No / Diverse, but significant, phenomena have combined to raise both the profile of issues related to religion and child abuse and the need for professionals to understand and respond appropriately to them. The nature of some of these issues is explored and attempts made to clarify them. Data collected by the author primarily from questionnaires completed by professionals involved in child protection and safeguarding work are analysed and discussed. Some patterns are identified and explored. Finally, it is suggested that, despite the apparent emergence of a more general recognition and acknowledgement of these issues amongst many professionals, relevant day-to-day practice remains largely dependent on individual views and attitudes. Moreover, practitioners are able to continue with ‘religion-blind’ and ‘belief-blind’ approaches without these being significantly challenged by agency policies or by professional cultures.

No / The Public Law Outline (PLO) introduced in England and Wales in April 2008 appeared to hold out the promise of a fairer process for parents within pre-proceedings decision-making processes that determine whether or not the local authority will make an application to court. Whilst the rhetoric of the PLO to provide consensual solutions within administrative rather than judicial decision-making processes may be laudable, there are tensions and dilemmas in ensuring the rights of parents and children are protected when important decisions are being made without the oversight of the court. Despite the rhetoric of keeping children and families at the heart, there appears no relief from the procedural and managerial processes set within a context of public sector cuts affecting all professionals tasked with protecting children. Achieving justice for children and families to ensure their rights are protected within a protocol that necessitates increased resources will be a challenge.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Families with serious and/or chronic child protection risks often have complex personal and social issues. Statutory child protection services must manage escalating child protection reports with limited resources. Addressing families at immediate risk often takes precedence over comprehensive family assessment and planned intervention, so the child protection issues in the lower priority families persist, and child protection reports continue. The Montrose Home-Based Family Assessment Program assesses Department of Community Services registered families who are at risk of child removal because of chronic and/or severe child protection issues. Using an ecological perspective, the Montrose team conducts a five day comprehensive assessment in the family's home and community, and develops a caseplan to address child protection risks and family support needs. The assessment is voluntary, and the family is encouraged to participate in identifying the child protection issues and developing solutions. The primary goal of this study is to compare child protection outcomes, three years after referral, for 100 families who participated in a Montrose Assessment, and 100 Comparison Group families. The research questions also explore the relationship between demographic, family, parent, child and child protection service factors and child protection outcome. Outcome is measured by Family Outcome, Children's Outcome, Legal Status, Children's Placement, subsequent Child Protection Reports and Substantiated Child Protection Reports, and Type of Abuse. The results suggest that home-based family assessment is a cost-effective model that can measurably reduce the likelihood of further abuse, court intervention and out of home care even for complex, high risk families. The study also identifies specific child, parent and child protection service related variables that are significantly associated with child protection outcome. These findings have major relevance for current child protection policy and practice, and also for broader social policy that impacts on high risk families.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Families with serious and/or chronic child protection risks often have complex personal and social issues. Statutory child protection services must manage escalating child protection reports with limited resources. Addressing families at immediate risk often takes precedence over comprehensive family assessment and planned intervention, so the child protection issues in the lower priority families persist, and child protection reports continue. The Montrose Home-Based Family Assessment Program assesses Department of Community Services registered families who are at risk of child removal because of chronic and/or severe child protection issues. Using an ecological perspective, the Montrose team conducts a five day comprehensive assessment in the family's home and community, and develops a caseplan to address child protection risks and family support needs. The assessment is voluntary, and the family is encouraged to participate in identifying the child protection issues and developing solutions. The primary goal of this study is to compare child protection outcomes, three years after referral, for 100 families who participated in a Montrose Assessment, and 100 Comparison Group families. The research questions also explore the relationship between demographic, family, parent, child and child protection service factors and child protection outcome. Outcome is measured by Family Outcome, Children's Outcome, Legal Status, Children's Placement, subsequent Child Protection Reports and Substantiated Child Protection Reports, and Type of Abuse. The results suggest that home-based family assessment is a cost-effective model that can measurably reduce the likelihood of further abuse, court intervention and out of home care even for complex, high risk families. The study also identifies specific child, parent and child protection service related variables that are significantly associated with child protection outcome. These findings have major relevance for current child protection policy and practice, and also for broader social policy that impacts on high risk families.

No description available.

No description available.

