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What evidence exists about the scale of child sexual abuse in England and Wales? Evidence briefing for the national policing lead for child protection and abuse investigation
- Author:
- ALLNOCK Debbie
- Publisher:
- University of Bedfordshire. International Centre
- Publication year:
- 2015
- Pagination:
- 18
- Place of publication:
- Luton
Presents the best available data on the prevalence and incidence of child sexual abuse in the in England and Wales. There is no single source of data on the scale of child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom and the review examines what knowledge can be derived from three main sources: self-report abuse and neglect studies (for example, population based studies such as the NSPCC study on child abuse and neglect in the UK; and to a more limited extent, self-report data from Childline); the child protection system (child protection plans/registers); and recorded crime statistics on sexual offences. The report finds that there is a clear gap between abuse reported officially to social care services and the police and that which is self-reported by children, young people and young adults (reporting retrospectively). This indicates that not all children and young people tell someone about their abuse. Further, the available data are limited in their ability to capture the diverse forms of sexual abuse that are occurring, such as online sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual exploitation in the offline environment. The report concludes by remarking that the limitations in the data, have implications for how services respond to the variety of contexts and settings in which CSA occurs. (Edited publisher abstract)
What do we know about child sexual abuse and policing in England and Wales? Evidence briefing for the national policing lead for child protection and abuse investigation
- Author:
- ALLNOCK Debbie
- Publisher:
- University of Bedfordshire. International Centre
- Publication year:
- 2015
- Pagination:
- 27
- Place of publication:
- Luton
This briefing distils key messages from research evidence on policing and child protection in the United Kingdom. It is structured to reflect the journey through the criminal justice system with additional messages from research on police preparation and planning. The areas covered align in various ways to the four Ps of policing - a framework for responding to serious and organised crime: prepare - reduce the impact of this criminality where it takes place; protect- increase protection against serious and organised crime; prevent - prevent people from engaging in serious and organised crime; and pursue - prosecute and disrupt people engaged in serious and organised crime. Evidence on policing and child protection / safeguarding in the UK primarily relates to child sexual abuse (CSA), including child sexual exploitation (CSE), although the evidence base is relatively limited. The review identified no significant UK evaluations of police response in tackling child abuse more broadly, or CSA or neglect specifically. The most substantial area of evidence relates to police forensic interviews in cases of CSA. A range of key messages and recommendations have been made across police processes, including initial contact, the investigative process, decision making and preparation for court. Many of the findings derived from research highlight that practice guidance is not systematically applied. Few studies demonstrate the ways in which ‘good’ practice is linked with better outcomes for children, for example, reduced attrition and improved prosecution and conviction rates. As a result, this briefing calls on researchers to urgently fill the significant gaps in knowledge within the criminal justice system, with specific reference to child abuse and neglect. (Edited publisher abstract)
What do we know about child neglect and policing in England and Wales? Evidence briefing for the national policing lead for child protection and abuse investigation
- Author:
- ALLNOCK Debbie
- Publisher:
- University of Bedfordshire. International Centre
- Publication year:
- 2015
- Pagination:
- 33
- Place of publication:
- Luton
This briefing distils key messages from the research evidence on neglect, and considers them within the policing context in England and Wales. It covers eight broad areas, and associated sub-areas, from the literature on neglect: how neglect is defined, how common it is and what forms it takes; what are the risk factors for and indicators/signs/impacts of neglect; the role played by the police in tackling neglect; preventing child neglect; how the police and other professionals identify/ recognise neglect; once recognised, how the police and other professionals respond; what tools are available for identifying and assessing child neglect; and what a strategic response to neglect looks like. The evidence cited in this report is drawn primarily from research with non-police professionals, because there is a distinct lack of evidence focussed on policing and neglect and the paper draws attention to the huge gap in knowledge around the ways in which police identify and respond when they have concerns or suspicions of neglect. The briefing calls on the research community to urgently fill the gaps in knowledge that could contribute to improved policing responses to child neglect. (Edited publisher abstract)
Victim Support's adult survivors of child sexual abuse project: an evaluation of a co-created service delivery model
- Authors:
- ALLNOCK Debbie, WAGER Nadia
- Publisher:
- Victim Support
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 51
- Place of publication:
- London
