Anchoring the Dutch Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Protocol in initial professional education and professional practice

For every Dutch social or educational institution, using the Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Protocol is obliged by law since 2013. By 2015 the protocol was widely known among professionals. They state that its use supports... [ view full abstract ]

For every Dutch social or educational institution, using the Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Protocol is obliged by law since 2013. By 2015 the protocol was widely known among professionals. They state that its use supports acting on signs of abuse or neglect: it justifies their taking action, and provides them with a clear structure and tools to proceed conscientiously (Pons et al., 2015; VWS, 2011). Yet in educational institutions use of the protocol is not commonplace: professionals lack knowledge of the protocol or worry about their pupils’ safety and their relationship of trust with them (Leyen et al., 2015; Pons et al., 2015).

The Public Health Services Haaglanden (GGD) bears responsibility for promoting the use of the protocol by professionals in everyday practice. As a means to do so, the GGD encourages the incorporation of the protocol in initial professional education curricula. To this purpose, collaboration is started with The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUASS).

Yearly around 100 bachelor students social work are taught about the protocol and carry out explorative qualitative research. This year they conduct interviews with approximately 50 secondary school teachers and educational staff about dealing with signs of child abuse or neglect.  

The collaboration between GGD and THUASS aims at increasing students’ and professionals’ awareness and expertise of the protocol. In our presentation we will describe this collaboration and illustrate its goals by presenting the results and recommendations of students’ research. 

Preliminary results from the interviews, of which analysis will be finished by June 2017, show that despite schoolteachers’ whole-hearted engagement with their pupils’ well-being, their knowledge of the implications and possibilities of the protocol is limited. Furthermore, fear of doing harm to pupils or coming in conflict with parents may prevent them from taking action when they suspect child abuse or neglect.