This seminal book in the literature of child protective services stimulates critical thinking and informed discussion for those professionals and educators concerned with the quality of children's protective services. The first book of its kind to present scholarly reports on false allegations, Assessing Child Maltreatment Reports tackles the age-old problem of deciding which reports, verbal or written, represent truth and which represent falsehood. When one deals with accusations in the area of child maltreatment, special problems are posed. This vital resource brings home the complexity and seriousness of confronting the need to separate true reports from false reports. Given the serious consequences of reports of maltreatment, determining the accuracy or inaccuracy of such reports is of major critical importance to all concerned and the parents, children, and professionals directly involved. This book deals effectively and practically with the everyday work of assessing the validity and reliability of maltreatment reports and guides professionals through rough waters of finding truth with helpful research.This courageous book provides hope for establishing a deeper understanding of the broad system of child protection and consequently, enables professionals to better handle individual crises and cases. Containing a range of chapters--authored by leading academic researchers and practitioners in child welfare services in the United States--which examine the policy and practice issues related to false allegations of child abuse and neglect, this volume provides guideposts for further research and discussion. College and university students in child welfare and related programs, human service practitioners working in child protective and welfare services, and the larger public--both parents and professionals working with children--who have an interest in this important issue, will find Assessing Child Maltreatment Reports a compassionate approach to a sensitive issue.

The second edition of this successful handbook, edited by well-known experts in this field, includes core questions in the field of child abuse and neglect. It addresses major challenges in child maltreatment work, starting with "What is child abuse and neglect?" and then examines why maltreatment occurs and what are its consequences. The handbook also addresses prevention, intervention, investigation, treatment as well as civil and criminal legal perspectives. It comprehensively studies the issue from the perspective of a broader, international and cross-cultural human experience. Apart from a thorough revision of existing chapters, this edition includes many new chapters covering recent developments in this area and other issues not covered in the first edition. There is more focus on substance abuse, psychological abuse, and on social and community involvement and public health provisions in the prevention of child maltreatment. The handbook examines what is known now and more importantly what remains to be researched in the coming decades to help abused and neglected children, their families and their communities, thereby taking the field forward.

This book takes an innovative approach to using narrative therapy in counselling people who have been subject to childhood sexual abuse. Reclaiming Lives from Sexual Violence presents an illustrative case study of the authors, Tim the therapist in consultation with Dale the client, who was sexually abused as a child by a clergy member. The book is unique in documenting their therapeutic work using transcripts taken directly from their sessions together. This narrative approach invites the reader to consider different ways of engaging in therapy in order to challenge the dominant social discourses around masculinity and shame. Looking at shame from a position of value awareness rather than a deficit perspective, this book extends counselling to consider the individual experience as political and one that must be shared outside the one-to-one therapy environment. This will be an essential resource for beginning or established therapists and practitioners working with clients who have been victims of sexual violence.

Online grooming is a topic of increased importance in global debates. This pioneering text offers a comprehensive overview of the established themes and emergent debates relating to the online abuse and victimisation of children.With important new findings from a European study of online grooming, the first and largest study of its kind, this volume provides a unique insight into the behaviour of offenders and those who are 'groomed', aiming to understand the 'place' of the child in relation to the characteristics of online groomer behaviour. The collection explores how information communication technology facilitates online grooming, as well as the role and impact of social media. Outlining the latest research on the online behaviour of young people, the volume sets the findings against the rapidly changing legislative and policy context at EU and international level, and also develops guidelines for prevention initiatives. This timely collection will be a valuable resource to scholars in Criminology, Psychology and Sociology, and practitioners and policy-makers engaged in child protection.

How successful have recent government initiatives been in preventing child harm and family breakdown?

The NSPCC recently conducted a large-scale two-year evaluation study with families in difficulty, to explore the content and effectiveness of family support services.

Looking at the services from all stakeholder perspectives – children, parents, staff – Ruth Gardner presents the findings of the study and asks to what extent specific problems such as parental stress, vulnerability, isolation and child behaviour were resolved over six months of interventions including group work, parent training and volunteer home visiting.

Using the voices of all the stakeholders, Supporting Families reviews the national policy for family support since the inception of social services departments and, through best practice and policy recommendations, points the way forward to more inclusive provision.

Bringing together NSPCC research with key practice-based solutions, Ruth Gardner's timely study is required reading for everyone working to prevent child harm.

