A Case Study Of Jamie

Introduction

Safeguarding is one of the important factors in the health and social care context where the children and adults who are vulnerable to abuse in the society are getting proper support from the health and social care workers and the government. Safeguarding is the measure to protect the children so that they can enjoy their human rights in the society and help them to live free from abuse, harm and neglect (Titterton, 2005). The aim of the study is to analyse the purpose of safeguarding to help the vulnerable children in the society and the ways and strategic planning of the health and social care workers through which they serve better care and support to the vulnerable people in the society. In this regard, the purpose of safeguarding is to evaluate the case study of Jamie and Jamie did not get proper environment and family to born and brought up smoothly with the support from the parents. In this study, it is possible to evaluate the social structure of safeguarding, existing legislations and practice through which the social workers can provide proper support and care for safeguarding the children, vulnerable in the society. In this context, the Kent Safeguarding Children Board (KSCB) aims at improving the safeguarding practice for helping the children who are vulnerable to abuse in the society. This essay is helpful to scrutinise the case study of Child D Jamie, with critical analysis of the existing theme of safeguarding, social work knowledge, skill and values as well as legislations and practice of safeguarding. Safeguarding the children in the society is one of the important responsibilities of the health and social care professionals who are trying to save the children who are vulnerable to abuse in the society where the existing legislations, regulations, guidance and procedure are helpful for the health and social care professionals to safeguard the children, as well as protect them from abuse, harm and neglect in the society.

Safeguarding the children and adults

The rationale of choosing the case study is due to the personal interest on safeguarding, where it is possible for the researcher to analyse and acknowledge the case study of Jamie and the situation of neglect in the family for which the child needs safeguarding. Another reason of choosing the study is to investigate and understand the existing practice, skill, working strategic planning and existing legislations for safeguarding the child in the society. Through this study, it is also easy to understand the reasons, why the parents put their children at risk of neglect, harm, abuse and murder. The analysis is based on child D through which it is easy to evaluate the case study and recommend some suitable suggestions for future improvement. The reason of choosing the study is also to analyse the safeguarding principles through which the child can get better care and support to survive in the society. There are several side effects of neglect and harm for the children which influence to consider the research and conduct in depth analysis on safeguarding principles. The areas of abuse, self-harm, self-neglect, domestic violence and abuse, missing children, child trafficking, harmful practice child death and mental disbalance are the incidents for which it is necessary to conduct the study efficiently by analysing and evaluating the principles of safeguarding the child in the society. Child care is one of the complex tasks for the health and social care professionals, where they try to protect the child from abuse and neglect and it is risky for the health care workers to give them proper care and support in the society. The children are at risk of neglect, abuse and harm for which safeguarding the children with the best working practice and care are necessary to be implemented, so that the child can live safe and secured. As per the Child protection Act, Jamie was subject to domestic violence, fatal injury which is important to be analysed so that it is possible to evaluate the safeguarding practice and legislations that would be effective for children in near future to be protected and safeguarded in the society.

Case study analysis

As per the case study presented in the article, Jamie was the youngest child among the 8 siblings who were lives at the same place, but their parents become separated and their mother started a new relationship. The child was suffering from unexplained injuries, lack of supervision and unaddressed safety risk for which the child was poorly dressed up, smelly, dirty and inappropriately presented the society where the child needs proper treatment and care from the parents and the health and social care professionals. Domestic abuse affects the child emotionally which further deteriorate the mental health and physical health of the child. There needs proper intervention of the health care agencies and Specialist Children service due to child abuse and domestic violence as well as neglect, where child welfare cannot be maximised. Mother’s engenderment and cooperation by both the parents were minimal which worsen the case. As per the case study, in April 2016, the serious injury, non-accidental and fatal injury to Jamie occurred at the home and as per the post mortem report of Jamie, there was serious injury and 28 fractures with 19 different bones, where the cause of death was revealed due to the result of head injury. Fatal injury at the same time needs proper supervision and diagnosis by the specialist and pathologist which was absent in case of Jamie for which the incident of child death happened. In July 2017, the mother and her partner felt guilty as the child Jamie was died and causing of allowing serious fatal injury (Kent Safeguarding Children Board, 2018).

In November 2017, the couple was sentenced to 8 to 13 years respectively. The case is related to chronic neglect and chaotic parenting versus the risk of serious physical injury for which Jamie was died, which needs to be investigated and evaluated through understanding the safeguarding practice. Child in need and Child protection Plan also need to be implemented to safeguard the child efficiently, so that the case of child neglect, harm and abuse would be mitigated in the society. The section 13 of the Children Act 2004 requires local authorities to set up Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) and regulations (2006) setting out its functions which incorporates the necessities to carry out a serious case review in specific conditions. In this regard, it is necessary to develop three particular themes through which it is possible to analyse the case of Jamie and identify the support and care through which the case of neglect, harm and abuse can be mitigated. The first theme is to enhance collaboration with the multi-agency working and information sharing, and the second theme is working with the neglectful families. The third theme is to work with the children where the parents have additional needs through which it is possible to safeguard the children like Jamie who are vulnerable to abuse, domestic harm, and neglect in the society (Kent Safeguarding Children Board, 2018).

