{"title":"Giving HOPE and minimising trauma: An intervention to support women who are separated from their babies at birth due to safeguarding concerns","authors":"Claire Mason, Harriet Ward, Karen Broadhurst","doi":"10.1002/car.2809","DOIUrl":"10.1002/car.2809","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Whatever the circumstances, the separation of infants from their mothers at birth is a traumatic experience for all concerned. The paper reports on a study designed to improve practice in this highly sensitive area. An analysis of data collected through semi-structured interviews with 38 mothers who had experienced removal at birth identified four common themes: isolation and unacknowledged support needs; shame, stigma and the failure of others to acknowledge their maternal identity; acute trauma, immediate downturn and disenfranchised grief following infant removal; and strategies to mitigate their pain and grief. These last themes included the use of artefacts both as transitional objects to help mothers come to terms with the permanent loss of a baby, and as a means of keeping maternal identity alive and connecting with an infant who might eventually return home. In response to these findings, and in collaboration with a group of women with lived experience, HOPE boxes were designed to ameliorate the trauma and psychological burden borne by women in this situation. The contents of the boxes have been chosen to reflect the changing experiences of the women's journeys but also the range of possible potential outcomes. The intervention has considerable potential to minimise the trauma of this painful experience.</p>","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/car.2809","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41656930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elinor Jenkins, Maria Corbett, Anna Breen, Kerri O'Brien, Caoimhe Cooney, Robert McGrath, Emma Flynn, Martin White
{"title":"Child protection pathways for newborn infants: A multi-disciplinary retrospective chart review of an Irish maternity hospital’s records","authors":"Elinor Jenkins, Maria Corbett, Anna Breen, Kerri O'Brien, Caoimhe Cooney, Robert McGrath, Emma Flynn, Martin White","doi":"10.1002/car.2807","DOIUrl":"10.1002/car.2807","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In Ireland, little is known about mothers and infants where child welfare and protection concerns arise during the perinatal period. This study explores, for the first time, perinatal child protection. A retrospective audit was carried out of a large maternity hospital's medical social work, neonatal and psychiatric files for a five-year period from 2016 to 2020. The study identified 99 children, born to 86 mothers, who were either subject to a child protection conference; placed for adoption; discharged to someone other than the mother; or discharged home under supervision. The study found that two-thirds of the children were discharged to their mother's care. When compared to national data, the health indicators for this cohort of mothers and children painted a grim picture. The maternal profiles identified high prevalence of mental health and addiction difficulties and domestic violence. The study found evidence of supports provided to the mothers to enable them to care for their infants while they remained in the hospital and during an initial discharge from hospital. However, a significant number of the mothers were not caring for their children when viewed across a longer time frame. Dedicated multi-disciplinary clinics and improved data systems were identified as of importance.</p>","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48511355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Subsequent child protection contact for a cohort of children reported to child protection prenatally in one Australian jurisdiction","authors":"Olivia Octoman, Fiona Arney, Jenna Meiksans, Rosemaria Flaherty, Alwin Chong, Fiona Ward, Cathy Taylor","doi":"10.1002/car.2808","DOIUrl":"10.1002/car.2808","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Repeated reporting to child protection is common. One approach to early intervention is for jurisdictions to receive and respond to child protection concerns raised before children are born. Despite this, little research has comprehensively examined subsequent child protection contact for those first reported prenatally. This study aimed to examine the subsequent child protection contact for up to a two-year period for a cohort of children who were reported about prebirth. Child protection administrative data were extracted for 640 children reported for a concern about an unborn child in a single jurisdiction during 2014. Data about child protection contacts included reports, investigations, substantiations and out-of-home placements for children reported prenatally. Of the 640 children, 79% reported about prenatally also had contact with child protection between birth and age two. From birth and up to age two, children reported prenatally had between zero and 21 reports. Twenty-two per cent of the children reported prenatally were removed from their birth parents and placed in out-of-home care prior to age two. These findings highlight the importance of intervening and supporting families prior to and during pregnancy to reduce harm to children and reduce the need for contact with child protection.</p>","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/car.2808","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46198858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Olivia Octoman, Sarah Cox, Fiona Arney, Alwin Chong, Ebony Tucker
