Success and failure in identifying abusive or neglectful parents who have the capacity to change

Introduction Evidence concerning the impact of abuse and neglect in the early years points to the importance of taking swift and decisive action when very young children are suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm.... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction
Evidence concerning the impact of abuse and neglect in the early years points to the importance of taking swift and decisive action when very young children are suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. The decisions made by professionals who have safeguarding responsibilities will have long-term consequences for the life chances of both children and parents concerned. Yet such decisions are exceptionally complex and often balanced on a knife edge. This paper draws on data showing the trajectories of children who were identified eight years ago as living in circumstances likely to cause them significant harm and explores the factors that led to successful (and unsuccessful) identification of parents who had the capacity to make sufficient changes to provide them with nurturing homes.

Methodology
The study traces the decisions made by professionals and their influence on the life pathways and developmental progress of a cohort of babies identified as being at high risk of harm from abuse or neglect, from before birth to their eighth birthdays. Forty three babies from ten local authorities were traced until they were three; 37 until they were five and 36 until they were eight. Data have been collected from annual in-depth interviews with birth parents and carers; interviews with children aged seven and over; interviews with teachers and social workers, children’s social care files; parent, carer and teacher completed Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires, and the National Pupil Database.

Key Findings
By the time the children were eight over half of them had been abused or neglected at some point in their lives, and about a third of the sample were still experiencing maltreatment. There were almost eight times as many children displaying emotional and behavioural difficulties that were scored in the ‘very high’ range as would be found in a normative population.
Children’s wellbeing was related to parents’ ability to overcome the factors that had placed them at risk of significant harm as infants. By the time the children were eight, nine (25%) parents (or sets of parents) had succeeded in overcoming risk factors and sustaining changes that had been made since before the children’s first birthdays; eight parents (of nine children) who had made similar changes had not succeeded in sustaining them and 18 (50%) parents had only made minimal changes.

Discussion
The paper will explore the factors that contributed to parents’ success in overcoming risk factors and sustaining changes. These included the nature of primary risk factors such as substance misuse, domestic abuse or mental health problems; the daily challenges of poverty, ill health or poor housing; the stage parents had reached in the process of change; the availability and nature of informal support networks; and the availability of both personal and public resources. Particular attention will be given to factors that influenced professional assessments of parental capacity to change. These were shaped by the extent to which parents were perceived as being determined to change, often related to the quality of their relationship with the practitioner. While many assessments were meticulous, they were rarely based on objective, standardised information. Assessments that proved to be overoptimistic were often influenced by common errors of intuitive decision-making including inadequate or inaccurate information and a tendency to be influenced by first impressions and/or to ignore the child’s point of view. Organisational factors such as a rapid turnover of staff and overwhelming caseloads also meant that difficult decisions were often postponed.