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Holistic Flexibility is a conceptual lens in systems thinking that enables intellectual, emotional and tactical elasticity in systems practice. This paper will demonstrate Holistic Flexibility in practice in an NGO setting to design and implement a programme to address the widening gap between government policy and its implementation. Critical Systems Heuristics was chosen as the preferred methodology, strengthened with two methods from two other systems methodologies—CATWOE (a mnemonic for Customers, Actors, Transformation, Worldview, Owners, Environment) from Soft Systems Methodology and issues (assumption) rating method from Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing. Following a participative programme design exercise, two phases were identified. The strategy, implementation and impact of phase 1, which covered work undertaken between the period 2018 and 2020, is provided. Phase 2 was under consideration at the time of writing this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, Aboriginal children are significantly over‐represented in the out‐of‐home‐care system. Drawing on Aboriginal trauma scholarship and decolonizing methodologies, this paper situates the contemporary state removal of Aboriginal children against the backdrop of historical policies that actively sought to disrupt Aboriginal kinship and communities. The paper draws on submissions to the 2018 Australian Senate Parliamentary Inquiry into Adoption Reform from Aboriginal community controlled organizations and highlights four common themes evident throughout these submissions: (i) the role of intergenerational trauma in high rates of Aboriginal child removal; (ii) the place of children within Aboriginal culture, kinship and identity; (iii) the centrality of the principles of self‐determination and autonomy for Aboriginal communities and (iv) Aboriginal community controlled alternatives to child removal. Acknowledging the failure of both federal and state reforms to address the issues raised in these submissions, the paper reflects on the marginalization of Aboriginal voices and solutions within contemporary efforts to address the multiple crises of the child protection system and the implications for the future of Aboriginal children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Restoring children from out‐of‐home care (OOHC) to their families is the preferred outcome for all children removed by child protection services, yet little is known about how restoration processes are experienced by families and services supporting them. This paper provides important insights about Aboriginal child restoration from 40 practitioners and stakeholders at a community forum led by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. This is one component of larger Aboriginal‐led research, which investigates child protection experiences and pathways to successful restoration in NSW and the data source for this paper. The community forum explored the issues for families navigating family preservation, OOHC and restoration within child protection and legal systems. Findings include the need for a continuum of support for families throughout their engagement with child protection systems and crucially following the removal of their children. Barriers to effective restoration practice included a lack of access to meaningful and ongoing preservation services, insufficient cultural care planning and family finding efforts that are often too late, the pressure on services to support families without adequate capabilities or enough resourcing, the lack of transparency and the complexities in navigating the restoration process, and the lack of culturally informed support for children and their families while children are in care. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. This paper contributes to understanding practice, processes and barriers for restoration, particularly focused on the perspectives of Aboriginal families and communities, with potential insights for practice within Australia and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a history of critique, concentrated discussion and improved assessment processes, neglect continues to be a major challenge for child protection services. This paper draws on findings from a government‐commissioned analysis of 'serious case reviews' (SCRs) in England, arising from incidents of serious child abuse in 2017–2019. There were 235 cases, for which 166 final reports were available. Alongside a quantitative analysis of the whole cohort, we undertook an in‐depth qualitative analysis of 12 cases involving neglect. A key challenge in responding to neglect in its different forms is that it can be so widespread amongst families that practitioners no longer notice its severity or chronicity – it becomes normalised. In this paper we explore two dimensions of the 'paradox of neglect' where it seems to be everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. The first is that neglect is so closely bound up with the prevalence of poverty that little action is taken to address it. The second is that the overwhelming nature of neglect can blind practitioners to other forms of maltreatment that may also be present within a family. Practitioners, now more than ever, need to recognise the dimensions of this paradox to protect children from neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The independent review of children's social care (2022) has proposed a radical reset of England's children's services, shifting a remote, assessment heavy system towards one that works alongside communities to help prevent statutory interventions. However, notions around the harnessing of community resources to deliver Early Help are often underpinned by assumptions regarding the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector and the ease with which such organizations can be integrated into preventative strategies. This paper reports findings from embedded research within a unitary authority in Southwest England during remodelling of its Early Help service to work more collaboratively with local VCSE organizations. The study generated data from ethnographic observations, semi‐structured interviews and focus groups with 95 participants, including local parents, service providers, VCSE organizations and Council leaders. The findings illustrate that families value the compassionate, responsive and flexible support available within many VCSE settings. However, differences in practice cultures, regulatory pressures on statutory providers, the need to (re)build trust in communities and sensitivities around power‐sharing and resourcing meant negotiating VCSE sector integration was fraught with complexities. Few studies have gained such privileged access to a Local Authority's remodelling of Early Help services, and this paper has significant insights for the debates surrounding the independent review of children's social care (2022) and its recommendation to bring services 'closer to communities'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports part of a wider systematic review commissioned by the English National Safeguarding Panel on Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI). The wider review covered three areas: interventions to improve safer sleep practices in high‐risk families, interventions to improve engagement with services and decision making by parents at high risk of SUDI about infant sleep environments. Here, we report the qualitative and quantitative studies reviewed under the engagement strand. Parental engagement is understood to be a multidimensional task for health and social care professionals comprising attitudinal, relational and behavioural components. Following a PROSPERO registered systematic review synthesizing the three strands outlined, 28 papers were found to be relevant in the review of interventions to improve engagement with services in families with children at risk of significant harm through abuse or neglect. No studies were found that specifically focused on engagement of families at high risk for SUDI, so these wider engagement studies were included. The different types of intervention reported in the included studies are described under two broad themes: Enablers (including parental motivation and working with families) and Barriers. Given the focus in the studies on interventions that support parental engagement, the Enablers theme is more extensive than the Barriers reported although all studies noted well‐understood barriers. The evidence underpinning