As recently as 1970, child sexual abuse was seen as extremely rare and usually harmless. Over thirty years later, the media regularly covers child sexual abuse cases, many survivors speak openly about their experiences, and a thriving network of public and private organizations seek to prevent child sexual abuse and remedy its effects. This is the story of these dramatic changes and the activists who helped bring them about.
The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse is the first study of activism against child sexual abuse, tracing its emergence in feminist anti-rape efforts, its development into mainstream self-help, and its entry into mass media and public policy. Nancy Whittier deftly charts the development of the movement's "therapeutic politics," demonstrating that activists viewed tactics for changing emotions and one's sense of self as necessary for widespread social change and combined them with efforts to change institutions and the state. Though activism originated with feminists, as the movement grew and spread to include the goals of non-feminist survivors, opponents, therapists, law enforcement, and elected officials, participants were pulled toward formulations of child sexual abuse as a medical or criminal problem and away from emphases on gender and power. In the process, the movement both succeeded beyond its wildest dreams and saw its agenda transformed in ways that were sometimes unrecognizable.
A lucid and moving account, The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse draws powerful lessons about the transformative potential of therapeutic politics, their connection to institutions, and the processes of incomplete social change that characterize American politics today.

Over the past hundred years, population policy has been a powerful tactic for achieving national goals. Whether the focus has been on increasing the birth rate to project strength and promote nation-building-as in Brazil in the 1960s, where the military government insisted that a "powerful nation meant a populous nation, " - or on limiting population through contraception and sterilization as a means of combatting overpopulation, poverty, and various other social ills, states have always used women's bodies as a political resource. In Reproductive States, a group of international scholars-specialists in population and reproductive politics of Japan, Germany, India, Egypt, Nigeria, China, Brazil, the Soviet Union/Russia, and the United States-explore the population politics, policies and practices adopted in these countries and offer reflections on the outcomes of those policies and their legacies. The essays in this volume focus on the context that stimulated nations to develop demographic imperatives regarding population size and "quality," and consider how those imperatives became unique sets of priorities and strategies. They also illuminate how these nations crafted their own policies and practices, often while responding to United Nations- and U.S.- driven population goals, tactics, and interventions. The global perspective of this volume shines light on national specificities, including change over time within a nation, while also capturing interconnections among various national politics and discourses, including evolving constructions of the key and complex concept of "overpopulation." The first volume to survey population policies from key countries on five continents and to interweave gender politics, reproductive rights, statecraft, and world systems, Reproductive States will be an essential work for scholars of anthropology, women and gender studies, feminist theory, and biopolitics.

This collection is the first major exploration of the issues related to young people who are affected by child sexual exploitation (CSE) and child trafficking for exploitation. These include consideration of the language we currently use to construct and understand CSE; how to conceptualise CSE and sexual violence that takes place in gangs or between peers; issues of how 'consent' relates to young people in abusive or exploitative sexual relationships; how young people themselves might participate in work to improve service delivery; why some looked after young people are at greater risk of CSE than others and how they might keep safe. The volume also reviews policy and practice developments in Scotland; the risk of CSE for young women who go missing to escape forced marriages; the importance of including young people at risk of CSE in decision-making about their care; how and why trafficking and CSE came to be defined as objects of international policy concern and how community organizations might be mobilized to protect young people from the risk of trafficking for CSE.
This volume is essential reading for academics, students, practitioners and policymakers in the fields of social work and social policy, child protection and youth work, criminology and sociology and the health care services.

A house full of whispers is a true account of my struggle through unimaginable abuse, firstly by my foster parents and in a cruel twist of fate by my biological mother. Step-daddy loved me in a special way that became a secret. Mother allowed appalling things to happen, and played torturous games with my mind. I fought hard to survive as he broke my bones but never achieved my soul. The night devil was going to punish me for daring to speak out, I knew if he held me captive again I would die from the struggle, the dark abyss I had escaped was safer than the streets I was thrown into, propelling me into despair and suicide.

"The major strengths of this book are the manual format, the comprehensiveness of the text, the direct focus on medical practitioners, the diagrams, and the photo-illustrations. The sections on normal anatomy, normal sexual growth, and development are excellent as is the section on conducting the physical examination. The concise listing of treatments and drug doses for various conditions is invaluable."

