Alleged Child Abuse Research Articles

Decision making in child protection: An international comparative study on maltreatment substantiation, risk assessment and interventions recommendations, and the role of professionals’ child welfare attitudes

Child welfare professionals regularly make crucial decisions that have a significant impact on children and their families. The present study presents the Judgments and Decision Processes in Context model (JUDPIC) and uses it to examine the relationships between three independent domains: case characteristic (mother's wish with regard to removal), practitioner characteristic (child welfare attitudes), and protective system context (four countries: Israel, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Spain); and three dependent factors: substantiation of maltreatment, risk assessment, and intervention recommendation. The sample consisted of 828 practitioners from four countries. Participants were presented with a vignette of a case of alleged child maltreatment and were asked to determine whether maltreatment was substantiated, assess risk and recommend an intervention using structured instruments. Participants’ child welfare attitudes were assessed. The case characteristic of mother's wish with regard to removal had no impact on judgments and decisions. In contrast, practitioners’ child welfare attitudes were associated with substantiation, risk assessments and recommendations. There were significant country differences on most measures. The findings support most of the predictions derived from the JUDPIC model. The significant differences between practitioners from different countries underscore the importance of context in child protection decision making. Training should enhance practitioners’ awareness of the impact that their attitudes and the context in which they are embedded have on their judgments and decisions.

Mississippi's Guardians Ad Litem Need Clarification of Their Role and Responsibilities

Currently, Mississippi has no centralized and clearly defined statute or rule for what qualifications a guardian ad litem (“GAL”) should possess, what details a chancellor should provide a GAL upon appointment, and which court’s rules will be followed, chancery court or youth court, in chancery cases involving allegations of child abuse or neglect. This Comment argues that, to truly protect the best interests of the child, the GALs need standards that are clear, uniform, and easily accessible. Specifically, this Comment argues for a specific rule concerning GALs in Mississippi.There needs to be either a revision to the existing rules or the adoption of a new uniform rule that clearly defines the GAL process. Such a revision or uniform rule would alleviate the confusion currently experienced by many GALs, both in chancery court and youth court cases involving child abuse and neglect allegations. The rule should address whether a GAL must be qualified as an expert or merely certified; what instructions a chancellor or youth court judge should provide the GAL regarding his role in the child protection proceeding; and whether the chancery court must follow chancery court rules or youth court rules during a hearing on allegations of child abuse or neglect.Part I of this Comment discusses how Mississippi’s Youth Court Act, Mississippi case law, and the Uniform Rules of Youth Court Practice have impacted the role of the GAL in Mississippi. Part II provides a summary of three recent Mississippi appellate opinions that discussed the GAL’s role and built upon each other to hold that GALs should be qualified as expert witnesses before they present opinion testimony. Part III argues that the GAL role in general needs to be clarified more fully, especially with respect to qualification or certification, appointment orders, and court rules.

Shaken baby syndrome: a South African medico-legal perspective

Shaken Baby Syndrome refers to the violent and repetitive shaking of an infant, and is a form of abusive head trauma. It was first described in 1974, and has since been the topic of intensive study and discussion. The syndrome has classically been diagnosed with a triad of injuries, namely subdural haemorrhage, retinal haemorrhage and encephalopathy (brain abnormalities). However, recent publications have led to some doubt regarding the causation and diagnostic significance of the It is now generally accepted that other conditions, even natural diseases, may cause the findings listed in the so-called triad. To date, no reported case law is available on Shaken Baby Syndrome in South Africa; therefore this article focuses on cases in the United States and United Kingdom to delineate some of the issues associated with litigating the condition. This includes the obligation of expert witnesses to give independent, factual evidence about their areas of expertise. It is recommended that medical and legal professionals involved in cases of alleged child abuse should collect as much information as possible about the context of the case. Confessions by parents or caregivers should be treated with circumspection. Awareness campaigns should be aimed at informing the public of the dangers of shaking an infant. And with regards to Shaken Baby Syndrome an increased focus on evidence-based medicine is necessary to dissipate the uncertainty around the condition.

Support and reluctance in the pre-substantive phase of alleged child abuse victim investigative interviews: revised versus standard NICHD protocols.

