Developing an understanding of fatal child abuse and neglect: Results from the South African child death review pilot study

ABSTRACT Mandatory reporting laws are a controversial mechanism that require members of particular occupations to report cases of serious child maltreatment that they encounter in the course of their work to welfare or law enforcement agencies. In April 2019 a video went viral in which a woman filmed her colleague beating toddlers at a crèche in Gauteng. The crèche was closed, and arrests were made, including of the videographer. Given extent of violence and abuse against South African children, this paper investigates whether South African law adequately provides for the liability of those compelled to report child abuse but who fail to do so, why mandated reporters fail to report abuse, and how South Africa's mandatory reporting rules should be amended to better serve their purpose.

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Safe from Harm: Development of Online Child Protection Training for Scouts New Zealand

EDEN Conference Proceedings ◽

10.38069/edenconf-2021-ac0037 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 384-391

Author(s):

Elizabeth Asbury ◽

Emma Addington ◽

George Orsborn ◽

John Williams

Keyword(s):

Child Abuse ◽

New Zealand ◽

Young People ◽

Youth Development ◽

Child Protection ◽

Child Death ◽

Child Abuse And Neglect ◽

Youth Protection ◽

Abuse And Neglect

Introduction: SCOUTS New Zealand place paramount importance on keeping young people safe from harm. New Zealand (NZ) has one of the highest rates of child abuse and child death by maltreatment in the developed world. SCOUTS NZ engage with 14,500 children and young people, supported by 4,500 adult volunteers in 340 locations across New Zealand. SCOUTS wanted to inform and educate all their members about the importance of child protection (CP), while managing the challenges of a geographically disparate population through online learning.Method: “Introduction to Child and Youth Protection” module was created collaboratively with SCOUTS NZ and online educators at Whitireia NZ. The aim was to provide an accessible, evidence based, self-paced online module illustrating the realities of child abuse and neglect in NZ, while enabling the participants to understand the role of SCOUTS NZ in child and youth protection. The module was developed using “Articulate Storyline”, peer reviewed by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) working in Youth Development and Social Work, and evaluated using the Kirkpatrick framework.Results: 1102 SCOUTS leaders and volunteers have completed the CP module and evaluation to date. Significant improvements in the learning outcomes “Understanding the realities of child abuse and neglect in NZ” (5.32 ± 1.35 vs. 6.26 ± 0.79, p 0.001), “Understanding the importance of child and youth protection in NZ” (5.99 ± 1.13 vs. 6.51 ± 0.71, p 0.001) and “Understanding the role of SCOUTS in child protection” (5.74 ± 1.22 vs. 6.46 ± 0.79, p 0.001) were found on completion of the module. Participants found the module engaging (95%), useful (97%), applicable (99%) and relevant to their role (99%).Conclusion: By using tailored, appropriate content, emotive topics can be addressed through online learning, as this successful collaboration has demonstrated.

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Prevention and Contrast of Child Abuse and Neglect in the Practice of European Paediatricians: a Multi-national Pilot Study

10.21203/rs.3.rs-293592/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Massimo Pettoello-Mantovani ◽

Nigri Paola ◽

Corsello Giovanni ◽

Nigri Luigi ◽

Bali Donjeta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Child Abuse ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Child Maltreatment ◽

Univariate Analysis ◽

Child Abuse And Neglect ◽

Public Health Problem ◽

Medical Settings ◽

Abuse And Neglect ◽

Shared Risk

Abstract Background: Child abuse and neglect, or maltreatment, is a serious public health problem, which may cause long-term effects on children’s health and wellbeing and expose them to further adulthood vulnerabilities. Studies on child maltreatment performed in Europe are scarce, and the number of participants enrolled relatively small. The aim of this multi-national European pilot study, was to evaluate the level of understanding and perception of the concepts of child abuse and neglect by European paediatricians working in different medical settings, and the attitude toward these forms of maltreatment in their practice.Methods: The study was performed by a cross-sectional, descriptive, online survey, made available online to European paediatricians members of 50 national paediatric, who belonged to four different medical settings: hospital, family care, university centres and private practice. The questionnaire, designed as a multiple choice questions survey, with a single answer option consisted of 22 questions/statements. Frequency analyses were applied. Most of the data were described using univariate analysis and Chi-squared tests were used to compare the respondents and answers and a significance level of p ≤ 0.05 applied.Results: Findings show that European paediatricians consider the training on child maltreatment currently provided by medical school curricula and paediatric residency courses to be largely insufficient and continuing education courses were considered of great importance to cover educational gaps. Physical violence was recognized by paediatricians mostly during occasional visits with a significant correlation between detecting abuse during an occasional visit and being a primary care paediatrician. Results also showed a reluctance by paediatricians to report cases of maltreatment to the competent judicial authorities.Conclusions: Data of this study may provide useful contribution to the current limited knowledge about the familiarity of European paediatricians with child maltreatment and their skills to recognize, manage and contrast abusive childhood experiences in their practice. Finally, they could provide local legislators and health authorities with information useful to further improve public health approaches and rules able to effectively address shared risk and protective factors, which could prevent child abuse and neglect from ever occurring.

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