Working with Children Who Have Been Abused - Essay Example

Social Work: Working with children who have been abused/neglected Child abuse has been one of the most germane topics of discussions of the social workers which provides complexity and detailed analysis of the given situation. There are several aspects of the social service principles which deal directly and indirectly with this subtle topic. From the perspectives of the policy makers and child protection services, the children, social workers and the media, the issue of child abuse, whether in the form of child sexual abuse, physical abuse of the child, emotional abuse of the child or neglect, attains a lion's share in the discussions concerning the social activities related with children. One of the major areas of focus for the researchers has been the issue of child abuse in relation to policies and procedures and the result of many of the studies has been to emphasise the inadequacies of the present system in dealing with the issue. Therefore, one finds that researchers such as Mendes (2001) and Wise (2003) discuss the inadequacies of the system while such important writers as Lonne and Thomson (2005) offer their ideas on how to improve Queensland's child protection situation. As the 'Guidelines for Mandated Notifiers' by Child-Safe Environments, Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect suggests, there are, in general, four ways of child abuse. Physical abuse, a dominant form, is commonly characterised by physical injury resulting from practices such as hitting, punching or kicking, shaking, and alcohol or other drug administration etc. Another visible form of child abuse is sexual abuse which occurs when someone in a position of power to the child uses her/his power to involve the child in sexual activity and it includes sexual suggestion, exhibitionism, mutual masturbation, oral sex, showing pornographic material, using children in the production of pornographic material, penile or other penetration of the genital or anal region, and child prostitution. Emotional abuse tends to be a chronic behavioural pattern directed at a child whereby a child's self esteem and social competence are undermined or eroded over time and this includes devaluing, ignoring, rejecting, corrupting, isolating etc. Finally, neglect is characterised by the failure to provide for the child's basic needs and this includes inadequate supervision of young children for long periods of time, failure to provide adequate nutrition, clothing or personal hygiene, etc. (Guidelines for Mandated Notifiers). 'Guidelines for Mandated Notifiers' is a material available for helping a social worker in the mandated notifiers and in this paper an evaluation of the material on its adequacy of guidance, its research base etc is carried out. While evaluating whether the document offers adequate guidance for mandated notifiers, it also recommends for the improvement of the resource. Child abuse notifiers many often fall short of their aims and objectives and profound researches have focused on whether preventive family support should be encouraged rather than child protection. The result of these studies suggest that in many cases child abuse are not substantiated and a serious reason pointed out for the poor results of child abuse notifiers is the mandatory reporting regulations. And this has resulted in the remark that the time and energy could and should have been devoted to helping families instead of investigating the false claims regarding child abuse. Wise (2003) is of the opinion that the families with general needs do not expect child protection and investigation but instead they need support and it is significant that prevention can be better than cure. All these remarks can be understood in the background of inadequacy of the guidance, research bases etc. Research evidences prove the need for better guidelines and support to the social workers in their activities for the cause of children and society. It can be comprehended that the context of social work has undergone rapid changes and the social workers working in child protection face many challenges and responsibilities in the modern scenario and the social workers also need to be provided with better and more efficient education and training if they need to cope with new environment. The Guidelines for Mandated Notifiers establishes that the child abuse reporting is obligatory to the people who work with children in the community with the purpose of protecting the children from harm. The mandated notifiers of Australia under the Children's Protect Act 1993, has been central to the government policy in support of the cause of children that are abused in various circumstances. It also has been maintained through further amendment that the entire society is responsible to endeavour to care and protect the abuse. The Guidelines for Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect has been an important resource in understanding the Children's Protection Act 1993 and mandated notification responsibilities. The document also deals with the importance of child protection, the effective ways of helping the children or young people who need support and help, and the procedure for reporting the situations of concern about children. Thus, the significance of the document is unquestionable. The more important concern regarding the document has been how adequate the document is. It is true that child abuse is preventable, but it calls for the employment of adequate guidance to the social workers. Therefore, in order to identify and report about child abuse, which are essential in the intervention and prevention process, there must be greater provision and scope for the social workers. The document, as noted before, has been central to the process of reporting the abuse against children. In the document, first of all, it is clarified that it is obligatory for some groups of people to report abuse of children and explains the purpose behind such an obligation. The clarification, however, does little to do any illumination to the obligation of such a process. It only states that early identification of abuse and neglect can ensure that families are assisted in meeting their responsibility for the children's safety and that identification and reporting of child abuse are the beginnings of the intervention and prevention process. Whereas it states that future abuse can be reduced or eliminated, and the intergenerational cycle of abuse can be broken by protecting children and helping their families, it does nothing to help the social practitioners realise the need for obligatory child abuse reporting. In another significant area of the document, the various rights and responsibilities of mandated notifiers are listed out and in a first reading of the document itself proves that the particular area lacks greatly to support the social workers in their attempt to deal with the issues of child abuse. Whereas some of the important duties or responsibilities of the mandated notifiers are emphasised, the document fails to provide any motivation to the social workers by focusing on their rights in the process of reporting child abuse. However, the document has been able to guarantee