1. How a collapsing state impacts child safeguarding: Reflecting on the challenges of implementing a hospital‐based child safeguarding program in Lebanon.
- Author
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Naddour, Judith, Bosqui, Tania, Issa, Sara, El Assi, Nour, Majdalani, Marianne, Sawaya, Rasha, and Dirani, Leyla Akoury
- Subjects
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PREVENTION of child abuse , *MEDICAL protocols , *MIDDLE-income countries , *HUMAN services programs , *ACADEMIC medical centers , *RESEARCH funding , *INTERPROFESSIONAL relations , *FOCUS groups , *EVALUATION of human services programs , *QUESTIONNAIRES , *STATISTICAL sampling , *PILOT projects , *CONTENT analysis , *CHILDREN'S accident prevention , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *PRE-tests & post-tests , *RESEARCH methodology , *ATTITUDES of medical personnel , *DATA analysis software , *SOCIAL support , *NEEDS assessment , *LOW-income countries - Abstract
In Lebanon, a country facing multilayered crises and an increase in reported cases of child maltreatment, the availability of a unified and comprehensive child safeguarding protocol in healthcare facilities remains limited. Healthcare providers are frontline in recognizing and detecting child abuse and neglect (CAN) cases in hospital settings. Therefore, the adoption of a child protection system in healthcare settings is much needed. We attempted to establish a program for child safeguarding identification, intervention and monitoring mechanisms in Lebanese teaching hospitals. Despite high levels of need, the establishment of this program faced major challenges in the context of multiple national emergencies. The latter included fragmentation of the child protection system and the collapse of the health sector. This paper aims to share these challenges and extract lessons learned for future implementation of a unified child safeguarding protocol in Lebanese hospitals. Key Practitioner message: In countries where child protection services are already fragmented, multilayered crises further weaken the system while CAN risks increase. We recommend:An implementation model based on a thorough needs' assessment and feasibility study.A close collaboration with stakeholders to prevent pitfalls.Setting a clear, simple and comprehensive referral system between the social and healthcare systems where frontliner staff in both sectors are trained.Adopt a paediatric disaster preparedness framework.Harmonizing national policies and procedures with NGOs and community [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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