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CHILD PROTECTION AND THE ROLE OF EDUCATORS, CHILD CARERS, SCHOOL COUNSELLORS AND OTHERS IN CHILD-RELATED SERVICES

The protection of children is the sacred duty of us all.

—Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, 16th November 2009

Governments recognised the importance of educators, child carers and health and welfare professionals as children’s protectors when they included them in mandatory reporting legislation in the US, Canada and South Australia in the late 1970s. Paradoxically, this importance was not and, in some cases, is still not recognised by employers or the universities and colleges that educate human service personnel.

Schools and early childhood centres are most important in abuse prevention and child protection given that staff spend more time with abused and neglected children than anyone outside their immediate families. A knowledgeable professional can identify and handle signs of abuse in psychologicaIly helpful ways. An uninformed professional can cause additional psychological harm by dismissing, ignoring, misreading or punishing disclosures of sexual abuse in particular. In addition, human service professionals have the best opportunities for both raising community and parental awareness of the need to protect children and educate them to identify, avoid and report inappropriate and criminal behaviour.

If adequately informed, educators, counsellors, carers and health professionals can:

 identify “at risk” children and victims in the early stages of abuse and neglect. Victims of sexual abuse may exhibit age-inappropriate sexual behaviours, draw sexuaIly explicit pictures or give hints about what is happening or just “tell it as it is”. Educators and carers need to know how to recognise and report abuse and support victims

 report suspicions and evidence of abuse to child protection services or police

 provide support and therapeutic activities for victims

 provide support and advice for non-offending parents of sexually abused children and victims of family violence

 help parents of children “at risk” to contact support and counselling services

 reduce the risk of abuse and neglect by encouraging parent participation in the classroom/centre, modelling positive child management strategies and opportunities to engage in educational activities/play

 provide a parents’ club with opportunities to improve knowledge and skills in desired areas such as single-parenting, nutrition and budgeting on a pension, women’s health, positive child management techniques, etc.

 maintain regular contact with parents in succinct newsletters and meetings. When children are aged 4-8 years, parents will usually attend parent-teacher gatherings and some will volunteer to assist in classrooms

 help children to identify, prevent and stop abuse by providing curriculum that provides realistic safety knowledge and skills. Schools teach children to stay safe in traffic, water, with electricity, fire and heat. They are best equipped to teach children to stay safe with people, in real life and on the internet

 inform parents what is being taught, why and, most importantly, how they can reinforce safety strategies at home

Massey University’s research into the effectiveness of New Zealand’s national child protection curriculum showed that safety strategies taught in school were discussed at home and this was significant in the success of that programme¹. The author also found that when New Zealand parents were involved, children gained confidence and had the best safety knowledge and skills².

Educators and carers are also important professionals in child protection because:

 parents have a poor history of protecting their children

 most child abuse occurs within the family circle

 some children are abused in school by other children or adults; on the other hand

 for some victims, their school or centre may be their only safe environment

Parents, some police and even some teachers continue to limit safety education to avoiding abduction by strangers, despite the fact that most abuse is committed by known and trusted people and, furthermore, published research findings have shown (since 1989) that children under 9-10 years do not understand what a stranger is^3,4.

The Australian Federal Government’s Safe Schools Framework

The Safe Schools Framework (2003) stated that all government and non-government education authorities are committed to ensuring the wellbeing of all Australian children in the education system*. Typical jurisdictional practices to prevent and respond to bullying, harassment, violence, and child abuse and neglect were identified as the provision of:

^{* The author was Child Protection Consultant to the Federal Minister for Education for the writing of The National Safe Schools Framework}

 guidance and advice in the development of written child protection policies

 whole-school approaches that involve parents/carers, parent workshops, school boards, and relevant associations

 child protection curriculum that includes discriminatory behaviours involving gender, race, sexuality, disability and religion

 professional training for staff on countering child abuse, bullying and harassment; procedures (including mandatory reporting); identifying and understanding all forms of child abuse, including the needs of victims

 resources for helping students to recognise/report abuse, and develop safety knowledge and skills

 specific encouragement for the empowerment of students by involving them in decision-making and resolution processes through, for example, training in peer mediation, class meetings and the adoption of “buddy” systems

 specialist support, especially for teachers who encounter abuse and work with severely disturbed students

 police checks on all school personnel (including volunteers)

It was recognised that:

 an essential function of all schools is that all children and young people have a right to learn in a safe, supportive environment and be treated with respect

 Australians rightly expect education authorities to take all possible steps to ensure the safety of students, to support them and set out clearly, transparently and explicitly the policies and programmes they have in place to fulfil this important responsibility

 schools should be among the safest places in the community for children and young people

Guiding principles for the provision of a safe and supportive school environment

All Australian schools will:

 affirm the right of all school community members to be safe from bullying, harassment and abuse at school

 promote care, respect and cooperation, and value diversity

 develop and implement policies, programmes and processes to nurture a safe and supportive school environment involving the whole school community

 recognise that quality and educated leadership is essential for underpinning the creation of a safe and supportive school environment

 ensure that roles and responsibilities are explicit, clearly understood and disseminated

 recognise the critical importance of pre-service and ongoing professional development in creating a safe and supportive school environment

 have a responsibility to provide curriculum for students to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed for positive relationships

 focus on policies that are proactive and oriented towards prevention and intervention

 regularly monitor and evaluate policies and programmes so that evidence-based practice supports decisions and improvements

 take action to protect children from all forms of maltreatment

In relation to bullying, harassment and violence there should be a coordinated whole school plan outlining how issues are addressed. In relation to child protection there must be:

 an explicit aim of eliminating the risk of child abuse of all kinds by staff and visitors including student teachers, volunteers, students on work experience, therapists and other professionals

 comprehensive screening of applicants for employment, student teachers and volunteers before they become involved in school activities, bearing in mind that few child sex offenders have criminal records

 safe procedures for staff who work alone with students; and

 clear procedures for the reporting of abuse by staff

Policies, programmes and procedures must be developed, disseminated and promoted across the whole school community in a way that is sensitive to parents, students and community members with diverse backgrounds. The periodic evaluation of policies, programmes and procedures must be undertaken and includes:

 auditing the school’s policies/ strategies

 reviewing bullying and safety issues through surveys of staff, students and parents

 analysing evaluation data to inform future planning needs and practice

Risk assessment procedures for in and outside school premises must be in place; for example, risk minimisation through close supervision, environmental design and targeted programmes for students at risk (e.g. pro-social skills development).

Appropriate pre-service and in-service training must be conducted for all staff about bullying, violence, harassment and child protection issues.

Parent inclusion

Given that few parents have a realistic understanding of child protection issues, the school programme must aim to develop their awareness of child abuse, protection and bullying issues and strategies for dealing with them. This can be achieved through:

 involving them in the whole school planning process

 parent information sessions (e.g. on child protection curriculum, supporting children, cyber and other forms of bullying, safety on the internet and how parents can reinforce the safety strategies taught at school

 access to community-based resources, and information on developing effective relationships and behaviour in children

 the provision of up-to-date internet safety information available from Net-Alert (Australia), Netsafe (NZ) (free of charge by phone or internet

Managing incidents of abuse/victimisation

Cases of abuse/victimisation must be identified and reported. This includes:

(i) addressing bullying, harassment and violence by:

 explicitly encouraging all members of the school community to take a proactive stand against bullying, violence and abuse

 involving students and staff in identifying where bullying occurs

 developing procedures to encourage early identification and reporting

 responding proactively to signs of bullying, harassment and violence

 creating opportunities for students to share concerns

 encouraging students to seek help when abuse is witnessed or experienced

 encouraging parents to report bullying and harassment issues to staff

Dr Ken Rigby’s retrospective research (2010) confirmed Finnish findings that school bullying is a strong predictor of psychiatric disorders and, in adulthood, victims experience more psychiatric symptoms and greater impairment across all of the mental health scales⁵.

(ii) for child protection:

 implement child abuse reporting laws and regulations

 identify indicators of all forms of child abuse and neglect

 develop empathic listening skills

 implement support and monitoring strategies, both immediate and long-term

 ensure that steps and outcomes for managing incidents are clearly documented to facilitate evaluation and justify possible modification

 involve other agencies/services as appropriate (e.g. police and child protection services) and implement individual case management systems through collaborative planning

 ensure that relevant specialists are enlisted, especially for supporting staff dealing with child abuse cases

Providing support for students

Support must be provided for students involved in bullying, harassment, violence, abuse or neglect. This must:

 focus on restoring the wellbeing of students who have been affected by victimisation, through the provision of social support and counselling

 facilitate the reintegration of those involved in bullying (e.g. through restorative justice practices)

 provide opportunities for individual students to develop more socially appropriate behaviour and coping skills, as relevant

The Framework did not include provision for the safety of students using home-stays and foreign exchanges. For further information on this see Chapter 12.

It is important to note that it is not the teacher or carer’s responsibility to inform parents when children report being sexuaIly abused; that is the role of child protection officers or police. If forewarned, parents may chaIlenge the abuser providing time for him or her to create an alibi. There is also a risk that protective parents will use violence against the accused persons or, alternatively, believe their denial and withdraw support from their child before police have investigated the aIlegations. Most commonly, if forewarned, abusers and their supporters will threaten victims that terrible things will happen if they don’t retract the aIlegation “and it will be all your fault”.

Cyber-safety

Legislation and policies affect schools and early childhood centres’ responsibilities to ensure cyber-safety. Guidelines apply to all those accessing the internet on school premises. If students behave online in such a way that they threaten the wellbeing of others, managers have the authority to suspend or exclude them irrespective of whether the activity was committed on school premises. Cyber-bullying is usually treated as a behaviour management issue but when pornography or the safety of others is involved, the matter may constitute a crime; the technology used should be confiscated and handed to police. E-crimes are when technology is either used to commit an offence or is used to store material involved in an offence.

Adults need to be aware of the problem of “sexting” which involves a young person using a mobile phone to take sexually-explicit digital photos for distribution by SMS, MMS or email. Once on the internet, these images leave a permanent footprint that can be accessed by others.

It is important that students know that the production and distribution of pornography constitutes a crime, whether images are of their own bodies or those of other. This can have long-term consequences such as being placed on a paedophile register, thereby affecting their future choice of career.

It is usual now for students and parents to sign cyber-safety agreements and agree to follow copyright and licensing laws. Teachers must ensure that students and parents are familiar with internet security and how to deal with breaches.

Given the rate of change, teachers should attend professional development sessions whenever possible These are provided by NetAlert, Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), NetSafe (New Zealand) and similar organisations to learn about current potential risks, the latest internet scams, cyber-bullying, identity theft, dangers inherent in chat-rooms, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. Students should know about Kids Helpline, Cybersmart Kids Online, Stay Smart Online and other relevant websites.

Some school principals continue to ignore child sexual abus

Despite mandatory reporting legislation, daily media publicity, child protection initiatives and huge compensation payments made to victims, some school principals, staff and education administrators have continued to ignore child sex offences committed by staff ^6.

In September 2007, a student reported to the principal that she had been sexually abused by a teacher at a Toowoomba Catholic Primary School. The victim left the school and over the next two years the teacher abused another twelve children^7,8,9. Fourteen months later, another victim made a disclosure to police.

The teacher retired suddenly but despite the circumstances, he was loaded with gifts, received farewell Mass and glowing testimonials. Weeks later, he was re-hired as a relief teacher. Worse, he was appointed as child protection officer in whom children were told to confide¹⁰. The 60-year old man was charged with 12 counts of rape and 34 counts of indecent treatment of 13 girls and the school principal was summoned for failing to report the sexual abuse of a child¹¹. The principal said he sought the advice of his “immediate superiors” and thought (wrongly) that this was his only obligation. He claimed to have “followed their advice on how to proceed” which only involved writing a letter to the accused informing him of the allegations. The prosecutor said these officials “watered down” the allegations, before confronting the teacher. Surprisingly, Magistrate Stjernqvist acquitted the principal but said it was clear that someone at the school or Catholic Education office had committed an offence. The Bishop then sacked both the principal and two administrators saying that their actions showed a clear lack of understanding of the behaviour expected of school managers. The Bishop accepted that his actions (which were applauded by the community) might result in the church being sued for wrongful dismissal in addition to being sued by victims’ parents¹². Teachers contributing to relevant internet sites made it clear that the inaction of the Toowoomba management was not at all unusual and when past whistleblowers exposed paedophile colleagues and priests, they risked losing their jobs.

The unwillingness of adults to “get involved” in the protection of children was confirmed by a national study published by the Australian Childhood Foundation (2008)¹³ which found that 31% of Australian adults would dismiss children as liars if they said they’d been sexually abused. An additional 20% said they wouldn’t know what to do. Sixteen percent didn’t know that it was an offence for an adult to use a child for sex and 16% did not know that most child sex offences are committed by people who are known and trusted by their victims In other words, unless we educate the community, the chances of children receiving help to stop abuse are slim. Adult ignorance becomes obvious when we read repeatedly that parents of sexuaIly abused children reported sexual crimes to senior clergy or a head teacher and didn’t contact police even when it became obvious that the school or church authorities were ignoring crimes committed against their children. This suggests that parents may be ignorant of the serious long-term harm that abuse can cause. The Foundation’s study also found that Australians ranked child abuse 13th on a list of concerning community issues, behind the state of footpaths, inefficient public transport and petrol prices. Chief executive officer Joe Tucci told media:

“Many people could not deal with the horror of child abuse and they choose to ignore it and hope that someone else will act on it. The community is putting it in the margins of their focus as they want to believe it is someone else’s problem and that someone out there is doing something about it.”

The study involved 720 adults from all states and territories ¹⁴ .

Apart from ignorance, disbelief and the minimalisation of sexual crimes against children, school principals may avoid making reports because they fear having to give evidence in court and they fear violence from offenders¹⁵.

A study undertaken by psychologists at Oregon University (USA) showed that men are unlikely to believe reports of abuse unless they themselves were victims. The study, published in Psychology of Women Quarterly, also found that sexist males tended to believe that such incidents, if they happened at all, were not harmful. Leading author Lisa DeMarni and psychology Professor Jennifer Freyd said this goes some way to explain why 86% of child sex crimes are never reported. “Until we change societal attitudes, abuse victims are unlikely to speak up. That means that abuse can keep occurring and victims won’t get the societal support they need. It’s positive social support and being believed that is most likely leading to positive mental health outcomes” ¹⁶.

The importance of child protection policies

Because of the responsibility placed on people who work with children in both paid and voluntary capacities, it is important that administrators and staff of all services catering for children, together with parents and management boards, develop child protection and abuse prevention policies which must be read, agreed and implemented by staff, researchers, tertiary and high school students on field experience, volunteers and other visitors. The general aims of a child protection and abuse prevention policy are to:

 create a safe environment and protect children while in the care of staff (including camps, clubs, sleep-overs, sports-training, drama and choir rehearsals and visits elsewhere)

 provide children with information to help them to protect themselves; and

 report abuse to statutory authorities

 respond in ways that make children safe when abuse is suspected

 reduce stress on staff by providing guidance, counselling and keeping them well informed especially when abuse is reported

 protect staff from wrongful accusation by implementing safe strategies

 re-assure parents by involving them in policy development

Specific aims should be to:

 emphasise child safety and invite staff, children and parents to identify places/situations that could make children vulnerable to abuse and create changes necessary to increase safety. This is very important in large schools and situations involving volunteers

 make public the underlying philosophy and commitment of a service which accepts its responsibilities for the protection of children and abuse prevention

 develop communications with the child protection agency that has statutory powers to respond effectively to reports of child abuse

 develop, maintain and publicise a data base of services to help parents

 ensure that staff (a) respond to disclosures or suspicions of abuse in psychologically helpful ways and (b) support victims

 protect children from the risk of abuse by other children as well as employees and visitors

 protect staff by establishing clear roles and boundaries and maintaining high professional standards

 protect children by teaching and practicing personal safety skills, and informing parents what is taught, why and how they can reinforce these strategies at home

 ensure that thorough checks are made on new staff and volunteers before they have contact with children

 ensure that young people embarking on home-stays/overseas exchanges are only placed with hosts who have been screened by police, their homes inspected and students made thoroughly cognisant of risks, reportable behaviours and how to locate help if it is needed

Schools and centres need policies because responding to abuse raises emotional issues that are difficult for untrained adults to handle. Policies should increase awareness of child abuse and the likelihood of abuse being identified and stopped in its early stages. Teachers, child carers and school counsellors need to know these policies and be educated to the point where they can recognise and read signs, and feel confident to act on their observations. Unfortunately, some church schools seem to have learned nothing from the cost of past negligence and their procedures still require reports to be made to bureaucrats and senior clergy rather than police or child protection services.

