Identifying and Responding to Child Neglect within Schools: Differing Perspectives and the Implications for Inter-Agency Practice

Abstract

Child neglect is the most common reason for a child to be placed on the child protection register in Wales. Due to their central position within the community, schools provide opportunities for staff to observe children's interactions with peers and family members, five days a week, over an extended period of time and development. Although literature acknowledges schools as pivotal sites for the identification of child maltreatment, little is known about the manner in which school staff recognise and respond to child neglect in their roles. This paper brings new understanding about the way in which child neglect is identified by school staff in Wales. The mixed method research design comprises two phases: quantitative social work case file analysis, qualitative semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation. This paper presents two key findings from the thirty interviews with staff in mainstream schools undertaken within the second phase of the study. Findings emphasise the presence of differing professional perspectives between school staff and social services: firstly the identification of child neglect within the boundaries of the school, and secondly the interprofessional challenges which exist for school staff when responding to child neglect. Findings have important implications for future policy and practice in the delivery of school-based service provision, and broader messages for the development of effective inter-professional relationships between staff in all universal services and statutory services when supporting and protecting children who are suspected of living with neglect.

Missing Data, Complex Processes and Differing Contexts: A Case File Analysis of School Staff's Involvement in Child Protection Cases for Concerns of Neglect

“…Unlike physical or sexual abuse, neglect often has no decisive event on which to focus a decision, but instead is based upon impressions, judgements or opinions about negligent occurrences, and occurs in the context of a child's needs, age, culture and individual family environment. As a result, cases of neglect raise fundamental dilemmas in practice, further magnified when working across professions or different organisational cultures (Sharley, 2019). Further, differentiating between the broader definition of neglect (in terms of a child whose needs are not met) and the much narrower operational category for statutory 'Establishing appropriate thresholds for intervention in cases of child neglect is more difficult than for other types of abuse' intervention and service provision presents a tricky issue for inter-agency practice (Daniel et al, 2011).…”

“…It was noted that the Rural Authority did not report emotional neglect in any referrals, despite being widely regarded as one of the most harmful elements of neglect upon a child's development. This could reflect school staff 's desire to include tangible and observable evidence of child neglect, to validate their decision to refer to statutory services (Sharley, 2019).…”

“…Neglect is not only the most common form of maltreatment but is complex and has been shown to have a substantial impact on a child's normative development. It is multi-faceted in nature and differs within a range of contexts; responding to neglect effectively, and in a timely manner, is a substantial challenge for practice (Sharley, 2019). This is particularly so given the current climate of cuts to local authority budgets, the reduction of early intervention and preventative services (Lepper, 2019) and the increasing burdens on child protection services.…”

“…The governance of social welfare in Wales, including the protection of children, became a devolved matter for the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 (Sharley, 2019). In Wales, the Children Act 1989 and the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 provide the legal framework for social service provision for children and their families (NSPCC, 2020).…”

“…Although working together to safeguard children is everyone's responsibility, joint working across disciplines continues to be one of the biggest challenges in responding to child neglect (Pithouse & Crowley, 2016). Even though local authorities take the lead role, schools are well-positioned to recognise the signs of neglect early and provide a more effective inter-agency safeguarding response (HM Government, 2018;Sharley, 2019). Staff in schools hold distinct advantage in that they commonly possess long-standing interactions and relationships with children and families (Bandele, 2009).…”