“There are many issues that may contribute to child abuse, but some factors increase the risk to children and make them more vulnerable to abuse. They can be found in the background of parents, in the environmental situation and in attributes of the child themselves”, (http://www.childmatters.org.nz/57/learn-about-child-abuse/risk-factors).
The risk factors that have led to or have the potential to lead to abuse can be categorised into three areas, parental factors, environmental factors and child factors.
The parental factors in this case include Mary’s past history of abuse as a child, poor parenting skills and growing up with a history of mental health problems for which she received no support. Mary’s mum and dad were poor role models as parents and did not believe that she was abused by her grandfather, while they also did not seek any medical help for her mental health problems. We can see a direct link to this by the fact that she struggles herself to support her own children and does not engage fully with the health authorities when required too. This resulted in a health visitor arranging home visits, were they observed that Mary had poor parenting skills and was unable to cope or bond with Katy. The fact that she had Katy at a young age and received very little support even from Katy’s father are also risk factors that have contributed in the neglect of Katy and disengagement with healthcare authorities. Mary and Joes ongoing abuse of drugs and alcohol is also a risk factor that has contributed to Billy being neglected as he is left with no one to care for him and has led to neighbours being concerned enough to contact authorities.
The environmental factors include; the violence that is present in the household as Joe subjects everyone to physical abuse. This started when he was made redundant from his job (which was the main income for the household), putting the family into poverty and contributing to the stresses that were already there in the family and to cope with this he started drinking heavily, which contributed to him turning violent and is another risk factor, as is the fact that Joe is not Katy or David’s biological father and this may be an influence on his poor relationship and attitude towards David. Joe’s attitude towards women suggests that he was raised in a family with a patriarchal structure and he only see’s women and younger males in the household as his subordinates which could also be viewed as a risk factor.
The child factors include, Mary’s lack of attachment towards Katy which has resulted in her not being able to bond with her properly and the missing of vital health checks may have contributed to the late diagnosis of Katy’s ASD. This lack of attachment is also evident with Billy and has contributed to him being neglected. Katy’s disability is also a risk factor as she is viewed as a burden by Mary and Joe and is potentially unwanted putting her at risk of neglect, Mary’s request for extended respite shows how low a priority she is in the family.
All members of the family are subjected to physical abuse at the hands of Joe. He physically harms Billy and Mary when he is drunk but he also hits David for his ‘cheek’, when he tries to defend his mum. This has resulted in David’s behavior changing and he displays emotional signs such as anger and frustration, behavioral signs such as offending and not going to school or home at night and the physical marks when he is hit. The short-term effects of this on David are that he at risk of being taken into care and also the obvious risk of suffering a serious injury due to Joe’s violence. The long-term effects are that he could receive a criminal record that may restrict his employment opportunities, and he could also learn the behavior of solving his problems with violence as Joe does.
Mary suffers from emotional abuse at the hands of Joe and she is constantly told that she is stupid and a waste of space. All of this has had a direct impact on Mary’s perception of herself and her ability to provide prolonged adequate care for her children and she displays the emotional signs of low self-esteem, lack of confidence and poor bonding with her kids, the physical signs of being unable to sleep and the behavioural signs of drug and alcohol misuse.
Katy has suffered from neglect due to her mum’s poor parenting skills and failure to engage with the health authorities, missing child welfare appointment. Katy’s ASD was not diagnosed until health visitors actually visited her home to monitor and assess her health. Katy displays the emotional signs of being distressed and frightened when Joe is around, the behavioural signs of becoming agitated when she has to return to the home after respite and also what Mary sees as challenging behaviour. The short-term risks for Katy are that she is neglected to such an extent that her needs are not met. The long-term effects are that she could be moved into care permanently as the care her disability needs are not provided for.
Billy has suffered from non-organic failure to thrive and the physical and behavioral signs of this are that he has failed to reach his growth and development milestones and the doctor has been unable to identify any medical reason for this, he also becomes emotionally upset when his parents are too out of it to care for him. The short and long term risks for Billy are that he doesn’t receive the care needed for him to develop and grow intellectually and physically.
It is important to use the social care standards when working with families, children and adults to ensure that everyone receives the same standard of care regardless of their situation or background. The national care standards have six principles; dignity, privacy, choice, safety, realising potential and equality and diversity. These standards must be used by all people working in social care in Scotland and also underpin the Scottish Social Services Council’s (SSSC) Codes of Practice for Social Service Workers. These standards ensures that all of the family receive care that is individualised and appropriate for them and this also ensures that the family are treated with dignity and respect at all times while also giving them an input on the type of care and services they would like to receive.
Developing a working knowledge of Father Biestek’s principles of social care case work, can help to build a good working relationship with the family. Biestek’s model puts the service user at the centre of the working relationship and helps to guide the worker to creating a better working relationship. It has seven principles to help guide the worker to support service users and these are;
Individualisation, this recognises that everyone in the family are individuals and as such each will have different needs and rights. This helps us to support every member of the family and recognise that they need to be helped individually and not as an entire group.
Purposeful expression of feeling, this recognises that every member of the family has the right to express their feelings freely even negative ones, without condemnation. This would help every member of the family to speak openly about the abuse that is happening, giving a clearer picture and scale of what is happening and allowing for the appropriate support to be given to each member of the family. It is important to also give Joe the same opportunity to express his feelings.