Lo scopo della ricerca è stato comprendere il ruolo dei coordinatori nei Servizi Tutela Minori lombardi. Questi middle managers sono il primo riferimento organizzativo e metodologico per gli assistenti sociali, ma allo stesso tempo hanno una responsabilità nei confronti del top management e delle comunità rispetto al buon andamento di questi Servizi. Attualmente la conoscenza scientifica prodotta sul ruolo è scarsa e sembra che esso abbia preso forma prevalentemente nella pratica. Lo studio ha avuto una duplice finalità, sia descrittiva che esplorativa: la prima parte della ricerca ha infatti indagato le caratteristiche socio-demografiche, la qualifica e la carriera dei managers, mentre la seconda ha esplorato la loro opinione sul loro ruolo in termini di competenze richieste, bisogni e risorse. La ricerca ha previsto un'indagine preliminare sui Servizi Tutela Minori lombardi, un questionario on-line indirizzato a tutti i coordinatori attivi in Lombardia, nonchè interviste semistrutturate indirizzate ad un campione di questi managers (18). Due approcci teorici hanno fatto da cornice agli approfondimenti, ovvero gli studi culturali delle organizzazioni e del management (Alvesson e Berg, 1993; Mintzberg, 1980, 2010; Gagliardi e Monaci, 2011) e il Relational Social Work (Folgheraiter, 1998, 2011, 2017). L’integrazione tra queste teorie e i dati raccolti dai managers hanno permesso di delineare le caratteristiche specifiche che il ruolo di coordinatore tutela minori assume nel sistema di Child Protection lombardo e di far emergere la prospettiva dei coordinatori sul proprio lavoro. / The aim of this study was to understand better the role of middle managers in lombard Child Protection services. This managers are the first organizational and methodological reference for social workers, but at the same time they have a responsability towards top management (and communities) in terms of a good service trend. There isn’t so much knowledge about their work and it seems that they have built their role in practice. The study explored the current characterization of managers that are active in lombard Child Protection system and collected their opinions about the role. The study consisted in a preliminary investigation about Child Protection services in Lombardy After this first investigation, the first step was a survey on-line addressed to all the managers that actually works in Lombardy; the second step consisted in semistructured interviews addressed to a sample of these managers (18). The aim of the first part of the research was descriptive (socio-demographic characteristics, qualification and career of the managers) while that of the second part was exploratory (managers opinion about their role in terms of competences requested, needs and resources). The research has combined two theoretical approaches, cultural studies of organizations/management (Alvesson e Berg, 1993; Mintzberg, 1980, 2010; Gagliardi e Monaci, 2011) and Relational Social Work (Folgheraiter, 1998, 2011, 2017): the integration of them allowed the identification of specific characteristics of child protection middle managers and their point of view about their job.

[pt] A agenda de proteção de crianças é um tema relevante em Missões de Paz das Nações Unidas. Desenvolvida a partir de 1996, a agenda temática do Conselho de Segurança surgiu com objetivo de proteger menores de 18 anos dos impactos dos conflitos armados. Os Conselheiros de Proteção de Crianças (CPA) surgem com o propósito de materialização dessa agenda nas missões multidimensionais da ONU. Com base na análise da agenda internacional construída ao longo das duas últimas décadas no âmbito do Conselho de Segurança da ONU para garantir a proteção de crianças em situações de conflitos armados, o objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar a forma como tais mecanismos de proteção são traduzidos no trabalho do CPA, considerando, assim, os limites desse ferramental. Será analisado o caso dos CPAs na Missão de Estabilização das Nações Unidas na República Democrática do Congo (MONUSCO), já que é missão mais antiga e com maior número de CPAs atualmente. Dentre os principais achados da análise está o fato dos CPAs que trabalham no país possuírem um mandato muito extenso em um contexto local muito complexo, e no qual os recursos financeiros e humanos são escassos. Ademais, o trabalho desenvolve a necessidade de problematização da compreensão da criança nos moldes modernos, no qual a criança é entendida como apolítica, vulnerável e vítima nos contextos de conflitos armados. / [en] The child protection agenda is a relevant theme in United Nations Peace Missions. Developed since 1996, the Security Council s thematic agenda emerged with the aim of protecting children under the age of 18 from the impacts of armed conflict. The Child Protection Advisers (CPAs) come up with the purpose of materializing this agenda in the UN multidimensional missions. Based on the analysis of the international agenda built over the last two decades within the framework of the UN Security Council to ensure the protection of children in situations of armed conflict, the objective of this work is to analyze how these protection mechanisms are translated in the work of the CPA, thus considering the limits of this tools. Will be analyzed the case of the CPAs in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), since it is the oldest mission with the highest number of CPAs currently. Among the main findings of the analysis is the fact that CPAs working at DRC have a very large mandate in a very complex local context, and in which human and financial resources are scarce. In addition, the work develops the need to problematize the child s understanding in modern ways, in which the child is understood as apolitical, vulnerable and victim in the context of armed conflicts.

