BASPCAN Conference 2015 Symposium on Disabled Children Kirsten Stalker, Julie Taylor, Deborah Fry and Alasdair Stewart University of Strathclyde The University of Edinburgh/NSPCC, Child Protection Research Centre

1. Protecting Disabled Children in Scotland
- A hidden group?
Kirsten Stalker, Julie Taylor, Deborah Fry,
Alasdair Stewart
BASPCAN Conference 2015
Symposium on Disabled Children

2.  Aim - to examine how
public services
identify/support disabled
children at risk of abuse
or neglect.
 In-depth interviews with
21 professionals in six
local authorities
 Focus groups with CPCs in
five of these LAs (40
participants)

3.  Variable awareness among managers and practitioners
about risks to disabled children
 Some misconceptions about abuse of disabled children
 Losing sight of the child
 Losing sight of the child’s impairment
 Social isolation
.

4. “Communication impairment?’ I
don't know what that is, don't
recognise it. I think people have
difficulty communicating within
a bigger spectrum of [factors]”
(CPC member)

5. “If you start off from a position
where communication is
problematic, then I think there are
people who are going to be subject
to abuse that we are not aware of
and that worries me a great deal”.
(Social Worker)

6.  Over-empathising with parents
 Thresholds for action
 Responsibility
 Training

7. “
What you find is that you muddle
through quite a lot of your cases with
children with disabilities and it's
dependent on your own learning. ...
and actually quite often they don't
receive the same service as children
who are classed not to have a
disability”
[health worker]

8.  Communicating with disabled children
 Seeking children’s views about child protection
concerns
 Attending child protection case conferences

9. “… If you can’t
open a dialogue
with a child then
you just kind of
give up”
(Social worker)
“Just seeing the child for
who he is…engaging
with the child and
relating to him as a wee
person in his own
right... I just tried to
enter his wee world and
took the lead from him.”
(Third sector worker)

10.  Disabled children experiencing abuse may remain absent
from / hidden within child protection services in Scotland
 Alongside poor practice, some creative and sensitive work is
taking place
 Importance of early intervention and preventive measures
 Additional specialist support should be more readily available
and used early in the process

11.  Local services should provide training on child
protection and disability to staff at all levels
 Staff in all sectors also require training on
communicating with disabled children
 Children's views/feelings should be sought wherever
possible and taken seriously
 CP must be informed by international rights
conventions and national equality legislation

12. Literature review this research was based on
 http://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/27452
Scottish Government research report
 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/04/4
363/0
The Child Protection and Disability Tool Kit
 http://withscotland.org/resources/child-protection-
and-disability-toolkit