Children's unwillingness to report abuse places them at risk for re-victimization, and interviewers who do not respond sensitively to that unwillingness may increase the likelihood that victims will not disclose abuse. Interviewer support and children's reluctance were examined on a turn-by-turn basis using sequential analyses in 199 forensic interviews of 3- to 13-year-olds who alleged maltreatment. Half of the children were interviewed using the Revised Protocol that emphasized rapport-building (RP), the others using the Standard National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Protocol (SP). When using the RP, interviewers provided proportionally more support than when using the SP, but even when using the RP they did not specifically provide support when children expressed reluctance. The RP promoted immediate cooperation when reluctant utterances were met with support, however, suggesting that supportive statements were valuable. The findings enhance our understanding of children's willingness to participate in investigative interviews and the means through which interviewers can foster the comfort and well-being of young witnesses.

Fallout from Rotherham abuse: the challenges and implications

With a series of investigations set to look into how agencies handled child abuse allegations in Rotherham, CYP Now assesses what impact the case will have for children's services nationally and asks what lessons can be learned

False allegations of child abuse in contested family law cases: The implications for psychological practice

Educational psychologists are working increasingly with children who are not only from families where there has been divorce or separation but who are also the subject of contested family law cases. This study investigates 107 children from 72 families in which residence issues had been previously settled but which were subject to ongoing disputes regarding contact or change of residence. Such cases are marked in general by allegations and counter-allegations of each parent in regard to the historical or current conduct of the other. This study considers the frequency of allegations of child physical or sexual abuse in cases of this kind, with a particular focus on false allegations. It also notes the high prevalence of mental health problems among the children involved in the disputes. Implications for educational psychology practice are examined.

Justice delayed –Justice denied; a study on time intervals of medico-legal examinations, reporting and giving evidence in cases of alleged child abuse victims

Introduction: A medico-legal examination is an important step in the legal system where initiation of giving justice to the victim begins. Giving ‘Justice’ is a process where many stake holders are involved. An undue delay in the system is considered as justice denied as well as draining of the value of the judgment. Objective : to find out the time frames of the medico-legal examinations, reporting, and giving oral evidence in a court of law and recommend measures to improve the existing system. Study Design : Retrospective descriptive study was conducted based on case records maintained by first and second authors for past ten years. The information was gathered on a proforma to fulfill the objectives. The data was analyzed using version 16 of SPSS statistical package. Results : Out of 110 cases studied 78% of cases were on alleged sexual abuse. 52% belonged to the adolescent age group (12-18). 74% of cases were seen within 24hours of issue of MLEF but 5.5 % were seen after 7 days. 56(51%) cases examined did not receive summons/request from a relevant authority indicating that either the cases were settled with the police or no further investigations carried out. Response to summons/request for MLR was good (80% were sent within 3 months). Mean time taken to summon/request a report by the relevant authority was 17 months, while mean time to receive a summons from the High Court was 50.6 months (4.2 years). The mean time taken to give medical evidence was 62.5 months (5.2 years) from the day of the examination. Conclusion: There was no delay in initiation of medico-legal examination. Responding to summons was satisfactory. However, the mean period of 1.4 years in requesting the report and period of 5 years in high court proceedings need serious considerations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/mljsl.v1i1.7266 Medico-Legal Journal of Sri Lanka 2011; 1(1), Jan-April : 20-26

Responding to information about children in adversity: Ten years of a differential response model in Western Australia

This article uses a comprehensive database about children in adversity collected over the 16-year period from 1990 to 2005 in the state of Western Australia. The focus of this interrogation is the effect of major changes in responses to information about children brought to the attention of the Western Australian statutory authority in a 10-year period during this 16 years. The initiative for these changes was termed New Directions, and its associated policy and practice changes were aimed at differentiating information expressing concerns about children and families from allegations of child maltreatment. They emphasized the provision of supportive and empowering services to families experiencing difficulties – a form of differential response to children in adversity. The article covers the period leading up to the policy and practice change and the 10 years during which these changes were implemented. It examines some effects of the new policy and comments on whether the changes resulted in missed opportunities to protect children from harm, which in turn, might have led to higher rates of re-reporting. The authors present an overall picture of the nature of the information accepted by the statutory authority and how the interpretation of that information might have affected subsequent outcomes for children. In doing so, it shows that the policy and consequential practice changes associated with a differential response mechanism had long lasting positive effects that, despite dire warnings, did not compromise the protection of the small group of children identified as requiring protective interventions.

