Leadership

The Multi-Agency Response To Child Sexual Abuse In The Family Environment

This Ofsted report summarises findings from our joint targeted area inspections of ‘the multiagency response to child sexual abuse in the family environment’. The report consider the extent to which children’s social care, health professionals, youth offending services, the police and probation officers effectively work together to safeguard children who are subject to, or at […]

This Ofsted report summarises findings from our joint targeted area inspections of ‘the multiagency response to child sexual abuse in the family environment’.

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      string(307) "shortly after, another referral came in – a child alleged that he had been “pulled about” and his arm hurt. There was another police investigation – and although it did not meet the criminal threshold for prosecution, the police were not happy that the teacher was still in a teaching post.Child ..."
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      string(226) "When an allegation of abuse if made, professional judgement is needed in every case, whatever rules are put in place. Here, Elaine Webster shares some case studies of interventions which illuminate official guidelines"
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      string(1817) "shortly after, another referral came in – a child alleged that he had been “pulled about” and his arm hurt. There was another police investigation – and although it did not meet the criminal threshold for prosecution, the police were not happy that the teacher was still in a teaching post.Child protection services said that, although the matter could not proceed to court, the teacher was “unsuitable” to work with children. The teacher was dismissed.ActionThe case studies cover a range of concerns and outcomes. But they all fell to the employer to deal with. All of these cases threw up wider questions. Does the person whom the allegation has been made against have children of their own? Does the person whom the allegations have been made against have contact with children in any other capacity – like scout leader or netball coach – and are there transferable risks?There are a few protocols that must be followed. After each meeting, minutes should be sent to all those who attended. There should also be an action plan to take away – so that agreed actions are clear, have a responsible person identified and a timescale.More detailed guidance has recently been sent out from central government for consultation. The outline is significantly more detailed around the individual agencies’ responsibilities. A House of Commons committee report is also running an investigation into the impact of allegations on teaching staff. The Independent Safeguarding Authority will be becoming embedded further over the next 18 months. CRB checks will remain important and employees need to understand that police may record ‘soft’ intelligence about their private lives.Elaine Webster is the assistant head of safeguarding at Birmingham City Council.Taken from School Leadership TodaySubscribe"
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Leadership

Abuse allegations: a practical guide

14 Apr 2010

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      string(295) "pinched a pupil on the arm, which resulted in a bruise. The matter was referred to the child protection team and the police.A child protection medical investigation confirmed that an assault had taken place. The parents of the child refused to allow their child to be formally interviewed by ..."
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      string(1986) "pinched a pupil on the arm, which resulted in a bruise. The matter was referred to the child protection team and the police.A child protection medical investigation confirmed that an assault had taken place. The parents of the child refused to allow their child to be formally interviewed by the police as they did not want their child to have to go to court. As a result, the headteacher was left to conduct a disciplinary investigation.The police investigation uncovered that the teacher’s conduct had been ‘difficult’ in the past – even though the school had no record on file about previous conduct issues or any CRB references. This was because the teacher was foreign – and international checks had not been conducted, or saferecruitment checks. It turned out that the teacher hadchanged names several times and was not a qualified teacher at all. Their previous job was as foster carer for another local authority. That authority had dealt with a similar issue where there were allegations that the teacher had been ‘harsh’ with the pupils.The teacher was disciplined. But shortly after, another referral came in – a child alleged that he had been “pulled about” and his arm hurt. There was another police investigation – and although it did not meet the criminal threshold for prosecution, the police were not happy that the teacher was still in a teaching post.Child protection services said that, although the matter could not proceed to court, the teacher was “unsuitable” to work with children. The teacher was dismissed.self-harming. When interviewed by police, the teacher said she was “in love” with the girl. The girl was identified and located by the police. A safeguarding plan was put in place.The member of staff was charged with (and found guilty of) possession of indecent images of a child and placed on the sex offenders’ register. Referral was also made to list 99. The teacher’s son was placed in the care of his grandparents."
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Leadership

