The services provided during a child abuse and/or neglect case investigation and the barriers that exist to service provision

More than one million cases of child abuse and neglect come to attention of child protection agencies each year. During the course of investigating these cases, social workers are charged with protecting the child while assessing whether or not abuse or neglect has actually occurred. Child welfare philosophy also dictates that at the same time the investigation is being conducted, the social worker strives to maintain the family intact, if at all possible. One way to address this dual responsibility of protecting the child while working towards family stability is through the provision of services during the investigation. The purpose of this paper is to identify the services that are provided during the course of a child abuse and/or neglect case investigation. The paper also identifies the barriers that exist both within an agency and within the external community that discourage the provision of services to children and families. The findings of this research show that in the majority of cases services are not provided during the investigation. In those case investigations where services are provided, a much broader range of services are considered for provision than are actually delivered. The research also found that placement is the most frequently provided service; however, only one-third of those children in placement receive any clinical services while in placement. Finally, this study found that the greatest barrier to service provision is a lack of evidence necessary to intervene in the home situation.     

A developmental approach to the risk of a first recurrence in child protective services

The objective of this study is to estimate the risk of a first recurrence over a five-year period following initial child protective services (CPS) intervention and identify the characteristics associated with the risk of recurrence for three different age groups. Recurrence is defined as the first substantiated report within the observation period after initial services have ended. The study involved a cohort of 25,897 Quebec children who received postinvestigation services for the first time and whose cases were closed between 2005 and 2009. Survival analysis was used to estimate the five-year risk of recurrence and Cox regression to model the risk of recurrence for three age groups. The covariates introduced into the regression analyses were characteristics of the child and initial services. The risk of recurrence in the five years following termination of initial CPS services was 36% for the entire cohort and varied depending on the child's age at the time of case closure. Children aged 6–11 when their cases were closed had the highest risk of recurrence. Although Aboriginal descent and prior CPS investigations have a consistent effect on the risk of recurrence in all three age groups, the effects of other covariates, such as out-of-home placement and court involvement, vary or are even reversed, depending on the child's age. These findings highlight the need to adopt a differential approach that takes into account the child's age, both in the provision of protective services and in research involving the population receiving such services.     

Unanticipated problems in the United States child protection system

While the United States child protection system is widely recognized as probably the most sophisticated and wide-ranging in the world, it nevertheless has some inherent problems. This article addresses some of the negative effects of mandatory reporting and the lack of fit of a short-term crisis intervention treatment approach for a substantial proportion of the protective services population. Reporting may have detrimental effects on the client-reporter relationship. Further, over half of the cases investigated are not substantiated. Of concern are the impact on innocent families of being investigated and the waste of scarce worker resources on investigation. While some protective services families are well suited to a crisis intervention model, a large number are multiproblem families who are always in crisis and families with chronic problems for whom crisis intervention is totally inadequate. Furthermore, because of high caseload size, workers are often not available to intervene after they have investigated the case. The problems described have been exacerbated by funding cutbacks under the current United States administration. The child protection system, along with other social welfare programs, is at risk for being dismantled by the Reagan administration.     

Exposure to domestic violence as abuse and neglect: Constructions of child maltreatment in daily practice

Research finds that exposure to domestic violence can adversely affect the emotional, behavioral, and physical health of children. These effects have led some child advocates and policymakers in the United States to conclude that child exposure to domestic violence (CEDV) is a type of child maltreatment warranting state intervention. However, few states have defined CEDV as a type of maltreatment in statute and little is known about how child welfare agencies respond to allegations of CEDV in the absence of other safety threats. This study considers that CEDV itself might prompt an initial child welfare referral and may be construed by workers as a type of statutory maltreatment. Using a random sample (n = 295) of case records, this study analyzed one large child welfare agency’s response to referrals alleging CEDV between 2011 and 2012. Findings indicate that CEDV itself did trigger investigation. At time of referral, workers used statutory maltreatment typologies to construe alleged CEDV as a type of maltreatment; however, CEDV was not consistently construed as a safety threat and few allegations were substantiated. Instead most families were referred to community-based domestic violence services. Findings indicate that CEDV was not consistently construed as a type of statutory maltreatment and infrequently resulted in ongoing child welfare services. Findings suggest that training is needed to help workers better assess CEDV-related safety threats. Findings also raise questions about what types of interventions are needed to protect children from domestic violence and which types of agencies are best positioned to deliver those interventions.     