these interventions and approaches are reviewed in this paper. We conclude that effective engagement is facilitated by experienced professionals given time to develop supportive non‐judgemental relationships with families in their homes, working long‐term, linking with communities and other services. While these conclusions have been drawn from wider studies aimed at reducing child maltreatment, we emphasize lessons to be drawn for SUDI prevention work with families with children at risk of significant harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a statutory duty for all practitioners to record information in child protection work in England. Case recording is a daily task for practitioners, yet an under-researched area of practice. This continuing professional development (CPD) paper will consider the context in which case recording takes place and highlight messages from child protection reviews and enquiries before exploring learning from contemporary research. The complexities of case recording will be considered and how practitioners can reflect upon and improve their daily case recording skills. Practitioners are encouraged to keep the child's views and experiences central and consider the long-term impact of case recording on adults who have experienced abuse and neglect in childhood. Key Practitioner Messages • Case recording is a complex and nuanced task, often missing the multiple perspectives inherent in a child's narrative. • The views, experiences and identity of individual children and young people can be lost in case recording, especially for very young children, older children and those in sibling groups. • Case recording has a support function for care experienced adults to understand their childhood histories, aiding recovery from abuse and neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada and elsewhere, efforts have been made to regulate the use of secure care on welfare grounds. Yet, studies raise questions about its usefulness as a psychosocial intervention since it appears to be mostly experienced as a punishment. The main objective of the current study was therefore to explore adolescents' experiences of secure care. We conducted qualitative interviews with 25 adolescents aged 14 to 17 years old while they were placed in secure care units in the province of Quebec, Canada. Uncertainty regarding how to exit secure care was the most important theme that emerged. Participants did not always understand the words used by practitioners to frame their expectations. Adolescents were also uncertain about how to prove they no longer presented a risk to others or themselves while being in locked settings. This uncertainty generated a lot of anger and distress. To get some control back, adolescents chose to just comply and pretend to agree with practitioners. The present paper questions the utility and even legitimacy of secure care as it is currently used. However, we argue that if an ethic of care predominated our conceptualisation of secure care, rather than an ethic of justice, adolescents could feel both secure and cared for.Key Practitioner Messages: Adolescents do not perceive they are being cared for while in secure care, so they only wish to get out as soon as possible;The fact that adolescents do not understand the objectives they must attain and how they can reach these goals in locked settings causes anxiety and distress;Adolescents only focus on how they can convince practitioners that they ‘deserve’ to get out and not on why they were placed in secure care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how children from immigrant background experience and negotiate power relations with family and social workers in the context of child protection services (CPS) in Norway. Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology, 11 children from Pakistani background were interviewed about their lived experiences with CPS. Analysis of the data highlights that children have to negotiate and navigate generational and gendered power relations both within the families and the CPS to exercise their agency. The analysis contributes to a limited research field focusing on immigrant children's multidimensional lived realities in the context of CPS, where children's voices are largely missing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School bullying is a matter of global concern. Paradoxically, it becomes complicated, when the expansion of a longer period of universal free education shows the commitment to safeguard children's right to education. This paper interrogates the ways in which school, as a significant site of socialisation, can safeguard children's rights, and function as a safe haven, free from bullying. Stemming from a children's rights perspective, this paper employs the Cypriot educational context as an illustrative case to demonstrate in what ways the problem of school bullying can be re‐conceptualised in the lens of human rights, and to address the challenges that emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Family Group Conference (FGC) is grounded in a rights‐based framework, whereby children and their families have the right and responsibility to be primary decision‐makers when child protection issues arise, and the statutory agency has the responsibility to convene the entitled members of the family network to lead the decision‐making. A distinct core component of FGC—private family time (PFT)—allows families to discuss the information and formulate their responses and plans privately during conferencing. This paper describes how a large child welfare agency in the United States adapted PFT in two ways: (1) including a parent advocate (PA) and (2) abbreviating the amount of time allowed for this discussion. Given the lack of empirical research on the PFT component, this qualitative exploratory study sought to understand the functions and perceived impacts of PA‐supported PFT during initial child protective services (CPS) conferences at which decisions of child removal or placement were being contemplated. PFT served multiple beneficial functions and impacted families in several positive ways: families gained greater awareness of safety concerns, felt empowered and confident in the preferred safety and service plan, became increasingly engaged and involved in the case decision‐making process and ultimately felt less apprehensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family reunification is an area of high policy importance for child protection systems. The safe return of children from out‐of‐home care to their biological parents or relatives and long‐term family preservation can potentially mitigate the subsequent detrimental effects of separating children from their families. In this paper we describe one type of family for whom reunification was considered; namely, families who have been affected by intergenerational trauma. To assist families affected by intergenerational trauma and abuse requires an understanding of the mechanisms and processes that maintain intergenerational trauma and how these might inform therapeutic approaches for working with children and their families. This paper utilises case studies to illustrate the use of the Adult Exploration of Attachment Interview (AEAI) as part of a broader therapeutic reunification program in an Australian state. The AEAI focuses on supporting parents to become aware of the impact of previous experiences in their childhood; the mitigation of feelings of shame, self‐blame, and inadequacy by helping the parent confront the negative experiences of the past. The aim is to assist the parent to recognise the significance of the past, to consolidate their strengths, and to develop more nurturing relationships with their children. Case illustrations demonstrate that this therapy was a component in addressing the causes of behaviour and psychological distress that had been barriers to reunification from care in two families. This was achieved through a process of reflection and self‐awareness, rather than one focused on guilt or shame, with the therapist there to help verbalise and articulate what otherwise might have been hidden or implicit processes. In both cases, this awareness was used to help reframe the parent–child relationship and led to observable behavioural changes in parenting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation at birth due to safeguarding concerns is a deeply distressing and impactful event, with numbers rising across the world, and has devastating outcomes for birth mothers and their children. It is one of