a dog is not usually tied up in a plastic bag full of its excrement.

Neil Garnham, QC – Victoria Climbié Inquiry

 

Victoria spent much of her last days, in the winter of 1999–2000, living and sleeping in a bath in an unheated bathroom, bound hand and foot inside a bin bag, lying in her own urine and faeces. It is not surprising then that towards the end of her short life, Victoria was stooped like an old lady and could walk only with great difficulty

He found the cause of death to be hypothermia, which had arisen in the context of malnourishment, a damp environment and restricted movement. He also found 128 separate injuries on Victoria’s body, showing she had been beaten with a range of sharp and blunt instruments. No part of her body had been spared. Marks on her wrists and ankles indicated that her arms and legs had been tied together.

Child abuse is a reality, an unimaginable reality, for many children. A reality that goes way beyond the imagined worlds we see in children’s fiction.

 

These notes are from a seminar I gave recently on child abuse and children’s literature.  I’d be really interested in any views/comments on the issues raised.

Continue reading “Child abuse in fact and fiction: Seminar notes from ethics and children’s literature event, Warwick University, 2015”