Foreword
Lynne Peyton 93

Evaluating Child Protection Referrals from Southern Education & Library Board Schools
Carol Burrows & Elsie Gillanders 95

ABSTRACT This research project set out to evaluate the experiences of staff in schools within the Southern Education & Library Board when making referrals to Social Services about child protection concerns  during 1999/2000. In June 2001 data were gathered from questionnaires and interviews conducted with those who had made referrals. The pre-referrals consultation process with the senior social worker was seen as a necessary and important provision in supporting staff when considering a referral. The report concluded that staff believed the process mostly protected the children and young people about whom they had concerns. However, some stated that they did not received sufficient information and feedback from Social Services about the investigation and ongoing work, which they viewed as necessary in helping them support these young people appropriately during this traumatic and disruptive time.

The Review, Risky Children, Children at Risk Conference
Olwen Lyner 111

ABSTRACT Working with young people who are involved in inappropriate sexual behaviour presents many challenges for practitioners, managers and policy makers. Fundamental to this is the need to be clear about who takes lead responsibility for these children and young people and how accountability can be achieved through cohesive partnership. Many of these children and young people present a risk to others and/or are at risk themselves. The paradox man fests itself on many levels with regards to working with these young people, their victims and families. The relationship between the actual work being undertaken and the policy by which it is guided is the theme of this major conference. The advances and the gaps both in provision and policy will be identified and opportunities given to discuss further initiatives and solutions.

An Inter-agency Assessment Framework for Young People Who Sexually abuse: Principles, Processes and Practicalities
Julie Henniker, B. Print & T. Morrison 114

ABSTRACT This article draws on the work undertaken by the authors on behalf of an inter-agency Pathway project across Greater Manchester known as AIM (Assessment, Intervention and Management). The project was funded by the National Youth Justice Board to develop policies, and practices and services for young people who sexually abuse others. We will describe in particular the development of a multi-disciplinary assessment framework. The model produced is intended for use as part of an initial assessment after either a child protection investigation under Section 47 of the 1989 Children Act and/or a criminal investigation has established that a young person (10—18 years) has commit­ted a sexual assault. The framework has been implemented throughout the Greater Manchester area since May 2001. Its development included extensive consultation with local practitioners, both to increase their commitment to the eventual model and to demonstrate the philosophy of partnership and engagement that we considered being central to an effective assessment process with young people and their families.

Co-operating to Safeguard
Paul Martin 127

ABSTRACT Revised guidance on child protection will shortly be issued in Northern Ireland by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS). Although reference is made in that document to the needs of both victims and those who abuse other children, it also points to the requirement for separate inter-agency guidance. This paper, which was delivered to a conference at Newcastle, Co Down on 27 February 2002, sets the policy context whereby leadership from the department, clear guidance and a range of practice intervention ranging from prosecution to restorative and family group conferencing should result in: victims freling that their needs have been considered; those children who abuse and their families experiencing fairness and facing appropriate accountability; and professionals understanding and fulfilling their role in the adjudication, assessment and programme delivery which deals with the abusive behaviour and also in meeting the child’s other needs.

Holistic Healing and Accountability: Indigenous Restorative Justice
Cyndy Baskin 133

ABSTRACT To begin, I would like to give you a bit of a history and perspective on what restorative justice means to Aboriginal people in Canada. we have always had government and justice within our culture. The emphasis traditionally has been on the family and community. This is reflective of an important Aboriginal value which stresses the interconnections of all life and upon which the foundation of society is based. Our current position stresses that all interventions with Aboriginal peoples be holistic in nature, that they be culture-based and community controlled. Basically, in Canada this is what self-government means to First Nations peoples.

Conference Recommendations
Koulla Yiasouma 137

Child Abuse and the Media: Naming and Shaming
Colin Reid 140

Media and Child Abuse Seminar, University of Ulster, 1 March 2002
Sorcha McKenna 144

Disabled Children and the Law: Research and Good Practice Janet Read & Luke Clements (reviewed by Berni Kelly)
The Adoption Experience: Families Who Give Children a Second Chance Ann Morris (reviewed by Wendy Cousins)

In an edition which focuses primarily on attempts to find and mainstream more effective ways of intervention with young people who abuse, it is not surprising that the recurring themes are multi-disciplinary practice, communication, accountability, evaluation and shared responsibility. Regardless of how far we advance in our understanding and knowledge, the search for best practice will be a journey that has no end. Multi-disciplinary child care practice will require not just good policies and appropriate systems but the ongoing commitment by us all to building and sustaining professional relationships and to sharing our learning with each other. This journal represents a channel for communicating about models of good practice, research, literature reviews, case studies and reflections and we depend on our readership to help us reflect the many different disciplines that contribute to practice with children and families. Support is available from the editorial committee for anyone who would like direction in drafting an article. We are also launching a mentoring service for all those who have completed or are in the process of completing their thesis, to offer advice in translating a thesis into a publishable article.

This edition starts with a welcome contribution from the education sector. Carol Burrows and Elsie Gilanders’ article recognises the pastoral responsibilities of all schools to safeguard and promote pupils’ well-being. They report on a study commissioned by the Southern Area Child Protection Committee, which evaluates the experiences of educational staff who referred children about whom they had child protection concerns. One hundred per cent of those involved would refer again should the need arise and the majority of teachers felt the process had protected the child. However, the study revealed some issues about the need for timely, adequate and ongoing feedback from Social Services about the investigation itself and the work thereafter.

Olwen Lyner reviews a conference held earlier this year and introduces a number of the papers. Risky Children, Children at Risk focused on the relationship between policy and actual working practice with those young people who engage in inappropriate sexual behaviour. Olwen reminds us of the need to seek inspiration, as indeed this conference does, from fellow practitioners from around the globe, while recognising and working to overcome the societal and structural barriers in Northern Ireland. A priority is to ensure that policy development is ongoing and reflects the needs of young people under 18 as well as adequately addressing transitional arrangements when they reach adulthood. Julie Henneker, B. Print and T. Morrison present an assessment framework, developed and currently being tested in the Greater Manchester area, in an attempt to better co-ordinate approaches by Youth Justice, Child Welfare, Education and Health Agencies. It is intended for use as part of an initial assessment, after either the child protection or the criminal justice process has established a young person (10-18) has committed a sexual assault.

In responding to the issues raised, Paul Martin, Chief Inspector, Social Services Inspectorate, recognises that this client group does not fit neatly into either Co-operating to Safeguard Children Policy nor within the Manual of Guidance for Working with Sex Offenders. The DHSSPS acknowledges the need for a specific circular aimed at young abusers, which respects the rights of all parties and with the overriding aim of reducing the incidence and effects of sexual abuse by children.

An insight into a culture-based and community-controlled response, practised by the Canadian Aboriginal people, is presented by Cyndy Baskin. As wrongdoing is perceived as a collective responsibility, all parties acknowledge the wrong, allow for atonement and, through systems of reparation or compensation, restore harmony to the community.

In summing up and making recommendations for the future, Koulla Yiasouma voiced the conference’s agreement on the need for DHSSPS to take the lead role in producing comprehensive inter-agency guidance, as well as increasing the level of services, promoting mechanisms for identifying best practice and supporting the development of a Northern Ireland database. Evidence of the need for such a database is apparent in the statistics offered by Nick Robinson, Jacqui Montgomery-Devlin and Kevin Lenahan, who have collated information on clients receiving services from the three specialist projects offering direct work with this client group. Much could be learned from an analysis of these statistics as well as information from other agencies.

The final two articles examine the role and effects of the media in child protection. Colin Reid considers the complex issues which need to be considered in determining when and how public disclosure is indicated and sets this in the wider context of statutory and voluntary agencies’ role in working with and educating journalists to enable them to play a constructive role in child protection. Sorcha McKenna, speaking at a conference in the University of Ulster, shares a personal insight on her decision to forego anonymity and to use the media to encourage other victims to report and to lobby for justice and legislative reform. Sorcha’s comment ‘it is only through communicating that the issue of child abuse can be faced’ sums up the theme of this edition.

Finally, book reviews by Berni Kelly and Wendy Cousins remind us of two other topical child care issues, the needs and rights of children with disabilities and insights into adoption processes, experiences and outcomes.

LYNNE PEYTON