Child Protection

Iain Moody, Barry Fearnley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780273750710
• eBook ISBN: 9781317905929
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery

Ensuring the safeguarding of children is a highly important and challenging task for all professionals working in a healthcare environment. This pocket-sized guide will help you develop your understanding of the issues and enable you to identify and respond to difficult child protection concerns with confidence.

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The importance of observation

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Observation plays a vital role in the assessment process. As professionals we observe children in everyday situations in addition to observing how parents interact with their children along with other family members and friends as part of our role. We may be assessing the child’s development, their health, well-being and how they present themselves and whether they are reaching certain milestones.

• What do we mean by ‘observation’?

• Who are we observing?

• What is the purpose?

■ WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ‘OBSERVATION’?

It is very important that when we are observing parents’ and children’s behaviours and interactions we take into consideration ‘the context of the situation’ to which an act or omission was undertaken or is being undertaken.

Observing is not about judging individuals but about making an assessment as to what has happened, or is happening, and determining whether a child may be at risk of significant harm, or likely to suffer significant harm, as defined by the Children Act 1989.

We are assessing through observing everything around us within the context of our role and responsibilities. This may include observing parents and their children when they enter our offices, health centres and schools or alternatively when we visit their homes.

We are assessing the situation by observing

• parents’ verbal behaviour — what they say and how they say it when speaking to children

• parents’ non-verbal behaviour — what they do including body language, non-verbal behaviour

• parents’ interactions with their children, family, friends and other people

• children’s interaction with other children who may be siblings, step-siblings, relations, friends

• parent/family lifestyle

• parent/family conditions.

We are not judging or condoning their behaviour but making an assessment with regard to the care and protection of the child and how this may impact upon the child’s health, well-being and development.

We may have a legal obligation with regard to certain aspects, such as illicit drug use, to inform them of the potential harm and consequences of their behaviour and our policies and procedures. It may be part of our role to discuss smoking, alcohol consumption and healthy eating, but it is the individual’s choice.

When talking to social services about their concerns following a visit to a person’s home, or seeing a child at school, professionals often use words such as grubby, dirty or unkempt, all of which are subjective: what do they actually mean? And how do they present a risk to the child’s health, well-being and development?

Skills development — what are we looking for when we make a home visit?

Take another look at the section What is abuse and neglect? and write a short paragraph for each category of what you may observe during a home visit and how this may impact upon the child’s health. This may include no carpets on the floor, no bed, no food in the cupboards, pet faeces in the lounge etc.

■ WHO ARE WE OBSERVING?

We are observing the parent/carer and child. We may also observe a variety of other people that might have contact with the child.

When working with parents and their children we need to observe their behaviour, verbal and non-verbal interactions and their body language because these elements tell us so much about the child’s relationship with family.

We also need to take into consideration the responsiveness of the child, including eye contact in response to the voice of the mother and/or father and whether the mother and/or father has an awareness of the child’s needs and responds accordingly.

We may also be observing whether the child is appropriately dressed for their age, weather — cold or warm — and how they are presented.

Are there age-appropriate structures, routines and boundaries which are so important with regard to child development? Grounding a child may be an acceptable sanction, but is this age-appropriate? How long is the grounding for? Does the child/young person know why they are grounded? Has this been discussed and agreed with the child/young person? It may feel inappropriate to discuss and agree this with a child/young person but this discussion may facilitate an understanding, awareness of the issues, concerns or behaviour, give the child or young person some responsibility and ownership and help them to develop confidence, negotiation skills and acceptance of the sanction.

Skills development — what are we looking for when we make a home visit?

Write a short paragraph for each category of what you may observe during a routine clinic appointment when a parent brings their 2-year-old child for a check-up. Look at what you have written and now think about gender, culture and age — would you be looking for different things and why?

■ WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF OBSERVATIONS?

An example may be a health visitor undertaking a routine assessment of the child to establish whether the child is developing or reaching the milestones of a child of a similar age. The observation may include looking at the home to ascertain whether there are adequate and age-appropriate sleeping arrangements, available food and protection against risks.

Another could be a classroom teacher observing a child and assessing that the child’s behaviour has altered and is not typical for this child. The key aspect of this latter sentence is ‘typical’ in terms of their pattern of behaviour historically and/or in comparison to the behaviour of children of a similar age.

A social worker undertaking an assessment observes the child and their parents taking into consideration the family life and wider social environment. In addition they should be having discussions with other professionals, thus providing a holistic assessment with regard to the child’s world.

This working together is essential with regard to safeguarding. Working together should mean in partnership with all members of the family including the children, but should also happen interprofessionally and interdisciplinarily.

Consideration should be given to the Data Protection Act 1998, Human Rights Act 1998 and confidentiality, but if a child is at risk of significant harm or likely to suffer significant harm we need to be, and should be, sharing that information and working together. Also see Information Sharing: Guidance for Practitioners and Managers (Depart...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Skills and Knowledge
• What is Abuse and Neglect?
• Emotional Abuse
• Neglect
• Physical Abuse
• Sexual Abuse
• Families and Family Diversity
• How Do We Recognise When There Might Be Potential Safeguarding Issues?
• Communication
• The Importance of Observation
• Recording
• Domestic Violence
• What Do We Mean by Grooming?
• Child Protection Case Conferences
• Bibliography