Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper

Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper

Background Information

Child protection entails the promotion of the welfare and safety of children by protecting them from neglect, emotional, physical, and social harm, and sexual abuse (Hood et al., 2019). The description of child protection is consistent with the UNICEF’s definition, where child protection entails the prevention and response to abuse and violence against children and includes exploitations such as child labour, detrimental traditional practices, and sexual exploitations (Higgins, 2017). “Every child has the right to live free from violence, exploitation, and abuse” (Child protection, 2022). According to Jahans‐Baynton and Grealish (2021), in England, in 2019, about 400 thousand children received children’s social care support, and more than 52 thousand of them were identified to need child protection services against abuse. In most cases, emotional abuse and neglect are the most rampant cases and the primary reason for the rise in social care services. In the same vein, the rates of reported sexual offenses against children below 16 years have also been shown to be on the rise in the UK since 2005/2006; over the past decade, the highest number was reported in 2016/2017 (Bentley et al., 2016)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper.

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In the same context, “Working Together to Safeguard Children,” England’s statutory guides that multiagency professionals should work together to promote children’s welfare; the statutory outlines that all professionals who come in contact with children hold the safeguarding responsibility (HM Government, 2018). Compelling evidence on the subject matter also reveals increased numbers of cruelty, neglect, and abuse of children aged below 16 years, with parents or carers as the main perpetrators in the UK (Bentley et al., 2016). Based on such compelling evidence, child protection initiatives have increased by more than 75% over the past 12 years. Most cases have been reported or referred to by social care and social workers (Alfandari et al., 2022)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper.

Consistent with the overview on prevalence rates, previous studies have also established that traumatic and life-threatening events, such as child maltreatment, are a potential risk that increases the likelihood of developing mental health problems during childhood, and the effects can last into adulthood (Lewis et al., 2019; Chandan et al., 2019). Mainly, research studies indicate that mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, PTSD, and eating disorders are strongly linked to neglect and childhood trauma, resulting in poor quality of life outcomes among children. In other words, evidence-based evidence is indicative that social, physical, and emotional harm leads to broader adverse outcomes for children and is the leading cause of homelessness, mental and physical ill-health, criminality among children, substance use and abuse, and trauma and intergenerational abuse creates a domino effect (Hiller et al., 2016; Smith, Dalgleish & Meiser-Stedman, 2019)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. Consequently, multiagency professionals must improve their effectiveness and competence in assessing and identifying safeguarding issues to undertake appropriate actions to protect children.

With the exact comprehension, Balsley et al. (2019) reasoned that good communication plays an essential role in ensuring positive collaboration between multiagency professionals within the school setting – which is critical to meeting the safeguarding needs of vulnerable children. Irrespective of the need, inter-professional working is often associated with increased challenges, which previous studies have consistently highlighted to revolve around good and effective communication (Alfandari et al., 2022). A recurrent and emerging theme among reviewers has further indicated a dire need to improve collaboration among multiagency teams, social workers, and schools to ensure the effectiveness of social workers in service delivery within the school setting (Lalayants, 2013; Hood et al., 2019)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. Accordingly, while acknowledging the complex child protection issue, good communication is fundamental in increasing understanding and information sharing among multiagency teams. Hood et al. (2016) further asserted that good communication is strongly linked to increased effectiveness of social workers in delivering child protection services; it is with the same understanding that reviewers have also recommended improved communication skills in social work practice.

The Rationale of the Study

Based on the prevalence rates of child abuse and the associated effects on their mental and physical health, it can be acknowledged that child protection issues are complex, and social workers’ effectiveness is mainly affected by concerns surrounding information sharing, communication, and shared understanding between multidisciplinary teams (Cooper, Evans & Pybis, 2016). In the same context, it has further been argued that for effectiveness within the school setting, there is a need for multiagency professionals to understand better each other’s roles – a constant theme in the current literature on the subject matter (Ambrose-Miller & Ashcroft, 2016). Comprehensively, although a professional’s knowledge influences social workers’ and teacher competence in identifying child protection issues, a single multiagency perspective and holistic understanding play a key role in ensuring effective collaboration to safeguard and support vulnerable children (Falconer & Shardlow, 2018). Recent studies have also reported that multiagency professionals who have a better and unified understanding of others’ roles effectively and successfully address child protection issues (Jahans‐Baynton & Grealish, 2021)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. The comprehension is that differing perspectives and power between multiagency professions, for instance, social workers viewing teachers to play subordinate roles, is a significant challenge affecting social workers’ effectiveness in service delivery. Professionals with differing values often disagree with increased conflict, negatively impacting multiagency working and, thus, social workers’ effectiveness.