A qualitative evaluation of the Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (ASCSA) project, exploring the process of ‘co-creation’, which includes assessing the experiences of both Victim Support staff who facilitated the project (ASCSA project facilitators) and the adult survivors of CSA who participated. The evaluation also considers the wider contextual environment and its impact on the development of this service. The aim of the ASCSA project was to ‘co-create’ a service between adult survivors of CSA (consultants) and Victim Support project facilitators (ASCSA project facilitators). Main project development and co-creation of the service with consultants occurred between September 2015 and February 2016. During this period, ASCSA project facilitators tested out materials, approaches to working with adult survivors of CSA and terminology with consultants over a series of sessions. The result of the ASCSA project was new practice guidance to be cascaded and embedded across Victim Support locales. Consultants, on the whole, reported experiencing the process of co-creation as a positive one, and reported significant personal benefit from taking part. However, there may be a danger in inadvertently taking advantage of consultants and it was clear that some consultants may have held unrealistic expectations of what their participation could achieve. Victim Support staff and volunteers, like the consultants, largely experienced the process of the ASCSA project as a positive one. They reported feeling immense responsibility for ‘getting it right’ and in ensuring survivors would receive a good and sensitive service from Victim Support. Despite this, the work could at times be experienced as isolating, stressful and emotional. The evaluation sets out key learning points and recommendations for strengthening the delivery of the service, including its co-creation aspect. (Edited publisher abstract)
Building capacity and bridging the gaps: Strand 3: Alcohol and other drugs in social care employment-based learning and development: final report
- Authors:
- ALLNOCK Debbie, HUTCHINSON Aisha
- Publisher:
- University of Bedfordshire. Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care
- Publication year:
- 2013
- Pagination:
- 55
- Place of publication:
- Luton
This report presents findings of one part of a three strand project, its purpose being to explore the nature and extent of employer-based training on alcohol and other drugs (AOD) provided to social workers and social care practitioners working in Children’s (CS) and Adult (AS) services in England. These findings consider the extent, development, characteristics, and impact and challenges to AOD training. They reveal that while most Workforce Learning and Development (WLD) departments provide access to this training, most courses are not mandatory and few departments have strategies in place to adequately embed training on AOD issues. Training is a key component in improving the communication skills and confidence of the workforce, which is a central tenet in national policy and direction. While social workers may be confident in many areas of their work, research has indicated that they are less confident about their work in relation to AOD use. Further, the findings from Strand 2 of this research revealed that qualifying social work programmes are not adequately equipping students to work with AOD; therefore WLD departments need to fill these gaps in knowledge. Ensuring that all social workers in statutory services receive training in AOD use is a crucial step towards supporting social workers to really engage with their service users’ AOD use issues and deliver a high quality service. The project was funded by Alcohol Research UK. (Edited publisher abstract)
Building capacity and bridging the gaps: Strand 1: Social care practice with older people, people with learning disabilities and physically disabled people who use alcohol and other drugs: final report
- Authors:
- DANCE Cherilyn, ALLNOCK Debbie
- Publisher:
- University of Bedfordshire. Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care
- Publication year:
- 2013
- Pagination:
- 68
- Place of publication:
- Luton
This report conveys the findings of one part of a three strand project which set out to examine the current state of training to work with alcohol and other drug problems (AOD) in social work and social care. This strand highlights the experiences and needs of social work and social care practitioners when encountering AOD problems in their work with older people, adults with learning disabilities and physically disabled adults. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from a survey undertaken in 2010-11, this secondary analysis has identified that practitioners in these areas encounter AOD problems relatively infrequently (compared with child protection or adult mental health fields), but that significant challenges are faced when they do so. Many practitioners in these fields feel under-prepared for this work; and they struggle with a lack of confidence in their knowledge about AOD, and with balancing their duty of care with respect for an individual’s right to self-determination, each of which affects their sense of entitlement to discuss AOD issues with service users. The current mode of service delivery, case management, focuses on signposting and referring on, and thus limits the perceived opportunities for practitioners to develop the sort of relationships with service users which would permit meaningful discussion of their AOD use. In addition, there is a lack of clarity about what is, or should be expected of adults’ social practitioners with respect to problematic AOD use. While the focus of the new Health and Well Being Boards is yet to be established, it is hoped that by bringing together health and social concerns under one body responsible for strategic planning and commissioning of services might offer the opportunity for tackling some of these issues. The project was funded by Alcohol Research UK. (Edited publisher abstract)
Building capacity and bridging the gaps: Strand 2: Alcohol and other drugs in qualifying social work practice: final report
- Authors:
- GALVANI Sarah, ALLNOCK Debbie
- Publisher:
- University of Bedfordshire. Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care
- Publication year:
- 2013
- Pagination:
- 60
- Place of publication:
- Luton
