BOOK
Assessment and Intervention with Mothers and Partners Following Child Sexual Abuse
(2016)
Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
Assessment and Intervention with Mothers and Partners Following Child Sexual Abuse provides child protection professionals with the guidance they need to make the right decisions in cases of suspected or proven sexual abuse and ensure the best outcome for the child.
Assessments and interventions used for other forms of abuse, such as physical abuse or neglect, elicit a great deal of information, but do not fully address the issues and needs in relation to child sexual abuse. This book lays out a new model for understanding, assessing and working with mothers of sexually abused children or partners of known or suspected sexual offenders - a model which combines offender knowledge with understanding of mothers and partners. It is structured around the following central critical questions:
· Did she know it was happening?
· Is she able to protect the child?
· What do I need to do to ensure that the child is safe?
Combining research and empirical evidence with case studies, exercises and practical guidance, this book is essential reading for child protection professionals working with children and families.
Jenny states "My aim throughout the book is to provide a basic grounding in understanding sex offenders and to weave that knowledge much more into our understanding of mothers and partners". For me the book does exactly that. It deals with what can be some potentially emotive issues with great care, whilst ensuring that the practitioner has a clear understanding of why things should be done in the way Jenny suggests. The work is based on theory but it is also firmly based on Jenny's excellent knowledge and understanding of the subject area. All in all it weaves theory with the knowledge and skills required to achieve the aims and objectives of the intervention, while illustrating practice application. The book is a 'must read' for all those who are involved in this area of work as well as those who assess children and families in other situations.
Trevor Evans, Registered Social Worker, Consultant Trainer and Associate Lecturer, The Open University
Jenny Still responds to some of the key questions posed by practitioners working with partners of sex offenders - Did they know? Why did their child not tell them? Why do some not believe their child's allegations? Are they safe? What will help? She provides a format for assessment and intervention with practical advice on how to enhance partners' understanding of risk in order to help them protect their children and meet the child's recovery needs. Importantly it also helps practitioners identify where protection cannot be provided and where alternative care and intervention is required. This book is an essential resource for all those involved in assessment, intervention, case management and supervision.
Robert Tucker, Independent Social Work Consultant, RGT Training and Consultancy
Written by an experienced practitioner, this practical guide combines theory and useful models to assist those faced with the difficult task of assessing mothers of sexual abused children and partners of offenders. This difficult area of practice has long suffered from an absence of practical literature and Assessment and Intervention with Mothers and Partners Following Child Sexual Abuse: Empowering to Protect is therefore to be welcomed.
Marcus Erooga, Independent Child Safeguarding Consultant
This thoughtful and practical text will be critically important for all social workers, probation officers, psychologists, police and other professionals involved with decision making concerning parental capacity to protect. It also makes a significant contribution to the literature on protecting children from sexual abuse.
Stuart Allardyce, Children's Service Manager, Barnardo’s and Chair, NOTA Scotland
Jenny Still is an independent practitioner and registered expert witness for child sexual abuse. She was previously Principal Practitioner and Deputy Clinical Director with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Jenny is also a member of NOTA (National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers).
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| INTRODUCTION | 9 | ||
| Background to the book | 9 | ||
| About the book | 10 | ||
| References | 15 | ||
| THE COMPLEXITY OF ASSESSING NON‑OFFENDING MOTHERS AND PARTNERS | 16 | ||
| The importance of the mother to the child | 17 | ||
| Common dilemmas in assessment and decision making | 18 | ||
| Conclusions | 21 | ||
| References | 22 | ||
| DID SHE KNOW? \nCAN SHE PROTECT? | 24 | ||
| Belief, Disbelief and Denial? | 24 | ||
| Denial and disbelief | 26 | ||
| Absence of proof | 28 | ||
| Messages from children | 28 | ||
| Denial in a human context | 30 | ||
| Issues for mothers and partners who are survivors of sexual abuse | 35 | ||
| Do women readily disclose to us any of the above difficulties they may be facing? | 37 | ||
| Understanding and working with denial | 38 | ||
| Conclusions | 40 | ||
| References | 40 | ||
| THE ADDITION OF THE OFFENDER PERSPECTIVE TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF MOTHERS AND PARTNERS | 41 | ||
| The benefits of applying offender knowledge | 42 | ||
| How do we know this approach works? | 43 | ||
| Why we might not want to apply the offender perspective | 43 | ||
| Why this is important | 45 | ||
| How does it work? | 45 | ||
| Applying offender knowledge | 46 | ||
| Conclusions | 49 | ||
| References | 49 | ||
| UNDERSTANDING SEX OFFENDERS: HOW MUCH DO WE NEED TO KNOW AND WHY? | 50 | ||
| Some general guidelines | 50 | ||
| What research and theory into sex offenders tells us: a basic overview | 54 | ||
| Conclusions | 59 | ||
| References | 59 | ||
| TWO SIMPLE MODELS FOR UNDERSTANDING SEX OFFENDERS FOR USE WHEN WORKING WITH MOTHERS AND PARTNERS | 61 | ||
| The benefits of these two theoretical models | 62 | ||