Keep yourself safe

Duty of care is a common-law concept that requires staff to protect children against harm. It is usually seen as a duty to prevent foreseeable risk of injury and includes emotional welfare. Courts define standards for “duty of care” to be very high. Not only does this apply to physical safety and safe equipment; staff are required to maintain professional boundaries with students that protect them from misunderstandings about the relationship.

Professional violations in communications include:

 comments about a student’s appearance

 sexual innuendo, conversations or jokes, obscene gestures or language

 the use of inappropriate “pet” names for students

 facilitating access to sexual material

 causing or failing to stop the sexual harassment of a student

 undressing or wearing provocative clothing in the presence of students

 personal contact with a student including SMS, emails, child minding, phone calls (excluding class communications to a sick student, etc.)

Inappropriate behaviour includes

 giving sexual information involving self or another staff member to a student

 unnecessary and/or inappropriate touching; massaging, kissing, stroking

 permitting inappropriate touching by a student

 inviting or allowing students to visit your home

 visiting children’s homes for personal reasons e.g. babysitting or parties

 being alone with a student in a store-room, changing-room, etc.

 watching students changing when not in a supervisory role

 driving a student when not accompanied by another staff member

 providing personal gifts and favours for students

 adopting the role of counsellor without the approval of key staff

Secondary school teachers are sometimes targets for inappropriate sexual behaviour and suggestions by students. These situations are dangerous and should be recorded and reported promptly to line-managers. Inappropriate sexual behaviour by children to staff can suggest that the child has been sexually abused. If in doubt, seek advice from the child protection services or police.

It is recognised that some secondary students actively pursue a relationship with staff. To stay safe, never accept special gifts, stop flirtatious gestures and sexual suggestiveness immediately and refuse inappropriate social invitations or correspondence indicating the desire for a special relationship. Keep records and report to the line manager.

In some situations, staff are required to work with a student in a one-to-one situation e.g. counselling, assessing or providing first aid. A Brisbane counsellor was thought to have sexually abused hundreds of boys in a remote, locked room, crimes that cost the Diocese vast sums of money in victim compensation. Some New Zealand schools have counselling rooms within view of the receptionist while others have windows where the counsellor (but not the student) can be seen. Records should be kept of the duration of visits which, even in boarding schools, should always take place in school hours. Counsellors must find a balance between student privacy and student safety.

Appropriate physical contact includes:

 first aid and helping a child who falls

 assisting with the toileting of children with disabilities who have individual care-plans negotiated with parents

 non-intrusive gestures for a child suffering grief and loss

 non-intrusive touch such as shaking hands to congratulate

 assisting with the toileting of very young children as necessary and in accordance with the centre’s policy

 the provision of hugs for distressed young children which should always be with their consent and in a public place

Reporting colleagues

Child sex offenders specifically target services that provide close contact with children making schools, children’s centres, camps, out-of-school activities and sports-training vulnerable. The interest and welfare of children must be the prime consideration when abuse is suspected. That is easy to say but harder to fulfil when a co-worker, a priest or a member of the school council is suspected or accused of sexual abuse or a teacher witnesses physical or, more often, the psychological abuse of a child by a colleague. The school policy should provide clear procedures for handling these situations.

Principals also tend to ignore habitual and damaging psychological abuse by teachers who are so accustomed to putting children down that they do it in the presence of parents and visitors.

When sexual abuse is disclosed, staff are sometimes urged to “stick together” and support the accused to preserve “the good name of the school”, church or centre. A principal’s demand for group solidarity can create a schism in the organisation. Whistleblowers and victims’ families have been ostracised and demonised, sometimes being forced to move to another state. This occurred even when accused teachers were found guilty and students suicided.

An ABC TV documentary (May 16th 2005), showed that teacher, Wayne Tonks, advertised for boys for sex on lavatory walls. He was bashed and suffocated with a plastic bag by two 16-year-old victims who claimed they were drugged, raped and filmed by the teacher and his co-offender. They broke into his unit to steal the video. When, some years later, the deceased teacher’s former colleagues were interviewed by journalist Chris Masters, they wrongly referred to him as “homosexual” (not pederast) and lamented his loss to the teaching profession. One said, “The kids would line up for his lessons and you could see there was a lot of anticipation, excitement, ready to go into his room”.

Another staff member said, “He was an outstanding classroom teacher. He was one of probably the best ten teachers I’ve ever seen in my life.” Another said, “Everyone was heartbroken because he was great at his job; he was a very nice person and he was a very, very hard worker and you don’t get teachers that often who are that talented …”

Did they never wonder why he was so popular? Or did they think (as many do) that “it’s none of my business”.

People seldom realise that sex offenders seduce children and manipulate those responsible for their safety using charm. They “groom” school principals, colleagues and parents to gain their trust before they commit offences. They offer their services for out-of-school activities that give them unsupervised contact with students and give the impression that they are outstanding, enthusiastic and committed members of the community. They become popular with boys by behaving like teenagers, providing sex talk, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and pornography.

When sex offenders are trusted, supervision may become sloppy and inappropriate, high-risk behaviour is ignored. In Canberra, a court heard that staff at a Marist College knew that boys were visiting a brother in his office and were rostered to wake him up each morning and no-one challenged him. It was revealed in court that paedophile staff tested the limits and when no boundaries were found, their inappropriate behaviour became more daring. Some schools have paid horrendous financial penalties for this negligence¹⁷.

Beginning teachers find reporting an established colleague particularly difficult, especially if they have short-term contracts and hope to be re-employed. Staff may also resist making reports because of the fear that they will be identified. Although they are guaranteed confidentiality, there are obvious risks when they live in the same, small communities.

On the other hand, mandatory reporting does not ensure that one telephone call to the child abuse report-line will change the child’s situation immediately. Making a report doesn’t end the process and save the child, but is simply one step towards creating change to meet the child’s needs.

Quite clearly the safety and weIl-being of children must be the priority. If a child continues to suffer, the reporter should keep on reporting. If the response to the call is unsatisfactory, the reporter should ask to speak to the duty officer and if that fails to provide protection for the child, the Chief Executive Officer of the department responsible for children’s safety and the Government Minister and Shadow Minister responsible for children. When a sexual crime has been committed, the police child sex abuse unit should be informed.

Staff training

Objectives for staff training should include being able to demonstrate a sound knowledge of:

 legislation, regulations and guidelines for reporting abuse and neglect

 what constitutes physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect

 indicators of all forms of child maltreatment including indicators in children’s drawings

 what to do when a colleague is suspected/accused of child abuse

 understanding the effects of abuse and neglect on children’s development

 how to differentiate between behaviour that constitutes normal sexual curiosity and behaviour suggesting that a child may have been abused

 how to handle children’s problematic sexual behaviours

 dynamics of child sex abuse and incest

 grooming methods used by paedophiles to manipulate children and those responsible for their safety

 risk management for group visits, home-stays and student exchanges

 child protection curricula that is comprehensive, realistic and developmentally appropriate

 how to talk to children and respond appropriately and supportively when abuse or neglect is disclosed or suspected

 how to recognise and deal with personal emotions about abuse

 resources available for children and families: where parents can find counselling and support after learning that abuse occurred

 what happens after reporting and how the legal system works

 where parents can find treatment for children with problematic sexual behaviours

 how to protect vulnerable children with special needs and young people in state and residential care and boarding schools

 cyber safety and risks to children

 how to keep staff safe

Research by Hawkins and McCallum (2001) into the impact of training for reporting abuse showed the importance of recent training for teachers’ abilities to identify abuse, their awareness of their reporting responsibilities and their responses to children’s disclosures of abuse¹⁸. Tucci, Goddard and Mitchell (2001) also confirmed that professional support must be ongoing given that 75% of respondents in Victoria found it difficult to identify abuse and 63% experienced difficulty in knowing when to make a report. Further, in 64% of cases where professionals did report, they received no feedback whatsoever from the child protection service¹⁹.

