Strategies and methods of supporting children where abuse is suspected.

by eloowah (student)

Foster

Health and social care

Unit 10 P4, P5, M3 &D1

(P5) Describe appropriate responses where child abuse is suspected or confirmed, making reference to current legislation and policies. (P6) Identify strategies and methods of supporting children, young people and their families where abuse is suspected or confirmed. (M3) Explain strategies and methods to minimise the risk of young people where abuse is suspected or confirmed. (D2) Evaluate a range of strategies and methods to support children/young people and their families where abuse is suspected or confirmed.

Case 1: sexual abuse

Tracey is a four old girl, after providing an activity on ‘assertiveness’ and instructing the children the children to say ‘no’ Tracy discloses to you that an uncle who has been babysitting has been going to her bedroom on several accusations and has been fondling + touching her. She has told you not to tell anyone because she promised her uncle she would not tell anyone. “If you tell he won’t buy me nice toys any more”.

What aspects of this case concern you?

The aspect that concerns us is sexual abuse.

How would you respond to this child?

The way we would respond to this child is just by, listening and reassuring her that she is in a safe place and there is nothing to worry about, after the child has finished discussing with me, I would take her over to the home corner and play a game with her or allow her to play with her friends, however I would act normal.

What questions would you ask?

We wouldn’t ask Tracey any questions, the reason for this is because Tracey already came to a member a member of staff and gave full disclosure of the situation at hand. As a staff the only question we can ask is what happened.

What would you ask the parent?

We wouldn’t ask the parent any questions, because we wouldn’t want Tracey to get in trouble, also we wouldn’t want Tracey’s parent to discus the matter with Tracey’s uncle, not only that but he could get away with it, if he is aware that the social services and Tracey’s parent know.

What would you do with all this information?

I would record and store this information in Tracey’s file, which is private and confidential meaning ‘that this information is seen strictly by those who have a right or need to see it’ (Langridge et al 2007 pg 383).

What step by step procedures would you take?

I wouldn’t be able to ask questions but what happened so that would be the first thing I would ask, I would then have to tell my manager about the situation, after this she would be the one to contact the social workers as this is a serious issue, the social service will then take matters further into their own hands and the police may also be involved.

Looking at the steps that I have taken, I’ve done it according to the child protection policy, which is all over the walls of my nursery, as I also recorded the incident and referred it to my manger, who would then refer this matter to social services, as the child protection policy ensures that individuals such as a health and social care settings such as nursery’s and schools work in partnership with social services.

Strategies and methods

It is very vital that as staff that we are able to have person centred approach, because according to Roger ‘building relationship with children is very important’. The staff must have had some sort of ‘person centred approach for Tracey to be able to tell that particular staff. now by building a relationship with Tracey she would be able to trust the staff not only that but as a staff we would need to be on her side and also ensure that Tracey is aware that none of this is her fault, that she shouldn’t feel down, so it is very vital that we reassure her, and allow her to know that she is now safe, everything will be okay as the teacher would be able to help her. However if the teacher was to disobey her trust which she has to because, she would need to inform the manager who would then take matters into their hand by contacting the social services, during this process Tracey’s parent’s should not be aware that Tracey is being sexually abused because telling the parents could make things worst for example their might pull the child away and you could never see that child again and you have just put the child in more danger or also the father could be very angry and physically abuse the uncle this will make the case worst again because he could kill him that’s why the parents could not be aware at all while you are still dealing with the case. This will be breaking Tracey’s trust so, it is important that we tell her that we wouldn’t be able to keep this a secret, even though Tracey would be very upset and might not be able to trust the teacher again.

As staff it is vital that we promote the importance of empowerment, by doing this we are teaching and encouraging Tracey to say NO, in the future, the reason why we would do this is so that next time maybe no one else would take advantage of her because she is a little girl.