the most challenging aspects of contemporary midwifery practice in high‐income countries, although rarely discussed and reflected on during pre‐ and post‐registration midwifery training. Ethnic and racial disparities are prevalent both in child protection and maternity services and can be explained through an intersectional lens, accounting for biases based on race, gender, class, and societal beliefs around motherhood. With this paper, we aim to contribute to the growing body of critical midwifery studies and re‐think the role of midwives in this context. Building on principles of reproductive justice theory, Intersectionality, and Standpoint Midwifery, we argue that midwives play a unique role when supporting women who go through child protection processes and should pursue a shift from passive bystander to active upstander to improve care for this group of mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Supervision is integral to social work practice; however, how it operates in day‐to‐day practice remains poorly understood. Existing research mainly comprises quantitative and qualitative accounts of social workers' and supervisors' experiences of supervision. More recently, a small number of studies examining the content of supervision have added to our understanding of what happens in supervision. However, supervisory interactions outside formal supervision have received scant empirical attention. This paper draws on an ethnographic study of four social work teams in England, exploring how formal and informal case discussion supports social workers' sensemaking. Data comprised observations of case talk in the office space (n = 21) and group case discussions (n = 2), recordings of one‐to‐one supervision (n = 17) and semi‐structured interviews (n = 22). Findings highlighted the importance of space in how social workers perceived and engaged with supervision. Supervisory spaces involve the interaction of physical, thinking and emotional spaces to create spaces that are supportive, task‐focused and reflective. Moreover, these supervisory spaces are not confined to formal one‐to‐one supervision or to the dyadic supervisor–supervisee relationship. This raises questions for how child protection social workers can be best supported, across diverse supervisory spaces and relationships, to ensure their practice is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers routinely make judgements and decisions as part of their everyday practice. The nature and quality of these can have a significant and long‐lasting impact on the children and families concerned. In this paper, we present an analysis of more than 20 000 judgements (n = 21 193) made by social workers (n = 586) in relation to case vignettes, based on a series of anonymized referrals (n = 12) to social services in England. We do so to ascertain how accurately the social workers were able to predict subsequent actions, events and outcomes, and to calculate the ratio of true positives to false positives at various decision thresholds. We find that the social workers' predictions were more accurate than chance in relation to all but one of the referrals, albeit at the cost of a high rate of false positive errors. We consider these findings in relation to what appears to be a general lowering of the threshold for child protection interventions in England in recent years and in relation to who suffers the injustice of false positive errors in child and family social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Covid‐19 pandemic, social workers played an essential role in helping people understand what was happening and cope with new unforeseen difficulties, even carrying out new tasks and activities. Social workers were asked to redefine their work methods to maintain aid relationships with families. This reorganization was complex and challenging for child protection services. The paper will discuss the results of a qualitative research project aimed to describe the Italian child protection social workers' functions during the Covid‐19 pandemic. Three online focus groups were conducted with child protection social workers. These focus groups helped researchers explore the new organization of social workers' work in child protection services, which was aimed at maintaining their role and performing the new tasks they need to carry out to support families and children. Three main areas of discussion emerged from the qualitative analysis: (1) postponed and maintained activities; (2) remote work advantages and challenges; and (3) new professional learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gathering of 'wishes and feelings' in UK child protection proceedings (s.53 Children Act 2004) should highlight the child's opinion of social work intervention and services provided. However, with no statutory social work guidance on participation currently in place, children frequently miss opportunities to be involved in their own child protection planning. This paper is drawn from a 3‐year study into participation in child protection social work. It includes findings from qualitative interviews, and one focus group, with social workers, parents, children and participation workers, from three local authorities in the United Kingdom. The findings revealed some examples of significant gaps in service provision, particularly from the perspective and understanding of the child. The skewed translation of wishes and feelings legislation, along with its subsequent (and often inadequate) application to practice, prevents children from understanding and responding to social work intervention and can lead to idiosyncratic practice. This paper provides recommendations for a practical response to practitioner dilemmas regarding wishes and feelings and bridges the gap between research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental attachment refers to the protective and comforting role of parents toward their children. This role has been violated in cases of maltreatment. Understanding the attachment of parents who endanger their children can illuminate the psychological processes behind the harmful behaviour of parents. This paper proposes assessing parental attachment with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), classified according to the Dynamic‐Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM). We discuss meta‐analyses of the 'gold standard' Berkeley method for extracting AAI information. AAIs of maltreating adults classified with the Berkeley method have an improbably high rate of secure attachment, making it inadequate for family forensic applications. In contrast, the DMM uses a theory‐based, developmental expansion of Ainsworth's infant categories to describe a wide array of dimensionally related protective strategies for coping with danger across the lifespan. DMM‐AAIs, classified by trained, reliable professionals and integrated with data from other sources to create an individualised family formulation, meet evidentiary requirements. We call for a programme of research of court‐involved families comparing DMM‐AAI formulations to outcomes of usual methods for determining family services. 'This paper proposes assessing parental attachment with the Adult Attachment Interview, classified according to the Dynamic‐Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM)' Key Practitioner Messages: Childhood exposure to danger is crucial to understanding maltreating parents' behaviour.Adult Attachment Interviews, classified with the DMM method by authorised experts, can reveal motivating psychological processes that are not apparent in parental behaviour.Information about parents' attachment, together with other information, can help child protection personnel gauge the risk that parents pose to their children and organise personalised treatment plans to reduce that risk.ABCD Berkeley AAI classifications are not suitable for forensic use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whatever the circumstances, the separation of infants from their mothers at birth is a traumatic experience for all concerned. The paper reports on a study designed to improve practice in this highly sensitive area. An analysis of data collected through semi‐structured interviews with 38 mothers who had experienced removal at birth identified four common themes: isolation and unacknowledged support needs; shame, stigma and the failure of others to acknowledge their maternal identity; acute trauma, immediate downturn and disenfranchised grief following infant removal; and strategies to mitigate their pain and grief. These