Very young children are most frequently involved in reports of abuse

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s Child Protection Australia annual reports have shown that more than one-third of children on child protection orders are aged less than four years.

Child sex offenders target young children because they are obedient and, if abuse is disclosed, there is little likelihood that they will be prosecuted and punished if there are no independent witnesses.

Schools and early childhood centres should have a greater role in child protection

Given that all social services are receiving more child abuse reports than they can investigate, social work academics now argue that schools should be more involved in family support^20,21. They say that:

 school approaches to child abuse prevention are most effective in the context of a whole-of-school “child safe policy” approach which offers a range of institutional supports to teachers working with children “at risk”

 schools should be explicitly supported as a principal site of child abuse prevention and response in partnership with child welfare agencies

There is nothing new about this. England’s Plowden Report “Children and their Primary Schools” (HMSO – London 1967) introduced the value of parent participation in schools while the Halsey Report (HMSO, “Educational Priority”, 1972) and the work of Dr Eric Midwinter, resulted in funding for Educational Priority Schools in disadvantaged areas to serve and involve the community. Curricular changed to become community-relevant; for example maths lessons took place in post offices and butchers’ shops. Schools provided childcare, parent-education, health and social welfare services. Parents who dropped out of school prematurely were given the opportunity to study to gain admission to tertiary education or enrol in the Open University. Parent Centres with child care were established nationally to provide all of the necessary services to “at risk” families, many attending by order of a court.

South Australia again took the lead. Dingy school buildings in low socio-economic areas were renovated and given funding for innovative community ventures. Empty classrooms were allocated to parent groups for programmes to raise self-esteem and develop new skills. Parents published newsletters and arranged workshops on relevant topics. They were financially supported to attend further education courses (such as car maintenance) on the understanding that they came back to teach other parents what they learned. Unemployed fathers’ groups repaired church and school premises and community centres and gained skills that led to training and regular employment. When public facilities such as transport, footpaths and lighting were inadequate, officials were invited to meet complaining parents on school premises. Crèches were provided to enable overweight mothers to attend weight-loss programmes and enable single mothers to return to school. Parent volunteers were recruited to help speech therapists, new migrants, librarians and teachers in classrooms. Some told the author that the school had made them better parents. One said, “If I weren’t here I would be watching soapies on TV or out shop-lifting for things that tempt me but can’t afford.”

As a preventive measure, South Australian child protection workers made regular visits to priority schools on one half-day a week to talk informally to concerned parents and staff. Recent initiatives include multi-disciplinary children’s centres and nurses visiting all new mothers. The suggested “whole-school” approach also includes:

 partnerships with family support services to provide a gateway to universaIly accessible information, education and counseIling services for families experiencing difficulties

 expanding the role of school counsellors as a source of leadership and expertise in child protection issues and as a liaison point for information from the relevant department about changes in policies or protocols

 providing “Child Safe Information Kits” for families

 inviting parents to identify issues which may affect their ability to care for children

 identifying strategies for the school to undertake if problems occur; for example if a parent has a recurring mental illness requiring hospitalisation the kit will show how to access alternative sources of care for the child (much like an asthma action plan identifies action in case of an asthma attack)

 providing professional, confidentiaI “debriefing” sessions to individual staff who work with child abuse victims to enable them to express their distress, frustration and options and support them in their role

 better feedback from child protection services to teachers making reports

The argument from the social work sector is that professionals who identify the risk of physical or emotional abuse and neglect may be the most accessible and continuing source of potential support after a report is made. Schools are perceived as a critical community interface between children and families with the potential to work in partnership with child protection services. However, child protection services have little history of consulting or working in partnership with teachers or, indeed, acknowledging their importance in the protection of children. Furthermore, teachers often have large classes and many other demands are made on them in a restricted period of time.

Effects of child abuse and trauma on learning

“Children’s early experiences have far-reaching and solidifying effects on the development of their brains and behaviours. Diverse experiences affect that architecture e.g. the brain, the expression of genes and the biochemistry and physiology of the human body – all of which mediate our cognitive, emotional and social behaviours.” (Shanker 1999²²)

Brain development begins at conception and continues throughout life. For optimal physical, social, emotional and intellectual growth, babies and young children need close, dependable and predictable, ongoing caring relationships with rich language experiences, age-appropriate (but not over-stimulating) sights and sounds. The child’s capacity to learn and achieve in school is influenced by the neural wiring that takes place in the early years and sets up what is known as the architecture of the brain. The connections formed between neurons and between neural networks affect (a) children’s ability to pay attention; (b) the speed at which they can process and retain information; (c) the ability to recognise patterns and absorb new information; (d) the capacity to understand what others are thinking and feeling, and (e) the ability to grasp and conform to the norms of the classroom²³.

The changes that take place in the brain’s structure in early childhood ensure that it becomes highly attuned to the child’s environment. It is now widely understood that a young child reared in violent and abusive surroundings will develop brain connections and chemical responses that are highly alert and sensitive to danger signals. The brain presumes that the frightening environment will be ongoing and, therefore, the connections and chemical signal patterns laid down become entrenched. The young child is extremely sensitive to frightening experiences such as emotional and physical neglect associated with maternal depression, a carer’s drug dependence, family violence and all forms of child abuse. Children raised in such environments are likely to experience anxiety when interacting with adults²⁴. Inadequate nurturance from birth to 3 years can also lead to long-term mental illness, depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), drug-dependence, loss of impulse control and heightened aggression^25,26,27.

Teicher²⁸ (2000; 2002) was one of several researchers who confirmed that child abuse and family violence change the structure of the developing brain. He found that a thick cable of nerve cells connecting the right and left sides of the brain (corpus callosum) is smaller than normal in abused children. He and colleagues at McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility affiliated with Harvard University, compared brain scans from 51 patients and 97 healthy children. The researchers concluded that, in boys, neglect was associated with a significant reduction in the size of the important connector. It was also abnormaIly small in girls who were sexuaIly abused. “We believe that a smaIler corpus caIlosum leads to less integration of the two halves of the brain, and this can result in dramatic shifts in mood and personality,” Teicher explained²⁹. He found that abuse victims are more likely to show problems with emotional regulation, self-concept, social skiIls and academic motivation. He concluded that severe stress in childhood leaves an indelible effect on brain structure and function that can lead to depression, anxiety, PTSD, aggression, impulsiveness, relationship problems, delinquency, hyperactivity or substance abuse.

So how and why does trauma affect the structure of the brain?

The brain responds to threat with a set of predictable neurobiological, neuroendocrine and neuropsychological responses. Cortisol and adrenaline, needed for survival in dangerous situations, are released. Neglect or prolonged stress increases the secretion of cortisol, lowering levels of serotonin and elevating noradrenaline^30,31,32. High levels of cortisol are associated with risky decision-making and risky behaviour, especially where taking a risk could potentially yield a reward³³. Excessive levels can actually increase fear.

In traumatised children, the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine are higher than normal, providing the energy for a “flight or fight” response. They damage the brain and impede learning when released excessively or repetitively. Excessive levels of cortisol also damage the heart, bones, immune system and hippocampus and that, in turn, affects memory, cognition and the recording of emotions attached to stressful events³⁴. Traumatic experiences make the brain go into a state of fear-related activation and constant alertness leading to changes in emotional, behavioural and cognitive functioning. At the slightest threat, stress hormones surge to the brain which then tracks cues that might herald another attack. Persistent or chronic activation leads to poor concentration, sleep and mood problems in addition to hyper-vigilance, a focus on threat-related cues (typically non-verbal), anxiety and behaviour impulsivity which may become maladaptive when the threat has passed³⁵.

Primary responses to trauma are hyper-arousal (fight or flight) and dissociation (freeze and surrender), each of which activates a specific combination of neural responses. In responding to sexual abuse by an older person, children are most likely to freeze or surrender. Those with PTSD experience a number of physiological and neurobiological changes such as decreased volume of the hippocampus and abnormal activation of the amygdala. The amygdala triggers the “fight or flee” or “freeze/surrender” reaction. The central part of the amygdala plays an important part in anxiety disorders that involve specific fears. Very anxious children have a larger amygdala than normal children. High levels of stimulation to the amygdala interfere with hippocampal functioning. Studies show that people who suffered the stress of incest and those who experienced military combat have a similar, smaller than average hippocampus. The smaller the hippocampus, the more pronounced the symptoms of disassociation which lead to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Severe PTSD sufferers have been found to have an average shrinkage of 26% of the left hippocampus and 22% of the right compared with those with no PTSD symptoms³⁶. PTSD sufferers do not respond normally to stress. Under pressure they may feel or act as if they are experiencing abuse all over again.

