Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, page: 3556. Adviser: Irwin B. Horwitz. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: Filicide, the killing of a child by a parent, is the focus of this meta-study. In the United States, the total number of nonaccidental deaths of children at the hands of a parent is unknown. Five children a day under the age of five die from fatal abuse and neglect (U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1995). This number is a conservative estimate and does not include children kill by means other than abuse and neglect. Regardless of the number, this author views each filicide as a sentinel event for the United States and the world. A sentinel event is an unexpected occurrence involving death and signals the need for immediate investigation and response. The perspectives of social constructionism and role theory frame this meta-study. The author explored six questions of the extant filicide research: What is the research knowledge on filicide? How is filicide constructed in the research discourse and what is the context of this research? Is filicide constructed as a social problem? Can the use of role theory advance our understanding of filicide? Are there common themes in the filicide research findings? Is there disagreement in the research? What is missing, assumed, or overlooked in the research? The sample consisted of 66 international studies of parents (i.e., genetic, step, foster, person in role of parent) who killed their child(ren) from 1969 to 2009. Major findings include "meta-categories" of filicide research, risk factors, salient themes, and new conceptualization of filicide based on role theory. Individual, social, and structural variables to identify and prevent filicide are presented. An outline for educating practitioners and a tool for screening families for filicide risk are offered / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Social Work 2011

This thesis on the topic of criminal aspects of Child Abuse is trying comprehensively to introduce the issue of child abuse primarily in association with CAN Syndrome. Child abuse is very dangerous social phenomenon, mainly because the victim is child who is considered to be defenceless and trusting being. The Child Abuse and Neglect Syndrome has several forms of abuse and that is what makes it even harder to discover and early intercept not just for uninitiated society but even for specialists. The expert knowledge of this issue is still behind to where it should be. That also reflects on the legislation. Even though it is trying to deal with this problem there are still certain shortcomings, which should be improved. This thesis is divided into sex chapters. First chapter concentrates on the term CAN Syndrome itself and on his evolution. It also includes statistics on victims of different forms of CAN Syndrome. Second chapter contains single types of child abuse and forms in which they can be manifested and observed by the environment. The third chapter deals with the offenders in different types of child abuse. What might be their characteristics and what life situation could lead them to commit criminal act. The forth chapter is devoted to the victims of single types of child abuse, their...

Historically, child abuse and neglect (CAN) prevention efforts have focused on individuals and families, with disregard for the contexts and conditions that may underlie family challenges. There is increased recognition that efforts to support families and children must include focus on the societal level (Browne, 2014), yet few studies have examined how institutional processes influence community-based CAN prevention services. I utilized institutional ethnography to identify institutional factors that impact family well-being and CAN prevention work in Alabama. I relied on three primary forms of data: 1) focus group discussions; 2) interview discussions; and 3) analysis of key documents. Preliminary analysis indicates prevention work is diverse and occurs within a system of limited institutional and public support. I will discuss the specific institutional factors that influence child and abuse prevention work in Alabama and close with a discussion of how institutional ethnography can be used to strengthen family research and policy.

No description available.

This thesis evaluated the Trauma-Informed Child Advocacy Certificate (TICA) at Mississippi State University which is hosted in the School of Human Sciences, specifically in the area of Human Development and Family Science (HDFS). HDFS students (N = 94) enrolled in coursework during Spring 2021 participated in the evaluation. Students were grouped by enrollment in TICA courses, with 43 students having participated in TICA coursework and 51 students having only participated in general HDFS courses. Assessments included a perceived knowledge survey and 10 application-based scenarios. Independent samples T-tests indicated TICA students perceived themselves to have more trauma-informed knowledge, and frequency analyses showed they were more effective at applying that knowledge than HDFS students who have not taken any TICA courses. Data were used to highlight strengths of the TICA program and make recommendations on ways to enhance the TICA coursework to promote knowledge of trauma-informed professional practices.

No description available.

