November 30, 2007
Attitudes to punishment have been inconsistent. Although evidence indicates that abuse of children was known about throughout the review period, public awareness didn’t develop until the 1980s. Throughout the period there was a lack of qualified care staff, perhaps a symptom of the low status given to residential child care. The law didn’t provide adequately for talking and listening to children and taking their views into account until the end of the review period. The law in place during the first half of the review period didn’t ensure that children’s residential care services responded sufficiently to the needs of the children requiring the services. The law responded slowly to growing awareness of the abuse of children across the review period and to strengthening the protection of children in residential establishments and children’s homes. Corporal punishment was permitted in residential establishments into the 1980s despite concerns expressed about abuse in residential child care. And the law did not require inter-agency working and sharing information as an aid to protecting children until after the review period.
Posted by Gary Holden at November 30, 2007 8:14 PM