Search results

A parent who continuously physically abuses her/his child doesn't aim to kill the child but commits an accidental filicide in a more violent outburst of anger. Fatal abuse deaths are prevented by recognition of signs of battering in time. Out of 200 examined intra-familial filicides, 23 (12%) were caused by child battering and 13 (7%) by continuous battering. The medical and court records of the victim and the perpetrator were examined. The perpetrator was the biological mother and the victim was male in 69 per cent of the cases. The abused children were either younger than one year or from two-and-a-half to four years old. Risk factors of the victim (being unwanted, premature birth, separation from the parent caused by hospitalization or custodial care, being ill and crying a lot) and the perpetrator (personality disorder, low socioeconomic status, chaotic family conditions, domestic violence, isolation, alcohol abuse) were common. The injuries caused by previous battering were mostly soft tissue injuries in head and limbs and head traumas and the battering lasted for days or even an year. The final assault was more violent and occurred when the parent was more anxious, frustrated or left alone with the child. The perpetrating parent was diagnosed as having a personality disorder (borderline, narcissistic or dependent) and often substance dependence (31%). None of them were psychotic. Authorities and community members should pay attention to the change in child's behavior and inexplicable injuries or absence from daycare. Furthermore if the parent is immature, alcohol dependent, have a personality disorder and is unable to cope with the demands the small child entails in the parent's life, the child may be in danger.

Much social policy research today is commissioned, published and publicised by organisations with direct involvement in that particular aspect of policy. Whilst much good can result from such “advocacy research”, at times the tactics employed by some groups have been criticised for exaggerated claims making and sensationalist reporting as they attempt to get their particular issue into the political and public domain and also generate more government funding and/or increase public donations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate such claims.

In this paper the author wishes to look at some of the tactics utilised by advocacy groups in order to establish the legitimacy of their particular concern. The author focuses on material published by Action for Children and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and between 2010 and 2012 in relation to child maltreatment, critically analysing them from a social constructionist standpoint and drawing on aspects of moral panic theory.

The paper concludes by warning of the dangers for both social policy and related practice that can arise from uncritically accepting the claims of contemporary moral entrepreneurs.

This paper uses theoretical concepts to analyse contemporary campaigns by two charity organisations.

All parents need social and emotional support to ensure optimal outcomes for children. For the majority of families, this support comes through family and social networks and the institutions of education and health. The challenge for society is to protect and assist parents and children when things are going wrong. Although there are known indicators for risk, it can be hard to be sure of when and how to intervene in family life to protect children and support parents. Such interventions may have to be made in relation to episodic events, for example a recurrence of a depression in one of the parents, and in the face of continuing difficulties, for example poverty or social exclusion.This paper examines two, quite different, challenges for professionals trying to support parents. First, it makes some suggestions about how it is that professionals can fail to recognise signs of child maltreatment. The identification of child maltreatment is critical in taking appropriate steps to protect children. Second, it considers the complexity of the task of supporting parents, including whether support should be based on the parents views about services that they would like, or on professional and policy‐makers judgements about how to meet the parents' needs.

Ireland is now the hub of much activity around children's services ‐ at central and local government levels, involving the primary statutory and voluntary agencies, and engaging some of the more disadvantaged communities. Previous articles in the series have looked at the origins and work of the government Office of the Minister for Children, which is overseeing the reform programme (Langford, 2007), the role of $200 million philanthropic investment in this work (Little & Abunimah, 2007) and how the new approach is translating into practice in local communities (Zappone, 2007).Here, Owen Keenan, former Chief Executive of Barnardos1, offers his personal perspective on the work. He starts by tracing how Ireland moved from having under‐developed services and limited suitable research capacity to having the potential within the next 10 years to become one of the best places in the world for children to grow up in. He highlights the roles played by international collaborations, indigenous advocacy (focused on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) and philanthropic investment in helping to usher in a new paradigm of evidence‐based, outcome‐focused services. He then outlines the main challenges as he sees them if the potential is to be realised ‐ for example, improving relationships between stakeholders and strengthening service design and evaluation capacity. Finally, he summarises what has been learnt about undertaking (and undergoing) such farreaching change processes.

The objectives of this paper are to examine national police suicide rates, to compare police suicides with fire‐fighters and military personnel, and to examine suicide in women and minority officers.

The National Occupational Mortality Surveillance (NOMS) (1984‐1998) was used as a data source. Descriptive statistics and proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs) were calculated.

Overall, the police suicide rate was four times that of fire‐fighters. Minority officers had 4.5 times and policewomen 12 times the number of suicides than did fire‐fighters. Police suicides outnumbered homicides by 2.36 times. Police had significantly higher than expected PMRs for suicide.

NOMS data are presently available up to 1998, and data in the study are descriptive only. Although suggestive of risk, statistically significantly elevated PMRs cannot be interpreted directly as indicating a causal relationship between police work and suicide. Confounders are not recorded in NOMS and may lend considerable weight to suicide.

The paper reflects the need to look deeper into police suicides and their root causes. Police organizations are advised to initiate suicide awareness training and psychological assistance to officers.

The paper is among the first nationally to compare suicide among similar hazardous occupations, suggesting the need for prevention.

This paper seeks to report on education, health, and social care practitioners' experiences of working across traditional boundaries and establishing new relationships in the context of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) in UK children's services.

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with a total of 20 education, health and social care practitioners, and operational managers using the qualitative methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis.

The article highlights how change in the composition of teams has provided stimulus for new relationships, learning, and ways of working.

The study is based upon a relatively small number of interviews conducted within one county.

Consideration of relationships and learning within multi‐agency practice contexts is underdeveloped within the literature. As new forms of partnership may result from ongoing reconfiguration of services, this research into partnership working around the CAF offers insights and learning for future interprofessional teamworking.

In India, women feel unsafe particularly in public spaces and single women feel threatened in almost every context (Nag, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to examine women’s safety in the metropolitan city of Mumbai and argue that we need to address this issue and respond to the dearth of firsthand knowledge about women’s safety in India which is investigated in light of the social and cultural milieu. The study makes several recommendations based on the research findings.

The data collection was done in three separate stages. In the first phase, a structured questionnaire was administered orally to around 300 working women all over the city of Mumbai and its suburbs. The second stage adopted an exploratory qualitative approach using in-depth interviews and reflections. In the third stage, the authors audited busy areas on various parameters that might hamper women’s safety.

All the raw data obtained were analyzed using qualitative data coding and categorized to generate themes. Six clear themes emerged which include: perception of safety; safety in transportation; actual violation of personal or physical safety; negligible reaction by the victims; experience with the police; and firsthand recommendations and strategies. This study brings to light the disturbing fact that 91 percent of women worry about their safety all the time or most of the time when they are outside their homes. On the streets of the city almost all had experienced some tangible threats to their safety at some point of time.

Hypocrisy in the treatment of women is precisely what makes India unsafe for women. Although Mumbai ranks as the safest city in India, the study portrays that it is unsafe and fearsome for women. The recent much publicized crimes against women especially rape cases have made women’s safety an important topic for research. Not much primary research exists in this area.

The system in England and Wales involves a joint agency response to the sudden and unexpected death of a child (SUDC) and, for various reasons, the police contribution to that investigation is sometimes inadequate. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the dilemmas which explain this inadequacy.

The arguments presented in the paper are made on the basis of empirically derived findings, drawing from original research based upon qualitative interviews with nine senior detectives working in the areas of child abuse or major crime, as well as focus groups of senior detectives, and a limited contribution from pathologists.

This paper explores whether there is an investigative deficit in respect of potential child homicide when compared to an adult domestic homicide, and it concludes that in some areas the most vulnerable people in society may be at risk because of issues such as inadequate training, inflexible force policies and under-resourced police investigation of child death.

It is possible to kill a child and leave few, if any, physical clues on the body. To determine if homicide is the cause of death, the overall police investigation therefore has to be of high quality to identify any clues that have been left by the perpetrator at the scene or in other ways. It is usual for Child Abuse Investigation Unit detectives to investigate SUDC but they are often trying to do so with little training and few resources. Cuts to police service budgets since 2010 have affected all elements of policing, including Major Crime Teams. As a result, these teams are more discerning about which cases they take on and there is evidence they are not taking on child death investigations even if there are suspicions of homicide. The findings reveal important implications for police investigative training and a clear and significant deficit in the investigative resources available to the lead investigator on a SUDC investigation which may or may not be a homicide, compared with the resources available to the senior investigating officer on a straightforward domestic homicide when the victim is an adult. If homicide is missed, then siblings or future siblings with that family may be left at risk of harm. The College of Policing suggested standards for SUDC investigation are sometimes not being adhered to in respect of training and resources.