Abuse allegations: a practical guide

13 Feb 2010

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Leadership Briefing issue 7.04 (76)"
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      string(5294) "ResourceREVIEW OF EVIDENCE ON CHILD ABUSE LINKED TO FAITH OR BELIEFOriginal DocumentA Rapid Literature Review Of Evidence On Child Abuse Linked To Faith Or Belief. This research paper reports the findings from a review of previous research on ‘child abuse linked to faith or belief’. The aim was to carry out a review of literature and to extract messages from the most relevant documents and reports.KeywordsChild abuse, faith, belief, witchcraft, spirit possession, ritual, satanic abuse, support, initiativesSummaryThis research paper reports the findings from a review of previous research on ‘child abuse linked to faith or belief’. The aim was to carry out a review of literature and to extract messages from the most relevant documents and reports.The review was to focus largely on UK literature, whilst also searching for relevant literature from selected OECD countries (the US, Belgium and France). It was produced by the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre (CWRC) and funded by the Department for Education.The review set out to address the following questions:Q1: What does the literature tell us about the incidence of abuse in the UK, and other selected countries where belief in witchcraft and related concepts is a factor?Q2: What is known about the characteristics and context of child abuse linked to faith or belief in the UK and other selected countries?Q3: What does the literature reveal about good practice and lessons to be learned for practitioners, agencies and communities so as to reduce this type of child abuse in the UK in the future?Q4: What are the gaps in the evidence base?Ritual and satanic abuse should not be considered as identical with witchcraft and/or spirit possession but it is included in the definition of ‘child abuse linked to faith or belief’ used for this review. Most cases in the UK literature are described as ‘family based’, involving extended families of the poor, together with neighbours or friends of the adults. Unlike cases of witchcraft and spirit possession, age is an important distinguishing feature of these cases (teenagers have provided longer and fuller accounts than younger children). Additionally, the ‘types of organised abuse can be distinguished by gender’: boys are concentrated in paedophile networks but girls are not clustered in any one type of case.Witchcraft and spirit possession: belief in spirits is reported as a cross-faith issue. Cases were more likely to be identified within households with complex family structures (e.g. a mixture of step-children, fostered/adopted and birth children) and larger family households (e.g. mixtures of adults: parents/carers, aunties/uncles and grandparents) and within new immigrant communities’Key recommendations:· Incidences of ‘child abuse linked to faith or belief’ need to be systematically recorded by social workers and other professionals in order that a more accurate picture can be derived about the true number of cases involved. It would also be valuable if the type of abuse (physical, emotional, sexual or neglect) were routinely recorded.· More support could be provided to frontline professionals (such as the police and social workers) to help them systematically to record and collect data that specifically identifies cases of ‘witchcraft’, ‘spirit possession’, ‘ritual child abuse’ and ‘satanic child abuse’. At present such cases are not routinely recorded;· Guidance could be developed to help identify what is meant by and included within the concept of ‘child abuse linked to faith or belief’. This would be helpful for practitioners when identifying and distinguishing between different types of child abuse linked to faith or belief cases;· Further research is needed to explore the attitudes and responses of child protection professionals in relation to religion and child abuse, in order for practitioners to take account of the religion and beliefs of those they are working with.· Practitioners should be encouraged to make better use of tools that exist; for example, tools developed by the London Safeguarding Children Board to help agencies working with families where there are concerns about parental care. Additional tools/guidance may need to be developed if existing tools do not fully meet requirements.· With the exception of one evaluation (the Safeguarding Children’s Rights special initiative by Briggs et al., 2011), there have been very few evaluations of initiatives operating in this field, though the number of initiatives is increasing. Much of what is known to date about lessons to be learned and good practice stems mainly from the work of a small number of nongovernment organisations, including Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA), Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS), the Congolese Family Centre (CFC) and the Victoria Climbié Foundation (VCF). · More research is needed to evaluate local initiatives.ActionNotesAuthorR ChimaDate CreatedNovember 2012Enquiries to:raspal.chima@yahoo.co.uk(Authoring Unit)Month / YearPage 1 of 1©Birmingham City Council"
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Leadership

Child Abuse Linked To Faith Or Belief

15 Nov 2012

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      string(181) "The belief in witchcraft has in recent years led to some horrific cases of child abuse and child-killing. Justin Bahunga reports on measures to tackle this growing problem."
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      string(3143) "capacity to raise their children in an environment that allow them tooptimise their life chances.Children branded as witches or possessed by evil spirits can lead to the worst abuseand neglect of unimaginable proportions. In a world of increasing mobility and politicalinstability, where refugees are likely to escape violent and traumatic circumstances, thereis always an added risk that vulnerable and disoriented people can become exploited bydangerous fraudsters. Focusing merely prosecuting the immediate perpetrators is onlypart of the solution. Conditions and systems need to be put into place to tackle some ofthe issues that leave people open to exploitation. The racial, religious and cultural issuesthat surround witchcraft-related abuse are complex and sensitive matters that requirecareful consideration and close working with the communities involved. Providingsupport and working within these communities is key to resolving this issue at an earlystage and preventing more of these tragedies occurring.ReferencesNational Action Plan to tackle Child Abuse Linked to Faith or Belief: https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-00095-2012AFRUCA: What is witchcraft Abuse? http://www.afruca.org/publications.htmlAFRUCA Proposal for changes in policy and the law to enable better protection for children at risk of being branded as witches: http://www.afruca.org/images/stories/documents/afruca%20proposal%20for%20change%20in%20the%20law%20re%20witchcraft%20branding%202.pdfResearch Paper No. 197Breaking the Breaking the spell: responding to witchcraft accusations against childrenUNHCR; Policy Development and Evaluation Service (January 2011)Child Abuse Linked to Accusations of“Possession” and “Witchcraft (2006) Research report no 750 by Eleanor StobartAbout AFRUCAJustin Bahunga is Project Coordinator at AFRUCA(Africans Unite Against Child Abuse) UK, an organisation concerned with combatting cruelty against the African child. Itworks in partnership with other organisations in Africa and across Europe.AFRUCA has campaigned among other things for a National Action Plan to tackle child abuse linked to accusation ofwitchcraft and spirit possession. This has led to the establishment of the National Working Group on child abuse linkedto faith or belief which has drawn a national action plan to address this problem.nnnnnnnnnA Rapid Literature Review Of Evidence On Child Abuse Linked To Faith Or Belief – This research paper reports the findingsfrom a review of previous research on ‘child abuse linked to faith or belief’, and details recommendations for those who work withchildren at risk of abuse. Available with Leadership Briefings.http://www.afruca.org/publications.htmlhttp://www.afruca.org/images/stories/documents/afruca proposal for change in the law re witchcraft branding 2.pdfhttp://www.afruca.org/images/stories/documents/afruca proposal for change in the law re witchcraft branding 2.pdfhttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/child-abuse-faith-belief_191112"
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Special Needs

