Child protection concern in patients during the COVID-19 lockdown.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, social isolation from school closures and home visitation restrictions compounded known risk factors for child maltreatment. The aim of our study was to determine the incidence and types of child protection concern (CPC) among inpatients during the COVID-19 lockdown compared to the matched timeframe in 2019. We retrospectively reviewed the CPC assessments performed at Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin and Tallaght from March 13 to August 31, 2020, and the same period in 2019. Eighty-six versus 163 inpatients were assessed for CPC in 2020 versus 2019. Higher proportions of physical abuse concerns (52.3% versus 11% (p < 0.001)) and emotional abuse concerns (7.0% versus 1.2% (p = 0.015)) were observed in 2020. Case complexity, defined as involving two or more types of CPC, increased with 48.8% in 2020 versus 13.5% in 2019 (p < 0.001). In conclusion, there were fewer assessments for CPC during the 2020 lockdown. However, the complexity of the CPC cases was significantly increased in 2020.

The Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies: A new ally for education in emergencies.

This article provides an overview of the current landscape and needs for education in emergencies, as well as challenges and opportunities in today's critical juncture, in particular with the creation of a new ally for education in emergencies: the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies. It covers the disruption of education by the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated exacerbation of child-protection risks, as well as the pandemic's impact on the realization of the right to education of displaced children and youth and those living in humanitarian crises. While there is ample recognition at the international policy level of the importance of education in emergencies, major obstacles still prevail, such as continued underfunding and the underprioritization of education in humanitarian situations. As the world faces unparalleled needs, in particular during crises, and grapples to accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 and meet the commitments set out in the Global Compact for Refugees, new opportunities promise to tap opportune alliances, to inspire commitment, and to boost country-level impact.

Integrating health systems for children and young people in out of home care: Challenging the nature of siloed service delivery in rural Australia.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to report on enablers and barriers during the first 2 years of the health systems integration project that included the implementation of a health navigator role. The project aims to improve health outcomes for children and young people residing in out of home care in rural Australia with a health navigator co-located between child protection practitioners and community health services clinicians. SETTING: Rural Northwest Victoria. PARTICIPANTS: Sunraysia Community Health Services and the Department of Health and Human Services. DESIGN: The qualitative design of the project evaluation involved semi-structured interviews and documentary evidence analysis. Analyses of interviews and documentary data demonstrate the challenging nature of siloed service delivery in rural Australia, particularly during a time that comprised multiple interruptions due to COVID-19. RESULTS: A limited synergy between organisational priorities and reporting systems hindered project progress. The lack of a shared definition of 'health' challenged the effective collaboration between health clinicians and child protection practitioners and the role of the health navigator. The health navigator raising health awareness through project involvement, training and sector-wide stakeholder engagement resulted in a slow but steady process of increased prioritisation of health care, increased health literacy among the child protection workforce, and broadening participation of area-based stakeholders, but did not translate to increased access to health plans for children. CONCLUSION: Integrating health systems across multiple sites with support of a health navigator revealed difficulties, particularly during COVID-19. The first phase of the project demonstrated the value of shared governance and partnerships as an imperative foundation for fundamental change. Relationships strengthened throughout the project, leading to a better understanding of area-based strengths, which in turn supports improved pathways to health care for children and young people in OOHC within rural communities and driving the subsequent phases of the 10-year project.

Hybrid Working: Is It Working horizontal ellipsis and at What Cost? Exploring the Experience of Managers in Child Protection: Social Work

