Child Protection Context Research Articles

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.

Use of Theory and Research in Social Work Practice: Implications for Knowledge-Based Practice

This article presents findings of a small-scale, multi-method study of social workers’ use of knowledge in practice. The sample included 10 social workers employed in a statutory child-protection context who participated in three stages of data collection, which encompassed six research techniques: in-depth interviewing, observation, think-aloud, unstructured interviewing, reflective recall and knowledge mapping. Despite the innovative, intensive multi-method research design, which afforded participants considered latitude and opportunity to express what they know, most participants did not demonstrate a coherent, comprehensive and elaborated theory and research base to their practice. The results of the present study combined, with previous empirical research on this topic, highlight the necessity to engage with and promote knowledge-based practice.

Parent Involvement Practices in Child Protection: A Matter of Know-How and Attitude

Modern view of child protection services implies that to help young people, simply intervening on their behalf is not sufficient. It suggests that involving parents in the assistance process is essential in order to ensure that they are most likely to play their role as parents to their children in the fullest possible way. Although several articles have dealt with the issue of parent involvement, very few have attempted to document the practices used by practitioners to encourage such involvement. This article presents the findings of a study on child protection practices for involving parents in a child protection context. It is exploratory in nature, and uses a qualitative methodology. The study population is made up of 38 child protection service workers. An analysis of the practitioners’ discourse reveals that the behaviour and attitudes used by them to encourage parent involvement are very diverse. There also appear to be key moments in securing their involvement, that is, making contact, setting objectives and means of action, and applying the case plan. In addition to corroborating earlier studies on the issue of parent involvement, our findings indicate that the majority of the caseworkers interviewed practice an approach that aims to empower clients.

How can a strengths approach increase safety in a child protection context?

Child protection is one of the most difficult fields for social welfare professionals to work within. Being an enabler on one hand and an agent of social control on the other, can create a dichotomy that leaves practitioners feeling like they need a different set of skills to do each component. Maybe a strengths approach framework can provide the link between the two. A strengths approach is greater than a set of strengths-based tools. It is a way of conceptualising the organisation and delivery of child protection services. This article expresses the current views of a practitioner with 37 years experience in the child and family welfare field.

Cultural safety in child protection: Application to the workplace environment and casework practice

Cultural safety is a term that originated in the nursing profession in New Zealand. Common definitions focus on participants (whether clients or workers) feeling safe; feeling they can express their cultural identity; feel respected and listened to. The present study describes the concept of cultural safety and how it is applied in statutory child protection in Alice Springs. The context of child protection is described, including the workplace context, where Aboriginal Community Workers comprise 30% of the child protection workforce. Applying the concept of cultural safety can be more challenging in settings other than health care, and particularly in statutory child protection. However, we are finding it valuable for creating more appropriate workplaces for Aboriginal staff in child protection, and for assisting casework approaches and decisions for all staff. The present study discusses the process of developing a shared understanding of cultural safety to assist critical reflection on our workplace and casework.

The Football Association’s Child Protection in Football Research Project 2002–2006: rationale, design and first year results

In common with most sport organizations, the English Football Association has come relatively recently to the issue of child protection. Abuses of various kinds have been known about in the sport for many years but, until the late 1990s, very little systematic work was undertaken to address them. The launch of a Child Protection Strategy by the English FA in May 2000 reflected recognition by those in authority within the sport that child abuse and protection were properly the subject of football policy and should become embedded in all aspects of the affiliated game. In addition to adopting child protection, the then-Chief Executive Officer of the FA made a commitment to evidence-based policy in his strategic plan for the game. In line with this commitment, the FA commissioned a 5 year study of the impact of child protection on the game, the first year of which constituted an audit of the state of child protection in the affiliated game. Data were collected through 11 internet surveys, 32 club case studies, over 200 interviews with various stakeholders and an analysis of 132 case files for child abuse referrals. This paper sets out the context of child protection in sport more generally and the background to the FA’s child protection research project in particular. It also presents selected first year results for key stakeholder groups.

Liberty and Respect in Child Protection

The paper begins by introducing Isaiah Berlin’s concepts of positive and negative liberty and the application of these concepts to child protection. There is discussion of some recent debates on the social and political context of state social work and child protection in particular. The authors then consider, in turn, the experience of children, parents and social workers in the child protection system. There is also a consideration of partnership and rights. The conclusion is that opportunities for statutory child protection to be liberating are limited, but that there is more potential than the most pessimistic accounts might allow. Rather than libertarian child protection, social workers can aim for child protection practice that is respectful. The paper concludes with some principles for respectful practice, based on the ideas of Richard Sennett. Most importantly, Sennett’s ideas recognise the importance of relationships in social welfare and acknowledge the context of inequality within which social work takes place.

An Initial Assessment of the Extent to Which Risk Factors, Frequently Identified in Research, Are Taken into Account When Assessing Risk in Child Protection Cases

• Summary: This article briefly outlines the development of risk assessment instruments in a social work context. This is followed by an analysis of the initial stages of analysing the presence, absence and consideration of identified risk factors within one English local authority child protection context using initial cases conference minutes. The article then examines the relationship between risk factors identified from the conference minutes with outcome measures for each child four years later. • Findings: Many of the risk factors identified in the literature were not routinely recorded in conference minutes making risk assessment in general and the application of a risk assessment tool, in particular, problematic. There was some weak association between severity of abuse and subsequent social work intervention for a number of children, but there appeared to be little correspondence in respect of the majority of cases. There was support for Farmer’s (1999) concerns about children not being registered when at risk of abuse or being deregistered when the risk of abuse remains high. • Applications: The need to routinely gather and record information on identified risk factors during the assessment process is highlighted. Though still at an early stage, the intention is to develop an empirically tested risk assessment tool, which can be used to evaluate potential risk more accurately and more consistently.