last themes included the use of artefacts both as transitional objects to help mothers come to terms with the permanent loss of a baby, and as a means of keeping maternal identity alive and connecting with an infant who might eventually return home. In response to these findings, and in collaboration with a group of women with lived experience, HOPE boxes were designed to ameliorate the trauma and psychological burden borne by women in this situation. The contents of the boxes have been chosen to reflect the changing experiences of the women's journeys but also the range of possible potential outcomes. The intervention has considerable potential to minimise the trauma of this painful experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined relationships between area‐level deprivation, local authorities' social care expenditure and the rates of children entering care proceedings in England using a novel data linkage of de‐identified records provided by the Children and Family Court Advisory Service (Cafcass). Using structural equation modelling, the authors found strong positive relationships between socioeconomic area deprivation and high rates of children undergoing care proceedings in England between 2015 and 2019. Preventative social care expenditure is associated with lower child rates when adjusting for deprivation. Our findings suggest that deprived and underfunded local authorities respond to an increased need by prioritizing care arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews 26 reports into deaths and serious abuse of children in families who were subject to the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) rule. Our analysis illustrates vulnerabilities caused by exclusionary policies, exacerbating social deprivation and isolation experienced by the children and families and making it more difficult for professionals to respond in ways which safeguarded children's welfare. Drawing upon a social model for protecting children that requires recognition of the social determinants of harm and the economic, social and cultural barriers faced by families, we examine the experiences of children and families with NRPF who were the subject of a serious case review, and the responses of agencies responsible for safeguarding child welfare. We conclude with recommendations for practices aimed at promoting the rights and well‐being of children and families subject to NRPF rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study that sought to understand the experiences of frontline staff working in Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) Children's Social Care Services and their views on a new family safeguarding model (Family Solutions Plus). Focus group interviews were conducted with 20 frontline staff and managers in different teams across OCC Children's Social Care Services using video conferencing software. Thematic analysis identified three overarching themes: Preparation for the implementation of Family Solutions Plus, staff views on the implemented model, and challenges to its implementation. Staff voiced strong support for the new model, which places a much greater emphasis than previous practice on supporting the whole family, developing parenting skills and keeping children safe with their families. The challenges associated with the transition to a new model were considerable in the short term, partly due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, but there was optimism that the new model could be sustained and stabilized over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, children face an increasing risk of harm from abuse, violence and neglect. Progress towards securing a safe environment for them is slow and uneven. There is a growing need to understand how innovative community‐driven interventions could address sociocultural practices that harm children. In this paper, we evaluated the impact of the community‐driven urban programme on livelihood, income fortification and socio‐civic transformation intervention (UPLIFT) on child protection in Kampala, Uganda. We used a mixed‐method evaluation approach, which incorporated the difference‐in‐difference analysis and Kernel propensity score matching to estimate the programme's impact, and for the analysis of our qualitative data, we used the thematic approach. There were 663 pre‐intervention participants and 559 post‐intervention participants, aged between 13 and 17 years, in the study. Results showed improvements in various aspects of child protection; for example, there was strengthened community responsibility for child protection services and uptake of policy. However, we found undesirable impacts on situations presenting a serious risk of harm to children. We argue that protecting children against harm is a complex process, often rooted in the sociocultural and religious life of communities, and that child protection interventions must be deliberate about identifying and targeting ingrained sociocultural practices that sustain child abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that focused on factors that facilitate professional judgement and decision‐making that is child‐centred. Appreciative inquiry informed the methodology that enabled four focus groups (n = 50) with child protection practitioners who worked with children and young people living out‐of‐home care. The study found that, firstly, child protection practitioners had clear conceptualizations of what child‐centred practice means and, secondly, articulated how functioning teams, effective organizational structures and relationships were crucial to child‐centred practice. The findings point to the importance of relationality in effective child‐centred professional judgement and decision‐making in child protection contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Scottish government plans a more preventive and partnership‐oriented approach to child protection. However, it has not recently published statistics on the number of child protection investigations. This paper analyses data from a request for information from government. It shows a rate of 153 investigations per 10 000 children aged 0–17 in 2017/18. There were wide variations in rates of investigations across Scottish local authorities. Almost three‐quarters of investigations in 2017/18 did not lead to the child being placed on the child protection register. A small association between investigation rates and local authority deprivation suggests that factors other than deprivation at the local authority level are at play in decisions to investigate child protection. There has been an increase of investigations by one‐third in the last two years with no change in the numbers starting a child protection plan. These trends raise the possibility that concerns about the preventive approach net‐widening and leading to more rather than less children drawn into the formal child protection system may have some basis. The limited nature of published statistical data in Scotland means that policies and activities, which are carried out with large amounts of public funding, receive limited public scrutiny. Key Practitioner Messages: One investigation was conducted for every 65 children in Scotland in 2017/18.One child in 23 was investigated before the age of four.Rates of investigation vary widely between local authorities.One in four investigations are likely to lead to a child protection registration.There was a 33 per cent increase in investigations in the most recent two years with no change in child protection registrations.Investigations harm families and lessen the chances of engaging them with support. 'The limited nature of published statistical data in Scotland means that policies and activities, which are carried out with large amounts of public funding, receive limited public scrutiny' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child sexual exploitation (CSE) has been found to have a detrimental and long‐lasting impact upon a victim's physical and emotional well‐being. A large body of research has raised concerns about how practitioners identify and respond to CSE. In particular, research has indicated that male victims of CSE are commonly being overlooked by practitioners. It has been suggested that this may occur as a result of gender stereotypes. However, this has not been specifically explored by existing research. Therefore, this research project explored how gender stereotypes may influence how practitioners identify and respond to children and young people who are victims (or at risk) of CSE. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with eight practitioners from one Youth Offending Service in the South West of England. Three key themes emerged from the interviews. These themes highlight that as a result of gender stereotypes, practitioners may be less likely and/or slower to identify males as victims and may be less likely to provide males with supportive multi‐agency responses. This paper makes recommendations about how this issue can be addressed to ensure that all victims of CSE are adequately safeguarded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siblings are key actors in the social network of young people in care. This paper explores young people's perceptions of changes in the quality of sibling relationships and the pathways relationships follow during the transition from the biological family into care. A thematic analysis of interviews with young Norwegian people (n = 25) in care showed that, in the biological family, sibling relationships are characterized by alliances, parentification, conflicts or nonexistence. After admission to child welfare services care, sibling relationships developed along multiple pathways. Their sibling relationships reshaped into either close and supportive, conflictual or completely broken relationships. Sibling relationships were dynamic, complex, with the pathway, and its impact on well‐being, being unique to each young person. Sibling relationship quality in the biological home did not predict relationship quality after admission to child welfare services. The implications for social worker practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The infants of women with histories of problematic alcohol and other drug use are among the most vulnerable children known to statutory child protection services, which they enter at a younger age, and in which they remain longer. The net results include overwhelmed child protection systems and the birth of subsequent children conceived to ease women's grief at the loss their infants. Without adequate and appropriate support to the mother and her family, the pattern repeats. Obstetric services have an important role to play in the assessment of risk and protective factors in the perinatal period and in determining pathways to service provision. A comprehensive assessment considers the availability and quality of informal support prior to activation of formal systems of support, both statutory, where engagement is mandated, and non‐statutory, where support is offered on a voluntary basis. This paper uses quantitative methods to explore the social networks of women with problematic substance use in the transition to motherhood and the relationship between formal and informal support systems and infant outcomes. Surveys were held with two counsellors from the Women's Alcohol and Drug Service (WADS), a specialist obstetric clinic in Melbourne, Australia, and with 18 child protection workers. In addition, the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (Norbeck, 1984; Norbeck et al., 1983) was administered with 20 participating mothers to measure levels of formal and informal support, as well as the type and quality of support available to mothers over a 12‐month period, and to consider the provision of social support against known outcomes for infants. The findings demonstrate that WADS counsellors made several referrals for most women but that there was little in the way of long‐term follow‐up by non‐statutory service providers, with most women experiencing a dramatic drop in support over the 12‐month period. Women whose main informal support was from a domestically violent partner, and those who had been in out‐of‐home care in their own childhood, were particularly vulnerable to losing the care of their infant. The role of child protection varied markedly across the 12‐month period, particularly in relation to the extent that a relationship between formal and informal systems of support for mothers and their infants could be established. Overall, the study findings demonstrate that mothers experienced diminishing formal and informal support over time and that the quality of social support available to the mother was more important in terms of outcomes for women and their infants than the quantity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Practitioner Messages: There is a well‐established link between animal‐ and human‐directed violence.Reports of animal abuse in child protection referrals may indicate more severe cases of child abuse.Cross‐reporting of abuse is important, both in the context of child protection and animal welfare. 'There is a well‐established link between animal‐ and human‐directed violence' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of synthesising existing UK literature on contact child sexual exploitation (CSE) perpetration, Mooney presents a comprehensive systematic review, identifying four significant analytical themes from 23 research articles, which are as follows: Barriers to examining a complex phenomenon; Recognising the contact CSE perpetrator; Understanding the contact CSE perpetrator; and Responding to the contact CSE perpetrator. Keywords: child abuse; child protection; policing; public protection; safeguarding EN child abuse child protection policing public protection safeguarding 37 39 3 06/01/22 20220601 NES 220601 The police service, as well as Local Authorities, are under increasing pressure to prioritise, prevent, and disrupt child abuse, and which has arguably been driven by a number of high-profile UK-based national case reviews and inquiries that have subsequently highlighted collective failures. [Extracted from the article]

This paper provides a critical reflection on how a myopic focus by researchers on internet addiction as a possible explanation for children's behaviour has led to a missed opportunity to probe the impact of digital exclusion for children with a range of complex vulnerabilities. Holt reflects upon the work of Aboujaoude and Gega (2021), Missing the forest for the trees: How the focus on digital addiction diverted attention away from wider adverse effects. Screen time is far more complex; it's use in child protection as a form of surveillance is linked to poverty, inequality and risk. Importantly, the focus of international research must explore both digital exclusion and how this can be managed, and the increased use of digital surveillance, to provide an important lens in respect of power and inequalities in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aims to provide an overview of the association between being in the custody of the chief executive of Oranga Tamariki (the child welfare agency of the New Zealand (NZ) government) and all‐cause hospitalisation and mortality. Methods: This was a national retrospective cohort study using linked administrative data from the Integrated Data Infrastructure. Data were obtained for all 0–17 year‐olds living in NZ on 31 December 2013. In‐care status was ascertained at this point. Outcomes of all‐cause hospitalisation and all‐cause mortality were assessed between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2018. Adjusted models incorporated age, sex, ethnicity, level of socioeconomic deprivation and rural/urban status. Results: There were 4650 in‐care children and 1 009 377 not‐in‐care children in NZ on 31 December 2013. Of those in care, 54% were male, 42% lived in the most deprived areas and 63% identified as Māori. Adjusted models showed that in‐care children were 1.32 (95% CI 1.27–1.38) times more likely to be hospitalised than not‐in‐care children and 3.64 (95% CI 2.47–5.40) times more likely to die. Conclusion: This cohort study highlights that the care and protection system prior to 2018 was not preventing children in its care from experiencing severe adverse outcomes. Overseas research has previously been relied on when making practice and policy decisions around child care and protection in NZ, so this research will provide valuable insight into best practice in an NZ context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the underestimation of the risk of family and domestic violence (FDV) in child protection cases. The study compares the data collected through fixed-field methods and narrative data, revealing that the extent of children's exposure to FDV is higher when using narrative data, highlighting the limitations of fixed-field data in capturing the complete picture of FDV.