Social work knowledge, skills and values, legislation and policy of safeguarding

The collaboration with the multi-agency team members is beneficial for the health and social, care professionals for protecting the child in the society who are vulnerable to abuse, neglect and harm. Interpersonal collaboration and communication in the multi-agency team work are effective for the health and social care professionals to empower each other in the decision-making practice and share knowledge and their experience to safeguard the people who are vulnerable to abuse, neglect and harm. Interpersonal collaboration among Social Workers (SW), Occupational Therapists (OT) and District Nurse (DN) as well as other health care professionals and specialist are effective to cooperate with each other for maximising the welfare and wellbeing of the children. The multi-agency team work in this regard is beneficial to safeguard the child who are vulnerable to abuse and it is important for the social care workers to increase communication and share their experience to develop effective strategic planning for serving the best care and support to the children, who are neglected and cannot get proper support and treatment (Whitelock, 2009). In this regard, collaborative practice and integrated working strategy are important in the case of child D Jamie, where the result was fatal injury and ultimate death and the child was unable to express in front of the social care agencies due to lack of communication and cooperation, that led the child towards ultimate death. The Children Act 2004 (Dept of Health, 2004) and related government guidance, the Public Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié in 2000, including Every Child Matters (Dept of Health, 2003), were important to be executed in this case of child D Jamie, for developing integrated working practice, interpersonal and multi-agency working practice at the society to safeguard the child. The elder siblings of the child D Jamie went to the social care agency and commission but due to lack of cooperation and communication, the social workers failed to serve better care, support and security to the child for protection and this further led the child towards ultimate death.

Due to poor attendance of school, cramped housing, abusive language, domestic violence, anti-social behaviour and not keeping medical records, there is ongoing concern of neglect and injuries of the child D. In this regard, the commission failed to share appropriate information with others so that it is possible for them to analyse the case efficiently. In this context, the Data protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is not a barrier to stop sharing information with others, but it provides a scope to protect the data and handle the collected information proficiently by the commission and health and social care professionals. Effective communication between the agencies must be required in this case where they need to share the collected information from the family members, however, due to lack of communication and non-cooperation among the professionals, nurses, care givers, social workers and head members of the local commission, the case could not be investigated properly (Scragg, and Mantell, 2011). The Section 10 of the Children Act 2004 indicates that, the local authorities and the agencies need to be cooperative with each other so that they can working as a partnership basis for safeguarding the child. The local agencies could not protect in case of the child D and they failed to share information, however, as per the Child Care Act 2004, the child should be protected in the society with the help of the social workers and local agencies who contribute in maximising the wellbeing of the child (Warner, 2015). The Child Protect Plan is also effective in this regard to secure the child as well as help the pregnant women to develop proper planning for successful born and brought up of the children in the society. The local authorities for this case of child D Jamie also failed to develop child Protection Plan and they did not contribute properly to protect or safeguard the child who are vulnerable to abuse, harm and domestic violence.

The multi-agency working practice in this regard are useful for safeguarding the children where all the health and social care professionals including the nurses, social workers, physiotherapist, practitioners, doctors, specialist and other workers are cooperating with each other and in this context collaboration among the team members help to share their knowledge, technical skill and experience to serve better care ad practice to the children which in turn helps to safeguard the child who are vulnerable to abuse and harm (Parton, 2014). For successful protection of the child, it is hereby necessary for the team members to develop multi-agency working practice as well as work as a partnership basis for archiving the ultimate goal of safeguarding the child. Exchanging ideas and experience with each other as well as team work are in this regard beneficial for the team members to deliver the best care and support to the child. In this regard the multi-agency practice and partnership working practice, both are necessary for safeguarding the individuals and for enhancing internal and external communication, it is necessary for the local authorities and agencies to implement the Information and Telecommunication Technology (ICT) as well as arrange group meeting, so that all the members can cooperate with each other and share their knowledge and understanding for making the best possible decision to safeguard the child D Jamie. In addition to these, safeguarding the child depends on multi-agency working where transparency and accountability at the workplace is necessary for which the leaders and managers of the health care institutions and local authorities need to maintain proper organisational culture, transparency and accountability at the workplace where all the members can feel free to discuss and share their experience with each other. Fair treatment at the workplace and providing equal opportunities to all the members in the agencies are effective to develop a multi-agency working practice where Every child Matters planning can be fulfilled by the social workers (Brammer, 2014). Additionally, it is required to develop proper planning to work with others through enhancing communication and in this regard the agencies and the local authorities as well as social workers and practitioners try to be cooperative so that they can share the collected information properly and give proper treatment and care to the child like Jamie.

