Communicating with Vulnerable Children: A Guide for Practitioners
David P.H. Jones
Communicating with Vulnerable Children provides a
wealth of practical suggestions for all professionals who work with
children and young people. It explains how best to communicate when
the child has suffered adversity, such as experiences of harm and
abuse, or witnessing violence or other distressing events. The
focus is on helping children provide full and accurate accounts of
their experiences without suggestion from an adult.
Each chapter sets out the relevant policy and procedural
context and reviews the available evidence, then gives
recommendations and practical advice about how best to communicate
with the child.
This book is aimed at anyone who works with or spends time
with children. This ranges from professionals whose specialist
tasks include helping those who have been abused or neglected, such
as social workers, child and adolescent mental health professionals
or children's guardians within the Family Justice system, through
to those who see children every day, such as teachers. It will be
also be an invaluable guide for doctors, health visitors and all
those advising concerned parents.
- The author is a leading authority on communicating with
maltreated children.
- Introductory chapter includes clear guidelines for using the
book.
- Summaries of advice and suggestions are presented in boxes as
lists that are easy to photocopy for everyday use.
- Intended as a practical resource book for practitioners.
Contents
1. Introduction and orientation
Organisation and suggested use
- Part I. The knowledge base
2. Developmental considerations
General understanding. Memory. Suggestibility. The consistency of
children’s recall over time. Language development. Social and
emotional development. Conclusions.
3. Erroneous concerns and cases
Terminology. The consequences of erroneous concern. Frequency of
types of false positive errors. Mechanisms leading to false
positive cases of abuse.
4. The child’s psychological condition
The effects of adverse experiences on children. Some special
problems. The effect of the child’s psychological condition on
communication.
5. Diversity and difference: implications for
practice
Race, culture and language. Disabled children.
6. Successful communication: core skills and basic
principles
Self-management. Technique. Implications for the practitioner.
Summary.
7. How concerns come to professional attention: the
context for practice
Use and misuse of the term ‘disclosure’. Developmental
considerations. Social and emotional factors. Children at different
stages in the child protection system. Children’s presentations of
sexual abuse allegations. Children’s accounts subsequent to
discovery of physical harm. Qualitative studies of children’s
experiences of telling others. Adult recollections of childhood
abuse. Delay in disclosing adverse experiences. Have sexual assault
prevention programmes affected the presentation of concerns?
Summary.
8. Practice issues: introduction
9. Talking with the child: first responses to
children’s concerns
Policy and procedural issues. Research findings concerning first
responses. Implications for practitioners.
10. Talking with children about adverse events during
initial assessments
The policy and procedural context. Research findings. Implications
for practitioners. Summary.
11. In-depth interviews with children
The policy and procedural context. Research findings and practice
implications. A schema for undertaking in-depth interviews.
12. Indirect and non-verbal approaches
Observation. Toys and drawings. Research findings. Implications for
practitioners.
13. Advice for parents and
carers
First concerns. Advice during the process of assessment. When
uncertainty persists.
14. Epilogue
A framework for analysis. Training. Future directions for practice
development.
References
Index