{"title":"Narrative and fixed-field Data: Are we underestimating the risk of family and domestic violence?","authors":"Olivia Octoman, Sarah Cox, Fiona Arney, Alwin Chong, Ebony Tucker","doi":"10.1002/car.2811","DOIUrl":"10.1002/car.2811","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Family and domestic violence (FDV) has increasingly been recognised as a major societal issue globally (World Health Organisation, <span>2021</span>). As research continues to highlight the nature and extent of FDV, growing attention has turned to the impact of FDV on children and young people's safety and wellbeing, highlighting that those exposed to FDV experience a multitude of long-term internalising, externalising and trauma symptoms (Evans et al., <span>2008</span>; Jenney & Alaggia, <span>2018</span>). It is estimated that between 133 to 275 million children globally are exposed to at least one incident of FDV each year (Pinheiro, <span>2006</span>). More recent localised estimates suggest that in the US 17.3 per cent of children had witnessed assault between parents/caregivers in their lifetime (Finkelhor et al., <span>2013</span>), while across low-income and lower-middle-income countries children's exposure to intimate partner violence was estimated to be 29 per cent (Kieselbach et al., <span>2022</span>). Considering this, global changes have been enacted to improve child protection policy and legislation and better reflect children and young people exposed to FDV as at risk and in need of protection (Australian Institute of Health & Welfare [AIHW], <span>2021a</span>; Black et al., <span>2008</span>).</p><p>In many Australian states and territories, exposure to FDV is formally recognised in legislative definitions as grounds for a child in need of protection. However, exposure to FDV is not always represented as its own category of harm in data. For example, Australian population-level statistics report four harm types including emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect (AIHW, <span>2021a</span>). Exposure to FDV is commonly incorporated within the definition of emotional or psychological abuse (AIHW, <span>2021a</span>; Australian Institute of Family Studies [AIFS], <span>2019</span>). Australian child protection population-level statistics therefore report on emotional abuse broadly, inclusive of children exposed to FDV (AIHW, <span>2021a</span>).</p><p>Researchers have examined children's exposure specifically to FDV using fixed-field child protection administrative data at the jurisdictional level. These data are recorded as structured, readily extractable pre-set fields (called fixed fields) in an administrative child protection system. For example, Shlonsky et al. (<span>2019</span>) found that 16 per cent of reports to child protection in New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australian between 2010/11 and 2014/15 related to FDV, with an increase of 25 per cent across that time. Similar rates have been found in prenatal reports to child protection in the Australian Capital Territory, where FDV was the reason for 13.4 per cent of reports (Taplin, <span>2017</span>).</p><p>While fixed-field data provide an indication of the extent of children's exposure to FDV, relying on these high-level operational d","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/car.2811","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44925712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elisa Bisagno, Alessia Cadamuro, Serafine Dierickx, Dima Bou Mosleh, Zane Linde-Ozola, Annija Kandāte, Dora Varga-Sabjan, Dorottya Morva, Noemi Laszlo, Monika Rozsa, Andrea Gruber, Giovanna Laura De Fazio, Dorien Wuyts, Johanna M. C. Blom
{"title":"A European comparison of screening and referral by childcare professionals of maltreatment in children aged 0–3: A wild goose chase or maybe not","authors":"Elisa Bisagno, Alessia Cadamuro, Serafine Dierickx, Dima Bou Mosleh, Zane Linde-Ozola, Annija Kandāte, Dora Varga-Sabjan, Dorottya Morva, Noemi Laszlo, Monika Rozsa, Andrea Gruber, Giovanna Laura De Fazio, Dorien Wuyts, Johanna M. C. Blom","doi":"10.1002/car.2812","DOIUrl":"10.1002/car.2812","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Framed within the European project ECLIPS (Enhancing the Capacity to combat chiLd abuse through an Integral training and Protocol for childcare professionalS), this study aims at understanding the needs related to the screening and referral of child maltreatment by childcare professionals working with children aged 0–3 in daycare settings of four European countries (Belgium, Hungary, Italy and Latvia). While children in this age group display the highest risk of abuse compared to older children, research and practice are less focused on them. Given their daily exposure, childcare professionals are in a unique position to identify and refer child maltreatment of infants and toddlers. However, data from desk research and focus groups held in the four countries revealed significant gaps in both processes. Screening for abuse is not mandatory for childcare professionals, and many barriers limit its effectiveness, such as the lack of training and the absence of standardised practices. Referral is mainly undermined by psychological barriers, namely fear and lack of self-efficacy. This is a fundamental first step to developing strategies to face underreporting and filling knowledge gaps while supporting the fundamental competencies necessary to safeguard the young child's best interest, which is the final goal of the ECLIPS project.