Unit 10: Caring for Children D2: Justify responses where child maltreatment or abuse is suspected or confirmed, referring to current legislation and policies.

by rebeccahughes-allivecouk (student)

D2: Justify responses where child maltreatment or abuse is suspected or confirmed referring to current legislation and policies.

The first step in responding to suspicion of child abuse is to investigate. This is supported by the Children Act 1989 which states that if there has been a reasonable cause to suspect a child is being maltreated or abused there is a duty to investigate. The Children Act 1989 was updated to the Children Act 2004 after the Victoria Climbie case and the recommendations made by Lord Laming in the inquiry held into her death, because the original Act was found not to be effective enough in protecting and safeguarding children. The first step of investigating needs to be supported by reasonable suspicion that come from disclosure.

Disclosure is when someone, in this case a young person or child, feels that they trust you enough to tell you sensitive information. Direct disclosure is when a child tells you directly that they are being abused or neglected for instance; when a child tells her favourite teacher that she has a secret she isn’t supposed to tell anyone and then tells her teacher that her uncle makes her do things she doesn’t like to do. However, direct disclosures are rare and abuse is often identified or suspected through indirect disclosures. Indirect disclosures are when children communicate what they have experienced through their behaviours, emotions, art, writing or play. Examples of indirect disclosures; when a child is demonstrating an inappropriate amount of sexual knowledge when talking amongst friends and a teacher has overheard the conversation, inappropriate or extensive sexual knowledge is an indicator of sexual abuse. Another example is when a child uses predominantly dark colours in their art work as this could suggest depression or emotional abuse.

A report into disclosures of childhood abuse undertaken by the NSPCC called ‘No One Noticed, No One Heard’ revealed that although it is said that young people who experience abuse do not talk about it, the study showed that out of 60 people 48 attempted to disclose their abuse – that amounts to 80%. Of the 203 disclosures made (the 48 out of 60 who attempted to disclose their abuse, attempted to multiple times) only 117 were acted upon by the recipients.
The report also emphasises that suffering abuse is a distressing experience ad that the improper handling of disclosures only adds to the negative experiences of the victims.

Research into disclosures of sexual abuse called ‘what does the research tell us about the ways that children tell?’ suggests that sexual abuse is unlikely to be disclosed, however, the NSPCC’s report notes that out of 48 young people who suffered sexual abuse 38 of them did disclose during childhood while they were being abused. The report points out that as with many high profile cases not all disclosures were “heard” or acted upon. The NSPCC estimates that 1 in 20 children in the UK are sexually abused and 1 in 3 who are abused by adults don’t tell anyone.

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Where there has been child maltreatment or abuse suspected or confirmed, certain responses need to take place, these responses are set out in policies, procedures and legislation to make sure the child’s safety is put first. The guidelines set out in a disclosure policy are an appropriate response when you consider these statistics and findings of the studies with just over half of the disclosures made being improperly handled. If children are seeking help and are not receiving it when their disclosures are being ignored, unbelieved and not acted upon those whose jobs it is to safeguard children are failing. Disclosure policies would help reduce the number of child abuse cases that are left undealt with.

The first response to a direct disclosure is to listen calmly. This is a justified response because panicking in response to a child’s disclosure can distress the child further, they may not be able to fully comprehend the extent of the abuse they are experiencing and panicking may alert the child to the seriousness of the situation. This could make them want to backtrack and say they made it up which could negatively affect the investigation and the case if it went to court. Showing emotions such as shock and anger can make the child feel like they have done the wrong thing in telling you, often children who are abused are told by their abuser that they will get in trouble if they tell anyone, if the child is being abused by a close family member such as a parent they may panic themselves realising by your show of emotion that their abuser will get into trouble.

The second response is to believe the child, when looking at the NSPCC’s report about sexual abuse cases not being “heard” or acted upon because the recipient of the disclosure didn’t believe them it is an appropriate response to not let your personal judgements affect a disclosure, just because you think that the child’s father who you thought was very educated, kind and a good parent at parent’s meetings could sexually abuse his daughter doesn’t mean he isn’t. All disclosures are to be taken seriously and follow the same procedures.

The third response is to tell the child that they were right for telling you. This is justified by what I have previously explained about abusers telling children that they will get in trouble if they tell anyone in order to protect themselves, they make the child feel like they are doing something wrong that nobody can find out about. Making the decision to tell someone is a very stressful and brave decision to make and they need to be reassured that they have done the right thing.

The fourth response is to tell the child that you need to tell somebody else what they have told you. This is important because for the child to disclose to you in the first place they must have felt like they could trust you, and you can’t make promises you can’t keep. You cannot keep a disclosure to yourself. You have to tell the child that you are going to tell somebody else to maintain that trust.

The fifth response is to record what the child has told you in their own words as best as possible. This is justified because court cases have been thrown out in the past because people have filled in the gaps of recorded disclosures to “try and make them make more sense”. This could be seen as putting words in the child’s mouth and it would negatively affect the case. You need to write it down as soon as possible in pen, to ensure it isn’t altered, and you need to put the time and date on it. This is justified because it goes towards proving the validity of the case.

The disclosure policy is closely linked with the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 which emphasises the importance of providing care given to vulnerable individuals once they disclose information, it also stresses the importance of providing listening services for children so they have someone to turn to about their concerns.
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act also established that all those wanting to work with children and vulnerable adults have to have DBS checks. DBS checks look into the criminal backgrounds of individuals to see if they are suitable to work with vulnerable people. This is a justified response because it is the first step in safeguarding children and protecting them from abuse. This Act also brought around safeguarding policies that are in place in all centres and institutions that are responsible for the care and wellbeing of children.

For example; my college has a safeguarding policy that outlines the procedures and policies for staff, reporting procedures, the duties of the designated safeguarding officer, the safeguarding referral and report form and the code of practice for members, all of which adhere to the relevant legislation and guidance such as the Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (2010), the Equality Act 2010, Vetting and Barring 2009, Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, Children’s Act 1989 and 2004…etc.
The overall aims of all of the policies and procedures my college has in place for safeguarding are to ensure that children and vulnerable adults have a secure place in which their welfare is promoted, providing services to those that need them in order to safeguard them from abuse.

The Victoria Climbie case made clear that there was a necessity for those that work with children to be educated on how to identify abuse because there were so many social workers and healthcare professionals that saw Victoria while she was being abused, that treated horrific injuries on her that were the result of physical abuse such as scalds and burns on her face, bruising, lacerations and fractures and yet she still died at the hand of her abusers. The circumstances of her death horrified this country and everybody realised that things need to be done in order to prevent this from happening again. However, years later in the same borough of London another child died at the hand of his abusers. Seventeen-month-old Baby P suffered such horrible abuse whilst on the at-risk list for social services, his doctor failed to notice that he had a broken spine and eight broken ribs, that his fingernails had been torn off and that the infections he had on his scalp, hands and feet were the result of abuse. It is the deaths of these children that justify the responses to suspected or confirmed child maltreatment or abuse.

References

NSPCC (2013). No One Noticed, No One Heard. England: NSPCC. 1-29.

London. K Bruck. M Ceci.S Shuman D. (2005). Disclosure of child sexual abuse: what does the research tell us about the ways that children tell?. England: Psychology. 1-12.

Anne Longfield OBE. (2015). About Us. Available: www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk. Last accessed 16th December 2015.