Child protection plans in the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: Maintained, adjusted, or suspended?

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 infection prevention measures have enhanced risks of abuse and neglect for children and youth. Simultaneously, they have affected the practice of child protection, especially impacting the social infrastructure on which child protection work tends to rely, as well as the ability of practitioners to meet with family members face-to-face and in their homes. OBJECTIVES: This article focuses on the ways in which infection prevention measures have shaped child protection plans in Germany, i.e. family support and counselling, which is accompanied by monitoring and scrutiny. METHODS: The article is based on a qualitative study, in which 40 semi-structured interviews were held with first-line management representatives of German Youth Welfare Agencies between July and October 2020. RESULTS: The study's results show that protection plans have either been maintained, modified or (temporarily) suspended. Several influencing factors were identified. First, the extent to which the social infrastructure relevant for child protection could be maintained, or emerging gaps be filled in a timely fashion by child and youth welfare organisations. Second, the degree of effectiveness of the working relationship between practitioners and parents under the new conditions, including practitioners' ability to resort to flexible, digital or hybrid communication methods with families proved important. Moreover, everyday practical help from Youth Welfare Agencies and family service providers could often change the parental perception of these professionals for the better, thereby strengthening the relationship between practitioners and parents. LIMITATIONS: A key limitation of the study comprises the fact that the study findings are limited to the earlier phase of the pandemic.

[Working with Involuntary Clients - When Control Becomes an Element of Counselling]. / Die Arbeit mit unfreiwilligen Klientinnen und Klienten Wenn Kontrolle zum Bestandteil von Beratung wird.

Working with Involuntary Clients - When Control Becomes an Element of Counselling Counselling involuntary clients is an ambitious as well as contested job, which sometimes causes professionals to distance themselves from this work or even to reject it. This might be one of the reasons why the task to exercise control within a counselling context is assigned to the child protection agency (Jugendamt) while Psychological and Social Help Centers are tasked to provide "only" support services to involuntary clients. Hence, the two jobs of exercising control and providing help are split between the institutions. The arrangement allows professionals to get rid of an unattractive job. In child protection work such a division of responsibility is neither wise nor possible, even if this does not mean that there is no need to distinguish between the tasks and duties of the involved professionals. This article will first of all illustrate why it is necessary to discuss "involuntary clients" within child protection work and why this kind of counselling always implicates some kind of control. In the second part of the article, some results from serious case reviews will be presented. They demonstrate the kind of challenges and difficulties which the work with parents and children in child protection can create.

T lymphocytes promote the antiviral and inflammatory responses of airway epithelial cells.

HYPOTHESIS: T cells modulate the antiviral and inflammatory responses of airway epithelial cells to human rhinoviruses (HRV). METHODS: Differentiated primary human nasal epithelial cells (HNEC) grown on collagen-coated filters were exposed apically to HRV14 for 6 h, washed thoroughly and co-cultured with anti-CD3/CD28 activated T cells added in the basolateral compartment for 40 h. RESULTS: HRV14 did not induce IFNγ, NOS2, CXCL8 and IL-6 in HNEC, but enhanced expression of the T cell attractant CXCL10. On the other hand, HNEC co-cultured with activated T cells produced CXCL10 at a level several orders of magnitude higher than that induced by HRV14. Albeit to a much lower degree, activated T cells also induced CXCL8, IL-6 and NOS2. Anti-IFNγ antibodies and TNF soluble receptor completely blocked CXCL10 upregulation. Furthermore, a significant correlation was observed between epithelial CXCL10 mRNA expression and the amounts of IFNγ and TNF secreted by T cells. Likewise, increasing numbers of T cells to a constant number of HNEC in co-cultures resulted in increasing epithelial CXCL10 production, attaining a plateau at high IFNγ and TNF levels. Hence, HNEC activation by T cells is induced mainly by IFNγ and/or TNF. Activated T cells also markedly inhibited viral replication in HNEC, partially through activation of the nitric oxide pathway. CONCLUSION: Cross-talk between T cells and HNEC results in activation of the latter and increases their contribution to airway inflammation and virus clearance.