This study used thematic analysis to consider eight UK child protection social work (CPSW) managers' experience of hybrid working. Adair's Action Centred Leadership (task, individual, team) (1967) was used as a framework to consider how managers lead teams through changes in working arrangements as hybrid working practices have become normalised. The themes identified included (i) Task: ease of moving work online, manager perceptions of the impact on quality of work, the experience of professional and organisational approaches;(ii) Individual: social worker well-being, tension about being available versus capacity to focus, impact on work/home boundaries;and (iii) Team: the importance of connecting, modelling practice and ease of communication. Findings suggest that hybrid arrangements were implemented as a result of organisational and logistic priorities, rather than to benefit children and families or the workforce. Though much of the task of CPSW has returned to being delivered as before COVID-19, and individual worker needs have been somewhat considered, the team as a unit to support and contain the worker has been largely neglected through the advancement of existing neoliberal and managerial policies under the pretext of COVID-19 measures. To counteract the negative impact of hybrid working arrangements, future policy focus must be on building strong teams. Since COVID-19 lockdowns, hybrid working arrangements have become the norm for many child protection social work teams. Few questions have been asked about whether these arrangements meet the needs of the workforce or how they impact work completed with children and families. Looking at the impact of hybrid working on the task of child protection, on social workers' individual needs and on the team as a unit, this research considers what the priority should be for future working arrangements, recommending a renewed focus on building strong teams.

Resisting Genderphobia in Hungary

In this article, we connect illiberal populism in Hungary with the instrumentalizing of genderphobia through state policies starting from 2010. This became especially salient during the COVID-19 pandemic when a contentious state of emergency laws enabled the government's ruling by decree. Analyzing relevant pieces of legislation and policy documents, we show how genderphobia became a fundamental feature of an expanding far-right agenda that has been playing out in practice since the System of National Cooperation was established in 2010. Genderphobia is the aversion to disrupting dominant gender and sexual hierarchies, by addressing and critically interrogating gendered differences and gender as a social construct. Genderphobia is both an ideology about the fearfulness of gender as well as the action of fear-mongering for political effect. State institutions are gendered and sexualized in that they have been structured on dominant gender and sexual norms that reinforce male and heterosexual dominance. We argue that genderphobia is evident in the rise of anti-LGBTIQ policies and contributes to the weakening of democratic and liberal institutions in Hungary. We will also present examples of the Hungarian government's attempts to monopolize the definition of "the family" and hollow out the social representation of child protection. In addition, we will explore resistance against the recent anti-LGBTIQ policies through children's literature. Our aim is to demonstrate how the Hungarian genderphobic policies ultimately deny not only LGBTIQ human rights but the existence of LGBTIQ youth and children who could benefit from social support as well as representation in education and literature.

A qualitative analysis of child protection professionals' challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PURPOSE: Child Protection Professionals (CPPs) play a key role in providing insights into the child protection system and how it can best support children's right to personal security, particularly during trying times like the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative research provides one potential tool to tap into this knowledge and awareness. This research thus expanded earlier qualitative work on CPPs' perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 on their work, including potential struggles and barriers, into the context of a developing country. METHODS: A total of 309 CPPs from all five regions in Brazil answered demographics, pandemic-related resilient behaviors, and open-ended questions regarding their profession during the pandemic. RESULTS: Data went through a three-step process of analysis: (1) pre-analysis; (2) category creation; and (3) coding of responses. Five categories emerged from the analysis: the Pandemic's Impact on CPPs' Work; the Impact of the Pandemic on CPP-Involved Families; Occupational Concerns during the Pandemic; Politics and the Pandemic; and Vulnerability due to the Pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Our qualitative analyses showed the pandemic resulted in increased challenges for CPPs across several fronts within their workplace. Although each of these categories is discussed separately, they all influenced one another. This highlights the need to continue efforts to support CPPs.