Additionally, based on the ‘working together’ England’s statutory, as part of a multiagency team, social workers should work collaboratively with other professionals who contact children to promote the welfare and safety of children in organisational and social settings (HM Government, 2018). Consequently, the rationale to explore the need for increased collaboration reinforced by good communication explores the issue of social workers’ effectiveness within the school setting. The rationale also supports the policies and legislation focused on safeguarding and supporting vulnerable children in the UK, such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). The most important aspect of the NSPCC is to lobby for child welfare issues through campaigns to raise increased awareness of child protection issues – focused on offering support and protection to vulnerable children and making organisations safer for children (Piper, Garratt, and Taylor, 2013)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. Carpenter et al. (2015) further informed that child protection services are centred at the heart of social work practices in the same context. Accordingly, it can be comprehended that the study’s rationale is appropriate in helping enhance child protective service delivery in the UK, mainly because it is focused on exploring how good communication enhances social workers’ effectiveness within the school setting as part of a multiagency team. Therefore, the study’s rationale will be focused on exploring social workers’ effectiveness and how collaborative working in schools as part of a multiagency team enhances the ability to protect vulnerable children from emotional, social, and physical harm. Good communication plays an essential role in identifying and responding to child abuse cases and developing appropriate care plans to prevent further harm.

Research Question

The study seeks to explore the following questions:

• What are the multiagency professionals’ experiences and views on safeguarding communication to ensure social workers’ effectiveness in service delivery?
• What challenges do social workers face in schools as part of a multiagency team in child protection?
• Can the challenges be used to identify areas for improvement and thus effective social work practice?

Research Aims and Objectives

The study aims to explore the multiagency professionals’ experiences and views on collaborative function between social workers and other professionals in schools with the responsibility to promote children’s welfare and safety. The study also aimed to investigate social workers’ effectiveness in delivering child protection services as part of a multiagency team in schools; the study will identify challenges and areas of improvement. The objectives of the study are as below:

• To identify leading challenges affecting social workers’ effectiveness in collaborative function with teachers in child protection services.
• To assess the factors restraining social workers’ effectiveness and explore areas of improvement and good social work practices in child protection service delivery.
• To formulate strategies to improve identified areas to ensure social workers can effectively overcome the challenges.

Literature Review

In child protection, the role of social workers is to support and protect vulnerable children within the school setting; they are expected to strengthen child protection initiatives as part of a multiagency team (Stevens, 2013). Likewise, according to Sichone (2019), working with vulnerable children is the primary role of social workers in school settings, based on the increased cases of child protection in Wales. In the same context, Baginsky and Manthorpe (2020) further argued that, through child protection initiatives, social workers are also expected to re-make and develop creative practices to enhance their aptitude to help vulnerable children. Comprehensively, in support of the established finding on the role of social workers, Baginsky et al. (2019) further asserted that the role of social workers goes beyond the school setting, extends to children’s homes, and includes taking risks to get closer to vulnerable children. Based on the understanding that social workers are tasked with the duty to assess children’s welfare within the school setting, social workers’ role can be established to entail ensuring children’s welfare through the provision of child protection services or care interventions to vulnerable children (Sheppard and Clibbens, 2015)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. Comprehensively, in line with social workers’ roles, child protection in the UK entails the adoption of new perspectives and creative practices that are beneficial to children’s welfare and safety through effective service delivery. Overall, it can be inferred that the primary role of social workers within the school setting is to guide students, staff, and parents to facilitate open relationships hence better service delivery and improved child protection outcomes.

Social workers are placed in schools to protect vulnerable children from neglect and abuse within the school and home settings to provide safe environments for growth and development (Jahans‐Baynton and Grealish, 2021). Nonetheless, Stanley and Humphreys (2014) also indicated that poor collaboration, often caused by inadequate knowledge of other multiagency professionals’ roles, or differences in status and expertise, are leading factors that restrict social workers’ effectiveness as part of a multiagency team. Moriss et al. (2018) further informed that these challenges are widespread and adversely affect efficient communication between multiagency professionals – lack of knowledge is mainly caused by lack of training. Similarly, Alfandari (2019) also noted that social workers often face issues involving emotional burden and inadequate resources to intervene in abuse and neglect cases within the school setting. Accordingly, it can be understood that the effectiveness of social workers is incredibly impacted by the lack of understanding of others’ roles in ensuring effective service delivery to better living standards for the children.