Tackling child abuse linked to faith or belief

22 Mar 2013

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Leadership Briefing issue 6.10 (70)"
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      string(5173) "ResourceALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE AGAINST TEACHERS AND NON-TEACHINGOriginal DocumentAllegations Of Abuse Against Teachers And Non-Teaching. This research investigates the scale and nature of allegations of abuse made against school teachers and non-teaching staff in schools and the processes for handling these at the local authority and school level.KeywordsAbuse, teachers, allegations, child protection, local authorities, support, informationSummaryThis research investigates the scale and nature of allegations of abuse made against school teachers and non-teaching staff in schools and the processes for handling these at the local authority and school level.It presents findings of the research based on evidence from a census survey of Local Authority Designated Officers (LADOs) in 2011 and qualitative work in 34 schools and 20 local authority areas.Key Findings:· There is variability in the processes adopted by local authorities for handling allegations of abuse, particularly where the allegation is of a less serious nature or where there is not a clear child protection concern. This is affecting the culture of referral and the extent to which trends in the numbers reported can be analysed.· According to the LADO survey, 2,827 allegations of abuse were made against school teachers in 2009/10. This constitutes almost a quarter of the total number of allegations referred to LADOs.· The total numbers of allegations reported to LADOs appear to be on a rising trend. This is thought to be due more to better recording and increased referral of cases to local authorities, rather than an increasing volume of incidents.· The majority of allegations of abuse made against school teachers and non-teaching staff were physical in nature (56%).· The LADO role in supporting schools deal with allegations of abuse is highly valued by headteachers, but variable in approach and resourcing across LAs.· The use of staff suspension pending investigation of an allegation is generally regarded as a last resort option where there is a clear risk of harm to a young person from the individual remaining in post. However, almost a fifth of school teachers (18%) and almost a third of non-teaching staff (29%) were suspended whilst the allegation was being investigated.· Nearly three-quarters of investigations (74%, n=3,183) were concluded within three months or less: this falls below DfE target guidelines (90% to be concluded within three months). Timescales for investigating allegations are influenced strongly by the complexity of the case and whether or not there is a police investigation.· Almost one-third (32%) of allegations against teachers were found to be substantiated. Approximately one-fifth (19%) were considered to be unfounded (no evidence or proper basis which supports the allegation being made); 2% deemed malicious; and around one quarter were determined to be unsubstantiated (not implying guilt or innocence). The outcome of 21% of cases referred to LAs was unknown.· The support available to members of staff subject to allegations is variable. There is evidence suggesting that teachers and non-teaching staff accused of allegations would benefit from additional personal support and assistance.Implications for Schools and Local Authorities· Standardisation of Reporting and Outcomes· More could be done to standardise processes and systems for recording allegations of abuse. Standard definitions relating to the allegation outcome categories to be used to record concluded cases would be beneficial to both schools and LAs. This will enable better monitoring of trends and a determination of whether or not incidents of allegations are increasing.· Timescales· Discussions could be held with the police to consider ways in which prolonged timescales linked to criminal investigations might be reduced.· Learning, Training and Support· Post-allegation review meetings involving schools and LAs should be encouraged with information circulated on the lessons learned. Additional training and guidance could be provided including details of what this could be and where and whose responsibility it is to provide it.· More training and guidance could be provided to teaching staff on appropriate conduct with pupils and use of social media to minimise the potential for accusations to be made. Headteachers may find useful opportunities for training or to discuss the processes for handling allegations.· Suspension· Examples of how to deal with staff suspension could be provided together with illustrations of alternative approaches in different types of schools.· Anonymity· Feedback from the qualitative interviews was that the anonymity provisions introduced for school teachers should be extended to other professionals working with children and young people. The Government has made a commitment to review the effect of the anonymity provisions in the Education Act 2011 in 2 years time.ActionNotesAuthorR ChimaDate CreatedApril 2012Enquiries to:raspal.chima@yahoo.co.uk(Authoring Unit)Month / YearPage 1 of 1©Birmingham City Council"
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Leadership

Allegations Of Abuse Against Teachers And Non-Teaching

19 Apr 2012