The Implementation of General Principles of Convention on The Rights of The Child During Covid-19 Pandemic in The City of Serang

Convention on The Rights of The Child is the most comprehensive international legal instrument of human rights to promote and protect rights of children. In the late 2019, Coronavirus Disease 19 outbreak started. This pandemic then has led to socio-economic impact as a result of preventive and controlling actions. This pandemic has also affected the fulfillment of child‟s rights including the rights of children in The City of Serang. This research was aimed at investigating the implementation of general principle of Convention on The Rights of The Child during Covid-19 pandemic in the city of Serang. This study applied normative research method, which is a research discussing legal aspects by studying literature sources on the applied regulations. The result of the study shows that the implementation of general principle of Convention on The Rights of The Child, consisting of the principle of non-discrimination, the best interest of the child, the right to life, survival and development, and the right to be heard, went well along with the establishment of Child Social Welfare Institute to serve children with special needs (LKSA), Integrated Service Centre for the Empowerment of Women and Children (P2TP2A) to receive complaints on the violation of children‟s rights, Serang‟s Children Forum as a media where children of Serang can participate. The implementation of the right to survival was not as good because Working group (Pokja) for adverse effect following immunization (KIPI) special for children has not effectively implemented. © 2022, Diponegoro University. All rights reserved.

How learning from the lived experiences of child protection social workers, can help us understand the factors underpinning workforce instability within the english child protection system

ABSTRACT The English child protection system continues to be the focus of national commentary in light of several high-profile deaths and the recently published reports from the Review of Children's Social Care, and the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. Whilst narratives of 'failure', 'betrayal', and 'scandalous incompetence' perpetuate, these forgo consideration of the complexity of child protection work, nor do they acknowledge that during the COVID-19 'lockdowns', social workers remained one of the few professional groups visiting vulnerable families at home. Moreover, of the recent accounts of the lived experience of social workers, these have omitted a specific overview of what it means to be a child protection practitioner. Drawing from an original ethnography of a statutory child protection team and supplemented by follow-up interviews, the article seeks to elucidate the long-standing lived experience of a cohort of child protection social workers. It highlights a 'tendency' to be the target of threats and intimidation and identifies other costs in the context of health and personal relationships. The article concludes that these findings could help us better understand child protection workforce instability and the system's reliance on agency staff - both of which continue to be identified as contributory in child death tragedies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Child protection social workers in Italy and the Covid‐19 challenges: Redefining services to support children and their families

During the Covid‐19 pandemic, social workers played an essential role in helping people understand what was happening and cope with new unforeseen difficulties, even carrying out new tasks and activities. Social workers were asked to redefine their work methods to maintain aid relationships with families. This reorganization was complex and challenging for child protection services. The paper will discuss the results of a qualitative research project aimed to describe the Italian child protection social workers' functions during the Covid‐19 pandemic. Three online focus groups were conducted with child protection social workers. These focus groups helped researchers explore the new organization of social workers' work in child protection services, which was aimed at maintaining their role and performing the new tasks they need to carry out to support families and children. Three main areas of discussion emerged from the qualitative analysis: (1) postponed and maintained activities;(2) remote work advantages and challenges;and (3) new professional learning.

Staff experience of a new approach to family safeguarding in Oxfordshire Children's Social Care Services

This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study that sought to understand the experiences of frontline staff working in Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) Children's Social Care Services and their views on a new family safeguarding model (Family Solutions Plus). Focus group interviews were conducted with 20 frontline staff and managers in different teams across OCC Children's Social Care Services using video conferencing software. Thematic analysis identified three overarching themes: Preparation for the implementation of Family Solutions Plus, staff views on the implemented model, and challenges to its implementation. Staff voiced strong support for the new model, which places a much greater emphasis than previous practice on supporting the whole family, developing parenting skills and keeping children safe with their families. The challenges associated with the transition to a new model were considerable in the short term, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was optimism that the new model could be sustained and stabilized over time. © 2023 The Authors. Child & Family Social Work published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Responding to child abuse during a pandemic

During a pandemic, particularly a pandemic resulting in a quarantine, child abuse is likely to increase because of added stressors to a family, the isolation of children with their offenders, reduced interaction with mandated reporters, and the elimination or reduction of critical services. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustration, the authors propose numerous recommendations to assist multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) responding to child abuse during a pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Improving family functioning and reducing violence in the home in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo: a pilot cluster-randomised controlled trial of Safe at Home.

