Child abuse has become more recognised in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), after many years of receiving very little attention. Since 2014 domestic violence, including child abuse, has been made a criminal offence in KSA. This study takes place against a background where protection laws (2013 Legislation) have been introduced, where there are cultural limitations, and where professional child protection agencies are requiring their practitioners to deal with child abuse in the light of these new laws. The aim of this study was to identify the issues for social workers and other professionals in responding to child abuse and how these responses can be improved in KSA. There are two phases to this study. The first phase examines developments in child protection practices and policy through the analysis of newspaper reports and through a series of interviews with professionals, practitioners and managers in the Social Protection Department (SPD) in Riyadh, KSA. The findings of this initial study suggest that KSA is in the early stages of developing and implementing programmes in child protection practice. It was found that training was a major issue, in particular the provision of training that was accessible and relevant to the needs of the practitioners. The second phase focused on ways that professional child protection training programmes for practitioners may be improved to increase both their quality and relevance to child protection professionals and trainees. In order to achieve these objectives, interviews, written responses and surveys were conducted with child protection practitioners, training providers and social work educators and trainees in the (SPD), the National Family Safety Programme (NFSP), Al-Wafa Association (AWA), Ministry of Social Affairs (MSA) and three universities in Riyadh, KSA. The findings provide more understanding of how child protection training, teaching and learning for practitioners can be improved to enable them to respond more effectively to child abuse in KSA. Findings are discussed with reference to the current practices as England and in other Arab countries and recommendations are offered with a view to their suitability in KSA.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:699020 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Lardhi, Jehan |
| Publisher | University of Bedfordshire |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10547/621841 |
Page generated in 0.0024 seconds