'Grooming' and the Sexual Abuse of Children: Institutional, Internet and Familial Dimensions critically examines the official and popular discourses on grooming, predominantly framed within the context of online sexual exploitation and abuse committed by strangers, and institutional child abuse committed by those in positions of trust. Set against the broader theoretical framework of risk, security and governance, this book argues that due to the difficulties of drawing clear boundaries between innocuous and harmful motivations towards children, pre-emptive risk-based criminal law and policy are inherently limited in preventing, targeting and criminalising 'grooming' behaviour prior to the manifestation of actual harm. Through examination of grooming against the complexities of the onset of sexual offending against children and its actual role in this process, the author broadens existing discourses by providing a fuller, more nuanced conceptualisation of grooming, including its role in intra-familial and extra-familial contexts. There is also timely discussion of new and emerging forms of grooming, such as 'street' or 'localised' grooming, as typified by recent cases in Rochdale and Oldham, and 'peer-to-peer' grooming. The first inter-disciplinary, thematic, and empirical investigation of grooming in a multi-jurisdictional context, 'Grooming' and the Sexual Abuse of Children draws on extensive empirical research in the form of over fifty interviews with professionals, working in the fields of sex offender risk assessment, management or treatment, as well as child protection or victim support in the four jurisdictions of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Impeccably presented and meticulously considered, this book will be of interest to criminologists and those working and studying in the field of policing and criminal justice studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners in the areas of child protection and sex offender management.

This clear and compelling textbook provides a complete survey of the field of child abuse and neglect from the perspective of modern developmental attachment theory. It starts by describing the ways in which attachment difficulties manifest themselves in children's behaviour, and goes on looking at abuse, neglect, and compound cases of abuse and neglect, backing it all up with empirical research evidence and vivid case material. In its final section, it provides a comprehensive review of attachment-based interventions. Written by an extremely respected and successful author, this book, anchored in research evidence, places its emphasis on practice implementation and aims at answering all the kinds of questions practitioners and student practitioners specialising in child welfare are most likely to ask.

Developmental Trauma offers a comprehensive introduction to the research findings that help us understand the effects on human development of early childhood trauma and adaptation to stress. It explains how DTD differs from PTSD and emerges from a toxic seed planted at the beginning of an individual's lifespan development. This important volume examines relational traumas and adverse childhood experiences, such as exposure to family and community violence, polyvictimization (multiple repeated childhood traumas), and disruptions to parent-child bonds, which lay the foundation for future relationships. The volume considers how DTD affects self-regulation capacities, identity development, self-esteem, and faith in oneself and others andincreases the likelihood of comorbidities including ADHD and autism spectrum disorders. Individuals with indications of developmental trauma face lifelong challenges in their ability to develop and maintain trusting relationships, to build and utilize healthy coping strategies, and to adjust to school and, eventually, the workplaceUniquely, Daniel Cruz goes beyond individual levels of analysis that focus almost exclusively on patients and explores toxic stress embedded in social systems and institutional policies and procedures that cause individuals to suffer, experience psychiatric and medical problems, and that lead to social and economic adversities such as poverty, homelessness, and involvement in criminal activity. Key topics explored include institutional betrayal, such as sexual assaults and workplace bullying, and judicial betrayal when failures from the legal system do not adequately protect victims of trauma, for example in cases of domestic violence. Developmental Trauma is for students of child and adolescent psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, primary care and health psychology, education, social work, and urban studies. It is relevant for graduate students in applied fields such as clinical and counseling psychology, and those working with diverse children, and public health and policy.

Childhood, Identity and Masculinity: The Boarding School Boys examines the lives of ten Iranian men who were sent to boarding schools in England during the 1960s and 1970s. Their stories, situated at the intersection of Eastern and Western cultural values, signify their passage to manhood, and highlight the meaning of masculinity then and now. The reflective narratives explore issues of physical and emotional abuse received from administrators and peers, as well as the "man up" motto that pressured them to persevere in the spirit of meeting expectations and becoming a man. Narrated within the context of the traditional role of men in both Iranian and British societies, the book highlights key themes of trauma, survival and resistance, power and privilege, and their impact on the men over their lifespan. The volume offers rich insight into understanding the developmental challenges that adolescent boys face as they attempt to deal with the trauma of separation from their parents, while conforming to strict rules and regulations of boarding school education, and societal expectations of them. The volume will be of interest to scholars of developmental psychology, childhood trauma, education, cultural psychology, men’s studies, and gender. Individuals and parents interested in, and considering boarding school education will also find the narratives informative and educational.