Neglected children deprived of a stimulating environment, opportunities for play and close physical contact with their carer have been found to have smaller brains than is normal for their age.

It is scarcely surprising that special education groups for learning disabled children typically cater for a disproportionate number of child abuse victims.

Implications for courts and children’s services

Perry (2009)³⁷confirms that there is hope if children’s problems are identified, intervention is early and aggressive and the trauma isn’t repeated. Interventions must restore a sense of safety and control. However, in chronic cases of abuse, the stress associated with family reactions, assessment and the legal process can contribute further to the child’s fearful state. Court involvement, removal from home without preparation, being placed with strangers in emergency foster-care then moved again to other foster-homes or, worse, multiple carers in motels or other inappropriate accommodation, add to the trauma. Children are further damaged when attempts at family reunification fail, when they are re-abused on home visits then sent to different foster placements and different schools. Similarly, abused children will be further traumatised when a Family Court issues an order for police to snatch children from their primary carers and hand them over to the parents the children had accused of abusing them.

Policies for children in out-of-home care and Family Court decisions should obviously aim to reduce trauma and, wherever possible, encourage and nurture secure relationships with the same primary carer. All those whose work involves young children need specific education in child development, child abuse and infant learning to respond satisfactorily to infant behaviour. Learning theory shows that infant learning is facilitated by the provision of nurturance, support, security, predictability, focus and expansion. Family Courts and child protection systems can diminish the risks by making orders that provide consistent care, nurturance and predictability, returning some control to the child. However there is widespread agreement that overburdened and reactive child protection services that only investigate “serious” cases of abuse are ill-equipped to provide these key elements.

Perry warns that as a nation, what we sow, we reap. Despite the weIl-documented critical nature of the early years and the damage caused by abuse and neglect, comparatively few resources are dedicated to this age group. “As a society we put more value into hours of training to drive a car than we do on formal training in childrearing.” 38

The impacts of trauma on learning and behaviour39

Traumatised children often have problems with the following:

Short-term memory: diminishing their capacity to recall and carry out instructions and retain information.

Emotion: engaging in feeling-based activities.

Communications: not seeking help if they find that adults are unreliable.

Concentration: may be impeded as children try to understand events. Their hyper-vigilant state makes it difficult to learn.

Representation: negative self-perceptions, guilt and shame as most victims have been taught that they are to blame for their own abuse. Children may find it hard to accept responsibility for their inappropriate behaviour. They struggle with feedback and avoid decision-making and new chaIlenges for fear of failure. This prevents progress in numeracy and literacy. They may choose the same puzzle repeatedly which means that they don’t learn from the experience. They choose the company of others in similar situations.

Impacts of trauma on behaviour

Memories of the trauma: Abuse victims may re-enact sexual abuse and violence. When they have difficulty managing stress, they may withdraw, avoiding activities and acting in ways that make others uncomfortable.

Emotion: Traumatised children may not understand the impact of their behaviour on others. They lack friends if they can’t control anger and have the potential to inflict pain on others. Children who have difficulty with impulse control find it difficult to know when to stop. They break rules, damage property and struggle to find explanations for their behaviour. They are susceptible to negative influences. They are difficult to support in groups that rely on social norms because, unable to empathise, they don’t understand others’ feelings. They harm them remorselessly. They struggle with their own feelings and feel out of “sync” with the rest of the world.

Behaviour: This may be frustrating and difficult to manage. Emotional or violent outbursts and over-reaction are likely.

Organisation: A state of chaos is prevalent.

Impacts of trauma on social relationships

Memory: Diminished language and depression make it difficult for them to communicate. Social skills are often not well developed in maltreated children.

Emotion: Other children’s emotional outbursts may cause distress.

Social: Maltreated children may avoid group activities and peers avoid them because of their unpredictability, extreme behaviour, lack of empathy and depressed state. Maltreated children focus on daily survival and may be too tired to engage socially. They either distrust everyone, or misjudge the intentions of others, trusting the wrong people. Abuse victims are often re-abused. Children in out-of-home care may have poor attachment or self-regulation skills. Peer-group acceptance depends on a child’s capacity to regulate anxiety, impulsive behaviour, and frustration. Without these strengths, a child may be rejected. Rejection creates a negative cycle as reduced opportunities for socialisation lead to slower social learning resulting in even greater isolation. Because they perform poorly in groups they avoid others. Excluded children can either turn pain inwards, becoming sad, self-loathing or they direct pain outwards with aggression or violence. Unless there is intervention, these children find it difficult to concentrate and achieve in school.

Representation: Traumatised victims may demonstrate inappropriate sexual behaviours to gain kudos. This can result in groups being prematurely sexualised by victims. In adolescence this leads to peer-group alienation. The more isolated and threatened they become, the more regressed their thinking and behaviour. When in the “alarm” state, they are more anxious and unable to concentrate, paying more attention to “non-verbal” cues such as body language and tone of voice. This has implications for understanding the way that abused and traumatised children react. Perry (2009) states that staff should remember that they will often be in a state of low-level fear and their emotional, behavioural and cognitive functioning will reflect this⁴⁰.

Guidelines for working with traumatised children

Teachers and carers can intervene to stop the cycle from progressing⁴¹.

Nurture these children. Babies and toddlers need to be held, loved, rocked and cuddled. However, be aware that for many, touch is associated with abuse. Stay attuned to responses. Watch for apprehensive looks, flinching and moving away. Ask children whether they would like a hug, placing control back in their hands. “In many ways you are providing replacement experiences that should have taken place during their infancy – but you are doing it when their brains are harder to modify and change. Therefore they will need even more bonding experiences to help them to develop attachments” ⁴².

Try to understand their behaviours before punishing or implementing consequences. The more you know about attachment problems, bonding, normal-versus-abnormal development, the easier it is to develop appropriate interventions. Information can prevent you from misunderstanding children’s behaviour. Food-hoarders, for example, should not be treated as thieves; hoarding is a normal reaction for neglected children. Sex abuse victims who draw sexually explicit pictures should be questioned rather than reprimanded. Punishment increases insecurity and distress. Many behaviours are disturbing and professional help should be utilised if you find yourself struggling.

Interact with these children based on their emotional age. Maltreated children may be emotionally and socially retarded and when they are fearful, they regress further. That means that a 10 year old may suddenly behave as a 2 year old. The adult should then interact at the two-year level. It is inappropriate to criticise them for not acting their age or discuss consequences for inappropriate behaviour.

Be consistent, predictable and repetitive. Maltreated children are sensitive to change and some will be overwhelmed by new social situations. School outings, sleep-overs, camps, a new classroom with a new teacher or their teacher’s absence may create anxiety. Traumatised children need predictable routines. Make sure the child knows what to expect. If change is to occur, explain in advance what will happen and why. Children only benefit from learning opportunities if they feel safe and secure.

Model and teach social behaviours. Maltreated children may not know how to interact appropriately. Model desired behaviours and explain what you are doing and why. Maltreated children, especially those with disabilities, often have problems with appropriate physical space and contact. They may have to be taught not to stand too close to people, not to stare, not to play with their genitals in public and not to wipe their noses on their sleeves. Children with learning disabilities and attachment problems often initiate inappropriate physical contact with strangers. This is usually misinterpreted as affection. Perry suggests that instead of chiding, we should gently guide them to interact differently, providing opportunities to practise creating personal space and making eye-to-eye contact without staring.