Controlled emotional involvement, this involves the workers sensitivity when listening to the service user. They must consider each response carefully and respond with the appropriate emotions and feelings, both verbally and non-verbally. This would be very important in dealing with this family. It would give Katy, David and Billy the chance to give a full picture of what is happening to them, something that Katy has the chance to do when on respite but that David in particular may never have had the chance to do. It is important for the worker to not show any signs of contempt or shock but also offers support and encouragement for each of them to express themselves.
Acceptance, this involves the worker accepting the service user for who they are and allows them to express themselves while retaining their innate dignity. The worker see’s the person instead of the behaviour and this allows the service user to express themselves fully. This principle would be very helpful when working with this family, it would allow for Mary and Joe to talk more freely about why abuse is happening in the family, giving a fuller picture and allowing for the appropriate support to be given to each individual.
Non-judgemental attitude, it is important that the worker has a non-judgemental attitude and this would be helpful with Joe and Mary, who are the perpetrators of the abuse. If they are free to talk without blame or judgement then there is more chance of them revealing what is happening in the family home.
Client self-determination, this recognises the client’s right to have the freedom to make informed choices about the support they receive. This would be very helpful to Mary, Joe and David in particular who then have an input into the type of care and services they may or may not wish to use. Katy and Billy’s rights to self-determination would be limited by their ability to make decisions, with Katy having autism and Billy being so young.
Confidentiality, each member of the family has the right to have all information regarding them treated confidentially and shared only with other appropriate agency’s working with them, in line with the Data Protection Act (1998).
Having a knowledge of social care values, Biestek’s model and one’s similar to it like Gerard Egan’s skilled helper model and also a knowledge of the social sciences such as sociology and psychology, allows the worker to have more knowledge about why abuse happens, while also giving them the tools to spot when the abuse is happening and frameworks in which to gather information and support service user more holistically.
As social care is constantly evolving, it is important for workers to continuously train and develop themselves. This allows workers to keep up to date with new legislation and approaches to working in social care and also the different types of abuse that can occur such as cyberbullying, which has recently been recognised as a type of abuse.
The Children Scotland Act (1995), was set up to create legislation on the care of children in Scotland. At the centre of this legislation are the needs of the child and families. It outlines the rights of children, including taking into account their views and also defines the responsibilities of parents. It also outlines the powers and responsibilities of public authorities, working with children and families, including when to intervene to protect a child. This act is relevant to the family as it puts the children’s needs first and gives social workers the power if needed to intervene and remove the any of the children from the home, or alternatively remove the abuser from the home. As both Joe and Mary are culpable in the neglect of Katy and Billy it may be better to remove the children from the home but this would only be done as a last resort. It also gives all of the children a say in how they are supported, which must under this legislation be taken into account. As Joe is the only one physically abusing anyone the children may choose to stay with Mary (who is also being physically abused by Joe) and it may be best to exercise the option of removing Joe from the home. This act also gave powers to the children’s hearing which David is due to attend in two weeks. The children’s panel would have the powers under this act to add David’s name to the supervised list and this would prioritise him for care and also offer him quick access to services and support.
Adults with incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, was set up to create legislation that safeguards the welfare and finances of adults incapable of doing so themselves. It allows for a family member, friend or neighbour for example to be able to make decisions on finances and welfare on their behalf and all decision must be shown to benefit the adult. It also allows people to nominate someone to make these type of decisions on their behalf if they become incapable of doing so in the future. It also defines what is considered as incapacity and lays out clearly the responsibilities of those who act on behalf of someone with incapacity. This legislation is relevant to Katy who would be protected under this act. Mary as her parent and guardian is not in a position to care for Katy properly, this is something that they both recognise and they have both separately communicated this to Katy’s key worker. Billy has also disclosed that Joe has been hitting Katy so the family home is clearly not the protective environment that it should be and it may be that it is in Katy’s best interests not to live there. Katy’s own wishes would also be taken into account under this act and even if she does not have the capacity to make the decision’s that will ultimately be taken on her behalf, her opinion has to be taken into account and she would be given the platform to express her views. If the chat that she had with her key worker is her overall opinion then that and Billy’s testimony should mean that she does not go back home if Joe remains there, if she goes home at all.
The SSSC was created to raise the standards of practice of all people working in social care in Scotland. They set out clear standards that all workers and employers must adhere to and most social care workers have to register with them to work in social care. This is done to ensure that all workers have the relevant skills to work in social care and they also place importance on the continuous training and development of workers, to ensure that the services provided for people are effective and delivered by a skilled and competent workforce.
“The people who work with you in social services are important people in your life. They might be social workers, care workers or nursery staff. By setting out clear standards for workers, people who use services know what they can expect from their workers and employers know their role in the regulation of the workforce and support of high quality services. Coupled with registration, the Codes will raise standards and increase public protection”, (http://www.sssc.uk.com/about-the-sssc/codes-of-practice/what-are-the-codes-of-practice).
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2004/10/20066/44708
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2008/03/25120154/1
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Justice/law/awi
http://www.sssc.uk.com/about-the-sssc/codes-of-practice/what-are-the-codes-of-practice