Unveiling the shadows: Parental perceptions and familial impact of daycare abuse of preschool children.

BACKGROUND: Preschoolers are at an increased risk of experiencing abuse, especially from caregivers. Early child abuse has adverse continuances on children's short and long-term development. The majority of previous studies were conducted in the 1990s in the United States, focusing primarily on sexual abuse. Despite the recently increasing public awareness of daycare abuse (DA), empirical studies on this topic have not yet been conducted in Israel. OBJECTIVE: The current study was designed to examine parents' perceptions regarding the DA of their preschool children. METHOD: The data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 14 parents of children who underwent DA. Qualitative analysis was performed on the narratives of the participants. FINDINGS: Three main themes were identified: 1) parental shock, 2) community echoes, and 3) ripples of trauma. The study revealed the dramatic consequences of DA on children and their families. The families dealt with the consequences of the traumatic DA event, which destabilized almost every part of their lives. The study found that parents felt alone and without assistance from the authorities while facing the consequences of the DA. CONCLUSIONS: In examining the parents' perspectives, the current study's findings presented essential empirical knowledge regarding the DA phenomenon and encouraged future studies in this area. This study has the potential to serve as a basis for the creation of professional training programs.

"Pay Attention! Pay Attention! Pay Attention!!!": The Pivotal Role of Educators and the Educational System as Experienced by Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse.

Educational institutions and educators are significant in children's lives, and they have a crucial role in implementing policies, practices, and sexual education to enhance children's safety. Such policies and practices should be based on the voices of CSA survivors. This study explored child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors' viewpoints on their past experiences with educators and the educational system. A qualitative thematic approach was used to analyze 61 written testimonies collected in 2020-2021 by the Israeli Independent Public Inquiry on CSA. Two interrelated themes arose: (1) CSA survivors' retrospective perspectives of educators and the educational system's responses to signs of their CSA, described as ranging from abusive to life-saving. Specifically, they shared three types of responses: (a) harmful and hurtful; (b) dismissive and ignoring; and (c) accepting and attending. (2) The second theme described the survivors' messages to educators to promote constructive change. The survivors conveyed expectations that educators should play a central role in CSA prevention, detection, and intervention and, specifically, the need for educators to receive professional training, provide beneficial sexual education, and identify and respond to CSA. The findings promoted moving beyond individual-level interventions to focus on improving educational institutional and organizational cultures related to CSA in both national and international contexts.

Online sexual abuse of children with disabilities: Analyzing reports of social workers' case files in Israel.

BACKGROUND: Online child sexual abuse (OCSA) is a growing social concern. However, its manifestations among children with disabilities (CWDs), who face an increased risk of sexual abuse, remain largely unexamined. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to fill this gap by examining professionals' perspectives of the OCSA of CWDs through their work at the 105 Hotline, an Israeli national call center that accepts queries and reports of the cyber victimization of minors. METHODS: A mixed methods research design was employed. A quantitative analysis was performed on 114 case files involving the OCSA of CWDs, followed by a thematic content analysis of 23 follow-up files by social workers. RESULTS: The quantitative findings revealed various characteristics of the survivors, their families, and OCSA. The qualitative analysis revealed that professionals indicate multiple interrelated risk factors for the OCSA of CWDs on three levels: child, related to the child's characteristics and disability traits; family, referring to familial complexities, parenting challenges, and socio-economic position; and relational, referring to the online abusive relationships between the perpetrator and the survivor. Furthermore, the online platform comprised characteristics that enhanced the risk of OCSA of CWDs. CONCLUSIONS: The understanding that the OCSA of CWDs as a compounded risk that encompasses personal and environmental risk dimensions is necessary and should guide all professionals' decisions and actions. There is also an urgent need for governmental and community efforts to develop measures, policies, and support systems to reduce OCSA risks for CWDs. Moreover, knowledge and interventions should be developed for professionals and parents of CWDs to improve the identification and response to this overlooked phenomenon.

What was missed in child protection responses during COVID-19? Perceptions of professionals from various countries.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic increased the likelihood of child maltreatment and made already difficult circumstances for children and their families much worse. This increased the significance of the child protection system's role in responding to child maltreatment and ensuring children's rights, including their right to a safe life without violence. Unfortunately, accumulating evidence has indicated that the rates of child maltreatment increased during the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: The current study sought to identify the gaps within child protection responses in various countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and to discover how we can respond to crises in the future while preserving children's rights, including their right to protection from maltreatment. METHOD: Five focus groups with a total of 47 professionals working with children from various countries were conducted via Zoom and analyzed using a thematic approach. RESULTS: Three main themes were identified: 1) gaps in policies, 2) gaps in practice, and 3) professionals' messages to improve policy and practice. CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasizes what was missed in child protection policy and practice, highlighting the continuous neglect of children's needs and voices within policies, practices and guidelines worldwide during the pandemic. Professionals' recommendations for policy and practice are also discussed.