Build on the skiIls needed to succeed in a group. Observe traumatised children to discover if they do best in small groups or one-to-one situations. Provide structured and regulated group interactions. If children have trouble being in a group, try pairing with a reliable buddy to build self-confidence and trust. Once they experience success, they will be more inclined to accept other settings, especially if the supportive peer is still there. Let them choose a partner for paired-reading sessions, computer games, or a group project that provide opportunities to wait, share, take turns, cooperate, and communicate. Games and tasks can increase in complexity as children develop. This provides experiences that these children might otherwise avoid. If young children are severely distressed and unpopular, befriend and spend time working with them. Others will be curious as to why the unpopular child is your friend. They want to please you and, with that in mind, some will join in. Of course, you can’t force anyone to make friends with a reticent child and moves have to be tactfully undertaken because if they backfire, the child you want to help may suffer further. Prevent bullying, exclusionary behaviour, and unkindness. If you work to provide all members of the group with a safe environment, maltreated children will be more likely to thrive.

Give traumatised children appropriate roles: if they have good number skills, make them the shop-keepers in shop-play; if they have creative talent, display their work. If they are skilled in physical activities, draw attention to them. Praise effort as well as achievements. Their behaviour and demeanour will change when they experience approval. When others observe their strengths they are more likely to befriend them and as they join in, you can gradually withdraw.

Don’t be afraid to talk about the traumatic event. Adults often imagine that if they don’t mention it again, children will forget what happened. They don’t! Perry confirms that if they sense that we are upset by the situation, they will hide their feelings, making recovery more prolonged. When the child is looking sad or worried say, “I can see that you are sad/worried today. Let’s talk about it”. Affirm that what happened to the child was distressing whether it involved death, a car-accident, bush-fires or abuse. Never avoid discussion: listen without over-reacting, answer questions, empathise, support then comfort for a lasting positive effect⁴³.

Stop, listen to and play with traumatised children. When quiet and interactive, they may feel able to reveal their anxieties. This is a good time to introduce feelings and how to express them. Teach children healthy ways to act when sad, angry, confused, happy etc. Use and make children’s own “Feeling” books.

Have realistic expectations. Abused and neglected children have a great deal to overcome. Assessment by a child psychologist is helpful. Be patient with progress.

Provide appropriate comfort. Physically and sexually abused children are often distressed by physical contact. Give hugs to those who seek them and ask children’s permission to hug. They need to be in control of who touches them.

Discuss your expectations of behaviour and the consequences of inappropriate behaviour. Children need clear rules and consequences for breaking them. Be consistent when applying them and explain the reasons when you deviate. Use positive reinforcement and rewards. Take care not to put these children down.

Give the child developmentaIly appropriate information. The more the child knows about how the adult world ticks, the easier it will be to make sense of it. If there is a prosecution pending, children need to know something about the legal system and that, if there is a not-guilty finding, it is not the child’s fault. Unpredictability increases anxiety and fear leading to aggression, sleep and mood problems. Without information, children speculate to complete the story and their fantasies are more frightening than the truth. When a child is the first to find a parent or sibling hanging or shot, family members may lie claiming that the person who suicided had a heart attack. The adults think they are protecting the child but the child knows they are lying and lies increase anxiety, insecurity and distrust. The child has no-one to turn to.

If you don’t have the answers, say so!

Watch out for re-enactment, day-dreaming, withdrawal, hyper-activity and behavioural impulsivity. Traumatised children exhibit a combination of symptoms in the acute post-traumatic period. They often reappear when they have reminders of what happened; for example when they see their abusers, meet the social worker or go to court. Keep a record and note patterns of behaviour.

Protect the child. Stop and avoid activities that seem to cause distress.

Give the child choices and some sense of control. Traumatised children feel safer when they have some sense of control over their activities and social interactions. When behaving inappropriately, say “You have a choice. You can (do what is required) … Or you can continue doing this and the consequence will be … Which do you choose to do?” This helps to defuse situations where the child feels out of control and anxious⁴⁴.

Praise for effort and use positive child management techniques. We need to learn how to motivate traumatised children and tap into their interests. Unfortunately, when they don’t enjoy and play truant from school, they may find and align themselves with other marginalised individuals. The cement that holds these youngsters together is both destructive and self-destructive, leading to a life of crime. When a child exhibits angry and anti-social behaviours and is perceived as a “bad kid”, the teachers’ reactions are likely to confirm their negative self-image. The message should be, “I care very much about you but this behaviour is unacceptable. Let’s talk about what we can do to change it”.

Provide 1:1 support. Bear in mind that abused children are often unable to focus adequately because of everything else that is happening in their lives. They will probably benefit from ongoing 1:1 attention from a regular volunteer or aide to compensate for this. Many are better at performing visual activities than auditory sequential ones and learn best through activities. Teachers can help by using strategies that appeal to visual special learners (and at the same time ASD, ADHD, FASD types of behaviours).

Play therapy is a valuable tool for abused traumatised children. When children don’t have the language to express feelings, they may draw pictures of what happened and talk about what they have drawn. Art therapy can impact significantly on Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder, enabling children to integrate memories into consciousness thereby reducing the capacity of sensory stimuli to trigger traumatic responses. Play therapy is very useful for these situations. Perry reports that it took more than a year for children of 5-7 years to externalise their feelings of fear and loss after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Washington DC. They had to come to terms with the finality of death and the effect it had on their lives. Play therapy has also been widely used with Australian children who lost their homes, family and friends in bush-fires.

Play soothing music. When you know that young children have been traumatised, play (and suggest to parents that they play) soothing music both when children are awake and asleep. Australian ABC websites have sleep CDs with titles such as Lullaby, Goodnight, Counting Sheep and 70 soothing songs for sleepy time.

Look after yourself. Caring for maltreated children can be exhausting. You cannot provide the consistent, predictable, enriching and nurturing care these children need if you are exhausted. It is important to have support from volunteers or aides.

Creative interventions with traumatised children by Cathy A. Malchiodi and Bruce D. Perry (available via the internet) offers suggestions for working with traumatised children who have experienced death, violence, bush-fires, terrorism and floods.

The section on the impact of trauma on brain development and guidelines for working with children were largely adapted from, Dr Bruce Perry’s articles as referenced, Laurel Downey’s “Calmer classrooms. A guide to working with traumatised children” commissioned and published by Child Safety Commissioner, Melbourne, Victoria (2007), and “Early Years Study 2: Putting Science into Action” by Hon. Margaret Norrie McCain, Dr J. Fraser Mustard and Dr Stuart Shanker, all of which can be found on the internet. For further reading also see the recent publications made available by the Child Protection Clearing House.

KidsMatter

In 2009, the Australian Federal Government gave $6.5 million to KidsMatter to disseminate programmes to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children, in early childhood centres and primary schools. They aim to provide support for those experiencing these difficulties. Each initiative involves parents, carers, families, child care professionals, teachers and community groups. The core content consists of:

1 creating a sense of community

2 developing children’s social and emotional skills

3 working with parents and carers

4 helping children who are experiencing mental health difficulties

The programme was developed in collaboration with the Department of Health and Ageing, BeyondBlue (the national depression initiative), the Australian Psychological Society, and Early Childhood Australia. See the KidsMatter website for further information. www kidsmatter edu au/

The Smart Programme

In creating the Smart training programme for educators and carers working with traumatised children, the Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF) (2007) realised that, if left unrecognised and untreated, abuse-related trauma is cumulative in its impact. The programme operated from the belief that, while all intervention has the potential to assist recovery, the outcomes depend significantly on the confidence and competence of health, welfare, education and legal professionals to:

 take account of developmental considerations when intervening with victims

 consider the cultural background and/or special needs of children and young people in planning and implementing programmes

 embed their practice in an appreciation of current research findings about the psycho-biological effects of trauma for children and young people

 use ethical decision-making that promotes the restructuring of abusive family relationships to focus on the emerging needs of children and young people

The programme confirms the central role that educators and school counsellors play in providing support and resources for children at risk of or have experienced child abuse. The ACF created a practice framework for working with traumatised children.

Pre-notification checklist for professionals working with neglected children

Observations of neglect including inadequate nutrition, hygiene, supervision, clothing and/or frequent failure to coIlect from school or centre:

 Have the issues been raised with the primary carer? What was the response?

 Has the carer been informed of local services that might help? What was the response?

 Has the parent utilised recommended services? What was the effect on the child/family?

 Have you used all available, appropriate support in your centre, school or regional office to assist in responding to your concerns?

 Have you discussed more reliable alternatives e.g. emergency contacts on the enrolment form or Family Day Care for parents who fail to collect a child?

Persistent non-attendance of children over school age

 Has a referral been made for an attendance counsellor, and has that person recorded actions taken?

