NCJ Number
243552
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: January - February 2013 Pages: 5-19
Date Published
February 2013
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article discusses working with resistant, hostile, non-compliant (including disguised non-compliant) parents and dealing with manipulation and deception in child protection cases.
Abstract
Work with resistant, hostile, non-compliant (including disguised non-compliant) parents and dealing with manipulation and deception is a significant feature of everyday child protection practice. The phenomenon has long been acknowledged in key publications on child protection and its manifestations have been clearly described. Yet, it hardly features in government guidance in England, contributing to a major reality gap with practice. This is despite the fact that revisions to guidance have been undertaken in response to child abuse tragedies where resistance to professional intervention has been a major feature, a recent example being the well-publicised case of Peter Connelly in London. In reviewing UK sources on this subject, the available knowledge is considered and strategies identified of value to practitioners working to promote the health and safety of highly vulnerable children, and maintain their own wellbeing in challenging and sometimes dangerous circumstances. Possible explanations as to why this important issue has been sidelined are advanced, based on perspectives derived from critical social theory. A firm basis for rectifying current deficits in policy and practice will be seen to exist, rooted in an engagement with the lived experience of the child and authoritative child protection practice. Abstract published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons.