Working with Abused Children

183 Pages·1997·17.965 MB·English

by  Celia Doyle (auth.)

PRACTICAL
SOCIAL WORK
Series Editor: Jo Campling
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Editorial Advisory Board:
Robert Adams, Terry Bamford, Charles Barker,
Lena Dominelli, Malcolm Payne, Michael Preston-Shoot,
Daphne Statham and Jane Tunstill
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work, felt there was the most need for new literature. The response was
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theoretical framework. The books will inform, stimulate and promote
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PRACTICAL SOCIAL WORK
Robert Adams Social Workand CordeliaGrimwoodand Ruth Popplestone
Empowerment Women,Management andCare
David Anderson Social WorkandMental Jalna Hanmer and DaphneStatham
Handicap Womenand Social Work: Towardsa
Sarah BanksEthicsand ValuesinSocial Woman-CentredPractice
Work Tony Jeffs and Mark Smith (eds) Youth
James G. Barber BeyondCasework Work
James G. Barber Social Work with Michael Kerfootand Alan Butler
Addictions Problems ofChildhoodandAdolescence
Peter Beresfordand SuzyCroft Citizen Joyce Lishman CommunicationinSocial
Involvement:A PracticalGuidefor Work
Change
Carol Luptonand Terry Gillespie (eds)
SuzyBrayeand Michael Preston-Shoot Workingwith Violence
PractisingSocial Work Law
Mary Marshalland Mary Dixon Social
Robert Brown, Stanley Buteand Peter
Work withOlderPeople (3rdedn)
Ford Social Workersat Risk
PaulaNicolsonand Rowan BayneApplied
Alan Butlerand Colin Pritchard Social
Psychologyfor Social Workers (2nd
WorkandMentalIllness
edn)
CrescyCannan,Lynne Berryand Karen
LyonsSocial Work andEurope KieranO'Hagan CrisisIntervention in
Social Services
RogerClough Residential Work
Michael Oliver Social Work withDisabled
David M.Cooperand David BallSocial
People
WorkandChildAbuse
VeronicaCoulshed ManagementinSocial Joan Orme and Bryan GlastonburyCare
Work Management:Tasks and Workloads
VeronicaCoulshed Social Work Practice: Malcolm Payne Working in Teams
An Introduction(2ndedn) John Pitts Working with YoungOffenders
Peter R.Day SociologyinSocial Work Michael Preston-Shoot Effective
Practice Groupwork
Lena DominelliAnti-RacistSocial Work:
Peter Raynor, David Smith and Maurice
AChallengefor WhitePractitionersand
Vanstone Effective Probation Practice
Educators(2ndedn)
Steven Shardlowand Mark Doel Practice
CeliaDoyleWorkingwithAbusedChildren
(2ndedn) Learningand Teaching
AngelaEveritt and Pauline Hardiker Carole R.Smith Social Work with the
Evaluatingfor GoodPractice DyingandBereaved
Angela Everitt,Pauline Hardiker, Jane DavidSmith Criminologyfor Social Work
Littlewood and Audrey Mullender Gill Stewartand JohnStewartSocial
AppliedResearchfor BetterPractice Work and Housing
Kathy Ford and Alan Jones Student
ChristineStonesFocusonFamilies
SupervisioninSocial Work
NeilThompsonAnti-Discriminatory
David Francis and Paul Henderson
Practice(2ndedn)
WorkingwithRuralCommunities
MichaelD.A. FreemanChildren,their Neil Thompson,Michael Murphy and
FamiliesandtheLaw SteveStradlingDealing withStress
AlisonFroggattFamilyWorkwithElderly DerekTilbury WorkingwithMental Illness
People Alan Twelvetrees Community Work (2nd
Danya Glaser and Stephen Frosh Child edn)
SexualAbuse (2ndedn)
Hilary Walkerand BillBeaumont(eds)
GillGorellBarnes WorkingwithFamilies Working withOffenders
Working with
Abused Children
Second Edition
Celia Doyle
© BritishAssociation ofSocial Workers 1990, 1997
AlIrightsreserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of
this publication may bemade without written permission.
No paragraph of this publicationmay be reproduced,copied or
transmitted savewith written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright,Designs and PatentsAct 1988,
or under the terms ofany licencepermitting limited copying
issuedbythe Copyright Licensing Agency, 90Tottenham Court
Road, London WIP9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may beliableto criminal prosecution and civil
claimsfor damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author
of thiswork inaccordance with the Copyright, Designsand
Patents Act 1988.
First edition 1990
Reprinted twice
Secondedition 1997
Published by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN978-0-333-71157-6 ISBN978-1-349-14589-8(eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-14589-8
Acatalogue record for this book isavailable
from the British Library.
1098765 4 3 2
06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99
Copy-edited and typeset byPovey-Edmondson
Tavistock and Rochdale, England
To my children
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition ix
Acknowledgements Xl
Introduction
1 The Perspective of the Abused Child 4