If the information that the child has given me I would first tell my manger (head teacher) about what the child has just told and she will tell the social service or the police because there are both link. I would also tell other members of staff too keep an eye out for her but not tell them what is happening keep it confidentially so that the other member of staff don’t talk about her. The reason for the manger to contact the social workers because according to the convention on the right of the child 1989 which states that every child has the rights for a safe environment and in this case the child was in a dangerous place. You also have to make sure that you collect all the information that the child has given me and record in the child protection register.

I would ask the child one question what happened or where did he touch you and when the child starts talking make notes in my head.

When the child finish don’t ask any more question because it will make her relive the case again and + she going to have to tell the story again to the police or social workers. That’s why it’s very important to change the convocation so that the child doesn’t have to think about it again. Make her feel happen by ensuring her and comforting that she did the right thing for example ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

I would ask the child one question what happened or where did he touch you and when the child starts talking make notes in my head.

As a staff you would need to make sure that you only provide information according to Tracey’s age, as this is a topic about sex I wouldn’t be able to go to deep into as it is complex. The reason for this is because Tracey is too young to hear and know about it, so I would only use the terms and language that she would understand.

However some of these strategies can be a problem for example children can go home talking about abuse and body part, this will make their parents annoyed; so when using these strategies we ought to be careful on what we teach them. These teaching are done according to their age. It will also endanger in future of what they know about their body part. At home they might prevent their from touching especially the male so it will become a problem because of what they have been taught in school, so the teacher should tech according to their age and using appropriate language. Some of these strategies might not work in reality, so you need to teach them the important things to tell someone.

In addition to this through games and activities I would need to show Tracey how to respect and keep the body safe, for example after Tracey told me this I would do a class game/activity by getting al the children involved, ask the children to touch their ‘heads, toes, knees, belly and etc’. This activity is beneficial to not only Tracey but the other children in the setting to be aware of their body parts although this activity is good the bad side of it is that Tracey could be upset because of she would know that what her uncle is doing to her is wrong. We need to ensure that when we do say a certain body parts that we are very careful, for example ‘bum’ we should say ‘bottom’.

It is very important that the staff do not stereotype males and say its only male that can abuse, the children must be aware that abuse can come from anyone both male and female.

Confidentiality policy Is needed in this case because only you and you and the manger have the right to know. This is because when others are tell other staff, they might abuse the child due to the reason that she is being and some might make fun of her about and this will affect the child.

How will the staff get support?

The teacher that is dealing with the case might have had a similar case with her so she is going to need a lot of support for example cancelling and the others teachers support, letting the teachers be aware that she is going through a hard time, but still keep it confidential. The head teacher can also have open door with her because i.e. giving her days off and allow her to have convocation with her.

What effect does it have on the child and her family?

Because there daughter has just been sexually abused the parents are going to be over protective and this could be a very dangerous because then Tracy wouldn’t get to do the things normal parents will do for example going parties going out with friends this will really effect. It could also broke the family down because there could blame her for what has happened and start hating her.

Case 2: emotional abuse

Dillon is a three year old boy, Dillon has been a happy child from the time he started the nursery one year ago, and however, lately he has started reading by himself and doesn’t want to participate with other children. One day jay who has been his closest friend come to you crying saying Dillon told him to go away and said a rude word. He also told jay that he was a stupid boy and if he didn’t leave him alone he would put him away.

What aspects of this case concern you?

The aspect of this case that concerns us in this case is the emotional abuse and the change of behaviour.

How would you respond to the child and what questions would you ask?

We would respond to the child by asking him questions, e.g. where did you learn those words from/who did he hear the words from? Teaching him correct behaviour, and telling him not to repeat such behaviour again, that if he does he would have to face the consequences e.g. time out.

What would you ask the parent?

We would ask Dillon’s parents, has Dillon been having recent changes in his behaviour at home? In a situation like this we would not want to ask to much questions, as it may or could lead into Dillon getting into trouble at home and we would want to avoid that from happening.

What would you do with all this information?

With this information that we get from both Dillon and his Dillon’s parents, we would have to record it and store it in a safe place that would not be accessible to just any staff unless authorised e.g. social service.

What step by step procedures would you take?

Question Dillon to why he is behaving that way (record it), we would to discuss the matter with staffs and see if they notice any changes in Dillon behaviour, but we must be careful not to ask to many questions, in case too many staff suspect anything that is going on, have a meeting with Dillon parents, depending on the meeting/will see if there is any improvements, will do this by monitoring Dillon and if there is no improvements the we would have to contact social service.

As we can see we have followed the steps of child protection very well, not only that but the private and confidentiality policy, so it is vital that we do not disclose anything that Dillon had told the staff or the specific language that he used to shout at the child. However just keep the information in a safe place as it could be useful in the future, in case there are no improvements, and social services would have to intervene.

Strategies and methods

At this stage it is essential that we give Dillon active support, there are many ways that I could do this, one way is by giving him praises, the reason why this is good is that it would boost up Dillon’s self-esteem and confidence. Also by putting him into group activities such as ball games, with other children in the setting this would be very good as it will be about team work and if Dillon’s team was to win it would be a bonus as he would be more than happy however if he doesn’t win he could be very upset and take be angry and frustrated so it is important that we make sure that he is aware that it is not only about wining but it is about having fun and being happy.

Another thing we could do is give Dillon play dough to play with when ghe is feeling angry or sad, by doing this we are allowing him to take out his anger on the dough and release some stress that he might be holding within him, on the second hand not everybody will agree with this, simply because if we are giving Dillon play dough to release his anger as he grows older he may begin to release his stress and anger out on other items such as cars, he may start to vandalise properties or items such as cars or even people, he might want to punch and kick them, as it would be his way of releasing stress and anger. This would just lead to behavioural problems which is ‘when children and young people repeatedly misbehave in a way considered much worse than one would normally expect for their age, it can lead to family breakdown, these factors can lead to the child needing to be looked after by the local authority’ ( Langridge et al 2007 pg 309).

Dillon could also be able to spend more quality time with his key worker which would be good with checking up on Dillon to see if his behaviour has improved and looking at how his confidence and self-esteem is progressing.

I would also give Dillon a doll so he learn how to be responsible and to look after things, this will also teacher him to look after others too for example if Dillon is playing with the doll in a rough way .i.e. hitting it you tell him Dillon that’s not nice you are hurting the baby so he starts to understand hitting is not good.

Assertiveness would also be needed, as we would need and teach Dillon to speak up for himself and also defend himself, we would do this by trying to help build up his self-esteem and confidence, giving him activities such as board games to play, this way Dillon would be in charge.

Because Dillon is being emotionally abused we would have to try and set up a parent and children’s day at the nursery, we would make this day for all the children and parent at the setting because if it is just Dillon’s mother he maybe suspicious and Dillon could get in big trouble. At this parental and children’s day, we would do team work activities so that children and their parents could bond more, as we can see that there is a slight lack of attachment between Dillon and his mother.

Also info Dillon mother for a meeting to have a one to one with her for example talking to her that about how Dillon behaviour has change and if she had noticed it at home because as a teacher you don’t know what is going on after nursery his cat might have died or even a member of the family who he was close to pasted away, info the teacher that she need to spend more time with him even if its just one day a week let him know that for how long it is your only going to be with him, this will allow him to Have something to look forward to every week.

Case 3: physical abuse

Ade is a 5 year old girl, who has always been boisterous, however, her physical play has been rougher theses days, she pushes the smaller children to get her toys back and slaps anyone who looks at her for a short length of time saying “don’t look at me like that” pointing her finger. (This also reminded you of the day she came in with a bruised eye and her mother said she had fallen of the swings)

What aspects of this case concern you?