OBJECTIVE: To test the effectiveness of the Safe at Home programme which was developed to improve family well-being and prevent multiple forms of violence in the home. DESIGN: Waitlisted pilot cluster randomised controlled trial. SETTING: North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. PARTICIPANTS: 202 heterosexual couples. INTERVENTION: The Safe at Home programme. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was family functioning, with secondary outcomes of past-3 month co-occurring violence, intimate partner violence (IPV) and harsh discipline. Pathway mechanisms assessed included attitudes related to acceptance of harsh discipline, gender equitable attitudes, positive parenting skills and power sharing within the couple. RESULTS: No significant improvements in family functioning were documented for women (ß=1.49; 95% CI: -2.75 to 5.74; p=0.49) and men (ß=1.09; 95% CI: -3.13 to 4.74; p=0.69). However, women in Safe at Home reported a OR=0.15 (p=0.000), OR=0.23 (p=0.001) and OR=0.29 (p=0.013) change in co-occurring IPV and harsh discipline; physical/sexual/emotional IPV by their partner and use of physical and/or emotional harsh discipline against their child, respectively, as compared with women in the waitlisted group. Men participating in Safe at Home reported a OR=0.23 (p=0.005) change in perpetration of co-occurring violence, OR=0.26 (p=0.003) change in any form of IPV perpetration and OR=0.56 (p=0.19) change in use of harsh discipline against their child as compared with the waitlist arm. Positive changes were also noted in pathway variables around attitudes, skills and behaviours within couples. CONCLUSION: This pilot trial demonstrated the Safe at Home programme to be highly effective in preventing multiple forms of violence in the home and improving equitable attitudes and skills in couples. Future research should assess longitudinal impact and implementation at scale. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04163549.

[Relational dealing with crisis of youth welfare professionals in casework regarding the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic]. / Relationaler Umgang mit Krisen von Jugendamtsfachkräften in der Fallarbeit hinsichtlich der Auswirkungen der Covid-19-Pandemie.

There is still little empirical knowledge about the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on the casework of youth welfare offices. However, qualitative studies provide a number of indications on the importance of teamwork, on explicit and implicit ways of acting as well as on decision-making practices (sense-making) of professionals in child protection. These aspects were largely limited by the lockdowns and the pandemic-related protective measures. This leads to the question of the present study about how these restrictions are dealt with and the coping strategies related to them.The analysis is based on the contrastive interpretation of telephone interviews with professionals from two youth welfare offices. From a relational perspective in the sense of Bruno Latour, which does not focus on the actors, but rather on their connections and relations, some transformations in the network in which the cases are usually processed become visible. These transformations were elaborated based on the interviews as crisis-like restrictions of the usual practice of action. In the analyzed data, ways of acting can be reconstructed that can be understood as dealing with these crises. The results show that the actual crisis is not to be found in the abstract idea of a virus pandemic, but above all in the breaking away of case work habits.

The unequal impact of Covid-19 on the lives and rights of the children of modern slavery survivors, children in exploitation and children at risk of entering exploitation.

This article discusses the unequal impact of Covid-19 on the lives of the children of survivors of modern slavery, child victims of exploitation and children at risk of exploitation in the UK. It draws on research that has analysed the risks and impacts of Covid-19 on victims and survivors of modern slavery. It explores how pandemic responses may have hindered these children's rights to education, food, safety, development and participation and representation in legal processes. It suggests that the pandemic should be used as an impetus to address inequalities that existed pre-Covid-19 and those that have been exacerbated by it.

