Toward a more comprehensive analysis of the role of organizational culture in child sexual abuse in institutional contexts.

This article draws on a report prepared for the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Palmer et al., 2016) to develop a more comprehensive analysis of the role that organizational culture plays in child sexual abuse in institutional contexts, where institutional contexts are taken to be formal organizations that include children among their members (referred to here as "youth-serving organizations"). We begin by integrating five strains of theory and research on organizational culture from organizational sociology and management theory into a unified framework for analysis. We then elaborate the main paths through which organizational culture can influence child sexual abuse in youth-serving organizations. We then use our unified analytic framework and our understanding of the main paths through which organizational culture can influence child sexual abuse in youth-serving organizations to analyze the role that organizational culture plays in the perpetration, detection, and response to child sexual abuse in youth-serving organizations. We selectively illustrate our analysis with case materials compiled by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and reports of child sexual abuse published in a variety of other sources. We conclude with a brief discussion of the policy implications of our analysis.

Optimising implementation of reforms to better prevent and respond to child sexual abuse in institutions: Insights from public health, regulatory theory, and Australia's Royal Commission.

The Australian Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has identified multiple systemic failures to protect children in government and non-government organizations providing educational, religious, welfare, sporting, cultural, arts and recreational activities. Its recommendations for reform will aim to ensure organizations adopt more effective and ethical measures to prevent, identify and respond to child sexual abuse. However, apart from the question of what measures institutions should adopt, an under-explored question is how to implement and regulate those measures. Major challenges confronting reform include the diversity of organizations providing services to children; organizational resistance; and the need for effective oversight. Failure to adopt theoretically sound strategies to overcome implementation barriers will jeopardize reform and compromise reduction of institutional child sexual abuse. This article first explains the nature of the Royal Commission, and focuses on key findings from case studies and data analysis. It then analyzes public health theory and regulatory theory to present a novel analysis of theoretically justified approaches to the implementation of measures to prevent, identify and respond to CSA, while isolating challenges to implementation. The article reviews literature on challenges to reform and compliance, and on prevention of institutional CSA and situational crime prevention, to identify measures which have attracted emerging consensus as recommended practice. Finally, it applies its novel integration of regulatory theory and public health theory to the context of CSA in institutional contexts, to develop a theoretical basis for a model of implementation and regulation, and to indicate the nature and functions of a regulatory body for this context.

[Preventive human rights monitoring in child and adolescent psychiatry and welfare institutions]. / Menschenrechtsmonitoring im Kinder- und Jugendbereich.

Since 1 July 2012 the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB) together with its six regional expert commissions form the so called "National Prevention Mechanism" implementing the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). The commissions are mandated to conduct regular, unrestricted and unannounced visits to all types of places in which there is or can be a deprivation or restriction of personal liberty, such as prisons, police stations, but also psychiatric hospitals or residential homes/groups for children and juveniles supervised by youth welfare services. 20 monitoring visits have been held in departments for Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry between 2012 and 2016. In the field of residential groups for young people 40 visiting protocols (out of a total of 176 between 2015 and 2016) have been chosen for this analysis. The following article overviews the legal sources and key issues of the monitoring process in this field as well as the commissions' findings and recommendations.

Long-term outcome of the shaken baby syndrome and medicolegal consequences: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Studies of long-term outcome of the shaken baby syndrome (SBS) are scarce, but they usually indicate poor outcome. OBJECTIVES: To describe long-term outcome of a child having sustained a SBS, to ascertain possible delayed sequelae and to discuss medicolegal issues. METHODS: We report a single case study of a child having sustained a SBS, illustrating the initial clinical features, the neurological, cognitive and behavioural outcomes as well as her social integration. RESULTS: The child sustained diffuse brain injuries, responsible for spastic right hemiplegia leading to secondary orthopaedic consequences, as well as severe cognitive impairment, worsening over time: the developmental quotient measured at 15 months of age was 55 and worsened as age increased. At 6 years and 8 months, the child's IQ had fallen to 40. Behavioural disorders became apparent only after several months and precluded any social integration. The child eventually had to be placed in a specialised education centre at age 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The SBS has a very poor outcome and major long-standing sequelae are frequent. Cognitive or behavioural sequelae can become apparent only after a long sign-free interval, due to increasing demands placed on the child during development. This case report confirms severity of early brain lesions and necessity for an extended follow-up by a multi-disciplinary team. From a medicolegal point of view, signaling the child to legal authorities allows protection of the child, but also conditions later compensation if sequelae compromise autonomy.

Implementing the right to community integration for children with disabilities in Russia: a human rights framework for international action.

Human rights organizations have documented a widespread pattern of abuse in Russia's orphanages and institutions for children with disabilities. Community integration is critical to attack the underlying causes of discrimination and abuse of children in institutions. While there is an immediate need to protect children in institutions, investment in improving orphanages may inadvertently strengthen an outmoded system of segregated services, delaying long-term reform. This article describes a response to abuses in institutions based on the internationally recognized right to community integration for all children, including children with mental and physical disabilities. While tailored to Russia, the framework for action described here applies to many countries in which children and adults with disabilities are similarly segregated from society in closed institutions.

A problemática do menor em Fortaleza (CE) / The problem of the underage in Fortaleza (CE), Brazil

Os autores estudaram as ocorrências de menores em situaçäo irregular no ano de 1984 no Departamento de Segurança e proteçäo ao Menor de Fortaleza, analisando as implicaçöes político-econômico-sociais deste grave problema no Brasil e 115 menores sem antecedentes de má conduta residentes no Educandário Eunice Weaver, instituiçäo que mantém seqüelas consequentes às agressöes bio-psico-sociais. Concluiram que, melhorar o nível cultural e consequentemente de vida de nossa gente no seu habitat natural, fortalecendo a instituiçäo familiar, garantindo à criança seus direitos, säo prioridades pelo menor brasileiro

Children's rights: where are the children?

This paper argues that the assumption that parents and children have coextensive interests is sometimes erroneous. It is suggested that children's participation in decisions concerning them is ethically and legally permitted, or even demanded, in some situations. Initial research on children's concepts of their rights and their perception of their quality of life is reviewed.