Consistent with the findings, Alfandari and Taylor (2021) further discussed that the numerous challenges faced by social workers are the leading cause of their effectiveness in providing child protection services. Arguably, as highlighted by Sibanda and Lombard (2015), it is logical that approaches adopted by social workers, which might not be liked by other multiagency professionals (such as teachers), maybe the main barrier to ineffective service delivery. In somewhat contradictory findings, Korpinen and Pösö (2020) argued that social workers must follow and adhere to communities’ cultural norms and procedures for increased effectiveness. In agreement, Levin, Roziner, and Savaya (2022) discussed that, while the mentioned challenges are influential to social workers’ effectiveness, functioning within the school setting provides social workers with unique opportunities for the multiagency teams to assess children’s behaviours and identify cases of abuse or neglect. Sharley (2020) also noted that social workers’ functions are also impacted by power struggle problems between them, administrators, and teachers – the communication or collaboration gap hampers social workers’ effectiveness, and teachers and administrators might refrain from providing social workers with adequate information because of confidentiality and liability issues. Accordingly, it can be inferred that the main barrier to effective service delivery is the approach and the interaction with other multiagency professionals. Consequently, social work services can be enhanced through a shared understanding and adherence to community norms and beliefs. Overall, the literature suggests that the role and challenges of social workers within the school setting are broad; nonetheless, schools are relevant public institutions for child protection.

Relevance of the Study to Professional Social Network

Within the professional social network, social workers play a crucial role in promoting children’s welfare and safety, as well as the execution of child protection services – they are mainly tasked with the responsibility to challenge harmful behaviours, increase inclusivity, and promote justice (Korpinen and Poso, 2020; Ferguson et al., 2020)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. Consequently, the focus on exploring factors hampering social worker effectiveness is relevant in enhancing increased collaboration and effectiveness in facilitating child protection services within the organizational setting. In the same context, as reiterated by Ferguson et al. (2020), social workers also play a crucial role in empowering vulnerable populations to improve their welfare; accordingly, exploring the issues affecting their effect within schools would be relevant in enhancing their effectiveness within social systems and promote successful social works in future.

The study is also relevant to understanding the role of NGOs like the NSPCC, a British child protection charity. With the comprehension that the NSPCC is focused on helping vulnerable children through social work services aimed to make organisations safer for children, the study findings would be of importance to the training and consultancy offered by the NSPCC. The study finding will be essential in further understanding other multiagency professionals’ roles as part of a collaborative team – safeguarding children through education, social, health, and policing services (Flegel, 2016). In line with the aims of the NSPCC, the study will provide insightful information on strategies through which multiagency professionals can streamline their function within collaborative teams. The study provides insightful information about social workers working collaboratively with a multiagency approach within the professional network. From a child protection services perspective, the study is relevant within the professional social network mainly because it enhances social work functions in identifying child abuse cases and effectively developing appropriate intervention plans (Carpenter et al., 2015)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. The findings will be significant in mainstreaming social work service providers, procedures, and policies to ensure every child is protected from abuse and harm.

Service User and Carer Perspectives and Imperatives

Throughout the study, carers’ and service users’ perspectives will significantly influence the study’s outcome, mainly considering that the study is focused on exploring multiagency professional perspectives concerning social workers’ effectiveness. The study will examine multiagency professionals’ perspectives to identify the challenges affecting social workers’ effectiveness in collaborative function with teachers in child protection services. The outcomes will be imperative in assessing the factors restraining social workers’ effectiveness and exploring areas of improvement and good social work practices in child protection service delivery. The multiagency professionals’ perspective will also be essential in gaining a deeper insight into school social work functions as part of a multiagency team and the practices and strategies used to provide child protection interventions to children and parents. In the study, social workers and other professionals’ perspectives will help explore the importance of joint function to identify, assess and protect children.

Theoretical Framework

The study will be built on the structural functionalism theory developed by Hebert Spence. The theory asserts that society is founded on interrelated structures and designed to address individuals’ social and biological needs (Ormerod, 2019). Essentially, understanding that society is built on the interrelated part that works like body organs, functioning together to achieve a specific objective, the multiagency team approach aligns with the concept (Boden, Berenbaum, and Gross, 2016)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. The theoretical concept perfectly supports the multiagency team approach in providing child protection services in schools; as part of a multiagency team, social workers are expected to function with teachers and administrators to safeguard vulnerable children from neglect and abuse. Additionally, based on the theoretical framework, even though social workers, teachers, and administrators have different backgrounds, knowledge, and role, collaborative functioning enhances social workers’ effectiveness in promoting child protection.

