What does emotional abuse include?
Ignoring, lack of appropriate physical affection (hugs), not saying, "I love you," withdrawal of attention, lack of praise, and lack of positive reinforcement. You see an adult belittling, yelling, screaming, name calling, shaming, making negative compari
Can emotional abuse affect a child's self esteem?
Yes, children take emotional abuse to heart and it can effect their self esteem and self identity for the rest of their life.
What is physical abuse?
Physical abuse is the use of inappropriate physical actions, such as beatings, striking a child with an object, burning a child, poisoning, or some other action that results in substantial risk of physical or emotional harm to the child.
What if the adult did not mean to harm the child?
Such injury is considered abuse regardless of whether the caregiver intended to hurt the child.
Is physical discipline such as spanking or paddling a form of physical abuse?
No, it is not considered abuse as long as it is reasonable and causes no bodily injury.
What is neglect?
Neglect is when a guardian fails to provide for a child's basic needs.
What does basic needs include?
Inappropriate clothing for season or weather; Failure to provide housing or shelter; Inadequate provision of food; Denial of medical or educational care; and lack of supervision such as permitting children to use alcohol or other drugs.
What else does neglect include?
This could also include parents who have an unreasonable absence due to mental/physical incapacity or parents who create a substantial risk of physical or mental injury by knowingly leaving their children alone or in the same dwelling with a person to who
When is child welfare intervention required?
When a family fails to use information and resources, and the child's health or safety is at risk.
When do some states provide an exception to the definition of neglect?
This is for parents who choose not to seek medical care for their children due to religious beliefs that may prohibit medical intervention.
What is sexual abuse?
It is any sexual act between an adult and child.
What does sexual abuse include?
Fondling, penetration, intercourse, exploitation, pornography, exhibitionism, child prostitution, group sex, oral sex, or forced observation of sexual acts.
In a resent study, 1 in 8 high school boys
reported been physically or sexually abused or both
Boys are more likely to be approached by:
strangers
Girls are more likely to be victims of
incest
It is important to highlight to importance to have a child friendly space
This small step can go a long way to immediately bring down defenses and start building rapport with young people.
Who participates in the first meeting?
Who participates usually depends on who is available and the nature of the problem which could include parents, family, teachers, and siblings. We want to get as much information as we can, so the more people that interact with the child that can particip
The first impression is formed as soon as the young person sees you, which is usually in some type of waiting room
To build rapport immediately, bend to their eye level, introduce yourself, and use a light statement to engage such as I see you are wearing a sponge bob shirt.
What is our primary task?
Our primary task is to develop rapport with the child so that future interventions can be successful.
Young people may not know why they are there. They may be afraid to discuss sensitive topics, may feel angry because they had to leave friends at school to come see some professional.
Take the time to inform them about the purpose and explain the process such as I will be talking to you and your parents today and get an idea of how I can help with everyone's worries, and then I am going to introduce you to some of our staff who will be
If you are only doing one interview with the child:
You still need to build rapport but avoid trying to form a deep emotional relationship which can confuse the young person when you hand them over to another professional.
We must never reject the possibility that problems are organic in nature.
Biological causes for childhood problems are more likely when: Impairment in functioning is more severe; deterioration of previous cognitive abilities; unable to identify psychosocial causes; and there are physical symptoms in addition to psychosocial pro
What is the best way to ensure it is not a potential biological cause?
Ask when the young person had his/her last physical. Children should have a complete physical at least 1 time a year.
Sometimes prescription medication can cause:
behavioral side effects
Structured diagnostic interviews
have a standardized method for collection information. This would be like using form that your agency creates and going through each question of the form with the child or their family. This could also be a formal assessment that you use such as a depress
In a psychodynamic assessment
the focus is on the relationship with the child, and often incorporates play activities to elicit self-disclosure. It is much more unstructured and allows the clinician the opportunity to engage and build a relationship and then incorporate questions as n
For a structured interview:
most agencies have a list of questions that they would like to ask the participating parties.
Remember:
that young people may act different in different environments and with different people.
The Term At Risk
denote children and adolescents who may
be facing emotional and adjustment problems.
What does At Risk relate to?
to a set of presumed cause-and effect
dynamics that place the child or adolescent and danger of future negative outcomes.
The At-Risk Continuum
the continuum goes from minimal risk to remote risk to high risk to finally imminent
risk.
Children who are at remote risk are ones that may have some negative demographic
characteristics that are associated with greater problems.
These characteristics can include low
socioeconomic status, poor economic opportunity, poor access to good education, and even
just being a member of an ethnic minority group.
At the high risk level, the negative family, school, and social interactions are there but
additionally you will see that the child or adolescent also has their own negative attitude,
emotions, and behaviors.
Some examples would include aggression and conduct problems, impulsivity, anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and social skills problems.
last category, imminent risk, includes individuals with high risk characteristics who
started to participate in?
Gateway Behaviors
Typically we are doing psychoeducational activities to help the adolescents
cope with problems, build their resiliency, and give them the tools to stay away from future issues.