Retrospective and comparative study about the impact of the health crisis on the activity of a pedopsychiatric emergency unit

Objectives: The aim of this retrospective study was to question the psychological consequences of the health crisis in a pediatric population, through an analysis of the variations in the activity data of a pedopsychiatric emergency consultation service. Material(s) and Method(s): The present study is a retrospective and comparative epidemiological study based on an analysis of activity data from a pedopsychiatric emergency consultation at the Lille University Hospital center collected over the period contemporary of the social restriction measures of March 17th, 2020 to May 19th, 2021 as well as those collected after the lifting of these measures from May 19th, 2021 to May 31st, 2022 by comparing them to the activity on this same service over the equivalent periods between January 1st, 2017 and March 17th, 2020. Comparisons centered around the three confinement periods were also carried out. Any patient between 0 and 18 years old taken care of in this emergency consultation was included in this study. Result(s): A significant increase in drug prescriptions and consultations for suicidal ideations was observed during, but also at a distance from social restriction measures. The first confinement was marked by a significant drop in the number of consultations and a significant increase in the drafting of child protection documents. Discussion(s): These results were therefore in favor of an increase in suicidality in the pediatric population during and after the lifting of social restriction measures, as well as an increase in situations relating to child protection during the first confinement. The significant increase in discordant discharge drug prescriptions with the more modest increase in hospitalizations foreshadowed a mismatch between needs and hospitalization capacity. Conclusion(s): An impact of the health crisis could therefore be observed on the activity of a pedopsychiatric emergency consultation during, but also after the lifting of social restriction measures. This raises the importance of not limiting research to periods of confinement, as well as the question of the reversibility of the variations observed for the generation considered. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS

Contemporary Issues in Child Protection: Police Use of Artificial Intelligence for Online Child Protection in the UK

This chapter investigates Artificial Intelligence (AI) inspired approaches used by the police in protecting children online. The reviewed approaches are successful in most of the situations but have their own weaknesses. As such consideration is required for all stakeholders within the child protection arena. The utmost duty to protect children lies with all, irrespective of whether the abuse occurred on or offline. The reporting and intervention on child abuse cases were based on the community, as this was mostly offline perpetrated by parents or caregivers. However, with the advent of technology and the increasing use of the internet by children for several reasons, it has shifted most abuses from offline to online. The law enforcement authorities such as police plays a vital role in protecting children online and can apply different approaches compared to other agencies such as Social Services, Health, and Education. However, Government recommendations for a joint working response mean that all child-protected agencies need to work together in the process of protecting children (HM Government in Working together to safeguard children: a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, Department for Children, Schools, and Families, London, 2010). However, with the emergence of COVID-19 and the high reliance on the internet by children, it meant that the police must adapt to the changes and rely on advanced technologies such as AI. The UK Police force is stretched due to a lack of financial and human resources, which means that alternative intervention methods are applied in monitoring and attacking online child abuse. This chapter challenges the use of AI unilaterally in predicting and identifying online abuse as opposed to face-to-face investigation and intervention. Though AI can be helpful, it has limitations that can impact on protecting children online as discussed in this chapter. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Accessibility of child protection investigations during pandemic: A qualitative analysis of court proceedings.

BACKGROUND: Qualitative research using published court records to examine contextual factors that contribute to child protection decisions in cases involving parents with intellectual disabilities is limited, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: The present study conducted qualitative content analysis on 10 published Ontario court cases to study child protection decision-making between 2019 and 2021. RESULTS: The findings corroborated previous literature with nine out of 10 cases resulting in loss of child custody. Four major themes emerged from content analysis: (1) Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on cases; (2) Systemic barriers to accessibility; (3) Attitudes and bias toward parents with intellectual disabilities; and (4) Ultimate reliance on intellectual disability status for final custody decision. CONCLUSIONS: Conducting content analysis on published court cases is useful in learning about accessibility barriers for parents with intellectual disabilities and may help in understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the child protection system.