Examining the association between suicidal behaviors and referral for mental health services among children involved in the child welfare system in Ontario,Canada

Although various studies have investigated factors associated with mental health service utilization, few studies have examined factors associated with referral for mental health services among maltreated children. The objective of this study was to examine the association between suicidal thoughts and self-harming behavior and referral for mental health services among children involved in the Child Welfare System in Ontario, Canada. Data for this study were obtained from the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2013. An estimate 57,798 child maltreatment investigations was analyzed using binary logistic regression with referral for mental health service as the outcome variable. Of the 57,798 cases, 4709 (8.1%), were referred for mental health services. More than seven out of ten maltreated children who engaged in self-harming behavior and two out of three maltreated children who expressed suicidal thoughts were not referred for mental health services. In the multivariate logistic regression model, children who expressed suicidal thoughts had 2.39 times higher odds of being referred for mental health services compared to children with no suicidal thoughts (AOR = 2.39, 99% C.I. 2.05–2.77) and children who engaged in self-harming behavior had 1.44 times higher odds of being referred for mental health services compared to children who did not engage in self-harming behavior (AOR = 1.44, 99% C.I. 1.24–1.67), both after controlling for child demographic characteristics, maltreatment characteristics, and child functioning concerns. Given that referral is the initial step towards mental health service utilization, it is important that child welfare workers receive the necessary training so as to carefully assess and refer children in care who expressed suicidal thoughts or engaged in self-harming behavior for appropriate mental health services. The paper discusses the results and their implications for child welfare policy and practice.     

Professional skills, concerns, and perceived importance of work with families in early intervention.

Innovations brought about by Public Law 99-457 require early intervention personnel to expand their work practices to involve and support families in the provision of early intervention services. To support training needs in this area, and to understand possible barriers to change, this study examined the extent to which 142 early interventionists from two states felt competent in working with families, valued family roles, and were concerned about changing to family-centered practices. Relationships among these characteristics and experience, discipline, and job category were explored. In general, nurses and social workers scored higher than did educators and other health-care professionals on several dimensions of family-centered care. Many professionals expressed concerns about collaboration.     

劳务派遣工伤保险责任研究--兼议《劳务派遣暂行规定》

近来劳务派遣成为了劳动就业规制的重点,随着《劳务派遣暂行规定》的颁布引起了社会的广泛关注,其就工伤保险、劳动者的安全保障等方面作出了新的规定,填补了法律的空白。但是该规定的内容不够全面,还应规定劳务派遣工伤保险制度中的工伤预防制度。在工伤保险责任分配上应建立派遣单位承担工伤保险责任,用工单位承担补充连带责任的制度,厘清派遣单位承担工伤保险责任与《劳动合同法》中规定的连带责任之间的关系。     

Diagnosing Students’ Understanding of the Nature of Models

Students’ understanding of models in science has been subject to a number of investigations. The instruments the researchers used are suitable for educational research but, due to their complexity, cannot be employed directly by teachers. This article presents forced choice (FC) tasks, which, assembled as a diagnostic instrument, are supposed to measure students’ understanding of the nature of models efficiently, while being sensitive enough to detect differences between individuals. In order to evaluate if the diagnostic instrument is suitable for its intended use, we propose an approach that complies with the demand to integrate students’ responses to the tasks into the validation process. Evidence for validity was gathered based on relations to other variables and on students’ response processes. Students’ understanding of the nature of models was assessed using three methods: FC tasks, open-ended tasks and interviews (N?=?448). Furthermore, concurrent think-aloud protocols (N?=?30) were performed. The results suggest that the method and the age of the students have an effect on their understanding of the nature of models. A good understanding of the FC tasks as well as a convergence in the findings across the three methods was documented for grades eleven and twelve. This indicates that teachers can use the diagnostic instrument for an efficient and, at the same time, valid diagnosis for this group. Finally, the findings of this article may provide a possible explanation for alternative findings from previous studies as a result of specific methods that were used.     

The impact of a vocational education program for childcare providers on children's well-being

The early childhood community-based program Hogares Comunitarios de Bienestar serves 800,000 low-income children under the age of 5 in Colombia. Earlier studies have identified care providers (madres comunitarias) as having, on average, low education levels and not being appropriately trained for the provision of childcare services. In 2007, a vocational education program was introduced which offers a degree in child development and care for childcare providers. In this paper we assess the effects of this program on the quality of care provided in the relevant nurseries and on the nutritional and health status, as well as cognitive and socio-emotional development of beneficiary children in Bogotá. This evaluation takes advantage of the gradual geographic expansion of the program in order to estimate treatment effects. Results indicate that the quality of care has significantly increased in these family-based nurseries and that the program has thus had a positive and significant effect on the health, cognitive and socio-emotional development of beneficiary children, especially those younger than 3 years of age.     