Children under the guardianship of the Minister

 Has the case-worker been informed of concerns? Have records been kept of the number and content of reports made? Has the school counsellor been consulted?

Children with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity

 Has the advice of Aboriginal support staff or other relevant services been sought/obtained for supporting the child or family?

Children with disabilities

 Has disability support or other relevant professionals been asked for advice?

Children and young people with “at risk” behaviour Have you or your staff:

 communicated concerns to parents/carers? What was their response?

 concluded that the parents are not protective?

 linked the young person to appropriate Kids Helpline, youth health, mental health, welfare or juvenile justice services?

 used regional support services or referred to an interagency team?

Have you identified other professionals working with the family and have you documented all your actions, the responses and shared the information with them?

Notification checklist for reporting suspicions or evidence of child abuse and neglect

Each state has its own legislation for reporting. The information that is universally helpful to child protection services is as follows:

Identification details

 Full name and address of the child and details of parents if available

 Child’s age or date of birth if available

 Year level or class in school

 Name and whereabouts of school or centre

 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island identification or details of non-English speaking background

 Disabilities

 Current whereabouts of the child or young person

 Name, approximate age and address (if known) of the alleged perpetrator and the relationship to the child, if any.

Please note that while interfamilial abuse is usuaIly dealt with by state child protection services, child sex offences by non-family members must be reported to police child sex offender/paedophile units.

Your details

 Your name, whereabouts and role or relationship to the named child

 Details of the school/centre and phone number

 What contact you have with the family

Details of concern

 What the child did or the child (or others) said to arouse suspicions

 What you saw or heard that caused concern e.g. descriptions and frequency of injuries, bruises, etc.

 Any medical history that you are aware of

 Description of the carer’s behaviour of concern: frequency of inappropriate behaviour or failure to collect a child; attendance in a drunk or drugged state

 Description of the child’s behaviour of concern (e.g. sexually inappropriate behaviours), their frequency and severity

Family background

 Are parents separated? Is there a Family Court Order e.g. for shared parenting?

 Has the primary carer a partner or had many partners?

 What is known about the functioning of the family; e.g. suspicions or evidence of violence, drug/alcohol abuse, mental health problems, inappropriate child care arrangements, agencies involved, previous reports made, and health factors?

 How many children/people are in the household?

 Have there been previous allegations of abuse?

History of care

 Responses of parents and carers when concerns were raised

 Whether parents took up referrals to relevant services

 Supports put in place for the child/family

 Previous reports or referrals made to child protection or other services

 The involvement of other agencies

 Previous discussions about the child with the line manager

 Records available

 The above is intended only as a guide and concerned staff should not delay about reporting if some of the information is not available. Although teachers and carers usually inform line managers of their intention to make a report, reports can be made anonymously. Some managers deter staff from fulfilling their legal obligations and should be reminded of the penalties that exist for failure to report45.

Working with children in out-of-home care

Teachers and early childhood professionals should be sensitive to the special needs of children in out-of-home care. They play an important role in the recovery of young children from abusive backgrounds. Foster-carers and relative-carers often say that because they are not the birth-parents, they are deprived of information about children’s progress and well-being in school. Some have to obtain the father’s permission for medical examinations and other essential services when the fathers are in jail for either abusing the child or murdering the mother. Some gain pleasure from exercising their power by withholding permission. Many carers complain of a lack of support from case-workers who are often very young, recent graduates who neither have the training, maturity nor skills to provide the necessary support when traumatised children exhibit extreme, emotionally disturbed behaviours. Given the rapid turnover of child protection staff, they may also lack the time to get to know the children.

Out-of-home-carers complain that teachers and the school system are inadequately informed for meeting the dire needs of these special children. They attribute this deficit to inadequate training and a lack of communication between case-workers and teachers. Foster-carers are leaving the service faster than they can be recruited because of the lack of support and their level of despair^46,47.

Educators and care professionals should seek all relevant information about foster children by communicating with their carers and case workers. They obviously need to know if a child has a history of behaving sexually or violently, is an arsonist or has a serious health problem. It is not acceptable that some carers only learn that their foster child has HIV/AIDS or epilepsy from the pharmacist who handles the prescription. It is also important for carers and educators to be able to recognise the triggers for challenging behaviours and any strategies that have been used successfully. Carers may have this information.

Children in out-of-home-care often have multiple placements and can be two years behind their age-group in all aspects of the curriculum. Anglicare (South Australia) found this gap could be eliminated within two years with the help of volunteers who assisted with reading and numeracy and provided 1:1 attention.

If the child is in care because a parent is in hospital, the school can (in consultation with the carer and case-worker) help them to maintain contact by writing letters and sending drawings and photographs. Teachers should also consult the child’s previous teacher/school to try, as far as possible, to maintain continuity in the curriculum, especially important if the child may return to that school when the parent has recovered.

In addition, it is helpful if staff give these children a photographic record of their time at the school because some have so many moves that there are blanks in their memories of childhood. When photographs are taken, provide two copies – one for the child and one for the child’s department file. Invariably the child’s copy will be damaged or lost over time, but having access to the file copy, will help the child to maintain his/her identity and later piece together a life story.

The times when foster children are expected to participate in activities relating to families, their histories and Mother’s and Father’s Days can be challenging. These occasions often trigger flash-backs to bad experiences, which then have to be re-processed before they are able to engage normally again. Children who were removed from home when they were young may not know who is in their birth family and will not be able to provide expected information, particularly if they have been in multiple foster placements. It is important to discuss these activities with carers in advance, so that the children’s needs and responses can be managed unobtrusively.

Children who have had a series of schools and homes may test your limits to see how far they can go before being expelled. In trying to control what happens, some will test out the hypothesis that “If I behave badly enough they may send me back home”. They may test whether they are wanted by repeating the behaviour that caused them to be rejected in the past. Children who were physically abused may try to goad adults into hitting them to test their safety and reliability. Sex abuse victims may give the “come on” signals, acting in a sexually explicit way to gain attention and affection. Such behaviour can lead to the child being re-abused. These children need to know that they no longer have to behave in that way because they are safe.

The child who has been poorly attached in his own family may have difficulty in forming relationships. Carers note with concern that these children will “go to anybody” for attention and affection. The message to give is, “I care about you very much but that behaviour is unacceptable”.

Children arriving in the middle of the term may need adult assistance to gain acceptance when peer-groups are well established. If the adult works with the new child, others will be curious and join in. The adult can then gradually withdraw. It can also help to appoint a volunteer or buddy to “look after” the new arrival until s/he has settled. Teachers should also ensure that foster families and relative carers are included in discussions and that they receive invitations to school events.

Very occasionally adolescent foster children who have been sexually abused in the past will concoct false abuse allegations against carers, teachers or others in their lives if they dislike their rules or seek revenge for perceived wrongs. When they report their foster-carers, they are removed from the home immediately. This gives them the power they have lacked in their lives. False reports may also be encouraged by their own angry parents. We must remember however that some children are abused in foster care and their aIlegations must always be reported.

To protect yourself when caring for adolescent foster children you are advised to:

 keep a log or diary noting incidents involving the child; if incidents escalate, inform your line manager and the case worker

 ensure that all children in your care know that they must report sexual/rude behaviour, regardless of who is responsible

 provide close supervision especially in sports changing-rooms, on excursions, camps and home-stays

 ensure that children have privacy in showers, changing and bed-rooms

 ensure that no-one touches the child without the child’s permission

 teach young and disabled children to attend to their own bathroom needs

 stop tickling, wrestling and massaging

 re-assure abused children that they don’t have to behave sexually any more. They are safe with you.

 participate in training to update your own knowledge and skills

Caring for and working with abused foster children can be very stressful. Carers may suffer from:

 frustration due to inadequate funding for extra-curricular activities and unacceptable delays in refunding legitimate expenses

 essential services not provided (e.g. therapy, medical treatment, psychological assessment)

 sociaIlisolation when the child’s behaviour is difficult

 frustration due to lack of planning for the child’s future, either to return home or for longer term planning without returning home

 inadequate training and support for handling difficult and sexualised behaviours that may be exhibited by traumatised children. Some carers are afraid to seek help because of the risk that they will be labelled as inadequate, de-registered and lose all their foster children

 stress due to having too many foster children

 inadequate support from case-workers, especially those who ignore children’s wishes, excluding them and their carers from plans for family reunification

Although we have known since the work of John Bowlby in 1953 (Child Care and the Growth of Love – Penguin) and James and Joyce Robertson’s film John (and others) in the 1970s and ’80s, that exposing children to multiple carers is extremely harmful, this practice continues. Some children have had 46 changes of placement, many different case workers and many failed attempts at family reunification creating insecurity and attachment problems. In complying with the aim of “family reunification” some case workers make children spend weekends with drug addicted, abusive parents or their boyfriends against children’s expressed wishes. This can result in re-abuse which is sometimes ignored by the worker who ordered the visits. These children are likely to exhibit disturbed behaviours when they return to school on Monday morning.

