Errors And Mistakes In Child Protection

Lessons from child protection errors and mistakes in 11 countries in Europe and North America are drawn together in a stimulating study from leading researchers in the field. By comparing and contrasting impacts, responses and responsibilities, it deepens understanding of how child protection systems fail and points to ideas for risk reduction.

Following high-profile Serious Case Reviews into the tragic deaths of children, including Victoria Climbie, Peter Connelly and Daniel Pelka, information sharing has now become a moral and political imperative for safeguarding the welfare of children. What prompts information sharing and how do we get it right? This accessible book challenges widely held assumptions about information sharing in child welfare that facts about risks to children are clear and that sharing them with other professionals is a straightforward process. End-of-chapter questions prompt reflection and ensure direct practice relevance. This is essential reading for academics and policy makers, students on post-qualifying child protection courses, social workers, managers and all other professionals tasked with safeguarding children.

This book presents in-depth, candid case studies that are designed to allow someone studying child protection to understand the complicated, challenging situations that occur in the field. The contributors cover eight common situations that practitioners face, including working with assessing risk, managing different professional perspectives, and handling uncooperative clients. The detailed analysis they provide will help students understand why particular decisions are made, and how practitioners can overcome similar predicaments at work through reflective practice.

Looks at how society's sincere desire to care for and protect its children can lead to terrible mistakes, and asks who, or what, is responsible.

Child Protection Systems is a comparative study of the social policies and professional practices that frame societal responses to the problems of child maltreatment in ten countries: USA, Canada, England, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway. Focusing on the developments in policy and practice since the mid-1990s, this volume provides a detailed, up-to-date analysis of the similarities and differences in how child protection systems operate and their outcomes. The findings highlight the changing criteria that define child maltreatment, trends in out-of-home placement, professional responses to allegations of maltreatment, and the level of state responsibility for child and family welfare, providing an in-depth understanding of the different ways modern welfare states assume the sensitive responsibility of balancing children's rights and parents' rights. The changing character of child protection systems worldwide reflects dramatic and rapid organizational, policy, and legislative changes; the expansion of child welfare systems; the rise of formal procedures and evidence-based initiatives; the increased challenges posed by race and ethnicity; and the extent to which countries adopt either a child protection or a family service approach to child abuse. Each chapter analyzes these developments and the directions in which they are heading, such as movements toward privatization and devolution of child welfare service delivery. Against this backdrop, a third approach begins to emerge-a child-focused orientation-that aims to promote and improve children's development and well-being. A vital book for understanding contemporary trends and policy issues in the design of child protection systems, this will be must reading for comparative scholars of child welfare, family policy, and the welfare state.

What is a mistake in social work and how can we turn it into a positive learning experience? Simply going over the events of the day is often not enough and can become overwhelming. Learning from professional errors is, however, vital for successful reflective practice. This important book presents a theoretical framework that underpins this learning, along with a series of strategies for social workers to use either by themselves or as part of a group. These include creating questions and narratives to enhance learning, assertive techniques for receiving and offering criticism and organisational learning from mistakes. With plenty of practice examples and questions for reflection, this is essential reading for both social work students, and practitioners and managers at all stages of their career.

This book challenges the current child protection culture and calls for family-minded humane practice where children are understood as relational beings, parents are recognized as people with needs and hopes and families as carrying extraordinary capacities for care and protection.