Vocational training for prison inmates: a treatment model

Offenders, whether they are adults or juveniles, convicts or simply on remand are usually offered some sort of vocational training durir g the period of incarceration. For most prison service establishments, training has been elevated to a position of utmost prominence, so much so that an offender's post‐release career seems to depend largely on the success of training received in prison. Prison vocational training should address the vital aspects of offender rehabilitation and reintegration, and current agitations centre on whether offender should ‘do time’ or ‘use time’ during training sessions. By and large, training should not simply be part of prison routine, but instead should have firm features of an intervention, and also represent a treatment regime. This article discusses a treatment model of prison vocational training for all categories of offenders. The model provides for an initial diagnostic phase of offenders’ work history and training needs, which are carefully analysed in relation to labour market skills requirements. Central to this model is the provision of appropriate job and entrepreneurial skills in conjunction with aftercare services. It also places a high premium on the vocational adjustment of ex‐offenders in society, which must be closely monitored in order that success of the rehabilitation and resettlement processes can be correctly assessed.     

Parental experience of child protection intervention: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVE: To explore the ways in which parents experience and negotiate child protection intervention. METHOD: A qualitative grounded theory approach was used. In-depth qualitative interviews explored the experiences of 18 parents who had received child protection services. Grounded theory methods were used to build a model representing the ways these parents perceived and reacted to intervention. RESULTS: The ways parents perceive workers using power was shown to be the primary influence shaping parents' views of intervention and their reactions to it. Two perceptions of power emerged: parents perceived power being used over them as a form of control or power with them as a form of support. Three ways of responding to intervention emerged: parents fought workers by openly opposing them, "played the game" by feigning co-operation, or worked with them in collaborative relationships. Parents experiencing power being used over them tended to fight or play the game while parents experiencing power being used with them tended to work with intervention. No evidence was found linking case type (non-voluntary or voluntary cases) to whether parents perceived power being used by workers over them or with them. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the importance of practitioners and policy makers being aware of the impact power has on worker-parent interaction. Doubts are raised about the viability of policies separating policing and helping in child protection through differential response systems.     

The effects of experience of early intervention on low birth weight,premature children: The infant health and development program

This study explores individuals' experience of early intervention in two settings (the home and the child development center) and the effect of that experience on child and parental outcomes in the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP). The IHDP was a randomized clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of educational and family support services on reducing developmental delays in low birth weight (LEW), premature infants (N = 985) during the first 3 years of life. This study focused on children in the intervention group who received at least one home visit and one day at the center each year (n = 296). Three approaches to measuring participants' experience of intervention were defined—number of contacts in the home and at the child care center (i.e., Exposure), number of activities presented per visit to the parent in the home or per day to the child at the center (i.e., Rate); and a combination of the parent's interest in the intervention activities in the home and the child's mastery of the intervention tasks taught at the center (i.e., Active Experience). More substantial contributions to both child IQ and the HOME scores at age 3 were found with the Active Experience approach than with the Exposure or the Rate approach, after controlling for initial background variables, family socioeconomic status, children's initial IQ, and parental cognitive ability. Further, a high level of Active Experience from both the parent and the child was associated with higher IQ scores at ages 1, 2, and 3 and higher HOME scores at age 3 than was found when only a high level of Active Experience from only the parent or the child, or neither, was involved. Implications for future intervention programs are discussed.     

Early education and day care: in search of a policy

This paper examines policy issues in the provision of services for children under five and their families. It argues that services have developed in response to political and economic factors rather than in response to the needs of children and their parents. It shows how the separate strands of development that have led to the current confused situation reflect different ideological and philosophical approaches which tend to militate against a more coherent and co‐ordinated service provision. In the absence of a national policy on services for children under five, the paper examines the attempts by some local authorities to rationalize their own services on a local basis. It considers some of the areas in which a policy is required, including the organizational structure of services, flexibility and responsiveness of nurseries and centres to the needs of families, the quality of day care and education, the involvement of parents, equal opportunities, the relationship between the vouluntary and statutory sectors, pay and conditions of pre‐school workers, and initial and in‐service training.     

Migrants and the language of instruction: Is the EU policy deficit driving new innovations in social inclusion?

Language learning has long been seen as an important tool for achieving European Union (EU) targets for social inclusion. However, “mainstream” policy instruments like the Action Plan on Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity and the European Charter for Minority Languages have been undermined in recent years by the effects of the global financial crisis, which has contributed to the widespread decimation of welfare budgets in many EU member states. This has been accompanied by the increasing influence of a “neo-liberal” discourse in welfare and social service policies and practices, leading to the delegation of responsibility for service provision from central, regional and local government to commercial enterprises, civil society and, ultimately, to citizens themselves. At the same time, the gaps in service provision that have resulted from this “financial crisis” have opened up new opportunities for social innovators. New kinds of organisations are beginning to develop and apply new approaches using language learning to deliver innovative services aimed, for example, at supporting the integration of immigrants in society. Using case study analysis, this paper explores how these new approaches have developed, what kinds of innovation are being delivered and the contribution these social innovations are making to broader EU social inclusion objectives.     