The Effect of Delay on Historical Child Sex Abuse Cases: Commentary on the Irish Experience

After a notorious case in 1994, Ireland saw a ‘tsunami’ of allegations of historical child abuse. As well as undermining the Catholic Church in Ireland, this has also posed grave problems for the legal system. On the one hand, there was an enormous, strongly articulated demand for prosecutions for such offences. On the other hand, the prosecution after periods of up to 54 years — often of old or very old defendants some of whom had cognitive or other problems — was difficult to reconcile with Ireland's elaborate requirements for fair procedures, including the right to an expeditious trial. It became usual for defendants confronted with these very old allegations to seek prohibition in the superior courts against what they said were manifestly unfair trials. The tension between the felt need to prosecute and the legal necessity to ensure fair trials troubled the Irish courts and especially divided the Supreme Court of Ireland. This commentary examines some of the key case law, including the landmark 1998 judgment in PC v Director of Public Prosecutions, in which the Supreme Court controversially mandated an assumption in such cases that the complainant's account was true (contrary to the presumption of innocence), and the 2008 decision in SH v Director of Public Prosecutions that introduced a single, prejudice-focused test.

Ethical Violations: What Can and Does Go Wrong in Child Custody Evaluations?

Child custody evaluations can have a significant impact on the adjustment and well-being of children and family members. Custody evaluators must be qualified and held to the highest professional standards. The authors of this article review custody evaluations and often witness inadequate and unprofessional evaluations. In this article, ethical mistakes seen regularly are highlighted. Many mistakes occur when cases are complex and include allegations of child maltreatment or intimate partner violence. Therefore, it is important that custody evaluators be trained in family and child psychology, attachment dynamics, psychological assessment, child abuse, and intimate partner violence. Child custody work needs to be monitored closely to ensure that mistakes can be eliminated in order to avoid unnecessary harm to children and families.

Researching Practises of Risk: Inside the social work office

Very little research has been conducted on how statutory social workers undertake their risk investigations into alleged child abuse. Moreover, very little research has explored the risk discourses as utilised and understood by social workers. For my doctoral work, I set out to learn from child welfare workers as they ‘talked’ about risk, to hear the inconsistencies and hesitations about ‘risk’ within their working practises. A qualitative research strategy was designed, and this paper overviews that design and reflects on my research experience. This research strategy became my whare (traditional Maori tribal meeting house), my methodological house, where I drew strength in times of intellectual strain, and where I rested, as I undertook and successfully completed doctoral work. This paper is my methodological account of researching practises of risk within child welfare settings in Aotearoa/ New Zealand, something I struggled to locate in the literature as a beginning doctoral student.

Digging beneath the Equality Language: The Influence of the Fatherss Rights Movement on Intimate Partner Violence Public Policy Debates and Family Law Reform

In 2004, a fathers’ rights group formed in West Virginia to promote “Truth, Justice, and Equality in Family Law.” They created a media campaign including billboards and radio spots warning about the dangers of false allegations of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse, even offering a $10,000 award to anyone who could prove false allegations of abuse were used against a parent in a custody case. In 2007, they released a study concluding that seventy-six percent of protection order cases were unnecessary or based on false allegations, and warned that protection orders were often filed to gain leverage in divorce and custody cases. They used their research to propose a new law with language created by a national fathers’ rights group to sanction parents making false allegations of intimate partner violence during custody cases. The Governor signed their bill into law in 2011. Within the broader context of the fathers’ rights movement, a closer examination of the West Virginia group’s work raises important questions. In spite of its dissemination within and beyond the fathers’ rights movement, their research conclusions bore little rational relationship to the findings. The research was at best misguided and confused, and at worst, a deliberate attempt to mislead the public in order to promote a political agenda. The new law was redundant, as both the domestic relations code and criminal code already provide sanctions for parents who make false allegations of abuse. The law was effectively a solution created to prove a problem by shifting the public policy focus from protecting victims to questioning their motives and potentially silencing them. At first glance, the modern fathers’ rights movement and law reform efforts appear progressive, as do the names and rhetoric of the “fathers’ rights” and “children’s rights” groups advocating for family law reform. They appear a long way removed from the activists who climbed on bridges dressed in superhero costumes or the member martyred by the movement after setting himself on fire on courthouse steps. Their use of civil rights language and appeal to formal gender equality is compelling. But a closer look reveals a social movement increasingly identifying itself as the opposition to the battered women’s movement and intimate partner violence advocates. Beneath a veneer of gender equality language and increased political savviness remains misogynistic undertones and a call to reinforce patriarchy.

