Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T05:34:51.450Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Child Abuse: Professional Paralysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2024

Christopher R. Goddard
Christopher R. Goddard*
Affiliation:
Royal Childrens' Hospital, Melbourne
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In this composite case study, the names and some details have been altered to protect the innocent, and the guilty.

Sue was nineteen years old and three months pregnant when she came into contact with a hospital. She had successfully concealed the pregnancy and claimed that she had only just realised her predicament. Referred to the social worker, by the time she got around to saying that she wanted an abortion it was too late. Adoption was explored, and she finally agreed, only to later change her mind. As the weeks went by, Sue, and her boyfriend, made no preparations for the birth, and neither of them talked about the expected child with any pleasure. The social worker discovered that both Sue and her boyfriend came from deprived backgrounds. Sue had been beaten and sexually assaulted by her father and was eventually made a State Ward after her father had died and her mother had claimed she was uncontrollable. Her boyfriend had had a history of psychiatric treatment and a criminal record for petty offences.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , Summer 1979 , pp. 6 - 9
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

References

Bentovim, B. “Treatment: A Medical Perspective” in Carter, Jan (Ed.) The Maltreated Child, London, Priory Press, 75–88, 1974.Google Scholar
Bridges, Carole L., “The Nurse's Evaluation” in Schmitt, B.D. (Ed.) The Child Protection Team Handbook, New York and London, Garland STPM Press, 65–81, 1978.Google Scholar
Hill, Deborah & Ebeling, Nancy. Child Abuse Intervention And Treatment, Massachusetts, Publishing Sciences Group, 1975.Google Scholar
Kempe, Ruth S. & Kempe, C.H. Child Abuse London, Fontana/Open Books, 1978.Google ScholarPubMed
Schmitt, B.D., “Basic Information and Assumptions regarding Child Abuse and Neglect” in Schmitt, B.D. (Ed.) The Child Protection Team Handbook, New York and London, Garland STPM Press, 1–4, 1978.Google Scholar
Timms, N. Social Casework: Principles Aid Practice, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964.Google Scholar
Wood, D.A. “International Aspect of Child Abuse in the Military and the Army's New Role as ’Child Advocate” Child Abuse And Neglect 1 (2-4) 427–434, 1977.Google Scholar