The aspect of this case that concerns us is the physical abuse, the boisterous behaviour and the physical play that is becoming rougher.

How would you respond to the child?

we would have to respond to Ade by correct her behaviour and telling her that it is not nice and the reasons why it is not nice, also showing her that if she carries on that she would have to face the consequence e.g. time out.

What questions would you ask?

We would ask Ade, where did she see/learn such behaviour? How would you feel somebody did that to you? Because Ade had a bruised eye we would have to ask questions such as, did it hurt? How did it get there? What happened? We would then use this information and compare it to see if it matches what Ade parent would say.

What would you ask the parent?

We would ask the parent if they have noticed any changes in Ade’s behaviour and if Ade has been boisterous towards her siblings at home. We would also analyse the parent’s attitude and body language as it could be that Ade gets her behaviour from her parents.

What would you do with all this information?

We would store this information in Ade’s file and keep it an as safe place where it is out of reach.

What step by step procedures would you take?

I would first correct Ade behaviour, I would ask about her bruise, contact her parent, information that I get from this I would then keep it in Ade file and store it in a safe place, during all of this the manager would be aware of the whole situation and if matters do not change, and Ade comes in with more bruises, social service would be contacted and would have to intervene.

I was able to spot and identify not only that record and store the abuse in a safe place, I was able to discuss the matter and ask questions about Ade’s behaviour at home. The confidentiality policy and child protection policy was still met, if there is more concerns and no improvements the manager would have to contact the social service as I have already informed her about the issue that is going on.

Strategies and methods

It seems that Ade has short temper so in order for us to allow her to calm down we would need to give her activities such as painting, drawing and puzzles, as the drawings and painting would enable her to express how she’s feeling on the paper and it will also enable her to calm down, however with the puzzle she may not be able to fix it as it is a slightly a harder task so because she is already angry, she will then become more angry and then become also frustrated because she is unable to fix the puzzle.

Another thing that we could be able to do with Ade is read her books about children who have behavioural problems and mood swings, so that Ade will not feel like she is the only one with behavioural problems, however the disadvantage using this method is that Ade may like the story and copy the naughty behaviour from the book but we can change this by playing mummies and daddies with china dolls so that she can show love and affection to the doll, if she is able to this she may also be able to show this to other children

The teachers should give Ade a doll because she is very physical and she need to learn to care off other people and feeling and giving her a doll and using the word baby for the doll she is going to look at it as a human and this will teacher her how to take care of things and look after them for example if she is hitting the doll teacher could say to her you are hurting the baby and she will start to understand that hurting people is not good.

Bring Ade mother in and give her different methods on how to discipline Ade, rather than just physically abusing her by hitting and smacking her. Different strategies such as time out giving Ade time out at home and also facing the wall, punishment like this would allow Ade to realise that what she did was wrong, and hopefully she wouldn’t repeat such behaviour again. Although this is good for both Ade and her mother, but it may cause Ade mother to be angry at Ade because, she would think that Ade has been telling the nursery that she has been smacking her and Ade could get into more trouble at home.

Case 4: neglect

Raj is a 6 month old baby, raj’s father has been bringing him to the nursery and for the past week there has been a problem with raj’s personal hygiene. He is constantly crying and needs comfort and has difficulties with settling he also has an erratic sleeping pattern. You have never seen raj’s mother.

What aspects of this case concern you?

The aspects of this case that concerns us is neglect and personal hygiene also his constant crying.

How would you respond to the child?

We would need to respond to Raj by giving him comfort and try and help giving him a sleeping pattern within the setting.

What would you ask the parent?

We would ask raj’s father, how are you handling being a new dad?, does raj drink breast milk?( we would ask this question, as it would help us to know if raj’s mother is around) if the answer is yes, we would then ask how is the mother handling the a new mum?, how is raj sleeping pattern at home?, because of our concerns with raj’s hygiene we would say, it is slightly difficult to bath babies, if you need assistant here is booklet, on techniques and easy ways. (We would also look at raj father appearance, checking if he looks neat and clean)

What would you do with all this information?