Childhood, Identity and Masculinity: The Boarding School Boys examines the lives of ten Iranian men who were sent to boarding schools in England during the 1960s and 1970s. Their stories, situated at the intersection of Eastern and Western cultural values, signify their passage to manhood, and highlight the meaning of masculinity then and now. The reflective narratives explore issues of physical and emotional abuse received from administrators and peers, as well as the "man up" motto that pressured them to persevere in the spirit of meeting expectations and becoming a man. Narrated within the context of the traditional role of men in both Iranian and British societies, the book highlights key themes of trauma, survival and resistance, power and privilege, and their impact on the men over their lifespan. The volume offers rich insight into understanding the developmental challenges that adolescent boys face as they attempt to deal with the trauma of separation from their parents, while conforming to strict rules and regulations of boarding school education, and societal expectations of them. The volume will be of interest to scholars of developmental psychology, childhood trauma, education, cultural psychology, men’s studies, and gender. Individuals and parents interested in, and considering boarding school education will also find the narratives informative and educational.

__________________________________________________________________ Bestselling author and psychologist Dr Susan Forward offers effective alternatives for achieving inner peace and freeing yourself from frustrating patterns of relationships with your parents. Millions of lives are damaged by the legacy of parental abuse: * Parents who ignored their children's needs or overburdened them with guilt. * Parents who were alcoholic or addicted to drugs. * Parents who were exploitative and cruel, or simply indifferent and inadequate. When these children reach adulthood the damage done by their toxic parents manifests itself in depression, or difficulties with relationships, careers and decision-making. In Toxic Parents, Dr Susan Forward shows why it is so difficult to put the past behind you and helps readers to confront this painful legacy with tested self-help techniques. With this book as your guide, you will discover an exciting new world of self-confidence, inner strength and emotional independence.

'No matter how bad things are, Molloy tells those afflicted by neglect, there is always hope. And with hope, there is the possibility to heal and to build a new and better kind of life' Lancashire Evening Post Following on from her previous bestselling books, Hackney Child and Tainted Love, written under the name Hope Daniels, which told the stories of kids in children's homes who fought against the odds in their struggle to survive, Jenny Molloy's book Neglected gives harrowing accounts of what happens when children fall in love with the wrong people, and how the role of social workers in their lives can bring them back to an understanding of what love really means. Readers will be introduced to several brave and inspirational children: Jemma, taken into care after her father tried to kill her; Angelika, abandoned by her mother, ending up in a criminal gang; Emma, whose life spiralled out of control after her mother's sudden death. Neglected explores these stories and more, ultimately aiming to answer the question: how can the circle of neglect be broken? Praise for Hope Daniels' other books 'Raw and absorbing' Grazia 'Refreshingly honest ... It will touch your heart' UK Fostering

This book approaches as a serious and severe form of child abuse. While early research tended to portray victims as seductive provocateers, recent studies indicate that birth order, family configuration factors, personality, physical and socio-economic factors may predispose children to risk of incestuous victimization. Incest is associated with anti-social, deviant, illegal and/or self-destructive coping mechanisms in many victims. This book contains data from two sets of substantiated and investigated incest cases taken from official reports by the Department of Welfare in Mississippi and the Department of Welfare in Virginia. It compares the findings from these two data sets to further delineate risk factors and family variables found in incest families. The authors further compare the case studies with previous research findings in order to provide direction for future research, intervention and prevention.

Carole Jenny's "Child Abuse and Neglect: Diagnosis, Treatment and Evidence" focuses attention on the clinical evidence of child abuse to help you correctly diagnose and treat such cases in your own practice. This unique, well-illustrated clinical reference provides new insights into the presentation and differential diagnosis of physical abuse, a look at shaken baby syndrome, sex offenders and abuse in religious organizations, information on the biomechanics of injury, and more. Great for general review, as well as clinical reference, it's also ideal for those taking the American Board of Pediatrics' new subspecialty board exam in Child Abuse Pediatrics.

The current system of protecting society's children from abuse is failing miserably. In this volume, scholars affiliated with universities and professional associations nationwide pinpoint a better strategy. Their research spotlights neighborhood-based child protection systems and provides a comprehensive approach for creating procedures that meaningfully address child maltreatment.

The volume discusses the challenges of moving toward such a system within the current legal, political, and cross-cultural contexts of child protection. Examples of promising applications of a community-based approach are cited. Also cited are the legal and practical structural steps to be taken in creating caring communities that effectively address child abuse and neglect.

