Child abuse notification in a country town

Abstract

This paper reports a study of child abuse notification in a small remote country town in Queensland. Australia. Aims were to investigate how strongly residents felt about child abuse; how likely they were to notify suspected abuse; indicators of abuse; notification facilitators and inhibitors; and the notification process. A cross-sectional survey design was used involving semi-structured interviews with a simple random sample of 60 living groups. Residents felt strongly about child abuse. They were more likely to notify physical and sexual abuse than neglect and emotional abuse. They emphasized obvious physical indicators, but also recognized behavioral and emotional indicators. Residents would notify primarily out of concern for the child's welfare but would hesitate to notify because of fear of retaliation against the child, because they had a relationship with the suspect family, because the suspect family presented a positive public image, and because respondents valued family privacy. Residents were more likely to notify locally accessible professionals rather than geographically distant statutory authorities. Women were more involved than men in the process, and residents discussed possible notification within their intimate social networks before notifying. Some results are related to the specifically rural context. Implications are developed for rural policy, services and public education.