This report presents findings of one part of a three strand project examining the current state of training to work with alcohol and other drug problems (AOD) in social work and social care in England. This strand examines the nature and extent of AOD use education within qualifying social work programmes in England. Of the 40% of social work programmes responding, nearly all stated that AOD use education featured within their programmes. However, few of these ran specialist modules or units in AOD use: the majority integrated AOD use education into other teaching modules, or ran a combination of specialist teaching sessions and integrated teaching. Further analysis showed that topic coverage is extremely limited on the integrated teaching route; and the depth and quality of the AOD use content is called into question. There was very little formal assessment, and the majority of respondents felt that AOD education was currently too limited. Importantly, many respondents (programme leaders) had little knowledge of exactly what was being covered and by whom. On a wider level, this raises concerns about an education system that is unable to monitor what is actually being taught within its programmes. Current social work education and reform offers the opportunity for change, although mandating course content has been ruled out by the College of Social Work (CSW). As the College has identified AOD use as an area of educational need for all social workers, it is hoped that in future social work education may prepare its practitioners appropriately for working with the AOD use issues their service users present with. Furthermore, as Health and Wellbeing Boards bring health and social care closer together structurally, there is an opportunity for in-house and post qualifying social work education to pick up where qualifying education leaves off, and to support its social workers to provide the informed service its service users deserve. The project was funded by Alcohol Research UK. (Edited publisher abstract)
No one noticed, no one heard: a study of disclosures of childhood abuse
- Authors:
- ALLNOCK Debbie, MILLER Pam
- Publisher:
- NSPCC
- Publication year:
- 2013
- Pagination:
- 64
- Place of publication:
- London
Recent revelations about historic cases of sexual abuse highlight a hidden crime. For this report, researchers interviewed 60 young adults (aged 18-24 years) who had experienced high levels of different types of abuse and violence during childhood. The young adults were asked whether they had tried to tell anyone about what was happening to them, and what had happened as a result of their disclosures. This report describes their childhood experiences of abuse. It looks at whether they disclosed their abuse: what prevented them from disclosing, and the key factors that promoted disclosure. More than 80% of the children tried to tell someone about the abuse, but on average, it took 7 years to disclose sexual abuse. The younger the child was when the sexual abuse started, the longer it took to disclose. The report examines potential but missed opportunities for intervention in relation to the individual child. family environment, community or neighbourhood, and organisational or agency level. That there was less information about missed opportunities within families was likely to have been because of the significant amount of abuse and violence in the home. This research highlights the need for greater awareness about the signs of abuse, that children do disclose but we do not hear those disclosures. It emphasises the need for professionals to ask young people about abuse in a direct and appropriate manner, while ensuring they are safely able to disclose. Appendices describe the research methods and the overall aims and objectives of the original research. (Edited publisher abstract)
Constructing and sustaining Sure Start Local Programme partnerships: lessons for future inter-agency collaborations
- Authors:
- ALLNOCK Debbie, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Children's Services, 1(3), November 2006, pp.29-39.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article outlines the experience of the first 260 Sure Start Local Programmes of developing interagency partnerships in their areas. It draws on quantitative and qualitative data collected between 2000-2005 by the implementation module of the government-commissioned National Evaluation of Sure Start. Following a summary of the aims and design of the Sure Start Local Programme initiative, a description of the implementation module methodology and an overview of existing knowledge around interagency collaboration, five factors are identified which impacted on the partnership-building task. These comprise: the nature of partnership history; clarity of purpose; the extent of strategic commitment and the highest levels; trust among partners; and the characteristics of the national workforce. The article concludes by highlighting the continuing relevance of these issues to the new collaborations required by the UK government's Every Child Matters agenda, including the work of children's centres.
Mapping therapeutic services for sexual abuse in the UK in 2015
- Authors:
- ALLNOCK Debbie, SNEDDON Helga, ACKERLEY Elizabeth
- Publisher:
- University of Bedfordshire. International Centre
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 100
- Place of publication:
- London
Sets out the results of a mapping exercise to identify UK specialist and non-specialist therapeutic services for children and young people who have experienced sexual abuse, including sexual exploitation. It investigated the gap between met and unmet need, services' experiences of funding and commissioning and the nature of services provided to children and young people. The report reveals an overall gap (a 12% current gap and an anticipated gap of 17% in future) in referral provision across the services in the sample to children and young people who have experienced child sexual abuse / exploitation. The mapping exercise revealed that a large number of services across the UK comprised of both specialist and generalist services which exist across statutory, voluntary and private sectors and in some case comprise multiagency initiatives. Across specialist services, funding continues to be provided through insecure and short-term funding cycles which are at odds with the nature of the provision required to adequately support children and young people with these experiences. CAMHs remain difficult to access and the situation appears to be declining in some areas in the face of funding cuts in recent years. Almost all services, however, set eligibility criteria to restrict access. Age is one of the more common criteria and the mapping exercise has shown that, at least among the current sample, services for younger children are scarce while services for older children and adolescents are in somewhat greater supply. There report makes three priority recommendations which have emerged from the mapping exercise: the need for better data on referrals; the need for comprehensive support for children and young people; and the need for a more stable and less complex commissioning and funding process. (Edited publisher abstract)