the mandated notifiers a feedback on a "need to know" basis about how their notification is being dealt with by Families SA and in suggesting , by referring to Section 12(a) and (b) Children's Protection Act, that one is immune from civil liability for reporting your suspicion in good faith. All these can be evaluated inadequate an explanation of the rights of the Mandated Notifiers. (Guidelines for Mandated Notifiers). Thus, these factors need to be comprehended well and further steps to deal with the issues faced by the Mandated Notifiers should be focused in order to motivate the social workers to effectively participate in the process of child abuse reporting and helping and supporting the abused children. The document, however, has been significant in ensuring the confidentiality of the social workers in the process of child abuse reporting in matters of their identity, information sharing, and disclosure of personal information. Thus, it points out that under Section 13 of the Children's Protection Act 1993 the identity of a social worker as a Mandated Notifier will not be disclosed with some exceptional cases. The document also considers the matter of information sharing and explains that the flow of relevant information between agencies is decisive in ensuring valuable and corresponding interagency responses to allegations of child abuse and neglect. It has been significant in ensuring the protection of personal information by referring to the document titled "Information Privacy Principles Instruction" released by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. However, this information seems to be inadequate in indicating the ensuring of confidentiality of the practitioner. There is evidently several aspects left out in building the confidence of the social workers engaged in the process of reporting child abuse by ensuring the confidentiality of their personal details. The strategies towards these could be adequately presented as this is vital in developing the chances of effectiveness of the process of preventing child abuse. While some of the following areas that define and explain what child abuse is and which are various forms of child abuse are etc seem to be out of relevance, the inclusion of the process of child abuse reporting and the vital contact details in the process of dealing with the issue can be reflected as valuable. There is an effort in the document to assist the social workers in helping a child whom they suspect has been abused or neglected. Thus, it provides guidelines to the social worker how to deal with the child who reports of his abuse by others. It asks the notifiers, for example, to remain calm and in control, and to reassure the child that s/he has done the right thing by telling somebody about what is happening and allow the child know that person is willing to listen and that he wants to help the child. It also notifies that it is important that the notifiers respond to the child appropriately by listening carefully, telling the child that they believe her/him, reassuring the child that the abuse is not her/his fault, and telling the child that they are pleased to have been told. Such guidelines, while they are highly useful in helping the practitioners, seem to be inadequate as there are several other concerns of the person dealing with the abused child such matters as how to elicit the pertinent information from the child effectively without harming the child's integrity etc. Therefore, it can be gathered that while the document attempts to incorporate vital areas concerning child abuse reporting, it falls short of accomplishing its aims and objectives, primarily due to the inadequacy of the information incorporated. To illustrate this specific nature of the document, the attempts to suggest when to notify the cases of child abuse, although a valid guideline to include, seems to be inadequate the various occasions that necessitate the reporting of child abuse. It states that a Mandated Notifier you are obliged to notify Families SA when they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child has been abused and/or neglected. While some of the reasonable grounds of child abuse reporting are suggested by the document, a social worker comes to face several other occasions of child abuse that they feel like reporting to the Families SA. Also, it is not adequate in confirming the cases with the support of ample proofs, to be reported and in such a situation there is greater possibility that the practitioners are confused to confirm the cases of reporting. These are some of the pertinent issues suggesting the inadequacy of the document. Thus, before providing the Child Abuse Report Line with 24 hour facility operated by Social Workers, which is of course a vital guideline, it is important to be clear about the reasonable grounds for suspicion that require a notification of abuse. (Guidelines for Mandated Notifiers). In the background of the observed inadequacy of the document, it is vital to reframe it in order to deal with the various inadequacies suggested through this evaluation. It is not enough to concentrate on the improvement of the given document, but, more importantly, it should concentrate on providing greater provisions to motivate the social workers in their attempt to report and notify the cases of child abuse. It is also important to realise that the literature on the issue highlight several areas of concern in relation to child abuse and perceive scope for more research and attention on 'risk assessment' and how social workers and agencies make decisions about clients needs. Such research indicates that the current process of 'mandatory reporting' and 'child protection' is not effective and more improvement needs to be done in this area. Such research evidences must be the basis of any guidance to the social workers in child abuse reporting. Another area of concern is lack of support for parents and children. Social workers need ongoing agency support to deal with the many challenges involved in the area of child protection. It is also relatable that further research is needed in these areas of child abuse and improvements made to the system of child protection, so that every child in need of support is given the adequate attention they deserve. In the lights of these researches and investigations the guidance of reporting the child abuse need to be prepared. Such a process will ensure minimum inadequacy in the process and help the effective implementation of the activities in relation to child abuse reporting and notification. Works Cited Guidelines for Mandated Notifiers: Child-Safe Environments, Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect. Government of South Australia. 10 Jun. 2008. . Mendes, P. Blaming the Messenger: The Media, Social Workers and Child Abuse. Australian Social Work/June 2001, Vol. 54, No.2. Wise, S. The child in Family Services: Expanding Child Abuse Prevention. Australian Social Work/September 2003, Vol. 56. Lonne, B. and Thomson, J. Critical Review of Queensland's crime and Misconduct Commission Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Foster Care: Social Work's Contribution to Reform. Australian Social Work/March 2005, Vol.58, No.1. Read More