What are Mandatory Reporters?
are professionals who, in the ordinary course of their work and because they have regular contact with children are required to report whenever abuse have been observed or suspected, or when there is evidence of neglect.
Can mandatory reporters be held liable by both civil and criminal legal systems for not reporting?
Yes, you should report the matter immediately to the local department of the county or city wherein the child resides or wherein the abuse or neglect is believed to have occurred or to the Department's toll-free child abuse and neglect hotline.
Child abuse reporting statues vary a great deal from state to state.
The exactly language of your statue should be read and understood.
When should you make a report?
When you have a "reasonable cause to suspect." Investigation and substantiation is typically done by CPS and law enforcement, so you don't have to have all the facts to make a report.
Should you report if someone else has already reported?
Yes, You may have the critical piece of information that they need to move forward with the case. It also helps sometimes to get information from more than 1 source.
Should you inform the child that you are making a report?
Yes, when possible, inform the child before the report is made.
Who else should you include when making a report?
When possible, include the alleged perpetrator, family members, or guardians in the reporting process.
What does our society believe?
That children should be reared by their natural parents if at all possible. Your call helps the family get additional services to make the unit work better-- instead of just removing the child without a careful investigation.
Should you follow up an oral report with a written one?
Yes, Document thoroughly in your notes the date, the name of the contact reported to, the information shared, and the outcomes (if any.)
Will your name be disclosed to the accused?
No, but because you may be one of the only active adults in the child's life, the accused can probably assume who placed the call and may be angry at you or say they are going to sue you.
If you make a report, are you immune to civil or criminal liability?
Yes, Any person who makes a report or provides records or information or who testifies in any judicial proceeding arising from such report is immune from any civil or criminal liability or administrative penalty if they have acted in good faith without ma
What happens if you don't make a report within the designated time frame in your state?
you could be fined, get jail time, or even have criminal charges placed.
Do you have to report when you are not working in a professional capacity?
No, you are a mandated reporter when you are serving in a professional capacity.
What is the most detrimental form of child abuse and the hardest to prove?
Emotional Abuse
What is emotional abuse?
It is defined as the failure to provide the affection and support necessary for the development of a child's emotional, social, physical and intellectual well being.
Also check in their awareness and appropriate expression of emotions.
You then can inquire about their social and peer interactions.
You also what to inquire about physiological aspects, such as:
What was pregnancy like? Where there any concerns during birth or the first year of life? Does the child have any medical conditions? Taking any medication-- and if so, for what, how long, who prescribed, how often do they get a medication check up? When
You want to inquire about basic daily routines, such as:
what are their sleep habits? How are their eating habits? What is their daily routine? Is there a particular time when the child struggles most? What happens before/after behavior?
You want to know about the family and school dynamics since these are two major systems in which the young person interacts with.
Ask them to describe their family and the key figures that are involved in the child's life. How many children are in the household? Who is the child most like? Is there any history of mental or emotional issues in the family?
You want to check in about the school climate.
What grade is the child currently in? Have they ever been held back a level? Do they currently have any academic challenges or are they receiving any special services? How is the child doing in their classroom?
You want to ensure you ask about any notable historical events.
particularly anything that may have been particularly difficult for the child such as the loss of a parent, pet or friend, removal from a home, any type of abuse or trauma such as automobile accident, natural disaster, major medical procedure or transitio
You want to end on a positive note exploring what are the child's strengths.
What do they enjoy about the child, what do they do to praise and encourage the child, and what are their strengths in being a resource for the child.
In a psychodynamic interview
you are engaging with the child as you try to elicit specific information.
Young people are more comfortable when they are playing
so finding a way to play while we work is a useful tool. Remember from your methods course that you need to use simple, open ended, questions as you get to know someone to get them to open up beyond giving you yes and no answers.
Use minimal encouragers
such as "tell me more" or even non verbal head shakes and smiles to keep them talking and remember to avoid why questions since many of us do not know why we did something so will put us on the defensive or shut us down from talking further.
What is one way to do a psychodynamic interview?
Through the use of puppets....
What is important when observing the child in his/her natural element?
We need to watch carefully and observe children as though all behaviors were descriptive of their reality. We determine if it indicates any underlying difficulty/issue but want to do so cautiously.
What is the best way to observe a child?
The best is to observe the child over time and in a variety of settings to truly get a feel for how they interact and what issues may need to be addressed so that we can put the issue in context with what occurs before the troubled behavior and what happe
What must we first understand about formal assessments?
When we decide to pull in formal assessments, we must first understand how they are developed and if you are qualified to give them.
When should you use a formal assessment?
You should only use formal assessments after you have been trained on how to use them since many formal assessments require at least a masters degree to administer.
Are good assessments tested rigorously before they are deemed appropriate to give?
The test manual gives the reliability, which is how consistent the assessment is when you give it at different times, give it by different people, or give different versions of the same test.
Should the instrument be valid?
Yes, meaning does it really measure what it says it measures.
One example of a formal assessment is...
the Strait-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, which is for children 9-12.
The Child depression inventory (CDI)
is a symptom oriented instrument for assessing depression in children between the ages of seven and 17 years.