The paper is informed by original qualitative research conducted in 2019. The findings are of value to police policy makers, the College of Policing, and police senior leadership teams.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of both charitable and religious fundraising amongst vulnerable older adults. It is a practice that is hidden and opaque. The circumstances surrounding the death of Olive Clarke in spring 2015, however, suggest that it is a practice that involves “intrusive” and “excessive” practices. Fundraising amongst vulnerable older adults is largely unregulated and independently monitored. This paper argues that ensuring the protection of vulnerable older adults requires substantial change and new accountabilities.

This paper explores current approaches to financial abuse and the focus on family and professional carers as the main likely perpetrators. However, using literature from both the USA and Australia, it considers notions of “trust” and professional behaviour, and the way that vulnerable older adults are subject to new forms of abuse as a result of financial technology such as online and telephone banking. It links this with the practices of charitable fundraisers using techniques such as cold calling and direct mail.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Olive Clarke suggest that charities, and those fundraise for charities appear to engage in a practice whereby they sell the names of likely donors to each other. This practice opens opportunities for abusive relationships to take place. At the same time many clergy operate like the single GP surgeries that allowed Shipman to practice unnoticed and unaccountable. The relationship between clergy and their aging congregation, who are relied upon to raise funds for church activities, open up the opportunity for abuse to take to place. Few records on charitable giving exist that permit regulation and independent scrutiny.

Current research in this area is limited by the focus on family and professional carers as likely perpetrators of financial abuse, and through attention on child sexual abuse in general. There is a lack of research on charitable giving, and the focus tends to be on altruism rather than the practices and motivations of fundraisers themselves. This paper intends to begin an academic debate to the context in which Olive Clarke took her own life.

In the wake of the death of Olive Clarke the Fundraising Standards Board has been tasked with reviewing the way charities raise funds amongst vulnerable older adults. No one has yet used the language of financial abuse, choosing to opt for the terms “excessive” and “intrusive” there is a need to shift this debate and encourage greater regulation and accountability.

This paper seeks to explore how some of the organisations that are supposed to protect and care for vulnerable people engage in practices that exploit and abuse. It is timely as debates about charitable giving are beginning to increase, and the role of the church and the religious groups in the abuse of children is being considered by the new independent inquiry in the UK. It has significant implications for accountability, trust and regulation.

The financial abuse of older adults is rarely considered outside of the family – carer nexus. However, changes in the banking and financial systems means that opportunities for abuse are greater than ever before. Prior to the death of Olive Clarke in spring 2015 very little attention on the nature of charitable and religious fundraising amongst older adults has taken place, and consequently this paper is highly original, but equally timely.

The purpose of this paper is to share nascent theory, suggesting there are five types of parricide offenders. The old theories are not valid: child abuse is not the primary motivator for parricide events.

This research draws on archival data derived from public sources (i.e. court records, offender statements, newspapers, etc.).

Child abuse is not the primary motivator for youthful parricide events. However, it appears to remain a factor in the parricide equation. The Good Child Postulate romanticizes youthful parricide offenders and could introduce potentially harmful positive bias into investigations, trials and treatment. The nascent theory suggests the five fatal personality clusters for youthful parricide offenders.

The identified clusters are still being developed and statistically validated. More research and analysis is needed to delimit, refine and verify the five fatal personality types of parricide offenders and to create a clear, cohesive theory.

Murder in general has decreased over the past decade, parricides have not. A better understanding of the phenomena may help to slow the rate of parricide events. Law enforcement, natal families and the courts can help to improve rehabilitative outcomes if children could be recognized as the type of killer they are and treated differently during the investigative and defense phases of their cases. For example, if parents are placed on trial (i.e. are used by defense to mitigate/excuse the murders), some types of children will adopt the defense arguments laid out in court and feel no need for rehabilitation at all. Families of the murdered parents can come to a better understanding of what has happened – allowing them to grieve without being forced to defend the murder of their love one. This research serves as further correction for the promulgation of the notion that all parents who are victims of youthful parricide abused the perpetrator, thereby causing their own deaths. This does occur on occasion, but is not a complete picture of the phenomenon.

Although murder, in general, has decreased over the past decade, parricides have not. The standing typology stymies fresh research and researcher’s abilities to explore models that may help to teach parents, law enforcement and other caring members of society how to prevent parricides in the future. Additionally, the Good Child Postulate works to create positive bias in the courtroom as attorneys for well-off, white children can easily build an imperfect defense for a population that is not actually the abused population. This has many social justice implications.

This information can be utilized by law enforcement, attorneys, the courts, parents and the prisons/therapeutic settings to better meet the needs of the youthful parricide offender.