Conceptualising educational provision for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in England

ABSTRACT

The right to education for all children, including asylum-seeking children, is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, there is little research available to describe the educational provision provided to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in England. Crucially, it is not known whether the educational needs are met by the provision available to UASC. In the most recent figures, the number of UASC in England has risen by 130% since 2013, to 4,480. Schools, ‘virtual schools’ responsible for children in care, social workers, and policymakers wish to know how this population is currently being served and how they might better serve them. This paper presents the findings from a mapping exercise on education available to UASC in England including 12 semi-structured interviews with virtual school heads, teachers, social workers, and charity education providers; document analysis; a workshop at the Department of Education with key stakeholders; and summary statistics. It highlights gaps in data and provision; conceptualises types of provision into bespoke, mainstream, and English language; and analyses how provision interacts with assessment and support needs. What emerges is a framing of provision through an integration lens and an agenda for future research and practice.     

Treating abused children: Some clinical and research aspects of work carried out by the national advisory centre of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the United Kingdom

A study of the initial phase of intensive work with families indicated that whilst outreach techniques had dramatically reduced physical injury there was long-term distortion in the child's relationship with mother (parent) less amenable to change. The most recent phase of work has concentrated on direct treatment for the abused child, using a multidisciplinary team that includes a play specialist and child psychotherapist in addition to the social workers involved. Out of a total number of 66 children seen between April 1977 and December 1979 it was alarming to find that almost all were emotionally disturbed; even if the abuse did not reoccur they remained with considerable problems. The study highlights the degree of emotional disturbance suffered by these abused children and how they can be helped by focusing on their particular treatment needs. It is important to assess all children in the family situation and not to miss the quiet, depressed, withdrawn child who might not have been the subject of the initial referral. In some instances the needs of the child may outweigh those of the family and the focus of treatment must be on the child.     

Teaching Interprofessional Practice: An Exploratory Course Assignment in Social Work and Speech Language Pathology

The professions of social work (SWK) and speech language pathology (SLP) often involve the provision of services to a diverse group of client populations in a variety of settings; this is particularly true when meeting the complex needs of children and their families. It is widely accepted that collaborative treatment approaches utilizing multidisciplinary teams is an effective method of practice when serving children who are developmentally delayed or challenged, yet there is little information in the literature regarding the quantity, quality, and efficacy of collaboration among professional disciplines serving child populations. This article addresses the identified gap in the pedagogical literature regarding collaborative case management approaches between social workers (SWKs) and speech language pathologists (SLPs) using a case example describing a child in need of early intervention services. Following the case study, sample assessment questions are provided (utilizing the professional standards from both SWK and SLP) as a measure of professional competency and practice behavior. Finally, a discussion of the practical ways SWKs and SLPs can be trained in order to be mutually supportive in meeting the needs of children requiring multidisciplinary services through a collaborative or trans-team approach is provided.     

Mothers in methadone treatment and their involvement with the child protection system: A replication and extension study

Objectives

Although a high level of involvement with the child protection system has been identified in families where parental substance use is a feature, not all such parents abuse or neglect their children or have contact with the child protection system. Identifying parents with substance-use histories who are able to care for their children without intervention by the child protection system, and being able to target interventions to the families who need them the most is important. This study interviewed a relatively large sample of mothers about their histories, their children and their involvement with the child protection system. We hypothesized that mothers in opioid pharmacological treatment who are involved with child protection services are different in characteristics to those mothers who are not involved.

Methods

One hundred and seventy-one women, with at least one child aged under 16 years, were interviewed at nine treatment clinics providing pharmacological treatment for opioid dependence across Sydney, Australia.

Results

Just over one-third of the women were involved with child protection services at the time of interview, mostly with children in out-of-home care. Logistic regression analyses revealed that factors which significantly increased the likelihood of the mother being involved with the child protection system were: (1) having a greater number of children, (2) being on psychiatric medication, and (3) having less than daily contact with her own parents.

Conclusions

This study replicates and extends the work of Grella, Hser, and Huang (2006) and the limited literature published to date examining the factors which contribute to some substance-using mothers becoming involved with the child protection system while others do not. The finding that mental health problems and parental supports (along with the number of children) were significantly associated with child protection system involvement in this study, indicates a need for improved interventions and the provision of treatment and support services if we are to reduce the involvement of the child protection system with these families.     

Improving outcomes for young children: can we narrow the gap?

This article explores the considerable developments in both early years policy and in the provision of services for young children in England since 1997, noting the role that such services have had in informing the broader Every child matters agenda. Many challenges remain, however, not least the numbers of children and families who still live in poverty and the continuing gap between those children who do well and those who do not. In examining how this gap can be narrowed, through intervention and support during the early years, the work of the Narrowing the Gap project is described, a project that continues with the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children’s Services (C4EO). Whilst high‐quality early years services provide a very positive start in life for young children, reducing inequality remains the key priority.