With the information that we get from raj’s father it would be recorded and kept in raj file which will then be kept in a safe cabinet, which anybody who is unauthorised would be able to view the file.

What step by step procedures would you take?

We would first of all discuss this with the staff, to see if they have also notice the signs, contact the parent, depending on the meeting, will monitor raj and see if there is any improvements. If there is no improvements we would have to contact social services, as it may also be that his father needs help.

In this situation I was able to follow the children act policy, by contacting my manager because of the concerns that I had for Raj, we can see that I also recorded it and stored in a safe place as it may be required for future references. In case there are no improvements with Raj. If this is to happen then social workers would need to intervene as it may just be that Raj’s father may just need help.

Strategies and methods

In situations like this we can see that Raj’s father is not able to look after raj properly so we would invite him along side with other fathers on how to look after their child, this would involve bathing and dressing and also changing nappies. This is will be very effective as raj father would be learning new skills so that he would be able to cater to raj properly, during this session we would explain the importance of clean hygiene for babies.

We would also advise raj father to attend counselling sessions such as Sure Start programmes for new fathers, this will enable raj’s fathers self-esteem to boost up it would also allow and teach him how to love his son more than he already does. Another advantage of this is that raj’s father would also meet others in his situation, so he wouldn’t feel like a rubbish dad, as he would feel okay because he would realise that he is not alone. He would also be able to meet other who our just like him, that may need a little extra help.

Raj father can also be able to come into the setting anytime to look at different and new ways to develop his skills on how to look after raj.

All this would be great as we know that raj would want what is best for his son, and he wouldn’t know where to start from, but all those that I have outlined above would help him and allow him to develop new skills, however the disadvantage of this is that raj father may not feel good about himself he may feel even worse than he already is because he does not know how to look after his child properly and has to seek help and advise from others, this can be quite stressful for him because maybe some of his other friends and family members may not need help with looking after their own child.

The nursery should all the father in a talk to him about how he is what he does and try to support him for example the teacher could get RAJ father a support father group where he can get support into becoming a father for example changing nappies and how to deal with his child.

Ref: Langridge, E, Bossons. L, Boys. D, Michie.V, Roe. J (2007) Health & Social Care UK: Nelson Thornes

Negative

Dillon

The strategies that I have used also involves negative views for example giving Dillon a doll will help him deal with children but at home the teacher does not know what is going on, he might be getting neglected and that’s not going to support him. He will get use to playing with that doll and he wouldn’t be allow to take it home with so he wouldn’t want to leave it behind so his going to cry for it, also teaching Dillon using a doll is a positive but can also be a negative because when it comes to dealing with adults he wouldn’t know how to react to it so he wouldn’t be able to deal with adults and that might be his problem..

Ade

Giving Ade puzzle to do can be a positive however with the puzzle she may not be able to fix it as it is a slightly a harder task so because she is already angry, she will then become more angry and then become also frustrated because she is unable to fix the puzzle. Because Ade parents come from a different backgrounds and cultures the way there do things will be different for example with English cultures you must not hit a child and with the African culture hitting your child is not a problem so Ade is always going to be seeing physical abuse in her house so the teachers can put her in trouble every time she does something bad because its what children see adults do is what there will copy so if the teacher keeps on putting her in trouble it will make thing worst for her the teachers will need to use an other strategy to help her for example working with the parents and showing her that you don’t have to abuse the child to get them to do what you want, one way of doing this is by inviting them other and to see how the nursery discipline the children without hitting them.

RAJ

The strategies that were used for RAJ are positive however showing RAJ dad about the father support group he might go and if he does he might not find male that are going through the same problems and he might not want to tell people he just met about his family problem. He might also not relate to anyone there so sending him there wouldn’t help him.

By Kabba Kamara - -