The use of family group conferences in child protection work: An exploration of professionals' views

Family Group Conferences (FGCs) originated in New Zealand and offer a radical new approach to involving families in the decision-making process in child care social work. This research was undertaken to explore professionals' views on the possible use of FGCs in child protection work in North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust (NWBT). A postal questionnaire was sent to three groups of staff - practitioners, managers, and non-social work members of the Trust Child Protection Panel (TCPP Members). A response rate of 68 per cent was achieved.     

Promoting family decision making in child care practice: An overview of the use of family group conferences in child protection, youth justice, schools and with young carers

The development of Family Group Conferences in the UK has been characterised by a high level of cooperation and working together. While still in its infancy, the growth in this style of work has produced some excellent collaborations between professionals, family and community groups and statutory and voluntary organisations and researchers. From these 'partnerships' some lessons, themes and ideas are emerging in policy, practice and research (see Morris and Tunnard, 1996). The growing collective knowledge brought to bear on Family Group Conferences (FGCs), is of course far greater than any individual perspective (much like a FGC), and the ideas presented in this paper owe much to those different perspectives, all of which have contributed to the growing body of knowledge about this approach. In this paper I shall draw from the experience of families, child care professionals and researchers, mostly in Hampshire where there are a number of FGC projects developing, that offer some ideas that could be added to the big picture.     

Medical social work practice in child protection in China: A multiple case study in Shanghai hospitals

With the rapid development of the child welfare system in China over recent years, medical social work has been increasingly involved in providing child protection services in several hospitals in Shanghai. Focusing on five cases in this paper, the exploratory study aims to present a critical overview of current practices and effects of medical social work for child protection, based on a critical analysis of the multidimensional role of social work practitioners engaged in the provision of child protection services as well as potential challenges. Implications and suggestions for future improvements of China’s child protection system are also discussed.     

An evaluation of the criteria used in decision making in child protection referrals

In light of the introduction of the Children (N.I.) Order 1995, the Ulster Community and Hospitals Health and Social Services Trust has been looking at ways of developing further its range of services to support families in caring for their children. This is taking place against a backdrop of scarce resources and the statutory requirements on the Trust in respect of the child protection service. There is a growing body of research that points to the need to refocus the child protection service, by assessing more effectively which situations require which service. A sample of referrals to the Family and Child Care Programme of the Trust were analysed against screening criteria developed from research in England and Australia, to explore whether social work Team Leaders could be assisted to categorise referrals more consistently. The results showed that the criteria could be of use to Team Leaders and to the Trust. Recommendations are made about the steps necessary to implement such a scheme.     

Increasing accountability in child care practice through the use of single case evaluation

Child care workers are increasingly asked to respond to calls to demonstrate the effectiveness of their practice. The usual means of doing so has been through the use of traditional group comparison research methods. However, such approaches have a number of shortcomings and tend to provide program level information only. Such data is most useful to managers and funders but questions about whether specific clients are really being helped remain unanswered. Single case methods can provide case-level information to answer questions about the fate of individual clients and can be an ongoing source of feedback to child care workers, thus enhancing accountable practice by enabling them to make informed and well-founded practice decisions. Single case techniques can also be implemented at the unit level and help guide child care teams in making program decisions. This paper discusses the uses and limitations of traditional and single case methods as tools of accountability and provides a number of illustrations of the use of single subject methods in child care work.     

Parental evaluation of child and adolescent mental health services: a multicentric study

A self-completed questionnaire for routinely assessing parents' opinions on the quality of care in child and adolescent mental health services was developed. A reliability study was performed, and the questionnaire was then introduced in the practice of 5 services. Parents' opinions were evaluated, and specific aspects of services more associated with the overall opinion were investigated. Very good results were observed in the reliability study. Parents had critical opinions about the availability of the rehabilitative equipment, emergency management, and linkage among different types of services. The judgement about health outcomes was the most important predictor of the overall opinion on the quality of services. Because of its user-friendliness, the questionnaire may be particularly suitable for routine use.     

美国儿童保护介绍

该文介绍了美国在儿童保护方面所作的努力,儿童虐待的预防系统,儿童保护系统,《儿童虐待预防和处理法》的产生和功能等,使读者能较全面的了解美国的儿童保护法律及其产生背景.对学校健康教育在儿童虐待预防中的作用和儿童保护的服务系统作了较详细的介绍,希望能对建立国内儿童保护系统有所启示.     

Community participation and community-based rehabilitation: An Indonesian case study

Primary health care (PHC) and its commitment to community participation has been integral in the development of health care systems internationally. Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) and its grassroots approach to disability are closely allied with PHC and have adopted many of its principles, including that of participation. This paper briefly reviews the success of community participation with respect to PHC, and then examines the potential of an expanded notion of community participation within the realm of CBR. Although community participation is most often considered in the development and implementation of programmes, more recently, participation is being seen as an essential component of programme evaluation. The ideas presented here will be illustrated with examples from the author's research in Indonesia. As occupational therapy is increasing its focus on community-based practice and research, it is incumbent upon the profession to use the important lessons learned through more than 20 years of PHC, so that the goal of improving the lives of persons with disability world wide can be achieved.     

