Summary

Since the 2020 Covid pandemic, there has been an exponential increase in the number of child protection & child welfare referrals to social work organization's, in the UK. Alongside a significant decrease in the number of students applying to UK social work qualifying programmes. Is UK social work now under threat? Is this unique to the UK or is this a global crisis? Is social work now under threat and can we work collectively to tackle this issue? In 2022, there were an estimated 50,920 children on protection plans in the UK (Gov.UK 2022), a rise of approximately 42.1 per 10,0000 children from 2021. A further 404,310 children were classified as Children in Need, these are children assessed as needing help and protection because of risks to their health or development (childrencommissioner.gov.uk). This rise is expected to continue and is associated with the 2020 Covid Pandemic (nspccc.org.uk 2022). Since 2020, UK universities have seen a year-on-year decrease in the number of social work students applying to undertake social work as a profession. This decrease in applications has caused some programmes to close, with other UK universities, reviewing whether social work is a viable programme to deliver. In a small survey, potential students identified that the Covid Pandemic, has deterred people from entering the profession. So where does it leave the future of social work. Can we as a global community and through social action address this challenge. What would it take to do so?

Keywords (separate with commas)

Child ProtectionChild WelfareStudent Social WorkersUniversity Applications

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an economic crisis around the globe, causing the Aruban governmentproblems allocating financial resources and provoking budget cuts. The cost of social services needed tobe known to support social investment in child protection. This research estimates the financial costs ofintervention for child protection. The unit of analysis for this study was the Victim Support Unit, ChildProtection Services, Department of Social Affairs and ‘Bureau Sostenemi', i.e., the agency responsible forreporting all forms of child maltreatment. According to a local study, physical abuse was the mostprevalent type in Aruba. Consequently, an aggregated economic cost of a single physical abuse case studywas estimated using the Cost Accounting Method of Normal Job Costing. The total cost was estimated bysumming up the relevant costs of the organizations from the unit of analysis using the Vital WorkloadPercentages Factor to refine the costs. The results revealed the estimated cost is US$ 356.88 per case,while the annual cost is US$ 1,705,999.31. Based on a 50.2% year prevalence of child maltreatment, thetheoretical annual intervention cost was estimated at US$ 4,050,770.47. The results also revealed that thecurrent budget of intervention is approximately half of what the cost should be theoretically. Therefore,recommendations are made to increase budgetary provisions for child protection. It is also recommendedto replicate the study using the Activity-Based Costing method (ABC -method) instead. This is becausethe ABC-method would calculate the costs per intervention activity/action in the Work BreakdownStructures (WBS) developed in this research instead of generalizing the expenses like the Normal JobCosting method.

Keywords (separate with commas)

Economic cost, aggregated estimation, child protection

Summary

Child protection is a critical area within the social work practice which focuses on protecting children at risk of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect. When caregivers become abusive and exploit their position of power the Child Protection System becomes responsible to take action, this usually involves the intervention of social workers. This abstract examines  highlights the role that play therapy can play in the healing and recovery of children affected by trauma and the benefits and challenges associated with integrating play therapy within social work practice.following are the key points:A. Understanding Play Therapy: Play therapy is a specialized theoretical model that utilizes the therapeutic powers of play to help children express themselves and work through their traumatic experiences. Research highlights the value of reaching children through play therapy and, therefore, this paper will examine its relevance within the context of child protection.B. Helping Children Recover From Trauma: Children who have  experienced trauma such as abuse, neglect  can have long-term consequences that affect emotions, behaviour, ability to express themselves and even alter the brain. Play therapy however provides the opportunity for children to express what is too difficult to say in words, it allows them to tell their stories.C. Ethical Consideration: The ethical consideration and guidelines in the use of play therapy will be explored such as privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, do no harm and abuse reporting and cultural consideration when working with a diverse population. D. Multiagency Approach and Risk Assessment: Child protection involves collaborative efforts of several practitioners including social workers, educators, medical clinicians and others to ensure the holistic well-being of children.  This paper will seek to examine the child protection system in Jamaica and explore the value of play therapy as an intervention in response to child abuse and maltreatment.  

Keywords (separate with commas)

Understanding Play therapy, Helping Children recover from Trauma, Ethical consideration, multidisciplinary approach and Risk assessment 

Summary

The Covid-19 pandemic caused significant disruption globally, and the need for measures to limit the spread of the virus required that both state and non-state entities innovate and explore new ways of operating. More specifically, the pandemic created a unique challenge for agencies delivering social work services, which prioritized human relationships and human interactions. Jamaica’s Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), like many other entities, employed specific strategies to pivot in the delivery of services to clients. This paper offers a brief discussion on the challenges presented by the pandemic and the strategies used by the CPFSA to mitigate them.

Keywords (separate with commas)

Child Protection and Family Services Agency, covid-19, pandemic, child protection