The second theme is working with the neglectful families where all the health and social care professionals and the local authorities try to cooperate with all the family members so that it is easy to include them in the care plan for the child. In this present case study, the parents of the Child D Jamie did not cooperate with the child and not even with the local authorities and this further worsen the case for the child to survive and imporve the wellbeing. It is necessary to cooperate with the parents of the child, so that the social workers can safeguard the child successfully. The strategy of improving cooperation with the parents of the child who are refused to cooperate with the child care specialist is open of the effective way to empower the family and improve engagement with them to protect the child and let them live their lives by improving their wellbeing (Lonne et al., 2016). In this regard, it is the responsibility of the care workers to include the parents so that the parents can take active part for providing safe and secured environment to the child for living better and improving their wellbeing. Through increasing conversation with the parents, it is possible to increase their participation in develop care plan for the child. In addition to these, sharing information and open communication with the parents can help the practitioners and social workers to acknowledge the needs and preferences of the child, problems facing the child and the situation that the child ideal with (Chisnell and Kelly, 2016).

This collected information are useful for the care professionals and social workers to diagnose the child as well as develop proper planning for treating the child proficiently (Cooper, and White, 2017). Cooperation with the parents and building strong relations helps the care workers to work as a partnership basis for maximising the wellbeing of the child. In this regard, parent’s involvement is necessary for child development, but in the present case study, the child is vulnerable to abuse, harm and neglect which leads the child to ultimate death (Koubel, 2016). Hereby, it is essential for the agencies to follow the strategy of parent’s involvement through developing partnership working practice with full collaboration with the parents. Open communication and treating all the parents and families fairly are effective to build string relationship with the parents of the abused child. Moreover, it is necessary to build trust and loyalty, ensure the family members that the information is used only for child treatment not others. In this context, for protecting the gathered data and information, the Data Protection Act 2018 is effective which helps in building trust and loyalty among the family members (Koubel, and Bungay, 2012). Hereby, open discussion and communication with the family members, mainly the parents are effective to develop appropriate care plan for the child who are vulnerable to abuse, harm and neglect. Social work practitioners need to employ different ranges of knowledge and skills to build appropriate relationship and engage directly with the persons and their families for enabling an empowering environment for the best outcome.

The number of children in child D’s family may make it impossible for the professionals to collect information and make assessment for each child according to their needs, development and functioning. Most times they appeared to be seen as a group and not as individuals. In this regard timely intervention by the social workers and the local agencies as well as develop conversation with the family members will be beneficial for the social workers to treat the children and provide them suitable environment to live with proper cooperation with the parents as the child development plan needs proper cooperation and communication with all the members including the family members, parents, nurses, care professionals, practitioners and social workers who are trying to diagnose the case of child abuse and help them to maximise their wellbeing though providing proper treatment and care (Corby, Shemmings, and Wilkins, 2012). Protection Assessment process need proper intervention where the child D can be safe and, in this context, the involvement with the family members and the parents is necessary to stop the incident of domestic violence, abuse and neglect to the child. In the present case, it has been reported that, mothers that neglect their children will frequently have low self-esteem, poor knowledge of parenting and mental health problems and the mother had little compassion and poor connection with their children, but the practitioners need better engagement with the mother of the Child D and due to absent and lack of awareness of the mother, the incident happened with the Child D.

The third theme is to work with the child where patient centred care plan can be developed in the local agencies and health and social care institutions. empowering the children in the decision-making practice is essential where the child can express their situation and talk about their problems and to live safely and secured. It is vital that professionals focus on the child’s life experience as well as emotional experience (Humphreys and Stanley, 2015). Children who have been abused or exposed to fruitless parenting may encounter an impact in areas of growth and functioning that can lead to disaster. Professionals need to deliberate on the risk of domestic abuse on children, most especially the psychological effects on children and not just concentrating on the visual effect of domestic violence on children. In the present case of Child D Jamie, a reason for this failing could be a lack in professional’s expertise to identify and respond to signals of child neglect or a lack in understanding how parent’s problems could affect children and families. In this regard, it is essential for the child care professionals and the local authorities to focus on the child experience and life, including their emotional experience through which the child D Jamie was suffering a lot and it led the situation towards ultimate death due to child abuse, neglect and domestic violence. The collective effects of domestic violence and alcohol related issues in the children’s life was not appropriately recognised by any of the agencies who had contact with the family. Most widely, in the present case study, the issue are related to absence of comprehension, accessing the substance misuser and their kids, flexibility, quandaries about secrecy and data sharing, between office strains, appraisal, absence of preparing and the capacity to concentrate on both, adults and children need which worsen the case of Child D where the child could not get proper care and support from the child care professionals and the local authorities. In the present case scenario, the practitioners need to improve engagement with the parents and analyse the case of the Child D in order to provide better care and support, but it was not there and due to lack of communication and cooperation with the family members, the problem arose, and it led to ultimate death. As the impact of domestic abuse and neglect as well as harm on children are mostly emotional, the child care professionals need to intervene for providing better care and support to the Child D. Hereby, the professionals need to develop patient centred care for empowering the child in the decision-making practice so that the child can express their situation and difficulties that they faced.

