Skip Navigation


BJSW Advance Access originally published online on July 31, 2007
British Journal of Social Work 2009 39(1):24-45; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcm089
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
39/1/24    most recent
bcm089v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Devaney, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Chronic Child Abuse: The Characteristics and Careers of Children Caught in the Child Protection System

John Devaney

John Devaney is a lecturer in social work at Queen’s University Belfast, where he delivers teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and is involved in research in the area of child protection and violence against the person. Prior to joining Queen’s University, he was a Principal Social Worker at the Eastern Health and Social Services Board and Policy Advisor to the Eastern Area Child Protection Committee.

Correspondence to Dr. John Devaney, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK. E-mail: J.Devaney{at}qub.ac.uk


  Abstract

The introduction of the Quality Protects initiative in England and the focus on performance management has challenged social services departments to examine the systems, processes and outcomes for children who have their name on a child protection register. Research indicates that approximately one-quarter of the situations in which children are registered could be described as chronic—that is, they remain on the child protection register for significant periods of time, experience more than one period of registration or suffer a further incident of significant harm whilst subject to a child protection plan. In this article, the findings from a research study conducted into this group of vulnerable children are reported, focusing on the characteristics of the children and their families, and their careers in the child protection system. The paper concludes with observations about the weak conceptualization of performance management and the need to recognize the complexity of the factors that influence children’s careers in the child protection system.

Keywords: child protection, outcomes, performance management


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.