Defining reasonable force: Does it advance child protection?

Public policy and parent-child aggression: Considerations for reducing and preventing physical punishment and abuse

Parent-child physical aggression, including both physical punishment and abuse, remains a prevalent problem in the United States. In this paper, we briefly review the prevalence and harms of parent-child aggression and discuss changes in social norms and policies over the past several decades. Then, we discuss broad social policies influencing risk for parent-child physical aggression, policies relevant to reducing and preventing physical abuse, and policies relevant to reducing and preventing physical punishment. We close by considering future directions to strengthen research and evaluation and accelerate progress toward ending parent-child physical aggression.

Understanding the overrepresentation of Black children in Ontario's child welfare system: Perspectives from child welfare workers and community service providers

BACKGROUND

The overrepresentation of Black children in the child welfare system is a social problem that has received longstanding attention in the United States, but has recently received increasing attention in Canada.

OBJECTIVE

This qualitative study explores the findings of two quantitative studies (Antwi-Boasiako et al., 2020, 2021) in order to interpret them through the perspectives of child welfare workers and community service providers. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding on the potential factors that contribute to the overrepresentation of Black children in Ontario's child welfare system.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The study involved twenty-one child welfare workers from two child welfare organizations in Ontario serving lots of Black families and thirteen community service providers in Toronto.

METHODS

Six focus groups were completed with thirty-four participants. Each of the focus groups was audio recorded and manually transcribed verbatim. Constant comparison analysis was used to analyze the transcribed data.

RESULTS

Themes that emerged from the study include the following concerns: racism and bias from referral sources; racism and bias from child welfare workers; lack of cultural sensitivity; lack of workforce diversity/training; lack of culturally appropriate resources; assessment tools; duty to report; fear of liability; lack of collaboration; and poverty.

CONCLUSIONS

The results from this study reinforce the need to shift practice that acknowledges Black families as valuable stakeholders and experts of their own lives and involves them in the development and implementation of policies and practices that affect them.

Gender-Specific Differences in Corporal Punishment and Children's Perceptions of Their Mothers' and Fathers' Parenting

Corporal punishment is a widespread phenomenon and a common malformation of parenting. Gender is a core category of social order and family structure. Gender-specific differences in parenting and violent behavior have been studied for many years. Yet, relatively little is known about the impact of gender interactions on parent-to-child physical violence or the impact of such violence on children's perceptions of their parents' behavior. This study used data collected from 618 students in academic institutions in northern Israel to examine the relationship between different gender interactions (e.g., mother-daughter, mother-son, father-daughter, and father-son) and the frequency of corporal punishment experienced by the respondents when they were in elementary school (between the ages 6 and 12). This study also examined whether gender interactions influence the relationship between corporal punishment and respondents' perceptions of their parents' behavior, namely the perceived parenting the respondents received during childhood. Cross tabulations and repeated measures were used to analyze the data. Significantly fewer daughters (as compared with sons) experienced corporal punishment and significantly fewer daughters experienced corporal punishment from both parents. Corporal punishment had a significant negative impact on the perceived parent-child relationship. Violent parental behavior had a significantly stronger effect on the perception of the father-child relationship, as compared with the perception of the mother-child relationship, even when the mother was the violent parent. These findings point to the importance of gender interactions in research and psychosocial practice.

Pais/Cuidadores Com e Sem Histórico de Abuso: Punições Corporais e Características Psicológicas

Resumo A prevalência dos castigos físicos em crianças/adolescentes é muito elevada. Sua aceitação social é ampla, sendo que as legislações brasileiras criam brechas para sua ocorrência. Entre os cientistas, há dissenso quanto aos limites entre castigos e abusos físicos. O objetivo do presente estudo foi contribuir com as discussões nesse âmbito, buscando verificar se grupos de pais/responsáveis sem e com histórico de notificação ao sistema de proteção por abuso físico se diferenciariam quanto à forma de punir/castigar e quanto a variáveis psicossociais consideradas fatores de risco para abuso físico. A abordagem adotada no estudo foi quantitativa, com delineamento transversal e comparativo. Participaram do estudo pais/cuidadores que faziam utilização da punição corporal: 47 sem histórico de notificação e 40 com histórico de notificação por abuso físico. Os instrumentos utilizados para a coleta de dados foram: Questionário de Caracterização Sociodemográfica, Roteiro de Entrevista sobre Prática Parental, Inventário de Potencial de Maus-Tratos Infantil (Child Abuse Potential Inventory - CAP). Os pais notificados relataram punições corporais mais graves (ou seja, mais frequentes, mais gravosas e em regiões do corpo mais vulneráveis) e mais angústia, rigidez, infelicidade, problemas com a criança, problemas com os outros e solidão. Todavia, em ambos os grupos, segundo o reportado, a raiva moveria o ato de punir. Esses resultados reiteram a ideia de que todas as formas de punição física são maus-tratos (expressões de violência), pois decorrem das necessidades dos cuidadores (“descarga emocional”). Remetem, porém, a um fenômeno heterogêneo, em termos de gravidade e de fatores associados, que precisa ser assim considerado na proposição de programas de prevenção e de tratamento.

Prediction of health, education, and psychosocial professionals' attitudes in favor of parental use of corporal punishment

BACKGROUND

To date, there have been few studies pertaining to the knowledge and attitudes regarding the use of corporal punishment (CP) among professionals working with parents and children. Yet, many parents turn to these professionals for advice on child discipline.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to describe professionals' legal knowledge about parental use of CP and their attitudes toward this practice.

METHOD

A study was conducted among professionals working directly with children or their parents through an online questionnaire.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1,758 respondents from three sectors of training (psychosocial, health, education) completed the questionnaire.

RESULTS

The results showed that professionals have little knowledge of the legal guidelines surrounding the use of CP in Canada. This poor knowledge as well as the perceived impacts of CP on children acted as predictors of favorable attitudes toward this disciplinary practice. According to the regression analyses, other personal and professional factors also explain a person's approval of CP, including violence in childhood, religious practice, and sources of knowledge. The results also highlighted some findings related to the respondents' professional sectors.

CONCLUSIONS

The study results emphasize the need to better train professionals by targeting cognitive, personal, as well as professional factors.

Opinions et positions de médecins à l’endroit de la punition corporelle comme pratique parentale disciplinaire

Contexte de l’étude

Les médecins sont parmi les professionnels les plus sollicités par les parents pour obtenir des conseils sur l’exercice du rôle parental. Pourtant, ils sont rarement formés pour informer les parents, et particulièrement en ce qui concerne la légitimité des pratiques disciplinaires comme la punition corporelle (PC).

Objectifs

Cette étude vise à documenter les attitudes de médecins québécois en faveur de la PC ainsi que leur pratique de soutien auprès des parents.

Méthodes

Au total 113 médecins œuvrant au moins 20% du temps avec des enfants mineurs ou leurs parents ont complété un sondage en ligne sur leurs caractéristiques personnelles et professionnelles, leurs connaissances et attitudes face à la PC et leurs pratiques de soutien.

Résultats

Les résultats montrent que les répondants connaissent bien les balises légales de l’article 43 du Code criminel canadien qui encadrent le recours aux PC et qu’ils sont en désaccord avec cette méthode disciplinaire. Lorsqu’ils soupçonnent une situation de PC envers un enfant, les médecins répondants offrent diverses modalités de soutien aux parent (ex.: aborder le sujet, proposer d’autres pratiques disciplinaires), ce qui est moins souvent le cas lorsque la situation implique un adolescent. Enfin, les résultats montrent que certains facteurs sont associés aux pratiques de soutien des répondants, dont les attitudes face aux PC et le sentiment d’être suffisamment formé pour aborder les pratiques disciplinaires avec les parents.

Conclusions

Ces résultats soulignent l’importance d’outiller et de soutenir les médecins dans leurs interventions auprès des parents en difficulté.

Transnationalism, parenting, and child disciplinary practices of African immigrants in Alberta, Canada

Child discipline remains a topic of public health interest across the globe. Despite this enduring interest, very little is known about the child disciplinary practices of African immigrants in Canada. This paper explores the disciplinary practices of African immigrant parents in Alberta, a Canadian province with a recent surge in the population of African immigrants. Employing a critical ethnographic methodology, informed by transnational theory, we collected data through in-depth qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of African community leaders (n = 14), African immigrant parents (n = 32), policymakers (n = 2), and health and immigrant settlement workers (n = 10). As members of the African immigrant community, we were deeply immersed in the research settings, which afforded us the opportunity to collect pertinent observational data in the form of reflexive notes. Thematic analysis of the data revealed child disciplinary approaches that incorporate Canadian and African parenting practices, as well as practices that appear somewhat unique to this demographic. We found that African immigrant parents used corporal discipline, persuasive discipline, and a hybrid of the two, as well as emerging practices involving transnational fostering and emotional isolation of children who persistently misbehaved. These practices, in their totality, appeared to be influenced by the transnational experiences of parents and precepts that are traceable to Canada's legal and educational systems. We present theoretical, policy, and service implications of our findings, including a recommendation to incorporate sociocultural dimensions of child discipline into Canadian child welfare policies and practices.

Child and family needs profiles among cases substantiated by child protection services

Differential individual and family needs are explored in a sample of children (n = 1455) whose case has been substantiated by Child Protection Services. Using data from Quebec's 2014 cycle of Incidence Study, latent class analyses led to the identification of 5 profiles, each displaying a specific range of individual and family needs. Profile characteristics were explored in order to obtain a deeper understanding of their specific needs, beyond the initial referral motive. Further, referred services were explored in order to verify their adequacy regarding the identified needs. Together, the obtained results support the relevance of a more in-depth needs assessment when child protection services are solicited, and the necessity to better match the referred services to these needs.