The history of child protection and child abuse in the UK. How did we get here?

"It's Going to Stop in This Generation": Women with a History of Child Abuse Resolving to Raise Their Children Without Abuse

Harvard Educational Review ◽

10.17763/haer.81.1.m8202r3804uvmv68 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 81 (1) ◽

pp. 24-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sioux Hall

Keyword(s):

Child Abuse ◽

Child Protection ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Prevention And Treatment ◽

History Of ◽

Intergenerational Cycle

In this article, Sioux Hall promotes using a strengths-based approach to examine the interruption of the intergenerational cycle of child abuse and explores the strategies that women who were abused by a parent as children used to raise their children without abuse. She documents the mothers' uses of strategies such as vowing to protect and support their children, reconciling their abuse histories, and developing flexible, eclectic parenting methods. She discusses therapeutic and programmatic implications suggested by this research in the hope that this approach will create a shift in thinking among child protection professionals and educators toward a strengths-based perspective. Hall challenges readers to listen to the voices and consider the experiences of the ex-abused in order to reexamine the research, theory, and practice of prevention and treatment of child abuse.

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Trouble ahead? Contending discourses in child protection

Protecting Children ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447332732.003.0002 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 27-44

Author(s):

Brid Featherstone ◽

Anna Gupta ◽

Kate Morris ◽

Sue White

Keyword(s):

Family Relationships ◽

Child Protection ◽

Parenting Practices ◽

Social Engineering ◽

20Th Century History ◽

The Face ◽

History Of ◽

Primary Focus ◽

Post War ◽

The Uk

This chapter traces the history of attempts to improve the way families look after children using the UK system as an exemplar. As part of an increasingly residual role, the child protection system has become narrowly focused on an atomised child, severed from family, relationships, and social circumstances: a precarious object of ‘prevention’, or rescue. As its categories and definitions have gradually grown, the gap between child protection services and family support has widened. This has a number of antecedents. First, with the exception of a few decades of the 20th century, history shows a strong tendency towards individual social engineering to produce model citizens, with parenting practices the primary focus of state attention. Second, the post-war welfare consensus has withered in the face of market enchantment and a burgeoning commissioning paradigm.

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A Review on Medical Child Abuse and Child Protection

Journal of the Faculty of Medicine Baghdad ◽

10.32007/jfacmedbagdad.6331836 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Mustafa Hussein Ajlan Al-Jarshawi ◽

Ahmed Al-Imam

Keyword(s):

Child Abuse ◽

Child Protection ◽

Clinical Findings ◽

Clinical Presentations ◽

Medical Child Abuse ◽

Three Stages ◽

The Mean ◽

One Year ◽

The Uk ◽

High Index Of Suspicion

Background Medical child abuse describes a child receiving unnecessary, harmful, or potentially harmful medical care at the caretaker's instigation. Objectives To focus on medical child abuse as an entity and emphasize its epidemiology, clinical presentations, prevention, and management. Results In the UK, the annual incidence of medical child abuse in children below one year increased to 3:100,000, while its prevalence in Arabs, including Iraq, is ambiguous due to lack of evidence and improper clinician's awareness. The mean age at diagnosis is 14 months to 2.7 years. Female caregivers are the most common offenders. Clinically, medical child abuse could fit into three stages; falsification of illness story, falsification of illness story and physical signs' fabrication, or induction of illness in children. A successful diagnosis mandates a comprehensive review of medical records to identify discrepancies between caregivers' stories versus clinical findings or investigations. Management requires recognizing abuse, halting it, securing the child's safety, maintaining the family's integrity when possible, and aborting unnecessary lateral referrals within the healthcare system. Conclusion Reported cases of medical child abuse are increasing steadily, while less severe ones go unrecognized. No diagnostic tool can help other than the physician's high index of suspicion. The management follows the same principles applied for other forms of child abuse, while good medical practice ensures its prevention.

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Poverty, inequality, child abuse and neglect: Changing the conversation across the UK in child protection?

Children and Youth Services Review ◽

10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.06.009 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 97 ◽

pp. 127-133 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Brid Featherstone ◽

Kate Morris ◽

Brigid Daniel ◽

Paul Bywaters ◽

Geraldine Brady ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Child Abuse ◽

Child Protection ◽

Child Abuse And Neglect ◽

Abuse And Neglect ◽

The Uk

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Why Cleveland Still Matters: Connections with a New Era

10.5772/intechopen.97368 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Heather Bacon ◽

Susan Richardson

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

Child Abuse ◽

Child Protection ◽

Sexually Abused ◽

Abused Children ◽

New Era ◽

The Public ◽

The Face ◽

The Uk ◽

Sexually Abused Children

This chapter explores the lasting impact of 1987 Cleveland child abuse crisis in the UK in which 127 children were diagnosed by two paediatricians as having been sexually abused. It highlights how this resulted in tensions, misunderstandings and stresses in the interface between the public and the child protection system, and persistent challenges of creating and sustaining a successful multidisciplinary approach to intervention and protection. It argues that the experience in Cleveland provided unique information about the effects of intervening in child sexual abuse, especially where children are trapped in silence and only come to light by way of a proactive intervention. These children remain difficult to help and the best way of intervening remains contentious. The authors challenge the ethos that leaves sexually abused children vulnerable in the face of investigative and evidential hurdles and suggest ways forward.

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The Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect: A Study of Young People

International Journal of Market Research ◽

10.1177/147078530104300303 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. 1-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Sue Brooker ◽

Graham Kelly ◽

Pat Cawson ◽

Corrine Wattam

Keyword(s):

Child Abuse ◽

Young People ◽

Child Protection ◽

Social Research ◽

Public Attitudes ◽

Child Abuse And Neglect ◽

Abuse And Neglect ◽

Size Type ◽

Physical Neglect ◽

The Uk

Describes a survey among young people about experience of abuse or neglect, conducted by BBMRB Social Research for the NSPCC in connection with their Full Stop campaign. It was known that crimes against children tend to be underreported. A key objective was to provide robust and reliable benchmarks for the measurement of child abuse and neglect and public attitudes to them. Research challenges which had to be resolved were: how abuse should be defined; context, approach and presentation of the study; how to maximise response rate and minimise/account for bias; data collection method; size, type and composition of the sample (a crucial issue, discussed in some detail); questionnaire design; memory and recall; interviewer briefing and fieldwork issues; confidentiality and ethics. The very sensitive questionnaires had to be well piloted. CAPI was essential because of the complexity of potential interviews. Key results are summarised (a full report is available: ‘Child Maltreatment in the United Kingdom’, Cawson, Wattam, Brooker and Kelly, 2000), under the following heads: physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional or psychological maltreatment, sexual abuse. The results have suggested that the present child protection system in the UK is inadequate in several respects, and raises important questions for public policy, and for the need for continuing research in this area.

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