Child Protection Context Research Articles

‘Changing the way we do child protection’: The implementation of Signs of Safety® within the Western Australia Department for Child Protection and Family Support

ObjectiveThis paper describes a six-year large scale implementation of the Signs of Safety practise framework in a complex statutory child protection context in Western Australia. The case study documents both the practitioner-led and organisational-led implementation journey as part of the State's child protection system reform drawing on Roger's diffusion of innovation theory and Fixsen's five stage implementation model as conceptual frameworks, and highlighting the key facilitators and barriers. MethodsThe study is a collaboration between researchers investigating the impact and use of Signs of Safety in Western Australia who contributed the theoretical perspectives and analysis; and key personnel from the Department responsible for implementation who contributed documents, manuals, records and personal accounts to form the narrative of the implementation. A naturalist, intrinsic and multiple case study design utilising semi-structured interviews was used to consult with 27 Departmental staff and practitioners. Thematic analysis was utilised to identify key themes and patterns of experiences with the Signs of Safety framework implementation. FindingsMuch can be learned from the journey of the Department and their long term commitment and systematic implementation strategy of Signs of Safety including the significance of leadership, learning and developing initiatives, effective communication, instituting continuous improvement processes and the provision of feedback for individual practitioners. Signs of Safety appealed to natural champions of systemic social work practise within the Department whose organisational culture adapted to align with the principles of the framework in building partnerships and understanding with families, being solution-focused, maintaining an open stance of inquiry and balancing strengths and safety around children whilst concurrently working to solve dangers and harm. As a learning organisation, the Department also utilised case practise implementation teams to be able to move through more successfully the different stages of implementation. In utilising Fixsen's implementation framework, the challenges and gaps to implementation strategies were also highlighted, including a problematic data system and an internal focus compromising the success of interagency collaboration. ConclusionThis discussion paper has provided an overview of the key concepts of the diffusion and implementation literature, and highlighted the importance of utilising theoretical frameworks in guiding implementation of practise models especially in complex statutory child protection contexts. Findings will be of particular interest to child welfare leaders and supporters of organisational change, providing concrete examples of implementation strategies and demonstrates the systemic benefits of a theoretical framework for guiding implementation efforts.

Weighing it up: family maintenance discourses in NGO child protection decision-making in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Examining the concepts underpinning the reasoning processes of social worker's decision-making provides important insights into how social work practice is undertaken. This paper examines one of the major discourses used by social workers in decision reasoning in a non-governmental organization child protection context in Aotearoa/New Zealand: family maintenance. This study found that family maintenance as a concept was strongly privileged by social workers. This resulted in attempts to preserve families and created a hierarchy of preferred decision outcomes. A preference for family maintenance was supported by legal, moral, psychological and Māori cultural concepts. This pattern of constructs underpinned the ‘weighing up of harms’ when considering removal, and generally reflected a child welfare orientation. In addition to this, it was found that ‘family’ was broadly defined, and could include people who had a relationship with the children, or Māori definitions of extended family, in addition to legal ones.

Supervised contact visits: Results from a study of women in drug treatment with children in care

IntroductionThere is currently little research evidence on how to manage contact in a child protection context, and for which children, in what circumstances it is beneficial. MethodsThis study uses data from a larger study of mothers in pharmacological treatment for opioid dependence in Sydney, Australia. Mothers who had at least one child in out-of-home care were interviewed about their characteristics, contact and other care arrangements. ResultsWomen (n=56) were generally disadvantaged and had 1.8 children in care on average. Two-thirds (n=66) of their 99 children were in kinship care and one-third in foster care (n=33). The majority of the children (84%) had some contact with their mother, most of which was supervised, in some cases for many years. Bivariate analyses showed that contact was significantly more likely to be supervised if the children were in foster care, the mother was on psychiatric medication and/or had used cannabis more frequently in the past month. DiscussionThis study is one of the largest studies to examine the issue of contact amongst mothers with a substance-using history. We found that supervised contact was common in these families and highlight the need for better support for contact. The need for better research evidence on the impacts of current models of supervised contact is also identified, particularly given the high monetary cost to the child protection system.

