NCJ Number
205761
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: March-April 2004 Pages: 137-157
Date Published
March 2004
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Commissioned as part of a Best Value review of child protection services in a large rural Midlands local authority (Great Britain), this study elicited parents' perceptions of child protection services with which they had been involved.
Abstract
The project's aim was to conduct interviews with 20 families that had experienced child protection services. A total of 18 families were eventually interviewed. Families were identified in the following 3 categories: those who had been to a recent initial conference but not registered (n=2), those who had been to an initial conference and were registered within the last 3 months (n=4), and those who had been on the child protection register for more than 9 months (n=12). The questionnaire used in the interviews recorded basic family information as well as responses regarding factors of satisfaction/dissatisfaction with child protection services. Complete questionnaires and consent forms were obtained for all interviews. The findings were mixed regarding how parents perceived the helpfulness of the child protection interventions; 50 percent of the parents reported some positive benefit, and 22 percent reported that the interventions had harmed them. From the parents' perspective, factors associated with positive and negative outcomes were identified. These included the availability of prevention services, crisis support, respite care, the actual provision of services specified in protection plans, and practitioners' styles of engagement and communication. This study and its findings show the importance of including parents' perceptions of services as part of service quality control and service development in the provision of child protection services. 3 tables and 53 references