Recently in children Category

by Hackney GP Michael Fitzpatrick

The old medical adage "prevention is better than cure" has been extended from infectious diseases to diverse social problems, such as obesity, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse and antisocial behaviour, all supposedly raging at epidemic proportions.

Although the conviction that early intervention yields better outcomes has a common sense appeal, it is only true if the diagnosis is correct and the preventive measures used produce the desired effects (without producing adverse consequences).

But consider obesity and teenage pregnancy. It is by no means clear that the scale of these problems is as great or the consequences as serious as the scaremongers and moralisers who have taken up crusades around these issues seem to believe. Panics about alcohol and drugs, crime and delinquency have come and gone over the years, whether or not there has been a significant recent increase in these problems. The causes are complex and simple solutions are in short supply.

Early intervention is driven by the power of wishful thinking. The notion that there is a window of opportunity before the age of three within which adults can decisively influence infantile development is an old dogma of psychoanalysis now dubiously reinforced by speculative neuroscience. Massive research into Sure Start has confirmed that the evidence for its efficacy is very weak - yet it is stronger than that for any other form of early intervention.
The downside of early intervention is that it pathologises whole communities, inevitably communities that already suffer poverty and neglect.

By replacing family and social links with therapeutic relationships between targeted individuals and professionals, early intervention further undermines personal resilience. Rather than strengthening individuals and communities, it renders them more atomised and more dependent on state support.

by Steve Liddicott

Anybody who has tried to make sense of paper-based records for a child who has been receiving social care services over a number of years will agree that they should be consigned to the past as quickly as possible. But to do that, the electronic systems that replace them have to be fit for purpose.

Depleted social work departments not only increase the risks to children in need of help, they harm those who work in them too, writes Camila Batmanghelidjh. It's not just to children who are being abused that we owe quality care structures. The staff working in social care also deserve better.

by Julie Marriott

Imagine a public toilet floor - filthy and grimy from use. Now imagine having to put your vulnerable and most precious gift on that toilet floor - your child. I have to do this on a regular basis with my 11 year old son Toby, who has profound and multiple learning disabilities and Pitt Hopkins Syndrome and is doubly incontinent.  

by Kate Cairns

In her blog post for The Guardian about adoption in which she argues that investing in adoption saves children and cash, Joanne Alper makes some interesting points, but also begs many questions. She recognises that children who come into public care as a result of neglect or abuse are traumatised children. This means they have suffered injuries - specifically, as recent research tells us, brain injuries as a result of overwhelming stress. This is the cause of the behaviour she so vividly describes.

by Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent, Director of Operations, Coram

The tragedy of Baby P's death has quite rightly dominated the media for the last week. Newspapers are full of details of his death and images of his bruised face and more recently a photo of him. This has reminded children that they can die before they grow old and that parents who are meant to care for them can hurt them very badly.

Ed Balls' announcement that he is going to reform children's trusts in England may be a necessary response to the tragic death of Baby P, but it is not likely to be sufficient. The evidence in the case seems to point to problems in professional judgement and management decision making and not organisational shape or structures. It is tempting to 'fix' what can easily be 'fixed' and the popular pressure for government to act is clear.

By Peter Corser

I get irritated with the old complaint of "the media only notices us when we get things wrong". But I have still been taken aback with the viciousness of the campaign by The Sun this week.