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A Selected, Annotated Bibliography of Child Maltreatment Reporting by Education Professionals| previous | Table of Contents | International articlesShor R. Identification and reporting of maltreated children by teachers in Israel. Early Childhood Development and Care 1997;134:61-73. Purpose: To assess Israeli teachers' perceptions of the risk to the well-being of children in situations of abuse and neglect; to examine teachers' willingness to report these situations to child welfare agencies and the police; and to examine factors that influence their approach in these cases. Method: The quantitative and cross-sectional questionnaire was mailed to161 teachers from 15 schools in different regions of the country. Three hundred and twenty questionnaires were sent out, and 161 were returned, yielding a 50% response rate. The sample was predominantly female (97%). Discussion: The type of abuse was found to be most significant with regard to teachers' perception of child maltreatment. Psychological abuse and educational neglect were given a low ranking in terms of teachers' perceptions of the level of risk to the child and their willingness to report these situations to non-school authorities. Teachers seemed more willing to report to the child welfare department than to the police. Teachers' training seemed insufficient to identify the signs of abuse or neglect. It was also found that teachers' decisions to report were dependent on their attitude toward the recipient as well as the possible ramifications of the report. Sundell K. Child-care personnel's failure to report child maltreatment: some Swedish evidence. Child Abuse & Neglect 1997;21(1):93-105. Purpose: To determine the long-term effects of failing to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect among Swedish nursery school staff and child-care providers. Methods: The longitudinal study was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, a questionnaire was sent out to all public nursery schools as well as to a random sample of family day-care centres in three suburbs of Stockholm. In this questionnaire, respondents were asked if there were any cases of suspected child abuse in their groups during 1990. The questionnaire was returned by 95% of nursery schools and 67% of family day-care centres. The second phase of the study was conducted five years later. The 20 child protective agencies (CPA) in Stockholm were visited to determine if records existed for those children who were suspected of being abused or neglected as determined by the respondents during the first phase of the study. Discussion: Results from the first phase of the study showed that 112 of the 3,767 (3%) children enrolled were suspected of being maltreated by their parents. Of the 112 children, 91 (81%) were unknown to the CPA according to the respondents. These 91 children were the focus of the analysis. The most frequent reason for the maltreatment suspicion was abnormal behaviour on the part of both the parents and the child. For half of the 91 children, the suspicion of child abuse occurred within three months of the child's enrollment. Only 37% of the children suspected of being abused or neglected were reported during 1990. The suspected maltreatment most often reported was, in order of importance, parental drug abuse, physical or sexual abuse, and psychological insufficiency of the parents. Reasons given for not reporting were uncertainty that the child was being maltreated, and previous negative reporting experiences. Of the respondents who had previously made a report, 55% indicated that they were satisfied with their contact with the CPA. Seventy-three percent of those who were dissatisfied mentioned the lack of feedback from the social workers. Variables such as the child's sex, age at enrollment, age at first suspicion, socioeconomic status of the neighbourhood, and ethnicity had no influence on reporting decisions. Results from the second phase of the study showed that 49% of the children that nursery school staff believed to be unknown to CPA were eventually reported by the nursery schools. Of the remaining children that were not reported by the nursery schools, 43% were still unknown to the CPA five years after the first suspicion of abuse by nursery school staff. The children that were known to the CPA were reported either by police, school teachers, neighbours, relatives, and/or nursery school staff. Thirty-one percent of the children were reported by three or more people. Forty-one percent of the parents of children for whom reports were filed ended their child's placement at the school within one year of the report. The average delay between the first suspicion by nursery school staff and their subsequent report was 14 months. When the report was made by others, the average delay between the first suspicion by nursery school staff and a report was 21 months. Lawlor M. Assessment of the likelihood of primary school teachers believing children's disclosure of sexual abuse. Child Abuse Review 1993;2:174-84. Purpose: To assess Irish teachers' belief of sexual abuse disclosures by a pupil. Methods: Two mail-out questionnaires were sent to 1,000 randomly selected primary school teachers in the Republic of Ireland. The response rate was 45%. The first questionnaire included demographic variables as well as knowledge and attitude items. The second questionnaire focused on teachers' experience with physically and sexually abused students. Discussion: The majority of this sample was reasonably well informed about child sexual abuse. The teachers were not very well informed about abuser characteristics. Male teachers seemed to feel that child sexual abuse is not as widespread as is believed. Female teachers (78% of the sample) were more likely than their male counterparts to believe a child's disclosure of abuse and less likely to believe that the child misinterpreted touches as sexual. Female teachers were also more likely to believe the child rather than the parent. Fifty-three percent of respondents, both male and female, believed that there had never been a sexually abused child in their school. Sixty-five percent said they would hesitate to report a suspicion of child abuse for fear of being sued. Teachers were more likely to believe a disclosure if, in the past, they had suspected that there was a sexually abused child in their class, were not anxious about being sued, and were better informed about sexual abuse. Eighty-eight percent were in favour of instituting mandatory reporting. Lamond DAP. The impact of mandatory reporting legislation on reporting behaviour. Child Abuse & Neglect 1989;13:471-80. Purpose: To determine the impact of the mandatory reporting law in New South Wales, Australia, by examining the reporting behaviour of teachers and school counsellors prior to and after the introduction of the mandatory reporting law for teachers and other school professionals. Methods: The author looked at the quantity and source of reports made to the Department of Family and Community Services as well as the proportion of these reports that were investigated. Data were collected during October-December 1986 (six months before the mandatory reporting law was extended to include teachers and other school professionals) and October-December 1987 (three months after the introduction of the mandatory reporting law). All data were collected from the Department's computerized Child Protection Information System database. Discussion: There was a significant increase in the percentage of reports from teachers after the mandatory reporting law came into effect (from 11% to 16%). During that same time, there was no change in the proportion of reports from other human services professionals. There was, however, no change in the substantiation rate of the teachers' reports. Teachers' substantiation rates are similar to those of other human services professionals. Teachers accurately determined the type of abuse 54% of the time, and accurately determined that the child was a victim of some type of abuse 67% of the time.
IndexAbrahams N, Casey K, Daro D | previous | Table of Contents |
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