Search

Background: Children and young people (CYP) seen by child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) often experience safeguarding issues. Yet little is known about the volume and nature of these risks, including how different adversities or risks relate to one another. This exploratory study aims to bridge this gap, examining rates at entry to services and profiles of risk using a latent class analysis., Methods: Data were extracted for CYP who received at least one risk assessment at CAMHs in South London between January 2007 and December 2017. In total, there were 21,688 risk assessments. Latent class analysis was used to identify profiles of risk from the risk assessments., Results: Concerns about parent mental health ( n  = 5274; 24%), emotional abuse ( n  = 4487; 21%), violence towards others ( n  = 4210; 19%), destructive behaviour ( n  = 4005; 18%), and not attending school ( n  = 3762; 17%) were the most commonly identified risks. Six distinct profiles of risk were identified from the latent class analyses: (1) maltreatment and externalising behaviours, (2) maltreatment but low risk to self and others, (3) antisocial behaviour, (4) inadequate caregiver supervision and risk to self and others, (5) risk to self but not others, and (6) mental health needs but low risk., Conclusions: These findings provide fresh insights into adverse experiences and risks identified by CAMHS. For professionals, the profiles identified in this study might provide insights into profiles of identified risks, in contrast to traditional cumulative approaches to risk. For researchers, these profiles may be fertile ground for hypothesis-driven work on the association between adversity and later outcomes., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest., (© 2024 The Author(s). JCPP Advances published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.)

This paper provides an analysis of the procedures adopted by statutory safeguarding partners throughout England in response to finding bruising in premobile infants. Against the backdrop of empirical research, we begin by challenging the view that bruising in premobile infants can be considered rare and thus suggestive of physical abuse. Then, within the procedure themselves, we point to differences in the definitions of what constitutes a premobile child, differences in the interpretation of research into bruising, and differences in how local authorities require social workers to act. We then discuss the risks involved with over-reaction to bruising in premobile children. Finally, we suggest changes to procedures that would support the appropriate use of discretion by social workers and health staff in this difficult area of practise., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors., (© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.)

This paper analyses a fourteen-year period of Western Australian data from the client information system of the Department for Child Protection and Family Support. Western Australia saw a large increase in the number of children in state care similar to trends across Australia as a whole. The study shows the following trends: changes in response to 'referrals' with particular increases in the number of findings of neglect and increasing proportions of these followed swiftly by entry to care; changes in patterns of entry to care with more children under one-year-old entering; increased length of stay of children in care; and, the high incidence of Aboriginal children entering and remaining in care. The data demonstrate unequivocally that increased 'referrals' are not associated with increased substantiations of harm or 'acts of commission with dangerous intent', but that neglect assessed early in the lives of children was the major precipitant for entry to care and particularly so for Aboriginal infants., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

This article uses a comprehensive database about children in adversity collected over the 16-year period from 1990 to 2005 in the state of Western Australia. The focus of this interrogation is the effect of major changes in responses to information about children brought to the attention of the Western Australian statutory authority in a 10-year period during this 16 years. The initiative for these changes was termed New Directions, and its associated policy and practice changes were aimed at differentiating information expressing concerns about children and families from allegations of child maltreatment. They emphasized the provision of supportive and empowering services to families experiencing difficulties - a form of differential response to children in adversity. The article covers the period leading up to the policy and practice change and the 10 years during which these changes were implemented. It examines some effects of the new policy and comments on whether the changes resulted in missed opportunities to protect children from harm, which in turn, might have led to higher rates of re-reporting. The authors present an overall picture of the nature of the information accepted by the statutory authority and how the interpretation of that information might have affected subsequent outcomes for children. In doing so, it shows that the policy and consequential practice changes associated with a differential response mechanism had long lasting positive effects that, despite dire warnings, did not compromise the protection of the small group of children identified as requiring protective interventions., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: to describe a 'hearts and minds' approach to community Baby Friendly Initiative implementation developed from the views of multidisciplinary professionals., Design: a qualitative descriptive study utilising focus groups and interviews, with thematic networks analysis conducted., Setting: forty-seven professionals were consulted from two primary health-care facilities located in the North-West of England., Findings: thematic networks analysis generated a global theme of a 'hearts and minds approach' to BFI implementation, which embodies emotional and rational engagement. The three underpinning organising themes (and their associated basic themes): 'credible leadership', 'engagement of key partners' and 'changing attitudes and practice' reflect the context, processes and outcomes of a 'hearts and minds' approach., Conclusions and Implications for Practice: a 'hearts and minds' approach transcends the prescriptive aspects of a macro-level intervention with its emphasis upon audits, training, statistics and 'hard' evidence through valuing other professionals and engaging staff at all levels. It offers insights into how organisational change may move beyond traditional top-down mechanisms for driving change to incorporate ways that value others and promote cooperation and reflection., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)