</p>","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47119448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Child protection during the perinatal period: Innovation in assessment and practice","authors":"Harriet Ward, Jane Barlow","doi":"10.1002/car.2810","DOIUrl":"10.1002/car.2810","url":null,"abstract":"<p>An optimal caregiving environment during the perinatal period is critical for healthy development. The first 1000 days (from conception until the second birthday) are now widely recognised as a time of extensive neurobiological and psychosocial development that lay down the foundations for children's subsequent trajectories and future life chances (Marmot, <span>2021</span>). National and international bodies have responded to this evidence by establishing public health and more intensive targeted home visiting programmes for both indigenous and non-indigenous families, which are designed to reduce inequalities and promote optimal development during this period in order to ensure that every child has the best start in life.</p><p>Research conducted over the past decade has begun to highlight the impact of abuse and neglect during the first 1000 days, and the mechanisms by which such abuse can compromise the long-term development of children (e.g. McCrory et al., <span>2011</span>). More recently there has been increasing awareness of the impact of maternal behaviours during pregnancy that may also have a detrimental impact on the unborn baby, including alcohol and substance misuse which are associated with a range of physical, cognitive and mental health problems (e.g. Easey et al., <span>2019</span>; Mamluk et al., <span>2020</span>), and domestic abuse, which can have life-changing and indeed fatal consequences for both the mother and the unborn baby (Cleaver et al., <span>2011</span>).</p><p>Despite evidence about the long-term consequences of parenting behaviours on the infant in utero, little attention has been given in policy or practice to safeguarding unborn children. A recent study in England and Wales, for example, found that, although national guidance on assessments of need, risks of harm and reporting requirements now refer to unborn children, there is no national guidance that focuses specifically on safeguarding them from abusive or neglectful parenting behaviours that will affect their long-term development, or supporting parents whose infants are removed at birth (Ward et al., <span>2022</span>).</p><p>Infants under the age of one are disproportionately likely to die or suffer life-changing injuries from abuse or neglect (NSPCC, <span>2021</span>), and it is clear that some will need to be removed from birth parents in order to ensure their safety. However, increasing numbers are compulsorily removed from their parents at birth or in the immediate post-partum period: Broadhurst and colleagues (2018) found that in England, the number of newborns subject to care proceedings had more than doubled between 2008 and 2017. This is an international issue, with increasingly high numbers of infant removals in both high- and low-income countries (Backhaus et al., <span>2019</span>). Recent evidence shows that, in England and Wales, vulnerable mothers whose infants are at risk of abuse receive too little support during the pregnancy to he","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/car.2810","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49311869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fevziye Dolunayğ-Cuğ, Gökçe Yılmaz-Akdoğan, Orhan Derman, Özge Şahin, Figen Dağlı Şahin, Figen Paslı, Emre Güngör, Bahar Gökler
{"title":"The TSPCAN project: A qualitative evaluation with undergraduate students trained in child abuse prevention in Turkey","authors":"Fevziye Dolunayğ-Cuğ, Gökçe Yılmaz-Akdoğan, Orhan Derman, Özge Şahin, Figen Dağlı Şahin, Figen Paslı, Emre Güngör, Bahar Gökler","doi":"10.1002/car.2813","DOIUrl":"10.1002/car.2813","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Organising primary prevention programs for child abuse and neglect is among the key responsibilities of the Turkish Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (TSPCAN). TSPCAN conducted a project which provided university students who in the future may encounter individuals with child abuse experiences with guidance with regards to a child abuse prevention program. The aim of this study was to qualitatively evaluate the influences of TSPCAN's project on young professionals who were the facilitators of this program as undergraduate students in medical, health and social science degrees. Twenty participants were recruited through a purposeful and convenient sampling method. The data were first collected with a structured questionnaire. Then, two focus groups were conducted with nine (45%) of these participants. Thematic analysis was utilised for both data collection waves. Findings were organised under three themes: (i) aims for participation in the project; (ii) acquired awareness in the project; and (iii) contributions of the project in their professional lives. Findings highlight the importance of including university students in child abuse prevention programs to provide the knowledge and awareness they need as future professionals.