Training professionals in community settings: change processes and outcomes in a child protection context

This article reports an action-research focused on the improvement of a training program for professionals working with multi-challenged families with at-risk or maltreated children. The program aimed at the implementation of a multi-systemic, collaborative and strength-based family assessment and intervention model. Outcome evaluation results indicate that professionals improved their skills and achieved minimal competence. Process evaluation reveals that participating in the training has been a transformative experience and highlights facilitator and constraining conditions for participants’ learning and changing as well as suggestions for improvement of the training program. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Strafprozessuale Folgen von Kindesmisshandlung

Medical child protection includes besides interdisciplinary diagnostics and treatment of physical and psychological symptoms also a discussion that looks at the ensuing legal consequences.This study analyses 21 criminally investigated cases of suspected child abuse from a 2 year study period and compares severity of injury to legal outcome.7 of those 21 criminal proceedings were already dropped by the prosecution and never went to trial. 4 of the 8 cases that led to a trial ended with a conviction. In all of the 4 cases that resulted in an acquittal the judges had been convinced that the child had been abused but found themselves unable to exactly identify the perpetrator. Our study's cases did not show a positive correlation between severity of injury and legal outcome.Diagnosing and treating children and minors within the context of medical child protection should always also include the ques-tion of possible legal consequences. The judicial process in cases of serious child abuse requires high medical expertise. Such expertise particularly includes the ability to determine the time of injury as exactly as possible and to provide precise written documentation of any medical findings. However, our study also shows that medical assessment is only one of many aspects in the legal response to child abuse.

Refocusing Child Protection Supervision: An Innovative Approach to Supporting Practitioners

There is mounting empirical evidence regarding the potential negative impact of child protection work on practitioners' emotional and psychological well-being. Stress and burnout are endemic amongst this group of workers and there is increasing recognition of the influences of this on their decision-making regarding child protection issues. Supervision has been lauded as an important element in supporting practitioners. It creates opportunities for identifying stress and potential burnout and for implementing supportive mechanisms. However, many supervision models focus almost entirely on identification, referral and procedural issues to the exclusion of addressing practitioner's emotional needs. This paper presents an argument that technical–rational models of supervision fall short of meeting the emotional needs of those who engage in child protection work. A refocusing is suggested that encourages practitioners to adopt a reflective stance towards child protection practice, specifically one that focuses on the affective aspects of child protection work. To achieve this, an innovative, reflective approach is proposed—termed the “Peshkin Approach to Reflection”, it is grounded in recent developments of reflective practice from within nursing that acknowledge the primacy of emotions. The paper outlines the key stages involved and illustrates its ability to enhance practitioners' emotional well-being. Importantly, it also highlights its potential to impact positively on practice. It is advocated that the Peshkin Approach to Reflection be incorporated into child protection supervision to counter the traditional, long-standing technical-rational focus of most supervisory models. It will require empirical testing and evaluation to assess its full impact in a child protection context. However, based on use of the approach in other settings, it is likely to hold considerable benefit for practitioners who use it and, indirectly, the children they seek to protect.

Parenting and Substance Misuse: Understanding Accounts and Realities in Child Protection Contexts

This paper reports qualitative findings from a mixed-methods evaluation of an intervention for families affected by substance misuse and child protection concerns. The study involved twenty-seven families, including eighty-four children. The data illustrate the various impacts of substance misuse on family life, including neglect, instability and physical and sexual abuse. During semi-structured interviews, many of the parents went some way to counter highly stigmatised identities through confessing previous parental failings and demonstrating the distance they have travelled since then. A small minority maintained that they have been wrongly labelled as inadequate parents. Additionally, parents vividly recalled hardships and abuse, underlining the challenging material realities of their lives. For most, domestic abuse was a particularly dominant factor. Implications for practice are outlined in the conclusion of the paper.