This groundbreaking book presents a new model for working with survivors of abuse and other trauma. The Healing Tasks Model, based on developmental stages of healing with specific tasks for each stage, offers the clinician new support for threading through the sometimes overwhelming complexities of the survivor's experience. At the same time, Kepner's model helps to avoid some of the common pitfalls and risks of work in this most challenging of clinical areas, such as pushing clients to express and remember before they have developed the capacity to manage such intensity, or encouraging confrontation and interpersonal interactions that the survivor doesn't yet have the developmental underpinnings to support.

Using the Healing Tasks Model the clinician will find techniques for helping clients develop emotional and systemic supports, manage feelings, and set appropriate boundaries. Readers will also find a guide to dealing with the difficult and troubling issues of memory: how to approach abuse memories, when and how to take action based on abuse memories, when to defer action pending the development of more supports and capacities for the survivor, and then how to develop those essential supports and capacities.

Written for psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, pastoral counselors, and adult survivors of childhood abuse, Healing Tasks provides a therapeutic model that can be used to help abuse survivors develop the emotional skilles to lead richer and more fulfilling lives.

This book examines the modern pandemic of online child sexual exploitation (OCSE). It explores the prevalence, perpetration, impact, and victimization of as well as therapy for child sexual exploitation and its interaction with child sexual abuse. Chapters discuss OCSE from neuropsychological, epidemiological, neurological, behavioral, psychological, clinical, neurobiological and epigenetic perspectives. The volume also addresses the physical and mental impact of early exposure to pornography. The book serves as a resource on an issue that is proving exponentially complex as technology ceaselessly evolves at a faster rate than its consequences can be understood and addressed. Key areas of coverage include: Neuropsychological changes and dysfunctional coping mechanisms resulting from both online and offline child sexual abuse. The psychological, emotional, and physical impacts (e.g., depression, anxiety, PTSD, and self-harm) of child sexual abuse. Prevention and early intervention strategies, including scalable technological responses. Developing a public health approach to preventing and addressing online child abuse and exploitation. Porn culture and its impact on children, adolescents, and emerging adults. The neurobiology and epigenetic impact of trauma. This book is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in child and school psychology, public health, social work as well as interrelated disciplines, including neuropsychology, neurobiology, sociology, anthropology, and educational policy and politics.

Myths and Lies About Dads: How They Hurt Us All is a groundbreaking book that destroys more than 100 of the most damaging beliefs about fathers. Using the most recent research, this pioneering work exposes these baseless beliefs and the toll they take on children's relationships with their fathers, parents' relationships with one another, and the physical and mental health of fathers and mothers. Tackling a wide range of topics from custody laws, to children's toys, to the sexist behavior of counselors, pediatricians, and lawyers, Dr Linda Nielsen describes in vivid detail how these myths are linked to many of our most pressing issues: Creating more gender equity in childcare and housework Reducing child abuse, post-partum depression, and fathers' suicide rates Expanding mothers' and fathers' options at home and at work Reducing children's academic, behavioral, and emotional problems Lessening the pressures of parenting for both parents Changing sexist policies and practices that hurt parents and children Improving the economic situations for parents and their children The book is not only a wake-up call for parents but also for students and professionals in medicine and family law, social work, child development, education, and in the publishing, advertising, media, and entertainment industries. Above all, the book empowers parents to free themselves from the myths and lies about fathers that bind them.

Child Protection in the Church investigates whether, amidst publicised promises of change from church institutions and the introduction of "safe church" policies and procedures, reform is actually occurring within Christian churches towards safeguarding, using a case study of the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania, Australia. Through the use of interviews and document analysis, the book provides an insight into the attitudes and practices of "ordinary clergypersons" towards child sexual abuse and safeguarding to understand how safe ministry is understood and executed in everyday life in the Church, and to what extent it aligns with policy requirements and criminological best practice. It adopts organisational culture theory, the perspective used to explain how clerical culture enabled and concealed child sexual abuse in the Church to the present, in order to understand how clerical attitudes (cognition) and practice (conduct) today is being shaped by some of the same negative cultures. Underlying these cultures is misunderstandings of abuse causation, which are shown here to negatively shape clerical practice and, at times, compromise policy and procedural requirements. Providing an insight into the lived reality of safeguarding within churches, and highlighting the ongoing complexities of safe ministry, the book is a useful companion to students, academics, and practitioners of child protection and organisational studies, alongside clergy, church leaders, and those training for the ministry.