</p>","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47008127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"PEGASE Program: Identification of babies in the child protection system at risk of developmental delays or disorders and the implementation of a ‘supra-optimal’ care pathway","authors":"Emmanuelle Toussaint, Daniel Rousseau","doi":"10.1002/car.2805","DOIUrl":"10.1002/car.2805","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The importance of the first three years of life for children's development and the consequences for their general health in adulthood have been widely documented in the international literature, including the benefits of early identification and intervention programs. Additionally, convergent research has highlighted wide-ranging negative trajectories attributable to both the short and long-term consequences of abuse and neglect and their neurobiological impact on health and development. However, formal identification processes and the use of standardised screening tools in child protection remain relatively rare despite the potential societal impact of child maltreatment in terms of public and economic health. Moreover, delays between the initial identification of mental health problems and health and developmental disorders, and the introduction of appropriate interventions persist. Abused and neglected infants risk an exacerbation of the consequences of early maltreatment due to insufficient access to prompt assessment and treatment, including appropriate responses to their health needs.</p><p>The aim of this article is to present the PEGASE program, an innovative French program for very young children in care, which is modelled on the care of premature babies. By setting up an early care pathway, it aims to ensure adequate medical follow-up – both somatic and psychiatric – through standardised examination and tailored interventions in order to limit the adverse health and developmental consequences of abuse. The presentation of the PEGASE program is supplemented by a case study.</p>","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/car.2805","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46103637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Burak Gümüş, Ömer Özer, Ahmet Özgür Doğru, Sadık Toprak
{"title":"Can childbearing and marriage of underage girls be prevented? A study of population data in Turkey","authors":"Burak Gümüş, Ömer Özer, Ahmet Özgür Doğru, Sadık Toprak","doi":"10.1002/car.2806","DOIUrl":"10.1002/car.2806","url":null,"abstract":"<p>All over the world, poor and illiterate girls living in rural areas are at higher risk of becoming underage marriage than well-educated girls living in cities. Early marriages exacerbate inequalities between females and males in society and violate children's and women's rights. This study aimed to demonstrate temporal changes in the prevalence of child marriage and underage childbearing in Turkey by exploring the causes of regional variations in the schooling rate. Our retrospective, descriptive and register-based study obtained input data on childbirth, marriage, population and schooling from official statistics published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) and the Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education. Based on official statistics, underage childbearing rates decreased from 2002 to 2019 in Turkey. This study outlined significant regional variations in the ratio of childbearing female under 18 to the population that were higher in the northeastern, central eastern, and southeastern Anatolia regions of Turkey than in other regions. During the same period, there were downward trends in the number of legal marriages of female aged 16–17 and the number of underage females who gave birth in contrast with an increasing population of girls living in Turkey. In terms of welfare, education and healthcare, developments in Turkey were considered to have contributed to the downward tendency of childbearing and marriages of underage females. However, an increase in the schooling rate of girls was the critical determinant of the observed tendency. Therefore, officially setting the compulsory education age to 18 can help to prevent underage marriage and childbearing.</p>","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46676959","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An intensive perinatal mentalisation-based intervention for women at risk of child removal and the role of restorative relationships","authors":"Ana Fernandez Jondec, Jane Barlow","doi":"10.1002/car.2801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2801","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Pregnant women with a history of child removal are at greater risk of being found unsuitable to care for their new babies. Neglect, showing a lack of capacity to provide for the child's physical and/or emotional needs, is the most frequent reason why infants are removed from their parents' care. Parents with a history of child removal have often been themselves subject to maltreatment as children and suffer the sequelae of relational trauma which then becomes a barrier to establishing nurturing relationships with their own children. Attachment, and particularly mentalisation-based, parenting interventions focus on restoring relationships by developing parents' capacity to reflect upon their own internal mental experiences as well as those of the child, helping them to better understand themselves and their children. The DAISY programme is an intensive perinatal attachment and mentalisation-based intervention for pregnant women with a history of child removal, aiming to improve mothers' mentalising capacities and care proceeding outcomes. This article uses a case study to describe the programme's model and mechanisms of change. Additionally, we present preliminary observations about the programme's delivery and impact from the perspective of one of its practitioners.</p>","PeriodicalId":47371,"journal":{"name":"Child Abuse Review","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/car.2801","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50147058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}