Implications for future

After analysing the present case, it is important that, the child care professionals need to cooperate with the family members, mainly the parents for empowering them in the decision-making practice, so that the child can be diagnosed properly (Ferguson, 2011). In this regard, the health and social care professionals require to enhance communication with the family members to acknowledge their actual needs and the previous health records of the child as well as the situation that the child is going through. Moreover, working in partnership with the other health care professionals, team members, doctors, nurses, child care practitioners and social workers is also another strategic planning for improving the safeguarding practice in near future where it is possible for the health and social care professionals to empower all the team members and develop appropriate child care plan for the betterment of the child so that the incident of neglect, abuse and harm can be mitigated. The child abuse, neglect and harm are a serious concern in the society, where child abuse and harm can be mitigated through safeguarding the child in the society. In order to safeguard the child, it is necessary for the health care professionals to develop effective team for providing the best care and treatment as well as support to the child, who are vulnerable to abuse, neglect and domestic violence and harm. In addition to these, the child care practitioners and the local authorities also need to focus on child involvement and empowerments of the child in the treatment process which is also necessary to understand the psychology of the child and acknowledge their needs and preferences, so that proper child care plan can be developed. Sharing the knowledge and understanding of the care professionals as well as cooperation and communication will help in near future to protect the child and safeguard them for improving their wellbeing (Featherstone, White, and Morris, 2014).

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, child care plan is necessary for safeguarding where the health care professionals need to focus on three main themes which are collaboration with the multi-agency working and information sharing, working with the neglectful families and working with the children where the parents have additional needs so that it is easy to provide proper care and support to the child who are vulnerable to abuse, domestic violence, neglect and harm. Parental capacity is ensuring safety, basic care, stimulation, emotional warmth and stability, which parents must be assessed as being able of providing safe environment to their children, but as per the present case of Child D, parental neglect and domestic violence led the child towards ultimate death. In this context, it is also the responsibility of the health care professionals, child care practitioners and the social workers to increase involvement with the parents and communicate with them for better care and practice, so that it is possible for the child to improve wellbeing and live in a secured environment. It is important for the professionals to develop multi-agency team to work with the child and proper supervision and sharing the collected information with others are also necessary for developing child care plan. Moreover, the child care professionals need to empower the child and build trust and loyalty with them for acknowledging their present situation, needs and preferences, so that the child who are vulnerable to abuse and harm can be treated well and improve their wellbeing.

Reference List

Brammer, A., 2014. Safeguarding Adults (Focus on Social Work Law) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Chisnell, C. and Kelly, C., 2016. Safeguarding in Social Work Practice: A Lifespan Approach London: Sage
Cooper, A. and White, E., 2017. Safeguarding Adults Under the Care Act 2014 (Knowledge in Practice) London: Jessica Kingsley
Corby, B., Shemmings, D. and Wilkins, D., 2012. Child Abuse: An Evidence Base for Confident Practice Maidenhead: Open University Press
Featherstone, B., White, S. and Morris, K., 2014. Re-imagining Child Protection: Towards humane social work with families Bristol: Policy Press
Ferguson, H., 2011. Child Protection Practice Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Humphreys, C. and Stanley, N., 2015. Domestic Violence and Protecting Children: New Thinking and Approaches. London: Jessica Kingsley
Kent Safeguarding Children Board, 2018. Serious Case Review Child D “Jamie” Died Age 5 months. [online] Available at: [Accessed on 3 January 2019]
Koubel, G and Bungay, H., 2012. Rights, Risks and Responsibilities Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Koubel, G., 2016. Safeguarding Adults and Children: Dilemmas and Complex Practice Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Lonne, B., Harries, M., Featherstone, B. and Gray, M., 2016. Working Ethically in Child Protection Abingdon: Routledge
Parton, N., 2014. The Politics of Child Protection: Contemporary Developments and Future Directions Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Scragg, T and Mantell, A., 2011. Safeguarding Adults in Social Work Exeter: Learning Matters
Titterton, M., 2005. Risk and Risk Taking in Health and Social Welfare London: Jessica Kingsley Publications
Warner, J., 2015. The emotional politics of social work and child protection Bristol: Policy Press
Whitelock, A., 2009. ‘Safeguarding in mental health: towards a rights-based approach Journal of Adult Protection, 11(4).