Examining resilience among child protection professionals during COVID-19: A global comparison across 57 countries.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to numerous challenges for child protection professionals (CPPs). However, limited research has investigated the interwoven concepts of coping, resilience, and mental distress among CPPs during COVID-19 on a global scale. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore CPPs' practice, resilience, and mental distress during COVID-19, the relationship between their resilience and mental distress, the global stability of the Multi-System Model of Resilience (MSMR), and how CPPs' resilience varied according to the Human Development Index (HDI). METHODS: Data were collected from 420 CPPs in 57 countries across five continents between July and September 2021. Participants completed an online questionnaire on demographics, resilience, mental distress, coping, and perceptions of child protection during the pandemic in their native languages. The analyses compared the countries grouped according to HDI using means comparisons, correlations, and multiple linear regressions. A two-path analysis was also performed to identify variables associated with behavioral resilience engagement and mental distress. RESULTS: The findings indicated that CPPs' perceptions of COVID-19's impact on child maltreatment varied in correlation with their country's HDI. There were also significant HDI-based differences regarding the perceived opportunity to engage in resilient behavior and its helpfulness. Years of professional experience, internal resilience, and external resilience were shown to be significant predictors of mental distress among CPPs during the pandemic, and resilience mediated how years of experience predicted mental distress. CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasized the importance of experience and internal resilience for CPPs' psychological well-being. It also provides empirical evidence to support the MSMR theory on a global scale. Additionally, it demonstrates how the perceived changes in child maltreatment during COVID-19 may be associated with regional HDI. Lastly, the opportunities CPPs had to engage in resilient behavior and how much this helped them was associated with regional HDI, but not in the way originally predicted. Study results also hold implications for how practice and policy may be altered to help CPPs cope better during times of crisis and generally.

The remote work of child protection professionals during COVID-19: A scoping review and thematic analysis.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges and barriers for the work of child protection professionals (CPPs) and intensified existing hardships for families and children, increasing the risk of child maltreatment. As new restrictions and precautions were implemented by governments worldwide to stop the virus from spreading, CPPs had to adapt to a new reality of working remotely. However, limited research has investigated how remote work impacted CPPs and child protection work and how CPPs handled this alternative work style. OBJECTIVE: This review aims to address gaps in the research to reveal the creative and effective approaches CPPs developed to overcome the challenges presented by COVID-19, defined as the 'positive legacy' of CPPs, particularly in adapting to remote work challenges. METHOD: This review was conducted using a scoping review, followed by two rounds of thematic analysis. The scoping review was conducted in six languages: Hebrew, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and English. RESULTS: The first round of thematic analysis found 18 articles relevant to this review. The second round extracted two main themes: 1) the challenges of remote work and 2) overcoming the challenges of no contact. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this review may be used to inform future strategies for child protection during a pandemic. They also provide an opportunity to rethink the relationship child protection work has with technology to systematically reform current and future protection policies and practices, including outside of a pandemic.

Experiences and responses of child protection professionals during COVID-19: Lessons learned from professionals around the globe.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 significantly worsened already challenging circumstances for children and their families and globally increased the likelihood of child maltreatment. This risk heightened the urgency of child protection professionals in preventing child maltreatment and defending children's rights. The vast and growing body of research on protecting children from child maltreatment during COVID-19 has emphasized practitioners' tremendous difficulty in this arena. OBJECTIVE: The current international study sought to identify the experiences and responses of child protection professionals to child maltreatment during COVID-19. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Five real-time, virtual focus groups were conducted among professionals who work with children from countries around the globe. METHOD: Reflexive thematic analysis was employed to analyze the focus group transcripts. RESULTS: The participants identified their experiences and challenges in performing their role of protecting children. Additionally, they shared context-adapted and innovative responses to child maltreatment, while emphasizing self-care and their mental health. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlighted that child protection was significantly more challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, they underlined the importance of establishing practices and policies for child protection in crisis times as well as ensuring both children's and professionals' well-being and mental health.