Temporal Trends in Substance Use Among Child/Adolescent Inpatients

Objectives: Substance use (SU) in minors has become an increasing public concern over the past decade. We hypothesized that SU would increase over time, particularly affecting minors with a history of trauma, suicide attempt, or violence. Method(s): Variables (such as sociodemographics, psychiatric treatment, urine toxicology report, and self-report of substance use) were extracted from the charts of all unique child and adolescent patients admitted to a 17-bed metropolitan inpatient psychiatry unit between June 2018 and November 2021. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, chi2 tests, independent t tests, Pearson correlations, and logistic regression. Result(s): Of the 1101 patients admitted, 30% (n = 330) were found to have SU by positive urine toxicology (n = 147) or self-report. Patients with SU were older than those without use (mean age 15.4 vs 13.4 years;p <.001). Significant racial differences were found, with White participants making up 21.8% of the SU population but only 14.1% of the non-SU group (p <.01), and Asian participants making up only 1.2% of the SU group (vs 4.2% without;p <.01). SU patients were more likely to have a history of self-harm (nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior [NSSIB]) or suicide attempt (NSSIB: 64.8% vs 52.%, p <.001;suicide attempt: 41.5% vs 25.7%, p <.001). Patients with SU were less likely to be admitted for aggression (14.5% vs 22.8%;p <.01) and more likely to be admitted for mania (2.4% vs 0.8%;p =.03). Positive predictors of SU were older age (OR = 1.41;95% CI, 1.15-1.72;p <.001), White race (OR = 1.98;95% CI, 1.19-3.29;p <.01), history of an impulsive/behavioral disorder (OR = 1.69;95% CI, 1.03-2.79;p <.04), history of suicide attempt (OR = 1.44;95% CI, 1.04-2.00;p =.03), history of violence (OR = 1.86;95% CI, 1.26-2.75;p <.01), and history of Administration of Children's Services (ACS)/Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement (OR = 1.45;95% CI, 1.03-2.03;p =.03). Gender, other races, history of other diagnoses, trauma history, or history of NSSIB were not found to be significant predictors. Conclusion(s): Our findings are consistent with emerging literature that SU in minors has had a slow increase in the COVID-19 era, particularly seen among White patients, patients of older age, and patients with a history of NSSIB or suicide attempt. While some of our analyses did control for potential confounding factors (logistic regression), further analyses are required to formulate a preventative plan for SU in youth. SUD, ICP, ALC Copyright © 2022

Local Government Efforts in the Protection of Women and Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has changed most routines for the global population. Central and regional governments need to synergize policies to prevent further spread. Therefore, government and other agencies as well as other elements of the community are important factors in the implementation of working programs for disaster management. This study investigates the efforts of the local government and society in protecting women and children during the COVID-19 pandemic in West Java Province. In this case, the units involved include Development Planning Agency at Sub-National Level, Women's Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning Office, and various community organizations that focus on women's empowerment and child protection. The approach used in this study was qualitative with critical research endeavoring to understand the particular context and interactions. This brief study of the institution in the West Java Area in the provincial and district offices was conducted within one week. The results of the study showed that there are no specific policies set by the government concerning the handling of COVID-19 for women and children by the three local government institutions mentioned above. Policies created by the local government are still general in nature. There have been several strategic steps taken by government agencies regarding the protection of children and women. Government funds have been reallocated to help stop the transmission of the virus by disseminating information to the public via television, video conferencing, and other media. These programs should also be implemented asynchronously to maintain their continuity in the future. Non-governmental organizations have the flexibility to implement protection programs for children and women according to the problems and needs in the community. During the pandemic period, innovative programs for gender mainstreaming, women's empowerment, and child protection can be conducted by changing the format of existing programs to follow social-distancing health protocols but still maintain the sustainability of the programs for the long term. © 2022,Journal of International Women''s Studies.All Rights Reserved.

[Using simulated patients to test competency in child protection medicine in the third section of the medical examination]. / Einsatz von Simulationspersonen zur Prüfung von Handlungskompetenz im Bereich der Kinderschutzmedizin im Dritten Abschnitt der Ärztlichen Prüfung.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the third section of the medical examination could be performed with simulation patients. Simulations enable standardized examinations of medical competency according to the educational objectives of the national learning objectives catalogue. The evaluation of student's medical response to child abuse and neglect seems to be an appropriate opportunity to increase attention of prospective physicians for potential child abuse. The presented case reports the simulation of a pediatric nonaccidental trauma.