Effects of Implementing Trauma-Informed Training at Child Protection Professionals

Abstract

Trauma-informed training is essential for child protection professionals as their support and help to children, young people, and families is a significant factor in overcoming many problems and challenges, including various traumas, from early childhood to adulthood. This article aims to overview the current situation in the implementation of trauma-informed training, analyze studies regarding the effects of the implementation of this training in child protection, and provide evidence-based recommendations that indicate the need to further improve the competencies of child protection professionals for work with children, youth and families with trauma experience. The purpose of this article is to indicate the importance of implementing a trauma-informed approach in working with children and young people who have experienced some trauma, as well as significant challenges, limitations, and possible directions for improving the implementation of trauma-informed training in this area in order to provide them with more adequate and better quality support. The article is based on the analysis of existing scientific literature, and the method of work used is content analysis. The article begins by conceptualizing the trauma-informed approach, advantages, and limitations in implementing this approach in the child protection system. After that, a presentation and analysis of data on trauma-informed training and previous studies findings on the effects of this training on child protection professionals is given. This review showed a lack of more detailed and comprehensive studies on the effects of trauma-informed training in child protection, a lack of studies that deal in more detail with factors, gaps, and challenges in the implementation of this training, and a lack of data of training methods and techniques used for trauma-informed approach transferring to professionals, as well as monitoring. The implications for trauma-informed training for child protection professionals and the gaps to be covered in future studies are discussed.