Perceptions of non-accidental child deaths as preventable events: the impact of probability heuristics and biases on child protection work

Anxiety about the possibility of non-accidental child deaths has had a major influence on childcare policy and practice over the last 40 years in the UK and elsewhere. Formal inquiries into, and media coverage of, these rare events have served to maintain the perception that such incidents happen far too often and could have been prevented. This focus on individual events tends to distort a clear view of the actual probability of non-accidental child deaths. It reinforces the notions that potentially all childcare cases are risky, and that social workers face a high probability of being involved with a fatal incident. In consequence, work with children has become highly risk averse. However, in statistical terms, the probability of non-accidental child deaths is very low, and far less than that of a child being killed on the roads. This article examines the way in which perceptions of the ‘high’ probability of child deaths are sustained despite their very low statistical probability. The analysis draws on thinking from behavioural psychology, particularly the work of Kahneman and Tversky, to consider some of the biases in probabilistic reasoning which affect risk perceptions in a child protection context. The article explores the way in which inquiry reports into single past events reconfirm risk perceptions. It will be argued that recognition of the essentially unpredictable nature of future individual non-accidental child deaths would free up childcare professionals to work in a more positive and less risk-averse manner.

A tangled web: parental contact with children in kinship care

AbstractContact between parents and children in care is a contested area. Parental contact is recognized to be important, yet may present protective issues; in the kinship care environment, it brings the particular challenges of complex family relationships. Seeking the parents' perspective in a child protection context is difficult and therefore under‐researched. This paper describes a nested study within an Australian research project on family contact in kinship care in which the perspectives of 18 mothers and 2 fathers were sought via in‐depth interviews. Mothers and fathers described strong feelings of disempowerment in the context both of their family and the child protection system. The relationship between parent and caregiver emerged as a significant issue. All of the parents wished to remain in contact with their children in a meaningful way, whether or not they were likely to resume their children's care; however, contact arrangements presented many difficulties for them. Mothers articulated the need for services that are more empowering and respectful, rather than oriented towards them as failed parents. In order to build appropriate models of support and intervention, we argue for a more inclusive conceptual frame for family life that gives greater recognition to the role of non‐custodial parents in the lives of their children.

The Benefits and Challenges of Training Child Protection Social Workers in Father Engagement

It is widely recognised that, in a child protection context, practitioners tend to focus on working with mothers more than fathers. This may undermine risk management and limit the resources available for the care of children. This paper discusses the process of developing and running a training intervention for child protection social workers, designed to improve father engagement (with ‘fathers’ defined inclusively). A short course was provided, consisting of one day of awareness‐raising about the importance of work with fathers and one day of motivational interviewing skills training. The emphasis in the paper is on insights from the qualitative elements of the mixed‐method process evaluation, namely, observation and pre‐ and post‐course interviews. In particular, there is discussion of the potential benefits and challenges of this kind of training, with consideration given to the general issue of father engagement and more specifically the potential for using motivational interviewing in child protection practice. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.‘The process of developing and running a training intervention for child protection social workers’Key Practitioner Messages The pilot of the Cardiff University Fathers and Child Protection course resulted in improved engagement of fathers, according to social workers self‐report. Motivational interviewing has potential for developing practitioners' skills in working with fathers when children are at risk. There are some inherent challenges in attempting to improve the engagement of fathers in a child protection context.

“I Did It My Way”: Social workers as secondary designers of a client information system

The article focuses on the social workers’ workarounds aka their own alternative strategies for defeating the various types of obstacles in information interaction in a client information system (CIS). Data consists of semi-structured interviews and social workers’ observations with their verbal accounts while they used CIS in their daily work. The workarounds were analyzed from the process perspective when antecedent conditions, actual workarounds and their consequences were taken into account. The design flaws and external demands in work generated the workarounds. The social workers used small scale tricks within CIS to maintain continuum in a client’s trajectory; they relied on shadow systems to manage their whole clientele; and took shortcuts in production of statistical information. The workarounds offered a better grip on information and saved time. However, some of the workarounds were tensional in a child protection context. The analysis of workarounds provided valuable secondary design suggestions to remedy CIS.