Methodology

The study will conduct a systematic literature review; which focuses on identifying, selecting, and critically appraising previous research to respond to stated research questions (Akçayır and Akçayır, 2017). The research method would be appropriate for systematically determining the roles and challenges social workers face in promoting child protection as part of a multiagency school team. The study design was selected because it systematically collects existing evidence from valid and reliable sources to respond to stated research questions (Okoli, 2015). Additionally, a systematic literature review is founded on a well-defined scientific plan within selection criteria to select sources to be included in the review – the inclusion criteria are highly accredited because it is comprehensive and transparent in gathering knowledge on the subject matter. Accordingly, the systematic literature review will be appropriate for appraising, summarizing, and communicating previous studies outcomes – suitable to gain insight on social work functions, challenges they face, and knowledge on effective child protection services (Martelli et al., 2016)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. Therefore, for the study, the chosen methodology will be appropriate in providing a detailed, comprehensive, and straightforward overview of social workers’ roles, their effectiveness, and the challenges that impact their functions as part of a multiagency team in child protection in schools.

Search Strategy

Based on the established research stated research question, the study used five databases and search engines, MEDLINE, PubMed, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, and JSTOR, to systematically search for peer-reviewed journals and articles. In the search, the study applied a series of keywords because of the already known limitation in the literature. The key search terms applied included: ‘child protection,’ ‘social workers,’ ‘social workers’ effectiveness,’ ‘multiagency professionals’, and ‘collaborative functions.’ The Boolean operators include the following words, ‘school, ‘effectiveness, and ‘child protection in the UK.’

For the suitable journals and articles to be eligible, the inclusion criteria included papers that were published in English, available in full text, are peer-review journals, based in the UK, and published between 2013 and 2021 – this ensures the information applied to the current social work practice within the UK policies and procedures. The search strategy included an initial screening of the remaining journals and articles’ titles and abstracts – the initial review was aimed to establish relevance to the aims of the review. The search process and selection criteria will be illustrated in a PRISMA diagram. After excluding all the studies that did not meet the selection criteria, the final review, and inspection of the remaining articles for conducting the systematic literature review.

A data extraction template was also utilized to capture the vital methodological details for all the included articles; the key characteristics and findings were extracted, organised in a table, and analysed later. Throughout the iterative process, extracted data was organised and coded to identify preliminary themes that could be synthesised across the included articles. The findings from the specific studies were also indexed against the common themes and later refined to second order. It should also be noted that the methodological quality of the included research papers will be critiqued using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP, 2018)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. All the eligible articles will be determined if they have sound methodological quality – to ensure the reliability and validity of the systematic literature review.

Ethical Consideration

It will be imperative for the systematic reviewers to focus on engaging the study reflexively with various ethical considerations associated with the potential concerns surrounding conflict of interest and representation of other scholars’ work (Vergnes et al., 2010). Nonetheless, no ethical issues are expected to arise, mainly because the study design utilises secondary data from previous research studies. Unlike primary research studies, the systematic review will not include human participants. Neither will it have to collect confidential, personal, or sensitive data; instead, the review will focus on synthesising existing literature and evidence that rarely requires institutional ethical approval. The ethical consideration for the study will be mainly focused on how the systematic review will be prepared and written, the ethical issue surrounding concerns on plagiarism, and permission to use other scholars’ works.

Accordingly, throughout the preparation of the review, the researcher will avoid plagiarising the content by rephrasing the obtained knowledge and information while ensuring the accuracy of the findings (Vergnes et al., 2010). Additionally, the researcher will also utilise the Turnitin program; an anti-plagiarism software used to crosscheck and detect uplifted contents with strings of more than six words; all the content is similar to the content on original publications be re-written (Wager and Wiffen, 2011). Concerning considerations surrounding permission to use other scholars’ work, the study will only utilise empirical studies freely available on the internet, from online databases and search engines like Google Scholar. In the same context, the researcher will ensure that all original authors are acknowledged in the review through in-text citations and referencing of the sources (Wager and Wiffen, 2011)Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper. Concerning the accuracy of the provided information, the researcher is accountable for ensuring that the data are extracted and communicated strategically and accurately to ensure accuracy while avoiding plagiarism.

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Contribution to Social Work Knowledge

The study findings will be important in strengthening current literature on the best social work practices and effective child protection service delivery; the systematic literature review will be based on synthesizing and analyzing high-quality evidence. The study will inform about the vital role of social workers in child protection services as part of a multiagency team; provide insight on the creative initiative to enhance the promotion of children’s safety within the school and organizational settings. The study will also enlighten on the importance of collaborative functions within the school settings, where efficient communication enhances multiagency functions and thus protects vulnerable children from neglect and abuse – promoting children’s welfare Child Protection Assignment Discussion Paper