Family preservation services are intended to prevent the out-of-home placement (into foster care or some other alternative arrangement) of children and youth in families at risk of maltreating them. An Ecological Systems perspective of these families might suggest that a family’s context (represented by the variables of poverty, agency services, family history, and individual/caretaker characteristics) must be considered as an over-arching influence in families’ risk and outcomes. The purpose of this cross-sectional secondary data analysis study was to identify layered factors that distinguish family preservation cases in Richmond, VA that experience removal or subsequent abuse or neglect from those that do not, in order to make recommendations about how services can be better directed to support families in caring for their children and youth. Using Hierarchical Discriminant Function Analysis, this research project evaluated the “predictive” values of the external conditions and internal characteristics of family recipients of the Richmond, Virginia Department of Social Services corollary to family preservation services on the outcomes of (a) successful case closure, (b) out-of-home placement during services, and (c) child maltreatment after case closure. Contextual factors (poverty), Agency factors (number of services and ratio of concrete services), Family factors (history of placement, chronicity of maltreatment, abuse risk score, and neglect risk score), and Individual/Caretaker factors (caretaker substance abuse, caretaker mental health, and family structure) were investigated. The findings of this study showed that poverty, agency characteristics, and family characteristics each directly explained substantial amounts of variance among the outcomes and that poverty, provision of concrete services, and a family history of foster care placement best distinguished among families experiencing these different outcomes. These findings highlight the need of family preservation programming to directly address conditions of poverty in abuse and neglect risk, and suggest that the services provided to the families need better targeting to families’ needs. Recommendations based on this study include the development of a theory-based, local-evidence-based model of services for family preservation services at the agency for which the research was conducted.

Sweden has an obligation to report child abuse suspicions to Social Services. According to Socialtjänstlagen (swedish constitution) 1 § Chapter 14, all employees in agencies affecting children, such as schools, have a responsibility to report their suspicions. Research shows that many abuses are not reported. The consequence of this is that Social Services does not hear about all cases of abused and harmed children. One profession where reporting is mandated is school counselors. The school counselor has a particular status in the educational community and meets many maltreated children, and children who injure themselves through their own behavior. The purpose of our study was to describe the circumstances that school counselors believe may affect their tendency to report. Using qualitative methods, we had eight interviews with school counselors from different municipalities who work with students of different ages, and who have different experiences within their profession. The result was related to the theoretical frames of the written composition by Stephen Webb’s (2006), The Rationality of Regulation and the Sociological Concepts of Formal and Informal Social Controls (Israel, 1968). Our study shows that all school counselors knew that a report had to be submitted even at the slightest suspicion, although several of them said that they in some cases avoided to report. The reasons for this, which all according to our interpretation means that the regulation and the social control of maltreated children does not always work, could have to do with the cooperation and response from the social services, or that they assumed that the involvement with the social services would not benefit the child. It could also be that the student’s situation was not serious enough to report, or that they wanted more information about the situation before reporting. Another reason could be that they assumed that there are better ways to sort out the students’ concerns within the school or other agencies, especially if it regards an older student. The study also shows that the school counselors felt there was a risk in losing the students trust when reporting their suspicions.

[Truncated abstract] The primary aims of this thesis were to investigate health indicators of child maltreatment, as well as pathways into the child protection system using routinely collected government databases, enabling a preventative health approach to child abuse and neglect. This thesis aims to improve understanding of the trends in child maltreatment and the factors, at the child and family level, which increase or reduce vulnerability to child maltreatment so more effective prevention policies and practices can be developed. This project uses longitudinal de-identified population data from the Western Australian Government Departments of Child Protection, Health and Disability Services. These data contained information on demographic, clinical, social and child protection outcomes of children and their families. Record linkage of administrative data was undertaken to: investigate health indicators of abuse and neglect using Hospital Morbidity data to enable the monitoring of population trends in abuse and neglect; compare proportion of cases obtained using health indicators with the Department of Child Protection data, and describe the physical, psychological and social characteristics of abused and/or neglected children and families. Statistical techniques utilised include logistic and Cox regression to investigate risk of adverse child outcomes, taking into account potential confounding and time to event. The main findings include: There has been an increase in assault and maltreatment related hospital admissions over the last 25 years. ... There has been a marked increase in the birth prevalence of Neonatal Withdrawal Syndrome (NWS) in Western Australia over the last 25 years, from 1 per 10,000 live births in 1980, to 31 per 10,000 live births in 2005. Specific maternal characteristics associated with having a child with NWS are identified and these children have an increased risk of child protection involvement. A population level analysis of child and parental factors determined the estimated increase in risk of substantiated child maltreatment for child intellectual disability, parental admissions for mental health, substance use, and assault, as well as greater socio-economic disadvantage. Conclusions This is the first body of research which has extensively used longitudinal, population level linked health and child protection data to investigate health indicators of child abuse and neglect and antecedent causal pathways. Monitoring injuries and conditions associated with child abuse and neglect in routinely collected data and using multiple sources of ascertainment are important initiatives in child maltreatment surveillance. Health indicators of child abuse and neglect are not subject to the same definitional and policy issues as child protection data and therefore provide a more valid comparison over time and between jurisdictions. The identification of factors which increase vulnerability for children and families to child maltreatment is essential in the implementation of prevention strategies including universal public health approaches as well as the identification of at-risk families for targeted intervention.