If you are a mandated reporter and a child discloses further abuse to you, report it to the duty manager, and not just the child’s current case worker.

Abused children in care are vulnerable to illness. Some grieve openly. Others engage in destructive behaviour, obscenities, bed-wetting and soiling, over or under-eating and other problematic behaviours. Older children will often engage in substance abuse. When reality is too painful and the child is losing hope, the fantasy world becomes the retreat. The foster child dreams of reunion with the ideal, loving parent and may have very negative views of the foster family which is seen as preventing that reunion. They may talk about their parents as wonderful people who are buying them expensive gifts and coming to collect them. If the carer or teacher views this as lying rather than wishful thinking, the situation becomes more stressful and the child more difficult to manage.

Teachers and early childhood professionals can help children in out-of-home care by providing a stable, safe and caring environment.

Chapter 3 – References

1 Sanders, O. (2009), personal correspondence, (Recent past Youth Education Manager, New Zealand Police).

2 Briggs, F. & Hawkins, R.M.F. (1991), ‘Follow-up data on the effectiveness of ‘Keeping Ourselves Safe’ when used with children of 5-8 years: Report for New Zealand Police Law Related Education’, Wellington, Magill, University of South Australia.

3 Briggs, F. & Herbert, C. (1989), The evaluation of the Protective Behaviours Program in eight Education Department Junior Primary Schools, Magill, South Australian College of Advanced Education.

4 Briggs, F. & Hawkins, R.M.F. (1991), op.cit.

5 Rigby, K. (2010), personal communications, University of South Australia, January 4th.

6 Personal communications (concerns) from parents.

7 Logan, M. (2009), ‘School sex abuse findings delayed’, The Chronicle. 5th September.

8 ‘Principal in court over sex abuse cover-up’, The Chronicle, 7 July 2009.

9 ‘Toowoomba school principal faces trial for not reporting sex case’, Catholic News, 6 August 2009.

10 McKenna, M. (2009), ‘School inaction “protected alleged abuser”’, The Weekend Australian, 31 January-1 Feb.

11 McKenna, M. (2009), ibid.

12 Catholic News (2009), ‘3 Sacked over Toowoomba school abuse case’, 11 December.

13 Tucci, J., Goddard, C. & Mitchell, J. (2001), More Action – Less Talk! Community responses to child abuse prevention, Australians Against Child Abuse, Melbourne.

14 Edwards, L. (2008), ‘A third wouldn’t believe child abuse claims’, The Age, 11 April, p. 8.

15 Briggs, F. & Broadhurst, D. (2001), ‘Violence and intimidation in the lives of professionals involved in child protection’, Report for the Criminology Research Council, Magill: University of South Australia.

16 De Marni Cromer, L., & Freyd, J. J. (2007), ‘What influences believing child sexual abuse disclosures? The roles of depicted memory persistence, participant gender, trauma history, and sexism’, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31(1), 13-22.

17 The author acted as their professional witness in civil actions against the schools.

18 Hawkins, F. & McCallum, C. (2001), ‘Mandatory notification training for suspected child abuse and neglect in South Australian schools’, Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 1603-1625.

19 Tucci, J., Goddard, C., & Mitchell, J. (2001), op.cit.

20 Scott, D. (undated), ‘Working together: Opportunities and obstacles’, University of South Australia, Centre for Child Protection.

21 Scott, D. (2008), ‘Think child, think family, think community: Building the capacity of adult services to respond to the needs of vulnerable children’, Seminar, 11 September, Australian Institute of Family Studies.

22 McCain, M N., Mustard, J F., & Shanker, S. (2007), Early Years Study 2: Putting science into action, Council for Early Child Development, p. 13.

23 McCain et al. (2007), ibid.

24 McCain et al. (2007), ibid.

25 Perry, B. & Marcellus, M. D. (2007), The impact of abuse and neglect on the developing brain. Scholastic, http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/abuse_neglect.htm, op.cit.

26 Nash, M. J. (1997), ‘How a child’s brain develops – And what it means for child care and welfare reform’, Time, 3 February, pp. 48-54.

27 Lally, J. R. (1998), ‘Brain research, infant learning and child care curriculum’, Child Care Information Exchange, 5.98 46-48.

28 Teicher, M. H. (2000), ‘Wounds that time won’t heal: The neurobiology of child abuse’, Cerebrum, 4(2), 50-67. Teicher, M.H. (2002), ‘Scars that won’t heal: the neurobiology of child abuse’, Scientific American 286(3), pp. 68-75. Teicher, M. H., Polcari, A., Andersen, S. L., Anderson, C. M, & Navalta, C. P. (2003), ‘Neurobiological effects of childhood stress and trauma’, in S. W. Coates, J. L. Rosenthal, & D. S. Schecter. September 11: Trauma and human bonds, Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, (pp. 211-237).

29 Teicher, M. H. (2003), ‘Childhood abuse hurts the brain’, May 2, Harvard University.

30 Perry, B. D. & Pollard, R. (1998), ‘Homeostasis, stress, trauma and adaptation: A neurodevelopmental view of childhood trauma’, Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of America, 7, pp. 33-51.

31 Perry, B. & Marcellus, M. D. (2007), op.cit.

32 Perry, B. D., Pollard, R. A., Blakley, M. D, Baker, W. L. & Vigilante, D. (1995), ‘Childhood trauma, the neurobiology of adaptation and “use-dependent” development of the brain: How “states” become “traits”’, Infant Mental Health Journal, 16(4) 271-291.

33 Putman, P., Antypa, N., Crysovergi, P., & van der Does, W. A. J. (2009), ‘Exogenous cortisol acutely influences motivated decision making in healthy young men’, Psychopharmacology, 208(2), pp. 257-263.

34 Phillips R. G. & LeDoux J. E. (1992), ‘Differential contribution of amygdala and hippocampus to cued and contextual fear conditioning’, Behavioural Neuroscience, 106(2), pp. 274-285.

35 Perry, B.P. & Marcellus, J. (1997), op.cit.

36 ‘The Brain from top to bottom’, Canadian Institute of Health. http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_07/i_07_p/i_07_p_tra/i_07_p_tra.html#3 (13 December, 2009).

37 Perry, B. (2009), ‘Principles of working with traumatised children’, http://teacher.scholastic.com/professonal/bruceperry/working_children.htm, November 24th.

38 Perry, B. D. & Marcellus, J. E. (1997), op.cit.

39 Perry, B. D. & Marcellus, J. E. (2007), ‘The impact of abuse and neglect on the developing brain’, Scholastic, http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/abuse_neglect.htm et al, (2007), op.cit.

40 Perry, B. (2009), ‘Principles of working with traumatised children’, http://teacher.scholastic.com/professonal/bruceperry/working_children.htm, 24 November.

41 Perry, B. (2002), ‘Belonging to the group’, Instructor, January/February.

42 Perry, B. (2004), ‘Bonding and attachment in maltreated children: How you can help’, Scholastic, http://teacher.scholasticcom/professional/bruceperry/bondinghelp.htm.

43 Perry, B. (2009), op.cit.

44 Perry, B. (2009), op.cit.

45 Briggs, F. & Broadhurst, D. (2006), ibid.

46 Briggs, F. (2006), ‘Whatever happened to common sense?’ Keynote address presented to the annual conference of the Australian Foster Care Association, Adelaide.

47 Briggs, F. & Broadhurst, D. (2005), ‘The abuse of foster carers in Australia’, Journal of Home Economics Institute of Australia, 12(1), pp. 25-34.