| Model one: Finkelhor’s four preconditions to sex offending | 63 | ||
| Model two: cycles of offending | 65 | ||
| Conclusions | 67 | ||
| References | 68 | ||
| APPLYING KNOWLEDGE OF SEX OFFENDERS WHEN WORKING WITH MOTHERS AND PARTNERS | 69 | ||
| Stage one: general pro-offending thinking and/or fantasy accompanied by internal inhibitors | 69 | ||
| Stage two: excuse to offend | 71 | ||
| Stage three: sexual fantasy/sexual thinking | 73 | ||
| Stage four: targeting | 80 | ||
| Stage five: grooming the mother/partner | 82 | ||
| Stage six: grooming the child | 94 | ||
| Stage seven: committing the abuse | 94 | ||
| Stage eight: reinforcing the grooming | 94 | ||
| Stage nine: reliving the abuse in fantasy | 95 | ||
| Stage ten: guilt and/or fear | 95 | ||
| Stage eleven: pushing the guilt and/or fear away | 95 | ||
| Multi-stage: distorted thinking | 96 | ||
| Conclusions | 99 | ||
| References | 99 | ||
| THE IMPACT OF THE OFFENDER ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MOTHER/PARTNER AND THE CHILD | 100 | ||
| Some examples of common problems that can arise in the mother–child relationship during and post-abuse | 101 | ||
| Other possible effects of sexual abuse on the child or young person | 103 | ||
| Why is this particular child reacting in this particular way? | 105 | ||
| Stage six of the cycle: grooming the child and implanting thinking errors through the offender’s distorted thinking | 106 | ||
| Sadistic offenders versus non‑sadistic offenders | 112 | ||
| Differences in timings in the offending cycle | 113 | ||
| Believing and disbelieving children: difference in the child and offender perspectives | 114 | ||
| Placing the child’s experience into a developmental model | 115 | ||
| Some implications for work with the child | 115 | ||
| Conclusions | 116 | ||
| References | 117 | ||
| THE EFFECT OF THE OFFENDER ON FAMILY DYNAMICS | 118 | ||
| Further worries for the mother/partner | 118 | ||
| Removing the offender does not make it all go away | 120 | ||
| Implications for work with mothers/partners, children and families | 122 | ||
| Conclusions | 123 | ||
| WHAT CAN HINDER A GOOD ASSESSMENT? THE MOTHER’S OR PARTNER’S PERSPECTIVE | 124 | ||
| ‘Why are you spending all this time asking me all these questions? I didn’t do it – he did’ | 124 | ||
| ‘You think I’m a bad mother?’ | 125 | ||
| ‘Do they know what they’re doing?’ | 125 | ||
| ‘Why should I believe you?’: mixed messages | 126 | ||
| ‘Low risk equals no risk’ | 126 | ||
| ‘What is “child sexual abuse”?’ | 126 | ||
| ‘I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and I know more about this than you do’ | 127 | ||
| ‘I’m not the kind of person who can be manipulated!’ | 128 | ||
| ‘Will this assessment never end?’ | 128 | ||
| ‘What about me?’: the forbidden question | 129 | ||
| Implications for work with mothers and partners | 129 | ||
| References | 130 | ||
| ARE WE ALL SPEAKING THE SAME LANGUAGE? | 131 | ||
| ARE WE ALL SPEAKING THE SAME LANGUAGE? IMPROVING INTER-AGENCY UNDERSTANDING | 131 | ||
| Our use of terminology | 133 | ||
| Differences in the way different agencies determine risk | 135 | ||
| Five common types of assessment models | 136 | ||
| Model one: assessment of risk by child and family agencies | 136 | ||
| Models two and three: assessments of known and suspected sex offenders | 140 | ||
| Model two: specialist structured clinical risk assessment of alleged and suspected offenders and known sex offenders with historic convictions | 141 | ||
| Model three: actuarial risk assessments for use with convicted sex offenders | 142 | ||
| Model four: assessments of men attending sex offender treatment programmes | 144 | ||
| Model five: the Faithfull Assessment Classification System (FACS-4) by child protection workers with alleged or suspected sexual abuse within a family context | 145 | ||
| Answering mothers’ and partners’ questions about sexual risk | 146 | ||
| Conclusions | 147 | ||
| References | 148 | ||
| ASSESSMENT OF THE MOTHER/PARTNER | 150 | ||
| ASSESSMENT OF THE MOTHER/PARTNER: PRE-ASSESSMENT PLANNING | 150 | ||
| Practical issues to consider | 151 | ||
| Building offender knowledge into the assessment process | 158 | ||
| Some preliminary thoughts about other issues | 160 | ||
| Conclusions | 165 | ||
| References | 165 | ||
| THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION | 166 | ||
| The style of assessment | 166 | ||
| Did she know? Is she safe? | 167 | ||
| Checking out our own feelings | 168 | ||
| Understanding her starting point in the assessment: what is she likely to have been through already? | 168 | ||
| What information does she have and how reliable is it? | 169 | ||
| Our use of language | 172 | ||
| How much should I tell the mother/partner during the assessment? | 174 | ||
| Some guidelines on what to do with information | 175 | ||
| Conclusions | 176 | ||
| References | 176 | ||
| THE ASSESSMENT INTERVIEW | 177 | ||
| THE ASSESSMENT INTERVIEW: WHAT QUESTIONS TO ASK, WHY, HOW AND WHEN | 177 | ||
| A guide to method | 178 | ||
| The interview | 181 | ||
| Conclusions | 198 | ||
| INTERVENTION: EMPOWERING MOTHERS AND PARTNERS TO ASSIST AND TO PROTECT THEIR CHILD AND FAMILY | 200 | ||
| Planning an intervention programme | 201 | ||
| Creating an intervention programme: guidelines | 206 | ||
| Block one – getting started | 207 | ||
| Block two – how did he do that to the child and to me? Helping the mother/partner to profile the known or suspected offender | 212 | ||
| Block three – putting knowledge into practice with the child and family | 216 | ||
| Block four – moving on: decision making, recognising potential risk and developing protective strategies | 223 | ||
| Conclusions | 234 | ||
| References | 234 | ||
| Assessment and Intervention with Mothers and Partners Following Child Sexual Abuse: Empowering to Protect, by Jenny Still | 3 | ||
| Subject Index | 235 | ||
| Author Index | 240 | ||
| Blank Page |