Case Study: Malone family and Ciara’s allegation
I am a qualified Social Worker, working in a family resource centre. This case is in relation to the Malone Family, who live nearby and have attended the centre, on and off for the past 2 years. Ms Malone uses the service to meet her friends, at the centre café. During one of her visits, she has arrived with bruising covering her face. It has also come to my attention, that Ms Malone goes to the domestic violence centre refuge and after a period of time, returned home, with the younger children. Ciara (7) and Joe (9), attend the homework club after school, 3 days a week. They also used the breakfast services regularly. The 2 older Malone boys of 15 and 19 are alleged members of a notorious gang,
…show more content…
My concern began, when one of their youngest children of the family, Ciara (7); approached me and explained to be in a matter of fact way of the situation. Ciara informs me of how her father “beats” her mother regularly and how her older brothers fight with their dad all the time. Furthermore, Ciara tells me she was hit yesterday, when she attempted to help her older brother of 19, who was arguing with her dad. Ciara continues, to reveal a large dark bruise on her lower right arm. This I assume was the result, of her involvement in the fight with her dad and brother. Ciara (7), needs of protection and welfare, were not being met. Lishman (2007, P 39) states, that the area of social services, have a responsibility in understanding the holistic in conducting an evaluation and immediate intervention, to react to the requirements of the service users. In the following case, a mandated individual (or anyone that is concerned) working in a family resource centre, by law, are obliged to contact Tusla (or in an emergency the Garda Siochana). Erickson (1958) identifies, several stages that a child should experience and pass, to develop to their full potential. If the child does not complete what is …show more content…
They emphasise that the needs of the children and families must be at the centre of the child care and child protection activities and the welfare of children is of paramount importance. The investigation that is carried out involves an intrusion of privacy; however, this is dismissed due to the greater good of protecting the child and other potential victims. There is also a need to honour legal and constitutional imperatives to punish the criminal abuser. (Children First National Guidelines for the protection and welfare of Children, 2017). One of the primary considerations of these guidelines is to minimise the stress caused by the investigation and assessment of child abuse. The Child Care Act, 2011, allows the immediate intervention by the health boards and the Garda Siochana, where children are in danger. The domestic Violence Act, 1996 may provide a safety order, that prohibits an individual from further violence or threats of violence, this does not oblige the person to leave the family home. Another approach of this act, is a barring order; that requires the violent person to leave the home (Children First National Guidelines for the protection and welfare of Children, 2017). The protections for persons reporting Child Abuse Act, 1998, states that any person who reports child abuse, in “reasonably and in good faith” has resistance of civil liability. The
Wilson, K. and Adrian J. L. (2007) The Child Protection Handbook: The Practitioner's Guide to Safeguarding Children. Edinburgh: Bailliere Tindall
Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Today November 15, 2017, the case of senior police officer Patrick Maloney, who was found murdered in his home October 4, 2017, goes on. After weeks of myself, Alex Wargo, and the prosecuting team putting together evidence, justice will be brought for Patrick Maloney, and his wife, Mary Maloney, will be found guilty of his murder.
On September 21, 2015, I was assigned this case to follow up. This case involves Ms. Hadja Bah a thirteen year old Francis Hammond School student. Ms. Bah has a previous runaway history and refuses to follow curfew set at home. Hadja had runaway several times (15-138346/15-121625/15-118272) which I have investigated several of the incidents. CPS investigator Ms. Alice Keany did a family assessment for the Bah family.
The tragic story of Veronica Climbie is an unfortunate example that highlights the impact that not only unprofessional practice but what miscommunication amongst disciplines can have on the life of a client, in this case, a young and innocent little girl. The Veronica Climbie Inquiry (lord lamming, 2003) was established after the tragic and preventable death of a young abuse victim in the UK caused an understandable amount of outrage and consequent reassessment of the functioning and protocol of many multi-disciplinary domains related to her untimely death. In the report, Lamming makes numerous recommendations to improve the child protection sector and prevent unnecessary deaths like Veronicas from happening again, one of these such recommendations is the need to enhance communication between the many disciplines involved with the complex issue of child abuse and protection, and the need for agencies to take accountability of their workers, their decisions and their actions within this context. It is unfortunate that the death of an innocent child had to be the catalyst for positive change and development within multi-disciplinary practice, nonetheless , we can see that a push in policy to create a greater structure for accountability and communication in complex social issues that require interprofessional collaboration can help us
...children, young people and their families can be both complex and difficult. Social work practice is one of the most challenging as it involves work with a diverse range of both professionals and service users. However, there is more that one single reason for this. As all professionals, agencies and parents continue to work together in various different cases, a variety of skills are required including: communication, preparation, intervention skills, assessment of significant harm, research of current legislation and decision making skills, all of which contribute to the complexities and difficulties of social work. It could be argued that these difficulties are highlighted most in many public cases of child abuse; moreover these cases can be seen to be changing social work practice, affecting the difficulties and complexities of working within this profession.
