Domestic abuse continues to be a growing concern across the globe where the overwhelming majority of victims are women. Women also tend to experience more severe forms of violence, which includes murder. There is growing recognition that children who live in households where domestic abuse exists are directly harmed and often show psychological…

Background: Children who experience sexual or physical abuse often delay their disclosure. This study aimed to clarify the barriers and facilitators to abuse disclosure in a sample of children and adolescents participating in a police interview regarding alleged abuse. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 children (nine girls)…

Past decades have seen increasing worldwide interest in child abuse research. No comprehensive reviews that address child abuse research in Jordan have been published. This review sought to synthesize and critique published research literature on child abuse in Jordan from 2000 onwards in order to establish what is known about the extent and…

Much as one would like to be able to base permanency decisions on the solid ground of empirical findings and objective knowledge, the nature of child abuse precludes this possibility. In the absence of any unitary knowledge base, it is important to know what knowledge social workers use to inform their permanency decisions. This article presents…

Children placed in children's homes encounter negative experiences in the form of abuse from caregivers, interpersonal conflicts with peers and victimizations from community members. How these children negotiate forgiveness of these negative experiences is unknown due to limited studies on the subject. The present study explored the nature of…

Signs of Safety is a strengths-based approach to work with children and families where there are concerns about abuse or neglect. Signs of Safety is widely used in the UK and internationally, and there is a growing range of empirical research exploring its use within statutory children's social work. However, there is little research exploring…

This article examines the emotional work that young adult care leavers perform during their transition to adulthood. It is based on 30 biographical interviews with young adults (formerly) placed in care. Among researchers, social workers and policy makers, there is a need to understand what young people do about their feelings when they have been…

Children experiencing physical abuse by their parents are left with several difficult decisions. The present study aims at exploring the process of disclosing the abuse and the responses from social welfare workers from a child perspective, in a Swedish context. Data was obtained from in depth interviews with 15 children with a history of child…

Disabled children experience increased risk of abuse and neglect. Concurrently, serious concerns and practical impediments persist regarding the capacity of statutory child protection and welfare services to respond adequately to their needs. Specifically, the focus in this article is on the assessment stage of the social work process within child…

Close observation of the interactions between a traumatised mother and her infant son provides information on the modes of transmission of psychic trauma in the mother-infant dyad. Following the presentation of a current literature review on the theme, the subject of "radioactive residue" and counter-transference in the transmission of…

Many children who enter the care system and are subsequently adopted have had exposure to a range of potentially traumatising experiences including domestic violence, abuse, neglect and loss of key caregivers. There are also an increasingly high number of adopted children presenting with the impact of intrauterine exposure to alcohol, drugs and…

Little research has been undertaken into how children with complex communication needs living in residential care are encouraged to express their views, be involved in decision-making, and importantly, make it known when they are unhappy. This group are often placed a long distance from home and can be some of the most vulnerable children in the…

In the Republic of Ireland Section 3(1) of the Child Care Act 1991 places an obligation and legal duty upon the State child protection services "to promote the welfare of children in its area who are not receiving adequate care and protection." This article focuses on a specific element of this duty; the social worker's responsibility to…

Hospital personnel have been shown to report child maltreatment to social services less frequently than other professionals. This quantitative study shows that one-half of the respondents within the four largest Swedish children's hospitals had never made a report. However, nurses' and nurse assistants' odds of being low reporters were…

Protecting an unborn baby from abuse and neglect presents particular challenges for professionals due to the uncertainties about appraising future harm and functioning of family relationships. This systematic narrative review synthesises studies of professional decision making by health and social care professionals regarding child protection of…