Comparative Case Analysis of Cases Concerning Child Protection

COMPARATIVE CASE ANALYSIS
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Comparative Case Analysis
I am currently employed and a child protection officer for the Oldham Local Authority, which I have held for three years. My role entails working with various stakeholders in the child protection area to ensure children have a safe environment to live free of abuse and neglect. Therefore, I am primarily involved in conducting assessments, chairing multi-agency teams, and completing direct work with children. As a social worker, my main interest is in managing Child in Need, Child Protection, and Public Law Outline (PLO) cases while also participating in legal proceedings involving abused children. Ordinarily, child case cases are reported to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) by members of the public who have concerns about how a child is treated in their environment. The team at MASH records the cases, begins a follow-up, conducts screening assessments, and makes the initial decisions on the necessary steps to take based on the reviews and screening.
Once the team is satisfied with the merit of the case, a multi-agency team is held to share relevant information with another stakeholder in the process and determine the next steps. The cases are then allocated to the Children's Assessment Team (CAT) for further steps within 12 weeks. If the children in question require any particular need, the case is referred to the courts. Most of the instances w encounter involve domestic violence, poverty, and potentially drug and alcohol abuse. As part of my role, I deal with children who are victims of domestic abuse and those involved in drug and substance abuse. This report is based on a comparison between two of the past issues I have dealt with. One of the cases is about a child who is a victim of abuse. The other is about a child who is a victim of drug and substance abuse.
In the first case, Elsa Glena is a 12-year-old whose case was report to Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) after she had been sexually abused by a 37 year old man who was a close family friend. The young man, who was well-known to Elsa, sexually abused her multiple times without the knowledge of the girl’s parents. He would often lure the girl with money and warned her against reporting the matter to her parents. The vice was uncovered by her teacher, Madam Becker, who noticed changes in the girl’s social behavior as well as class performance. She inquired further from Elsa and Elsa opened up to her. Mrs. Becker informed the girl’s parents and hey both came to report the matter to MASH.
In the second case, a 16 year old teenage boy, Derrick was reported to our organization for engaging in high risk drug and substance abuse. I was fortunate enough to participate in completing Derrick’s physical examination and medical history. He indicated to me that he began snorting heroin secondary to peer pressure. Derrick came from a low-income neighborhood, and drug abuse was rather widespread in his community and school.
The first case of Elsa Glena illustrates how child abuse is still rampant despite the various measures that the policy makers and other stakeholders have put in place to fight the vice. Child abuse is considered an issue of high priority in the UK, and detailed laws and policy guidelines have been enacted to that effect to protect the children. Various commissions of inquiry have been formed throughout history to study child abuse cases and give recommendations to improve the laws and policies of child protection. One of the most acclaimed commissions is the Victoria Climbie commission established in 2000 and has been instrumental in guiding the current legal framework. Legislation on child protection in the UK had until recently been the responsibility of Westminster. The process of devolution in the Kingdom has enabled each of the nations to have their legal frameworks for child protection. However, all the laws across Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales are broadly similar. Legislation on children protection is divided into both criminal and civil law, although some acts may contain provisions relating to both criminal and civil laws. Criminal law deals with the individuals who offend or risk offending against children, while civil law has private and public processes to minimize the risks of child abuse. Some of the rules governing child protection in the UK include the Children Act of 1989, Sexual Offenses Act 2004, Adoption and Children Act 2002, the children Act 2004, and the Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013) others.
Resolving Elsa Glena’s case entails focusing on reviewing existing inter-agency arrangements for child protection and analyzing the objectives and goals of Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013, The Children Act 1989, and The Children Act 2004. The essay will also assess the effectiveness of the existing law and consider whether and what sort of reforms might address existing concerns and deficiencies. Inter-agency arrangements refer to the cooperation and coordination between various agencies in the education, health, and social sectors to promote child protection. Inter-agency cooperation is a necessary effort and the first meaningful step in child protection since this can be a foundation for more pieces of legislation. These inter-agency arrangements have been made necessary due to some high-profile deaths of children since 1948, including Maria Colwell, Jasmine Beckford, Lean White, Kimberly Carlile, Chelsea Brown, Victoria Climbie, and a more recent case of Baby Peter (WTSC, 2013).
Despite these children dying under various circumstances, there are similarities among all their deaths called measures to prevent further deaths of children due to abuse or negligence (Kate & Adrian, 2007). Critical similarities in all these cases, as the various commissions of inquiry, found out, including the inexperience of social workers and their inadequate skills in handling children and the limited resources that meet the required standards and insufficient legal frameworks to safeguard the issues of children. Inter-agency cooperation could have ensured a multiplicity of agencies involved in handling the children, thereby having enough resources and skills to prevent these children's unfortunate cases of deaths. Over the years, a lack of inter-agency cooperation has been highlighted as a contributing factor in all these cases.
Since these high-profile cases, it has become paramount for various agencies in the education, health, and social sectors to cooperate under the established guidelines to promote the welfare of children (Lonne, & Harries, 2009). The need for inter-agency cooperation was first emphasized by the commission of inquiry into Maria Colwell's death in 1974. The commission identified a lack of structures to promote communication between various agencies in the country concerning child protection. Child protection usually involves a lot of different agencies that ought to communicate amongst themselves. It needs to understand the roles and responsibilities of each agency. Let each agency be involved in the protection of the children.