Sex Offender Risk Assessments in the Child Protection Context. Helpful or Not?

When a convicted or alleged child sex offender is living, or having contact, with his own children or stepchildren, the obvious worry is that these children are victims or will become victims of sexual abuse. One way of determining the risk of this occurring is for the convicted or alleged offender to undergo a forensic sex offender risk assessment. In this article I raise questions regarding the usefulness of sex offender risk assessments within the statutory child protection context. Most importantly, I ask whether static and dynamic risk assessment instruments can accurately predict the risk an alleged or convicted sex offender poses to his own children. I conclude that ‘high’, ‘moderate’, and ‘low’ risk outcomes of forensic sex offender risk assessments in the child protection context are unreliable and can result in error, and explain that these errors have consequences that, within the child protection context, have consequences that can be dangerous to children.

Exploring innovative methodologies in time and place to analyse child protection documents as elements of practice

This article aims to demonstrate how a derived approach to case file analysis, influenced by the work of Michel Foucault and Dorothy E. Smith, can offer innovative means by which to study the relations between discourse and practices in child welfare. The article explores text-based forms of organization in histories of child protection in Finland and in Northern Ireland. It is focused on case file records in different organizational child protection contexts in two jurisdictions. Building on a previous article ( Satka and Skehill, 2011 ), we attempt to demonstrate the potential of how the relations between practices and discourses – a majorly important theme for understanding child welfare social work – can be effectively analysed using a combination of two approaches. This article is based on three different empirical studies from our two jurisdictions Northern Ireland (UK) and Finland; one study used Foucault; the other Smith and the third study sought to combine the methods. This article seeks to report on ongoing work in developing, for child welfare studies, ‘a history that speaks back’ as we have described it.

Family participation in child protection practice: an observational study of family group meetings

ABSTRACTOver the past two decades, child protection authorities internationally have begun to implement models of family participation in child protection decision‐making. Debate exists about the extent to which these models promote family involvement in decision‐making. While a significant body of research on family and professional experience and perceptions of models of family participation in decision‐making has emerged, there has been little observational research of these approaches. In this paper, we report on observational data from 11 family group meetings (FGMs) in a child protection context in Queensland, Australia. Under Queensland child protection law, these meetings are referred to as an inclusive process for child protection decision‐making and planning. We draw on observational data to analyse how family inclusion in child protection decision‐making is facilitated, or limited, by the FGM process. We consider tensions in the realization of a participatory ethos in child protection services systems and discuss what practitioners can practically do to enhance family participation in child protection decision‐making.

Asymmetries in prior conviction reasoning: truth suppression effects in child protection contexts

In three empirical studies we examined how people reason about prior convictions in child abuse cases. We tested whether the disclosure of similar prior convictions prompts a mental representation or an additive probative value (Criminal Justice Act, 2003). Asymmetrical use of similar priors were observed in three studies. A pilot study showed that disclosure of a second prior did not contribute a weight equivalent to that of the first disclosure. Study 1 showed jurors did not see left-handed evidence (i.e. matching victim bruising) as more indicative of guilt than right-handedness unless a prior conviction was present, and the presence of priors suppressed the generation of alternative possibilities indicative of innocence. Study 2 showed that disclosure did not decrease community ratings of re-offending propensity and dangerousness as much as a similar prior conviction increased them. We consider the results in the context of a new psychological theory of prior conviction bias and the consequences for the implementation of Section 100 of the Criminal Justice Act (2003).