This means that each setting will have safeguarding policies and procedures regarding child protection, health and safety, bullying, whistle blowing, and e-safety. In day-to-day practices this means that teachers and support staff have to be constantly mindful of child protection procedures. This includes maintaining a safe environment, wearing ID badges and restricting physical contact such as hugs. Furthermore, on a day-to-day basis staff need to know how to identify the signs of abuse and neglect, know how to report concerns and who to as well as maintaining the child’s right to privacy. Training is provided for teachers and support staff on their roles, responsibilities and recognising the signs of abuse.
Moreover, there is no legislature in the UK setting out a minimum level of care for asylum seekers, financial support comes as weekly payments and and accommodation is on a no choice basis. However, this is different in cases of UASC as a statutory responsibility under section 17 and 20 of the children’s act 1989 and 2004 is triggered. This Act is triggered only after establishing that the child is indeed under 18, this then leads to an assessment with the child subsequently becoming a looked after child with an allocated social worker. The social worker is therefore a first contact for the child responsible for integrating the child into the community and taking care of their educational, social and emotional wellbeing. Consequently, an ongoing assessment is necessary to build an in-depth understanding of the vulnerabilities and competences of each child or young person to appreciate the risk or protective factors resulting from their circumstances and to plan service responses appropriate to their needs and wishes.
The Daniel Pelka serious case review is one of many that are conducted around the United Kingdom every year. A serious case review is a local enquiry into the death or serious injury of a child, where abuse or neglect are known or suspected. These are conducted by the Local Safeguarding Children Boards; with the main focus being on what lessons can be learnt locally to prevent this from happening again (Brandon, Bailey, Belderson, 2010). In this textual analysis we will be looking back at previous case reviews including Jasmine Beckford and Baby P. We will then look at what recommendations have been made and use the Peka case to see weather we have learned from our previous mistakes or are we still in the same position now as we where then.
As a Child Protective worker, my responsibilities are to assess safety (immediate), risk (future harm), abuse and maltreatment, and make a determination as to whether a child is safe or at risk of future harm and assess the need for services. The child welfare worker assigned to investigate the case failed to ensure the above. Works Cited Downs-Whitelaw, S., Moore, E., & McFadden, E. J. (2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'.
I was able to develop skills that will be relevant for practice in the future and support my professional development. This case study allowed me to focus on a specific case that developed my understanding of theory, law and policy that organisation use to provide services for families. I was able to enhance my understanding of the Cycle of change, Children Act 1989 and Working Together safeguarding policy. Developing my understating of evidence based practice and the importance of linking theory to
According to A Novel Approach to Politics “Questions about the very nature of reality seem to be common in fiction of all sorts.” Especially, The Boondocks, a fictional cartoon, uses satire to describe real events that happen in society. The episode I tuned into was “The Trial of R. Kelly”, which explained how R. Kelly won his trial and the views of the people about his case. In the episode, the people outside the court house showed different cognitive frameworks of how they view R. Kelly situation. In other words, the media made sense of the reality of R. Kelly situation in different ways because of the media wanted to select certain information. In this paper, I will explain how the media exemplified mediated reality and agreement reality in the “The Trial of R. Kelly” episode of The Boondocks.
Commission for Social Care Inspection (2005) Making Every Child Matter, Commission for Social Care Inspection
In conclusion, social workers have a professional duty to safeguard and protect children; this can only be achieved if they maintain professional boundaries with all parties involved and work effectively with other professionals to ascertain this goal. Social worker’s have the responsibility to find a medium through which to reach the child, as opposed to the child establishing this. Social workers should always challenge any concerns they may have about a vulnerable child because that little step may lead to saving a life. True listening to children has the potential to produce positive outcomes for children because as it empowers them to influence decisions that affect their lives rather than being passive recipients of services, which may have tragic consequences.
The state’s child protective services agency will investigate and if the parent or guardian is suspected of causing any type of har...
Social workers are legally obligated to assess and support the 397,600 children in need and their families as they are one of society’s most vulnerable groups (DfE, 2014). The social worker’s role and responsibility is to ensure children’s additional needs are adequately met to try to reverse disadvantage and enable children to maximise their lives and potential. To achieve this objective, social workers sift through in-depth information in different areas of family life, both past and present, as the vast majority of issues affecting children evolve from external factors which particularly relate to parenting. Gathering data involves collaborating with the family and relevant professionals to understand the family’s plight and establish strengths which are built upon so future troubles are positively resolved independently.