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![Symptoms:
•Often time limited, but could be helpful.
Cause:
•Sometimes an immediate and effective helping response
where issue was clear from the beginning.
•Sometimes underlying issues of abuse became gradually
apparent through provision of holistic support services
which allowed relationships to build over time.
HELP
Help
Related to cause
Help
Related to symptoms
I find it hard to open up about things like
that… but [the youth worker] learned me.
I could speak to her [teaching
assistant] and not feel like she was
laughing at me.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/p8s264cossar-150707093539-lva1-app6892/85/Young-People-s-Perspectives-on-Recognising-and-Telling-about-Abuse-and-Neglect-8-320.jpg)
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Young People's Perspectives on Recognising and Telling about Abuse and Neglect
This document summarizes a study on young people's perspectives on recognizing and disclosing abuse and neglect. The study included a literature review, analysis of an online peer support site, and interviews with 30 vulnerable young people aged 11-20. It developed a framework for understanding how young people recognize, tell about, and get help for abuse, which influences practitioners. The framework shows recognition, telling, and help can be partial, hidden, signs-based, or purposeful. It also examines how related interventions can help symptoms or underlying causes, and influence trust, effectiveness, and duration of support over time. The implications are that practitioners should not rely on verbal disclosure, be sensitive to the challenges of telling, and see that recognition may come
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Young People's Perspectives on Recognising and Telling about Abuse and Neglect
- 1. Young People’s Perspectives on Recognisingand Telling about Abuse and Neglect Jeanette Cossar University Of East Anglia, Norwich Funded by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England
- 2. Research team Jeanette Cossar MarianBrandon Sue Bailey Pippa Belderson Laura Biggart University of East Anglia Darren Sharpe Anglia Ruskin University Anabel Acheampong Aundre Boudier Darrel Fritz-Campbell Joshua Snape Reece Thibou Ben Thrower Young Researchers
- 3. Research Aims • Toexamine young people’s perceptions of abuse and neglect, and to explore their experiences of telling and getting help from both informal and formal sources • To use this knowledge to make suggestions for practice which would improve access to support following abuse
- 4. Strands of thestudy • A structured literature review about children’s and young people’s recognition and disclosure of abuse. • A content analysis of an online peer support site where young people post and respond to problems involving abuse and neglect (261 ‘threads’). • An interview study with thirty vulnerable young people, aged between 11 and 20. • Six focus groups with children and young people, parents and practitioners involved in working in different tiers of services for young people. RECOGNITION TELLING HELP
- 5.
- 6. • Recognition linked with age. Neglect harder to recognise than other types of abuse. • Partial recognition - an emotional awareness that things were not right, before being able to articulate it to self or others. • Gradual understanding not a sudden epiphany. Growing realisation, alongside lack of awareness of how to change the situation, could mean the child stayed vulnerable. RECOGNITION I think heis old enough to kind of understand a little bit maybe, but I think he is kind of young, like too young to know what to do I believe every word said by my mum that I’m no good, that I’m useless, that I’ve done everything wrong
- 7. • Hidden: actively avoid telling, passive • Signs and Symptoms: externalising, internalising, trigger incident •Prompted: in response to expression of concern • Purposeful: child seeks out professional TELLING I lashed out on him, a year’s worth of anger… he ended up in hospital and I ended up getting in trouble I never told anyone, because I felt that what I was going through didn’t count as abuse
- 8. Symptoms: •Often time limited, but could be helpful. Cause: •Sometimes an immediate and effective helping response where issue was clear from the beginning. •Sometimes underlying issues of abuse became gradually apparent through provision of holistic support services which allowed relationships to build over time. HELP Help Related to cause Help Related to symptoms I find ithard to open up about things like that… but [the youth worker] learned me. I could speak to her [teaching assistant] and not feel like she was laughing at me.
- 9. Sara aged 13 NoRecognition Partial recognition Clear Recognition Hidden Trigger point Signs and symptoms Prompted Purposeful RECOGNITION TELLING HELP Help Related to cause Help Related to symptoms Partial recognition That it wasn’t right to be at home by herself age 13. Hidden Passive: Says she would have told if she had been asked. DEAD END I was a bit to myself… I think that it is why no one knew anything because I was always the same Signs and symptoms Violence Help Related to symptoms: school based anger management sessions Dead end (time limited) They focused more on your school uniform than who you are Recognition She is raped – immediate recognition Hidden Actively avoids telling Purposeful Tries to get help – contacts police DEAD END Attempt to seek help dismissed it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to so I don’t think I will go back to the police Signs and symptoms She becomes homeless Help Related to symptoms: She is referred by Housing to a voluntary organisation working with young people Sara, aged 15Sara, aged 17Sara, aged 19Pathways: Sara
- 10. Effectiveness Trust Duration Closeness Intervention Related tocause: 1. Police involvement re. DV 2. Police involvement re. sexual abuse 3. Involvement of further support (teacher, counsellor, social worker) Intervention Related to symptoms Gemma, aged 14 RECOGNITION TELLING HELP Intervention Related to cause Intervention Related to symptoms Pathways: Gemma Gemma, aged 16 Intervention Related to cause Mum gets social worker involved I was like, I have got to speak to somebody because it was just killing me it took me a while to realize that I don’t want to be here I shouldn’t have left my family, because he was no better than what I went through in my younger life
- 11. Implications for Practitioners •Do not rely unduly on children and young people telling verbally about abuse and neglect. • Be mindful that telling is emotionally difficult, and may be delayed and tentative. • Young people may be encouraged to talk by a sensitive but persistent response from a trusted professional. • Recognition may come as a result of receiving help rather than being a precursor to telling.
- 12. Using the framework •Helps professionals to consider that a young person who comes to their attention because of their behaviour might be experiencing underlying problems. • Helps professionals to understand different types of telling and highlights the importance of a professional’s response. • Looking at pathways helps professionals to understand a young person holistically, looking at their past experience both of life in their family and of service provision. • Draws attention to the needs of young people who may be well known to services but who may still need help to recognise and talk about what has happened to them.
- 13.
Editor's Notes
- #7 In literature, omission rather than commission, fewer posts on web, more querying is it neglect, other areas of the site were more focused on what they should do. Social comparisons important Confusion as to the boundaries between discipline and physical abuse; Confusion about the issue of physical coercion/consent in sexual abuse. Extreme self-reliance Difficulty acknowledging that a parent could be abusive. A parent’s unpredictability when abuse was episodic, and the relationship was sometimes good. Young person feeling they deserved it.
- #8 An emotional barrier: shame, embarrassment, not being able to face telling, finding it hard to find/say the words. Worry about family knowing, the impact on family members, loyalty to family. Thinking their situation was not problematic enough to disclose to others. Threats from the abuser. Fear of not being believed if they were to tell.
- #9 Importance of trust which was promoted by: the duration of the relationship being believed not being judged knowledge, expertise and effectiveness services that were accessible