Kinship for First Nations people is a fundamental, yet complex, element of one's culture, enabling both belonging and relationality, and extending beyond blood family and relations. Kinship is also recognized as important within out‐of‐home care (OOHC) systems, with kinship care being the predominant OOHC placement type in Australia (AIHW, 2021). However, when First Nations children and young people are removed by the state, and placed into OOHC, it is important to interrogate whether kinship placements enable cultural connection and continuity with First Nations ways of understanding Kinship. This article begins by contextualising current OOHC policy and practice in Australia where a westernised and homogenised concept of kinship care is touted as similar to First Nations notions of Kinship. Here, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP) has become oversimplified by equating kinship care with relative care, thus creating ambiguity in care and placements in OOHC, voiding First Nations traditions and ways of understanding Kinship while a young person is in care. This article then reports the findings of qualitative interviews with 37 First Nations and non‐Indigenous people concerning the use of the term 'Kinship' in OOHC in New South Wales (NSW), how it is operationalised and how it is understood. Wide‐ranging experiences by participants concerning Kinship within OOHC were evident, thus demonstrating the imperative for a broader understanding of Kinship. This understanding needs to be applied within OOHC in ways that are consistent with First Nations notions of Kinship, as kinship care placements on their own are not enough to keep children connected in culture. The findings from this study show that the term Kinship is applied problematically within OOHC in NSW by equating legal and policy definitions of kinship care with Aboriginal ways of understanding Kinship. Ensuring First Nations traditions, practices and notions of Kinship are applied for First Nations children and young people in OOHC contexts is paramount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited research has directly sought the input of parents involved in the child protection system during pregnancy and with their infants. As the focus of these policies and practices, parents have a unique and important insight not available to others, so it is vital to obtain their input. As part of a larger Australian study, qualitative interviews were undertaken with 13 parents asking about their views and experiences. Parents predominantly became involved with child protection services during pregnancy through a prenatal report. Parents who previously had their newborn removed from their care described it as sudden and unexpected, leaving them distressed and unsupported post‐removal, with a growing list of requirements for them to see their baby or for restoration to be considered. Domestic violence was a particular issue of concern for some mothers who expressed distress that their partners, perpetrators of violence, were allowed access to their infant with fewer requirements than for them. Improvements recommended by the parents included greater communication and preparation for the removal, better recognition of improvements in their situations and increased supports to be provided to parents both pre‐ and post‐removal. Parental experiences provide an important guide to improving child protection practice with these families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to explore the factors that influence how social workers make decisions and develop their decision‐making skills in care proceedings, and to identify effective support and intervention to develop social worker decision‐making skills. The study employed a mixed thematic approach across two phases of study: an initial inductive thematic analysis of responses to an online qualitative questionnaire and then a mixed thematic analysis of follow‐up focus groups and interviews with social workers working in various social work roles within England and Northern Ireland. The findings identified a number of themes that help to understand the decision‐making skills of social workers; thorough assessment skills, relationship‐based anti‐oppressive practice, being mindful of the lived experience of the child and using critical reflection to make complex decisions. Wider structural factors that support or hinder decision‐making, particularly in respect of organizational support and management supervision were also identified. Social workers can be supported to develop decision‐making skills through additional training, reflective learning and management support to develop their practice wisdom within this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If children in child protection cannot be cared for by their natural parents, should they be adopted or live in foster home? Results from a study of representative samples of populations (n = 12 330), in eight European countries—Austria, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Spain—and California, USA, reveal that people would recommend adoption over foster care, if a child in public care cannot grow up with their natural parent(s). There are cross‐country differences between populations, and examining if institutional context such as type of child protection system explains differences, we find that child maltreatment‐oriented systems are more supportive of adoption than other types of systems. Citizens having little confidence in the child protection system were only weakly correlated with preference for adoption. In conclusion, people prefer adoption as placement options for children in care are more than foster homes, and possible this finding reflects a sort of refamalialization of children into the private sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In child welfare policies, as in contemporary society in general, great attention has been given to parenting roles and investing in 'positive' parenting practices. Several studies have suggested that socio‐economic factors frame parenting practices. There is broad evidence of a significant correlation between socio‐economic inequalities and child welfare intervention rates. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated parenting practices in a child welfare population. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between socio‐economic status (SES) and parenting practices in a Norwegian child welfare population. The study was based on a cross‐sectional survey conducted in 2018–2019. The sample consisted of 256 parents (71.5% females). Linear regression analysis, adjusting for potential confounding and intermediate factors, was conducted. Lower SES was associated with higher levels of positive parenting/involvement practices (b = 0.146, CI: 0.026–0.266, P = 0.018), indicating an inverse pattern compared with the general population. When adjusting for symptoms of anxiety and depression, the association was slightly attenuated but remained statistically significant. No significant association was found between SES and inconsistent discipline/other disciplinary practices. The present study offers insights that should be useful in practice and further large‐scale studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child protection court judges have broad authority and practically unchecked discretion to shape the everyday experiences and long‐term outcomes for children and families that come before them. For Black families, this broad power to dictate intimate details of family life ‐ including the power to legally terminate a child's parental and familial connections ‐ is exercised within the historical and social context of chattel slavery and anti‐Black racism. Judges wield their power to regulate the everyday lives and intergenerational outcomes of Black families charged with child maltreatment within a legal and practice framework characterized by indeterminacy and subjectivity that implicates the parent–child relationship and the constitutionally recognized rights of family privacy, autonomy, and integrity. Drawing on the authors' experiences and perspectives as Black women with personal lived expertise and professional practice with the so‐called child protection or child welfare system, and referencing the limited literature that examines parents' experiences in child protection courts, this Article explores how judges' exercise of discretion perpetuates anti‐Black racism in the family policing system and suggests ways child protection judges can consciously exercise their discretion to mitigate harm and maximize due process, accountability, and justice for Black children and families. The authors urge child protection judges to heed the expertise and wisdom of Black parents about their family's needs and desires, to hold child protection agencies and workers accountable to their legal obligations and duties, and to tightly constrain their own tendencies to silence, punish, and regulate Black parents. Key Points for the Family Court Community: Child protection court judges can promote due process, accountability, and justice for Black children and families through conscious and deliberative exercise of discretion in decision‐making.In exercising discretion in child protection cases, judges should work to mitigate the harms to Black children and families from the operation of bias and discrimination inherent in the legal and practice framework characterized by indeterminancy and subjectivity.Child protection judges should ensure that Black children and parents have the opportunity to be heard and that their input about their families' needs and desires are listened to and acted upon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Qualitative research using published court records to examine contextual factors that contribute to child protection decisions in cases involving parents with intellectual disabilities is limited, particularly during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Method: The present study conducted qualitative content analysis on 10 published Ontario court cases to study child protection decision‐making between 2019 and 2021. Results: The findings corroborated previous literature with nine out of 10 cases resulting in loss of child custody. Four major themes emerged from content analysis: (1) Impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on cases; (2) Systemic barriers to accessibility; (3) Attitudes and bias toward parents with intellectual disabilities; and (4) Ultimate reliance on intellectual disability status for final custody decision. Conclusions: Conducting content analysis on published court cases is useful in learning about accessibility barriers for parents with intellectual disabilities and may help in understanding the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the child protection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many parents with learning disabilities find themselves locked in a struggle with child protection authorities to retain custody of their children. This struggle is one against deeply entrenched prejudices as well as social arrangements that often deprive parents of needed resources. This in‐depth case study explores the contours of such a struggle, and the 'tools' deployed by one couple to keep child protection at bay. The goal is first to give the parents a platform to tell their stories. The second is to help inform the knowledge base of parents, advocates and allied professionals. The third is to consider the impacts the developing disability rights environment is having upon these ongoing struggles. Method: This is a qualitative case study based on interview and document analysis and long‐term involvement with a couple with learning disabilities. The material was coded according to the principles of grounded theory. Findings: Three key categories were identified. The first is 'Lessons learned', referring to the knowledge and experience that the parents collected over a lifetime. The second is 'Allies: The family', highlighting the importance of a strong family network. The third is 'Secret weapons', a phrase used by the parents to denote a collection of advocates and professional supporters they strategically surrounded themselves with when needed. Conclusion: This story illustrates the parents' tactical skill and resourcefulness to retain custody of their children. We also document the addition of new tools the parents are able to make use of such as domestic disability and human rights protections that are in turn supported by international conventions such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, we also contend that families like theirs live in a state of fragility, and disruptions to their support can result in further child protection interventions. Accessible summary: Parents with learning disabilities can take care of their children but often need support.It is important to share stories about parents with learning disabilities who have raised their children and what helped them deal with child protection.This is a story about a resourceful couple who raised three children with the help of family, supportive service people and lawyers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although children's social care is an area rich in guidance, there is very little research looking at the implementation of new policies in the United Kingdom. In this article, we report on the first stage of a realist evaluation of the implementation of the new Safeguarding Children from Child Sexual Exploitation guidance in Wales. We discuss the development of an initial programme theory, for which we conducted semi‐structured interviews with practitioners and managers in three local authorities. We developed programme theories across three areas: policy nature and development, implementation plans and organizational context. Findings suggest that, for policies to produce a significant impact on practice, they need to be sufficiently different to social workers' current perceptions of practice. Second, we found that the coordination between national and local policies is critical for successful implementation as contradictions between them might lead to confusion in what local teams should prioritize. Finally, our findings highlight the importance of effective communication of policy changes, as well as a supportive organizational culture to strengthen implementation in local contexts. These findings illustrate the complexity of policy implementation and the need for policymakers to consider the meaningful involvement of local practitioners in national policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's participation is essential to achieve good outcomes for children involved in child protection systems. Despite this, research has consistently found children report low levels of participation, are poorly consulted and feel inadequately involved in decisions about their lives. To explore how practitioners understand children's participation, 18 in‐depth interviews were conducted with statutory child protection practitioners in Australia. The interviews explored the ways child protection practitioners understand children's participation. Our findings show practitioners conceptualize children as rights holders and believe it is essential to hear directly from children about their needs and wishes to keep them safe. Practitioners identified the importance of transparent processes and decisions. Different understanding of participation emerged, with some participants talking about children as their central focus but not discussing meaningful participation of the child. It appeared that children's participation relied largely on the views and skills of individual workers, as well as their ability to incorporate meaningful participation in limited time and in complex practice environments where children's safety is a primary concern. Systemic changes to address time barriers, training practitioners to understand and implement participatory practice, and seeking children's input into service design, will support consistent and meaningful participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children placed in residential care are significantly over‐represented in youth justice systems. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with service providers, this exploratory study examines practice factors that impact on the criminalization of this group of children across multiple services and systems, including in the residential care environment, police, lawyers, courts and youth justice systems, as well as multi‐systems practice with this group in one Australian state. Positive outcomes were observed for children in residential care where well‐functioning care teams existed, as well as for children in therapeutic residential care settings. However, clear limitations were identified across all phases of children's youth justice system involvement, including placement with offending peers, the criminalization of behaviours of concern, greater use of remand and detention, limited support to navigate legal and youth justice processes, challenges to service collaboration, and limited applicability of sentencing considerations. The findings indicate a pervasive level of systemic disadvantage for this group of children, and imply that a holistic strategy underpinned by affirmative action across several systems will be necessary to address the ongoing criminalization of children in residential care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the unequal impact of Covid‐19 on the lives of the children of survivors of modern slavery, child victims of exploitation and children at risk of exploitation in the UK. It draws on research that has analysed the risks and impacts of Covid‐19 on victims and survivors of modern slavery. It explores how pandemic responses may have hindered these children's rights to education, food, safety, development and participation and representation in legal processes. It suggests that the pandemic should be used as an impetus to address inequalities that existed pre‐Covid‐19 and those that have been exacerbated by it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of the first three years of life for children's development and the consequences for their general health in adulthood have been widely documented in the international literature, including the benefits of early identification and intervention programs. Additionally, convergent research has highlighted wide‐ranging negative trajectories attributable to both the short and long‐term consequences of abuse and neglect and their neurobiological impact on health and development. However, formal identification processes and the use of standardised screening tools in child protection remain relatively rare despite the potential societal impact of child maltreatment in terms of public and economic health. Moreover, delays between the initial identification of mental health problems and health and developmental disorders, and the introduction of appropriate interventions persist. Abused and neglected infants risk an exacerbation of the consequences of early maltreatment due to insufficient access to prompt assessment and treatment, including appropriate responses to their health needs. The aim of this article is to present the PEGASE program, an innovative French program for very young children in care, which is modelled on the care of premature babies. By setting up an early care pathway, it aims to ensure adequate medical follow‐up – both somatic and psychiatric – through standardised examination and tailored interventions in order to limit the adverse health and developmental consequences of abuse. The presentation of the PEGASE program is supplemented by a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Repeated reporting to child protection is common. One approach to early intervention is for jurisdictions to receive and respond to child protection concerns raised before children are born. Despite this, little research has comprehensively examined subsequent child protection contact for those first reported prenatally. This study aimed to examine the subsequent child protection contact for up to a two‐year period for a cohort of children who were reported about prebirth. Child protection administrative data were extracted for 640 children reported for a concern about an unborn child in a single jurisdiction during 2014. Data about child protection contacts included reports, investigations, substantiations and out‐of‐home placements for children reported prenatally. Of the 640 children, 79% reported about prenatally also had contact with child protection between birth and age two. From birth and up to age two, children reported prenatally had between zero and 21 reports. Twenty‐two per cent of the children reported prenatally were removed from their birth parents and placed in out‐of‐home care prior to age two. These findings highlight the importance of intervening and supporting families prior to and during pregnancy to reduce harm to children and reduce the need for contact with child protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While child welfare scholars and caseworkers have acquired a better understanding of risk factors associated with occurrences of child fatalities due to maltreatment over the past 20 years, little is known about the organisational and system‐level characteristics that impact efforts to prevent or intervene in these cases. As part of a collaborative agreement between a university‐affiliated centre and a state child welfare agency, we conducted interviews by phone with 19 case managers, middle managers and regional leaders who were assigned to manage or oversee a near fatality or fatality case. They illuminated five major themes: 1) their perceived stressors and sources of support; 2) client and perpetrator risk factors; 3) system‐level risk and protective factors; 4) case descriptions; and 5) lessons learned. Relying upon their lived experiences, we offer practice and policy recommendations to Child Abuse Review to support their efforts to prevent and respond to child fatality cases. Efforts should be devoted to evaluating strategies to reduce risk for all families before the child welfare system is involved, supporting workers when they are assigned to fatality cases by reducing caseloads and preparing them for the fatality review process, and embracing a culture of collaboration across and within child‐serving systems. Key Practitioner Messages: To respond effectively to child fatality and near fatality cases, child welfare caseworkers and leaders should be assigned fewer cases in the interim, and receive guidance, consultation, and time to prepare for the fatality review process.Embracing a culture of collaboration across and within child‐serving systems may also prevent fatalities and facilitate an efficient investigative process if/when they do occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Child maltreatment (abuse and neglect) is a global public health problem. Healthcare professionals must contribute to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children at risk. Aim: To determine whether paediatric dentists' rates of child protection training, experience and practice have changed and to identify factors currently associated with maltreatment recognition and referral. Design: A pre‐piloted anonymous questionnaire was mailed to the UK‐based British Society of Paediatric Dentistry members in 2005 (n = 789) and 2016 (n = 575). Analysis was conducted for practising dentists. Results: Response rates were 66.3% in 2005 and 62.4% in 2016. Increases were observed in respondents' postgraduate child protection training (87.2% vs. 99.7%), multi‐agency training (27.9% vs. 49.2%), ever suspected (67.9% vs. 82.3%) and ever referred child maltreatment (30.7% vs. 61.0%). The proportion who had suspected maltreatment but never referred a child reduced from 37.2% to 21.3%. Having referred more than five times in the preceding five years rose from 0.4% to 14.6% of respondents, yet those seeing children with neglected dentitions daily or more frequently remained unchanged. Conclusion: This repeated cross‐sectional survey demonstrates a substantial improvement in UK paediatric dentists' training and practice, but a gap remains between suspecting and referring maltreatment concerns such that some children remain at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vague programme descriptions are known to impede implementation and evaluation. Yet social work change programmes often fail to describe in detail how they aim to provide better outcomes for children and families. This study focused on the Systemic Practice Model (SPM), which is a Finnish adaptation of Reclaiming Social Work, a practice model developed in England. The SPM aims to deliver systemic practice in children's social care and has recently been widely disseminated across Finland. However, research has found both considerable variation in its delivery and a lack of clarity about what it is. This study, applying realist evaluation, aimed to formulate a programme theory based on the perceptions of key informants (n = 12) involved in the national development and dissemination of the SPM during the period 2017–2019. The analysis yielded three core components (a systemic team, systemic weekly meetings, and systemic practice) and two context‐mechanism‐outcome (CMO) configurations, which represent causal chains of the SPM. The findings should enable its quality implementation and meaningful outcome and process evaluation. The findings will also aid organizations and practitioners both to identify changes required in their service provision and prevent adverse effects. This programme theory should be tested and refined with empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]