The child as a family member 4
The child as a victim 7
The victim as a child 14
2 Voices of the Children 22
Marie's account 22
Lloyd's account 26
Helen's account 28
Sarah's account 31
Roy's account 35
Cries for help 37
3 Individual Work with Children 41
Requirements ofthe therapist 42
Planning individual work 46
Starting the session 50
The helping process 53
4 Work with Children in the Family Context 63
Advantages and disadvantages 64
SWOT analysis 68
Joint family work 69
Facilitating communication 76
5 Group Work with Abused Children 81
The value ofgroup work 82
Variations on the theme ofgroup work 85
Groups for younger children 88
Groups for older children and teenagers 94
Vll
viii Contents
6 Substitute Care 97
The problems ofsubstitute care 99
The benefits ofsubstitute care 104
Overcoming the problems 105
Returning home 110
7 Preventing Child Abuse 114
Policycontexts 115
Specific support 116
Societyin general 126
8 TheEffects of Abuse:The Later Years 133
Evidence oflong-term effects 133
Marie's account continued 139
Lloyd's account continued 141
Helen's account continued 141
Sarah's account continued 144
Roy's account continued 146
Helping adult survivors 146
Final comment 151
Guide to Further Reading 153
Inquiry Reports 156
Bibliography 159
Index 169
Preface to the Second
Edition
When I wrote the first edition, the Children Act 1989 was on the
threshold of implementation. Child protection professionals were
recovering from the public inquiries of the mid-1980sinto physical
abuse and neglect and werejustbeginningto cometotermswiththe
complexities of sexual abuse in the aftermath of the Cleveland
Inquiry. I had just acquired three children of my own in the space
of twelve months and, given increased family commitments, had
resigned after eleven years working with the NSPCC.
In the intervening period, a fourth child hasmadehisappearance
and I now work as a lecturer at Nene College. Throughout I have
maintained a small caseload as an independentpractitioner, thereby
continuing to experience the realities of coming face-to-face with
profoundly distressed children and parents, report writing, cross
examination in court, inadequate substitute care provision and
insufficient resources for on-going work with children and families.
The experience of parenthood, the requirements placed on lecturers
to keep up-to-date with policy and research, in addition to the
necessity,as an independent practitioner,to keep abreast ofthe law
and innovative practice have all influenced this second edition.
Sincethe publication of the first edition there has beenincreasing
recognition ofthe plightofchildrenwithadditionalconsiderations
such as those with disabilities or from minorityethnicgroups - who
are also abused. My own experience of being called 'careless',
'stupid' and 'lazy' in the days before dyslexia was recognised has
provided insight into the struggle of abused young people with a
disability to maintain a sense of self-worth. In a predominantly
white society, children suffer because of their skin colour. I too
prayed every night to change my dark eyes to blue ones, filched
lemon juice from the larder to make my hair turn blonde, made
valiant efforts with the scrubbing brush and had no reply when
schoolmates asked why my skin was so 'dirty' or wheremy mother
'came from'.Recognition ofthese issueshas influencedthis edition.
One ofthe volunteers giving an account ofchildhood abuse, Lloyd,
IX
x Preface to the Second Edition
has a particular cultural heritage that led him to be negatively
stereotyped.Hisheritage has not been specified, not only to obscure
his identity but also to avoid further negative stereotyping of his
family's cultural group.
Finally,anote onterminology. Wordsare powerfultools thatcan
both reflect discrimination and perpetuate it. For example, the
constant reference in everyday speech to 'chairmen' suggested that
only mencould command and control meetings.Every attempt has
been made to avoid language which is discriminatory in this way.
However,timeschange andwords which are acceptableat onepoint
intimecan quickly become unacceptable.In the late 1980s,the time
ofwritingthefirstedition, 'handicap'wasawidelyused term.This is
no longer the case.
There are some terms which are used in this edition for a specific
reason. For example, 'heritage' is generally preferred to 'race'
especially with reference to 'mixed race' children. 'Dual heritage'
refersto children with one Black and one white parent who inherit
thehistory,culture, traditions and experiences ofboth.Throughout,
'Black' is normally used in the political sense to indicate people
united in their experience of, and opposition to, discrimination on
the grounds of their skin colour.
CELIA DOYLE