Current Issues in Child Protection: An Overview of the Debates in Contemporary Journals

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the current debate and concerns in child protection work as reflected in current, mainly British, academic and professional journals. Some of the concerns which have been expressed during the past twenty years are still part of contemporary discourse. These include the divide between physical punishment and abuse, child fatalities, assessment, procedures, intervention and prevention. Some more recent themes have also emerged, in particular ritual abuse, the links between domestic violence and child maltreatment, children as witnesses and the plight of children with disabilities and young corers. Perhaps the most prominent feature is the overwhelming pre-eminence of articles about child sexual abuse. Physical neglect remains on the sidelines while emotional abuse, as the main or sole form, merits barely a mention.