Social workers are responsible for rendering services to children and families who have experienced sexual abuse. These services are to a large degree guided by legislation and organisational policy, but the question arises whether all social workers perceive child sexual abuse in the same way. This is significant since the possibility that a social worker perceives child sexual abuse differently from legislation and existing policies, could lead to having an adverse effect on the rendering of services to children and families exposed to sexual abuse. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the perceptions of social work students regarding child sexual abuse by way of a descriptive qualitative research design. For the purposes of this study the non-probability sampling technique of purposive sampling was used to obtain participants. Fourth-year social work students at a specific higher learning institution were allowed to volunteer for this study and ten students agreed to participate. Unstructured in-depth individual interviews were conducted in order to explore their perceptions of CSA (Child Sexual Abuse). The data was coded into six main perceptions with their categories and subcategories. These perceptions were the following: (1) Child sexual abuse is caused by factors within the child’s ecological environment; (2) Description of the sexually abused child; (3) Description of the perpetrator of child sexual abuse; (4) Child sexual abuse is pervasive and can be characterised by the presence of specific aspects; (5) Child sexual abuse affects the child in specific ways; and (6) Children do not disclose sexual abuse. These results were presented in the format of an article with conclusions, recommendations as well as the limitations of the study. / MSW, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The overall purpose of this research was to develop an inter-agency reporting protocol for the child protection system in the Free State. The aim was to integrate current legislation and policy into this inter-agency reporting protocol to create standardised reporting procedures to ensure effective access to and response from the child protection system for the child in need of care and protection. The thesis comprises six sections: SECTION A: This section comprises the problem statement, the research purpose statement and objectives, the central theoretical statement, the approach to the research, the research methodology, as well as the limitations and restrictions of the research. Furthermore, key words are defined and an explanation of the research report is provided. The problem statement shows that problems have been experienced for quite some time regarding the way reports are being handled within the child protection system. The result is that children in need of care and protection do not have effective access to the child protection system and they don’t get effective response when their cases are reported. Although the rights, interests and wants of the child in need of care and protection are addressed in existing legislation and policy, there is still a problem with the implementation and enforcement of said legislation and policy. SECTION B: This section comprises four consecutive articles: Article 1: Legislation and policy for reporting within the child protection system of South Africa In this article, Phase 1 (problem analysis and project planning) of the intervention model was used. An analysis was made of the existing legislation and policy regulations currently in use in South Africa during reporting at the child protection system. This was done by means of literature analysis. Article 2: Agents, cases, persons and response during reporting at the child protection system In this article, Phase 2 (information gathering) of the intervention model was used. An analysis was made of the stipulations of current legislation and policy in South Africa regarding agents, cases, persons and response that should be kept in mind when developing an interagency reporting protocol for the child protection system. It was done by means of literature analysis. Article 3: Reporting procedures and protocols from abroad applicable to an inter-agency reporting protocol for the child protection system In this article, Phase 2 (information gathering) of the intervention model was used. The contents of foreign reporting procedures and protocols were analised in an effort to determine what contribution such procedures and protocols can make to the development of an inter-agency reporting protocol for the child protection system. It was done by means of literature analysis. Article 4: An inter-agency reporting protocol for the child protection system in the Free State In this article, Phases 3 (design), 5 (evaluation and advanced development) and 6 (dissemination) of the intervention model were used. The researcher used the information that came to the fore during the literature analysis in Phases 1 and 2 of the intervention model, to design an inter-agency reporting protocol and flow charts for the child protection system in the Free State. The suitability of this protocol was tested by means of semi-structured interviews with the agents responsible for handling reports within the child protection system. The qualitative data obtained from this was used for the further development of an inter-agency reporting protocol for the child protection system in the Free State. SECTION C: This section comprises a summary of the collective findings and conclusions that came to the fore during the research, whereafter recommendations were being made. SECTION D: This section comprises the various appendices used during the research. SECTION E: This section comprises a complete list of references. SECTION F: This section comprises the final inter-agency reporting protocol for the child protection system in the Free State. / PhD (Social Work), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014