The effect of drawing on children's experiences of investigations following alleged child abuse

The primary aim of the study was to evaluate investigative interviews from the perspectives of the children, comparing children who drew with children who did not. One hundred twenty-five children, alleged victims of sexual abuse, were asked about their investigative experience. The uniqueness of the study is that all of the interviews were conducted according to the NICHD Protocol and that children were randomly assigned into one of the two research conditions (drawing vs. non-drawing). The results clearly demonstrate the advantage that drawing has on the children's experience of the investigation, with children in the drawing group more often reporting feelings of hope and success. This study provides practical guidelines for practitioners by emphasizing the beneficial effects that drawing can have. The study stresses the importance of integrating into forensic investigations interventions that enhance children's testimonies and ensure that the investigation is an empowering experience that generates feelings of trust, self-worth, and justice.

O Respeito pela Autonomia da Criança na Regulação das Responsabilidades Parentais

Child custody decisions are among the most difficult for judges to make. The possibility of child abuse allegations or parents' deviant/ psychopathologic behaviours within this context, make the decision further complicated. Based on jurisprudence the listening of children opinion is a way to protect their best interest. In fact children have the right to express an opinion in all matters affecting their life. It should be given proper consideration to children opinion according with his/her age and maturity. Nonetheless custody disputes are emotionally draining issues. Asking the child to express an opinion during a public hearing, most likely in the presence of both parents, its not recommended because this is a potential stressful experience. Child interviews should take place in a proper environment and be set to their age. Medicine and Psychology have an important role in assessing children cognitive, emotional and volitional abilities, which is essential to properly account their opinions according to autonomy degree. This essay analyses the contribution of medico-legal and/or psychological exams to respect the autonomy of the child in cases of regulation of parental responsibilities. The conclusion is the need to establish a symbiotic relationship between the medical and legal perspectives of the (open) concept of child's best interests.

Disenchantment, Normalisation and Public Value: Taking the Long View in Australian Indigenous Affairs

This paper situates contemporary dilemmas of Indigenous development in the underlying themes and principles of Indigenous policy over the medium-term—approximately, the last twenty-five years. It brings together the involvement of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), the radical restructure of public administration with the introduction of New Public Management and the underlying trend towards ‘normalisation’ of Indigenous people and communities, which follows widespread mainstream disenchantment. Within this broad trajectory, some significant developments receive attention—the rise and fall of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), the recent decline of the Indigenous community-controlled service sector and the disenchantment that sanctioned the Northern Territory Emergency Response, following allegations of Indigenous child abuse. The paper signals its own disenchantment with the lack of progress under New Public Management and the policy framework of normalisation of Indigenous peoples. It concludes by advocating fiscal and structural reform that would reconfigure policy towards management for public value. This approach rejects formal concentration on Indigenous deficit and reaffirms the state's responsibility for fulfilling a range of diverse local and regional intangible, as well as material, values.