In the past few years, there has been poor coordination among the various agencies dealing with children. It has led to numerous cases of negligence, and other forms of child abuse since the multiple agencies involved in protecting children do not communicate adequately to respond to these cases, thus leading to the death of children. Three commissions following the deaths of Kimberly Carlile, Jasmine Bedford, and Tyra Henry all highlighted the agencies' failure in working together successfully to prevent the unfortunate deaths of these children (WTSC, 2013). For instance, the social services sector was faulted for its failure to intervene and ensure the children were well cared for. The Cleveland Report also alluded to the fact that medical professionals and social services, in some cases, overrode the role of parents in protecting children by being overzealous in diagnosing sexual abuse among children and being too hasty in their interventions (Balliere & Tindall, 2003). The Cleveland Report, published in 1988, faulted the breakdown in communication lack of inter-agency cooperation for being the major contributors to cases of neglect and child abuse.
Various guidelines have been put in place to promote inter-agency cooperation. These include a framework for the assessment of children in need and their families (2000), the Working on protecting children (2010), Statutory guidance on making arrangements to preserve and promote the protection of children under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 (2007) and the more refined the Working together to safeguard children (2013). Working together to protect children (2013) replaces all the other preexisting frameworks. It aims at bringing together different stakeholders, including local authorities, social services, education institutions, the voluntary and community sector, and the families (Lyon, Cruz, Cobley, Reid and Petrie 2003). The framework became operational on 15th April 2013. This guidance clarifies the main legal requirements in child protection, thus making it much clearer the roles and responsibilities of organizations and individuals in helping promote the welfare of children and to keep children safe. It is intended to create a national framework within which various professionals and agencies work together either jointly or individually to develop their mechanisms of working together in promoting the welfare of children.
Working to safeguard children is a framework in the UK that provides guidelines by bringing together different stakeholders to collaborate in protecting children and acts as a basis of legislation for child protection laws (Balliere & Tindall, 2003). The 2013 version is the revised and updated version that guides individuals and organizations on how they should work together to promote the welfare of children ad safeguard their interests (Roach, 2011). It also creates a framework upon which practitioners are expected to assess the children and determine if any interventions need to be undertaken to save them. The Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013) sets out core legal obligations and makes it easier for organizations and individuals to protect children. The Working Together (2013) replaces all the other legal frameworks that had been enacted before.
This statutory guideline is meant for various stakeholders, including the local authorities, the police, social workers, medical professionals, adult services, and the education sector. The statutory guideline relates to various other enacted laws, including section 7 of the Local authority Social Services Act of 1970, section 11 of the Children Act 2004, and Section 16 of Children Act 2004, among other statutory provisions. The main objective is to create a framework for more collaboration and cooperation among different stakeholders on creating an environment where children are respected and protected. The procedure puts appropriate structures to foster communication and enable understanding among the various stakeholders (Perez, Peifer, & Newman, 2002). Another objective of these guidelines is to establish a foundation for future legislation to improve children's conditions and protect them against child abuse.
The aims and objectives of Working Together 2013 are meant to fill the void that has been around for a long time in the history of child protection in the UK. The need to have proper and adequate guidelines to encourage and promote inter-agency cooperation has been a central part of child protection debates since the 20th century. Existing laws and structures at the time proved to be inadequate in ensuring there was a necessary collaboration among stakeholders. Most people were left out of the scope of the laws and guidelines because their roles in child development were not very elaborate and understood. The laws were scattered from one place to the other (Balliere & Tindall, 2003). This framework has been effective in amalgamating the existing statutes and producing a great framework to promote the welfare of children. The objectives of these guidelines seem to usher in a new era where inter-agency arrangements will be central to child protection strategies (Perez, Peifer, & Newman, 2002). It is expected to have a significant impact on the welfare of children and will reduce to a large extent the number of child abuse cases and, by extension, resultant deaths.
The Children Act of 1989 is considered the first significant step in the UK in promoting the safety and welfare of children. This Act was implemented in the UK to clarify and reform the plethora of laws that existed. The Act is acknowledged for its recognition that children have the right to be protected from exploitation and abuse and the right to inquiries to promote their welfare (Perez, Peifer, & Newman, 2002). The central point of this statute was that the family is the most appropriate place for developing children in an environment where their rights will be protected and respected. The Act recognized the importance of the family in raising children. The Children Act 1989 became fully implemented in England and Wales in 1991, while it was fully implemented in Northern Ireland five years later in 1996.
Among crucial principles of this piece of legislation include the fact that children's welfare is of paramount significance. Parents are central to all child protection strategies. Both the local authority and the family should collaborate to safeguard children's security and consider various factors when handling children, such as their race, language, religion, and culture (Perez, Peifer, & Newman, 2002). The main objectives of the Children Act 1989 were to create a functional piece of legislation that would bring the issues of child abuse to the forefront through involving both the family and the Local Authorities. The law intended to bring together the various pieces of law that were scattered to create a resourceful part of legislation that would be very broad in addressing children's issues.
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