Review Of Child Protection Research Articles

FOCUS ON: The early findings of the Munro report on child protection, part 1

The initial report of the Munro review of child protection raises further issues around reform of current universal services. Munro has indicated that Children's Services are flooded with referrals, which causes a backlog and prevents families from receiving early support when required. Since 2008 there has been an 11% rise in referrals to children's services. 6% of these referrals end up in a child protection plan. There has also been a 25% rise in children requiring a child in need plan. ‘Social workers feel that their profession is under-valued, poorly understood and under continuous media attack. This is making it hard for them to do their jobs and hard to attract people into the profession’. It is clear from Munro's findings that reforms in social work practice are required imminently.

Limb fractures and nonaccidental injury in children less than 24 months of age

The pattern of limb fractures in children aged 24 months or younger is poorly understood. This age group is particularly vulnerable to nonaccidental injury, which can be difficult for inexperienced clinicians to detect. The aim of this study is to identify fracture patterns in children below the age of 24 months. Data was collected prospectively. For all fractures, the mechanism of injury including height of fall (cm), severity of injury, outcome and deprivation scores were collected. Information on children referred for child-protection review was also noted. During the 12 months of the year 2003, 122 new patients aged less than 24 months presented with limb fractures directly to the Emergency Department of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, giving an incidence of 4.55 per 1000 in the 0-12-month group and 17 per 1000 in the 13-24-month group. Sixty-three (52%) children sustained the injury during a fall and only 7% of children were admitted, the rest being followed up as outpatients. Thirty-eight (31%) had simple distal radius/ulna fractures. Five children with unclear histories or mechanisms of injury underwent formal child-protection procedures. All were less than 14 months of age. Fractures are relatively rare in the first 2 years of life. Child protection needs to be considered in all children, but specifically in those patients with atypical fractures presenting with an unclear mechanism of injury.

Effectiveness of home visitation by public-health nurses in prevention of the recurrence of child physical abuse and neglect: a randomised controlled trial

Recurrence of child maltreatment is a major problem, yet little is known about approaches to reduce this risk in families referred to child protection agencies. Since home visitation by nurses for disadvantaged first-time mothers has proven effective in prevention of child abuse and neglect, we aimed to investigate whether this approach might reduce recidivism. We enrolled in a randomised controlled trial 163 families with a history of one index child being exposed to physical abuse or neglect to compare standard treatment with a programme of home visitation by nurses in addition to standard treatment. The main outcome was recurrence of child physical abuse and neglect based on a standardised review of child protection records. Analysis was by intention to treat. At 3-years' follow-up, records were available for 160 of 163 (98%) families randomised. 139 (85%) completed follow-up. Recurrence of child physical abuse (31 [43%] in the control group vs 29 [33%] in the intervention group) and neglect (37 [51%] vs 41 [47%]) did not differ between groups. However, hospital records showed significantly higher recurrence of either physical abuse or neglect in the intervention group than in the control group (21 [24%] vs 8 [11%]). There were no differences between groups for the other secondary outcome measures. Despite the positive results of home visitation by nurses as an early prevention strategy, this visit-based strategy does not seem to be effective in prevention of recidivism of physical abuse and neglect in families associated with the child protection system. Much more effort needs to be directed towards prevention before a pattern of abuse or neglect is established in a family.

An overview of the Scottish multidisciplinary child protection review

ABSTRACTFollowing the murder of a young child by her stepfather a ministerial review of child protection across Scotland was established. It was carried out by a multidisciplinary team of representatives from education, health‐nursing, health‐medical, police, social work and the Reporter to the Children's Hearing. The review comprised a number of subprojects and included a direct audit of the practice of all the key agencies. The views of the general public, parents, children and professionals were obtained via a set of consultation subprojects. The audit of practice was built around a set of individual, in‐depth case studies. The cases were drawn from the spectrum of child care and protection cases by sampling from cases known to health visitors, education departments, the police and social work departments. The audit considered compliance with guidance, but the key focus was on outcomes for children.The findings indicated that although there were many examples of good practice with children, a significant number of children were left unprotected or their needs were not met. The issues were not unique to Scotland and are discussed under four key areas. The paper sets out the extent of chronic need amongst the child population that the audit revealed, looks at the messages from consultation about issues of accessing help for children or by children directly, and describes some shortcomings of the current system. Finally the paper analyses the ways that the different agencies interact and sets out a model for how the system can provide a protective network for children who are in need of protection and support.

An analysis of children and young people's calls to ChildLine about abuse and neglect: a study for the Scottish Child Protection Review

AbstractIn 2001 a young child, who was known to child protection agencies, was murdered by her stepfather. Following a recommendation of an inquiry into her death, a ministerial multidisciplinary review of child protection across Scotland was carried out. The review aimed to promote the reduction of abuse or neglect of children and to improve the services for children who experience abuse or neglect. It was carried out by a multidisciplinary team and the report made 16 recommendations. The review was informed by a series of sub‐projects. This paper describes one sub‐project that aimed to collect the views of children and young people who might have been abused but might not have had contact with child protection agencies. The study was carried out in conjunction with ChildLine Scotland. Call data for one year were made available for quantitative analysis. Qualitative analysis was carried out on the counsellors' notes on all calls relating to abuse and neglect taken during a 2‐week period. Children described significant levels of abuse and neglect. Many had told no‐one of the abuse and in particular had not contacted child protection agencies. The paper considers the implications of the findings for the child protection system. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Scottish Child Protection Review

In 2001 the Scottish Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs ordered a multi-disciplinary review of child protection across Scotland. The review was carried out by a multi-disciplinary team with representatives from each professional group of education, the police, medicine, nursing and the Scottish Children’s Reporters. A major part of the review was a direct examination of the practice of all the key agencies involved in child protection. This article sets out the development of a methodology that enabled the team to both describe and evaluate practice. As well as drawing on existing inspection and audit techniques a new qualitative audit methodology was developed that was informed by developments in qualitative research. The methodology incorporated an evaluation of each agency’s practice for each child as well as an evaluation of the overall outcome as a result of all agencies’ endeavours. The strengths and drawbacks of the methodology are examined.