Service user participation in diverse child protection contexts: principles for practice

ABSTRACTPromoting the participation of children and parents in child protection practice is one of the most complex and sensitive areas of social work practice. Increasingly, child protection legislation and policy in many parts of the world enshrines ideals of service user participation. Yet, with the exception of extensive discussion about family group conferencing, the principles and methods for achieving participatory practices in child protection work remain underdeveloped. We use the term ‘child protection’ to refer to a broad spectrum of child and family welfare services aimed at prevention of (or intervention to address) child abuse and neglect. This spectrum of services includes intensive family support, family support, domestic violence, statutory child protection and child and family advocacy services. In this paper, we present findings from the first phase of a 3‐year study into participatory practice in child protection. In this paper, we present findings from a qualitative analysis of interviews with 28 child protection practitioners across five domains of child protection work. Our analysis reveals three core principles of participatory practice underpinning these practitioners' accounts as well as contextual differences among them. We conclude with a discussion of the educational implications of our findings.

Future Talk

The objective of this study is to contribute towards understanding how welfare and justice discourses become apparent in institutional conversations where social workers involved in child protection have dual professional identities: that of helper and of gatekeeper. In this article we analyse a specific conversational practice in a particular child protection context: social workers asking questions about hypothetical situations in interviews with prospective adoptive parents. We show the nature of these questions in face-to-face interactions between social workers and prospective adoptive parents. In addition, we also analyse how the social workers manage to integrate aspects of testing the capabilities of the prospective adoptive parents while, at the same time, also helping them to become even better prepared parents. Using the method of conversation analysis makes it possible to analyse how the social workers are doing being a gatekeeper and/or helper without spelling that out.

‘FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN’: MAKING SENSE OF CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD IN THE CONTEXT OF CHILD PROTECTION

Ideas of childhood and children are arguably at the very centre of child protection policy, theory and practice, and yet very little attention has been placed on discourses of children and childhood in this field. In this paper we begin to examine how discourses of childhood are reproduced in a child protection context by looking at the talk of practising child protection workers and supervisors in Ontario, Canada. We found that child welfare workers' talk about children suggests that two discourses about children dominate: a discourse of the child as vulnerable and in need of rescue and a discourse of the child as a rights‐bearing individual. We will argue that both these discourses contribute to a symbolic extraction of the child from the family and in this way they function to distance workers from the emotional impact of their practice with parents and children. We will consider the implications of this conceptual extraction of the child from the family and make a case for a more complex understanding of children that reflects the intertwined relationship between parents and children. Lastly, a practice approach to child protection that helps workers to absorb the subjectivities of both children and their parents will be proposed.

A quest for form: the tacit dimension of social work practice

This paper presents the findings of a small-scale study of social workers’ tacit understandings. Tacit is conceptualised as, difficult to describe knowledge, taken for granted knowledge or tacitly presupposed and silenced knowledge. The sample comprised 10 social workers employed in a statutory child protection context who participated in three stages of data collection. The research strategy encompassed six techniques: in-depth interviewing, observation, think-aloud, unstructured interviewing, reflective recall, and knowledge mapping. The tacit domain appears to be a rich site for practice understandings, as what practitioners explicitly offer is not a complete account of their knowing in practice. Interpretations suggest that practice may be guided by understandings of which practitioners are frequently unaware. When knowledge remains implicit, its content, level of influence, impact and use remain unconsidered as well. It is crucial, in attempting to gain clarity on any practice activity, that this realm be explored as it contributes to a fuller account of the realities of practice behaviour.

Collaborate with caution: protecting children, helping mothers

Recent recognition of the effects of domestic violence on children has given rise to calls for collaborative interventions between the arenas of child protection and domestic violence. Amidst this flurry of activity, little serious consideration has been given to the subjectivity of mothers who are simultaneously involved with child protection agencies and battered women’s shelters. Without explicit engagement of mothers as subjects in their own right, collaboration has the potential to exacerbate their already trying circumstances. Our paper reviews the child protection context in which women as mothers are simultaneously relegated to the periphery of concern and called upon to act as ‘mother protectors’ in response to children at risk. We then explore mothering in the context of domestic violence and their relative invisibility in shelter settings. We conclude with a call to render women’s experiences of domestic violence and mothering both visible and supported in these collaborative efforts.