‘I Just Don't Agree’: A Voice-Oriented Analysis of An IFPS Case of Alleged Child Maltreatment

In contrast to the many outcome studies of Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS), little is known about the underlying personal and relational dynamics of family crisis interventions. This article focuses on the core evolving dynamics of the changing self-presentations of a parent involved in an intensive home-based family preservation case of alleged child maltreatment. Three key family intervention sessions were videotaped and transcribed including both verbal and nonverbal behavior. The Listening Guide Method – a theoretically flexible, qualitative, relationally oriented method of in-depth interpretative analysis – served as our guide for this case analysis. In the processes of change toward a jointly constructed meaningful narrative on responsibility and self-care, two key elements emerged as playing a pivotal role: (1) the momentum of a potential referral of children to out-of-home care that precedes the start of an IFPS intervention and (2) the rhizomatic or root-like intertwinement of the voices of both parent and therapist with respect to the rationale for any involvement of society in the family. We argue that discourses on imminent placement in the context of family preservation deserve a genuine and valuable position in the initial discourse of a family therapist when entering a family in the context of crisis intervention. Both in understanding and driving any processes of change, we may need to reconsider our own willingness to step into the blending interplay of discourse and counter-discourse with our clients on the subject of our often drastic intervention. Consequently, we may read this narrative analysis as an invitation to reflect on the conceptualization of ‘client readiness’ in psychotherapy and to shift our thinking on preconditions for therapy from a client's readiness toward a therapist's attentiveness to listen.

Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Child Protective Clinical Consultations: Perceptions of Best Practices

Mental illness, substance abuse, and domestic violence are common co-occurring problems in families involved in child maltreatment allegations. When two or more of these problems are involved in a case, the integration of multiple professionals and collaboration among them become especially complex. This study examined perceptions of best practices of multidisciplinary collaboration at an innovative clinical consultation program in a large, governmental child protective services agency. Seven themes emerged as most important in achieving a best practice: setting the stage; mandate; trust and communication; strong leadership; building a shared identity; structural supports and resources; and continuous feedback and evaluation. Conditions and recommendations to achieve best practices in multidisciplinary collaboration and implications are discussed.

Investigative interviewing of alleged child abuse victims: an evaluation of a new training programme for investigative interviewers

This evaluation focused on the developing interviewing skills of 104 active crime investigators in Sweden who participated in six different half-year courses between 2007 and 2010. The courses emphasised a combined model of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Protocol and the PEACE model of investigative interviewing. The teaching was interdisciplinary. The evaluation involved interviews of 208 children, most of whom were suspected victims of physical abuse. The investigators used two-thirds fewer option-posing questions and three times as many invitations after training as they did before training. These data show that the training was very effective in shaping the interviewers’ behaviour into better compliance with internationally recognised guidelines.

When practice and policy collide: Child welfare workers' perceptions of investigation processes

This qualitative study examines variability in practices surrounding Child Protective Services (CPS) investigations regarding the allegations of child maltreatment. Working under the auspices of a community-research collaboration with Department of Human Services officials, university researchers conducted a series of focus groups with CPS caseworkers in a state that was under court-ordered consent decree to improve child welfare investigations. Focus groups with caseworkers sought to better understand caseworkers' common investigative practices and their perceptions of best practices in conducting child welfare investigations. Two main areas were noted for improvement: (1) the need for ongoing training of CPS workers, particularly at the stage of initial intake of the allegations of maltreatment, and cross-training of police and hospital staff who regularly work with CPS, and (2) implementation of an improved risk assessment tool. These recommendations are discussed in detail.

Children's Memories of Removal: A Test of Attachment Theory

We report a study of parents' attachment orientations and children's autobiographical memory for an experience that according to Bowlby's (1982) attachment theory should be particularly threatening-children's forced separation from their parents. It was hypothesized that individual differences in parents' attachment orientations would be associated with children's distress and memory for this highly traumatic event. Children (n = 28) were observed during forced removal from home or school by Child Protective Services due to allegations of child maltreatment. Children's memory for the removal was tested 1 week later, and biological parents (n = 28) completed an adult attachment measure. Parental attachment anxiety significantly predicted children's distress during less stressful phases of the removal, R(2) = .25, and parents' attachment-related avoidance predicted fewer correct memory reports from the children (i.e., fewer hits to open-ended questions, R(2) = .16, and fewer hits to direct questions, R(2) = .27). The findings indicate that attachment theory provides important guidance for understanding children's autobiographical memory for traumatic events.