Reflect on two child protection articles - Essay Example

The first article, A stitch in time saves nine: Preventing and responding to the abuse and neglect of infants written by Brigid Jordan and Robyn Sketchley (2009) looks at the various issues that are currently pertinent in Australia in regard to prevention and response to child protection. These issues include ways of ensuring that individual infants are protected in the family and society at large and lessening further harm to infants who have been subjected to abuse and neglect by responding to their needs in an efficient manner.

The article further addresses issues to do with creation of a society that aims at reducing the risks that may put infants and children in a position of being neglected or abuse and ways of dealing with the limitations and drawbacks to such activities. As the authors articulately put it, infants are the source of hope in individual families and society level and should therefore be adequately protected from any harm, neglect or abuse and any circumstances that may subject them to such. The family and society needs to ensure the protection of infants since despite infancy being the phase of life of fantasies and heavenly bliss, the first year of any infant, in this case considered to be those between 0-3 years, is the most critical and potentially prone to risks of homicidal death from caregivers (Nielssen, et al., 2009). The article further explores the issues that are involved in the application of public health approach in the protection of infants from risks of abuses, neglect and any other kind of harm.

The authors give credence to possible ways of preventing infant abuse and neglect such as developing a more enhanced primary health and welfare services by embracing changes and reforms to the country’s universal health and welfare service sector. These endeavors should include primary, secondary and tertiary intervention programs that aim to protect the children from any kind of abuse or harm (O'Donnell, 2008; Bromfield & Holzer, 2008). The second article, Responding to children and young people’s disclosures of abuse, by Hunter published on 2011 seeks to explore the various ways of responding to a child’s disclosure of abuse and how to detect when a child could have been subjected to abuse or neglect.

The authors assert that children are more likely to open up about an incidence of abuse or neglect to the parent, caregiver or guardian or to a peer (Priebe & Svedin, 2008; Shackel, 2009). The authors first put a reminder that it is important to listen adequately whenever a child attempts to disclose about a certain abuse. However, when doing so, the parent or caregiver should not take the role of a counselor or investigator but rather seek out professional help in order to help the child deal with the abuse.

Moreover, it is important to note that the response an adult displays when a child discloses an abuse is very critical and can form the basis that defines how the child is going to recover from the trauma of the abuse and is consequent safety and wellbeing. A child disclosing an abuse is seeking support, both emotional and psychological, from the adult and therefore the kind of response the child receives can have an impact on how the child recovers and defines possibilities of the child seeking further help from others.

With this in mind, it is therefore important for the adult to sufficiently listen to the child’s grievances and offer support whenever necessary. The adult should also come out and reassure the child or young person that disclosing the abuse was not a weakness or abomination but rather the right thing to do. After clearly listening to the child’s disclosure, the adult should seek the help by contacting the appropriate authorties, remembering not to promise anything that might not be achievable.

The two articles bring into focus the importance of developing ways that ensure infants in the family and society are well protected from any abuse or neglect, and ways of responding to any previous neglect that is reported by a child or a young person. The articles are quite relevant to the social work theory and practice in that they not only bring out the pertinent issues that currently confront Australia but also attempt to devise ways of dealing with these issues. It is important to prevent abuse and harm to infants by analyzing the available health and welfare services and competently addressing any issue that might not be sufficient to the protection of children.

Relevance of the two articles are further outlined in their attempt to provide the knowledge necessary that can be transferred by a social worker when encountering children and families of such children who have been subjected to abuse and neglect. References Bromfield, L. M., & Holzer, P. J. (2008). A national approach for child protection: Project report. Australian Institute of Family Studies. Available from www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/reports/cdsmac/cdsmac.pdf . [Accessed on Sept. 08, 2013] Hunter, C. 2011. Responding to children and young people's disclosures of abuse.

, Australian Institute of Family Studies. Available from http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/brief/pb2/pb2.pdf [Accessed on Sept. 08, 2013] Jordan, B., & Sketchley, R. 2009. A stitch in time saves nine: preventing and responding to the abuse and neglect of infants. Child Abuse Prevention Issues No. 30: Australian Institute of Family Studies. Available from http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/issues/issues30/issues30.html [Accessed on Sept. 08, 2013] Nielssen, O. B., Large, M. M., Westmore, B. D., Lackersteen, S. M. 2009.

Child homicide in New South Wales from 1991-2005. Medical Journal of Australia, 190(1), 7-11. O'Donnell, M., Scott, D., & Stanley, F. 2008. Child abuse and neglect: Is it time for a public health approach? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, i(4), 325-330. Priebe, G., & Svedin, C. G. 2008. Child sexual abuse is largely hidden from the adult society. An epidemiological study of adolescents’ disclosures. Child Abuse & Neglect, 32, 1095–1108. Shackel, R. 2009. Understanding children’s medium for disclosing sexual abuse: A tool for overcoming potential misconceptions in the courtroom.

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 16(3), 379–393.