Child protection in schools: an evaluation of a training course for Fife schools' co-ordinators of child protection

The incidence of reported episodes of child abuse has risen in recent years in Scotland and the importance of multi-agency collaboration is widely recognised in achieving an effective response to this problem. We have identified that school teachers are the single largest professional group which refer children with a history of suspected abuse to child protection units in Fife. Priority was therefore given to the training of co-ordinators of child protection within all Fife schools. An evaluation of this training carried out approximately 12 months after the training course showed that the child protection training course for co-ordinators of child protection in Fife schools has been well received. Co-ordinators attending the training reported a number of positive outcomes both in terms of their own personal confidence in dealing with child protection issues and also on progress made with developing school policies on child protection. However, the follow-up survey suggested that the course has not generally had a major impact on teachers from the same schools who had not attended the training course. This is in turn due to the low level of effective dissemination of the course to other teachers. It is recommended that a session on how to disseminate information, knowledge and skills gained during the course be incorporated into the training course and that a further follow-up evaluation of a sample of teachers who did not attend the training course be carried out.Our experience suggests that if the training courses are based on a knowledge of the training needs of schoolteachers and are run by professionals from all of the various agencies involved in child protection then these courses can be successful in improving the performance of co-ordinators of child protection in primary and secondary schools. This can then lead to better, support for classroom teachers and promote the development and implementation of school child protection policies. In addition these courses helped develop inter-agency links and facilitate a true team approach in response to episodes of disclosure of child abuse. Regional child protection committees and education departments should consider giving priority to training co-ordinators of child protection in schools within their region as an important element in the response to the growing problem of child protection in their region.     

Preventing child abuse: An experimental evaluation of the child parent enrichment project

Perinatal child abuse prevention projects are increasingly favored but rarely evaluated. The paper describes an experimental evaluation of the Child Parent Enrichment Project (CPEP). Women were referred to the project during or just after pregnancy if identified as at-risk of engaging in child abuse by community professionals. Clients were randomly assigned to CPEP services (n=24) or traditional community services (n=26). CPEP services involved six months of home visiting by paraprofessional women and linkage to other formal and informal community resources. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance on posttest scores, controlling for pretest scores, show advantage for the CPEP group in prenatal care, birth outcomes, better reports of child temperament, and better indicators of child welfare. CPEP mothers tended to report better well-being. No significant differences were demonstrated for levels of formal and informal support. Reports of child abuse were similar for both groups. Consumer satisfaction indicates that clients valued the program. The preliminary results argue for further use and evaluation of perinatal child abuse prevention services.The authors thank Sharon Ikami and CPEP staff and volunteers. Richard P. Barth, D.S.W. is Associated Professor at the School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley. Susan Hacking, Ph.D. was Project Director and Jordana Ash, M.S.W. is Child Welfare Worker, Alameda County Department of Social Services. Funding was provided by Bio-Medical Research Support Grant 2-507-RR07006 Resources from the Division of Research National Institute of Health, the State of California Office of Child Abuse Prevention, and the Office of Human Development Services ACYF, DHHS (Grant #90-CA-0998).     

An evaluation of the intensity of mentoring: child outcomes

This study examines the intensity effect of a mentoring intervention for Head Start teachers, the Individualised Learning Intervention (ILI), as it impacts child social emotional outcomes. Pairs of Mentor and Protégé teachers across three sites in two states were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Mentors in the intervention group participated in a 50-hour mentor seminar and supported the intervention Protégé teachers’ professional growth and development across one Head Start school year. Mentors themselves were also supported by a Mentor Coordinator. As part of a quasi-experimental study of implementation fidelity effects, the intensity of mentoring intervention was measured by the Intensity of Intervention Scale and the intervention group was divided into high and moderate intensity levels. Evidence is presented for the effects of high intensity levels of the ILI Mentoring programme, relative to moderate intensity and control conditions, on the children in the Protégé teachers’ classrooms. These results lead to practice and policy implications regarding the implementation of mentoring programmes such as the ILI which are designed for early childhood educators and built upon adult self-directed learning experiences and collaborative support.     

Next steps in child protection, policy and practice. a perspective from england

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. I am very pleased to be able to do so at such an important time for all of you who are involved in children's services in Northern Ireland. Today I want to share with you the key points of the Department of Health's strategy for taking forward the refocusing debate in England and some of the ways in which change has been implemented by local child care agencies. I will not address die Welsh context as I am not familiar with it in any detail. I do know, however, that agencies there have been working hard to address these issues at a time of both change and stress as they have been involved in local government reorganisation, and the Clwyd Inquiry is ongoing.