Why should they be abused any more than children? Child abuse protection and the implementation of No Secrets
| Pages | 18-28 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14668203200800009 |
| Date | 01 May 2008 |
| Published date | 01 May 2008 |
| Author | Rachel Filinson,Claudine McCreadie,Janet Askham,Dinah Mathew |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Sociology |
18 © Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Limited The Journal of Adult Protection Volume 10 Issue 2 • May 2008
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Introduction
The Report of the House of Commons Health Committee on
Elder Abuse (House of Commons Health Committee, 2004)
begins by discussing two cases of abuse, one involving a child,
the other an older adult. Elder abuse – and adult abuse in
general – has frequently been juxtaposed with child abuse for
a number of reasons (Kingston & Penhale, 1995). Both can
involve the concealed victimisation of a weaker family
member that only comes to light through the sentinel efforts
of outsiders such as teachers, doctors or social workers. For
both, interventions are difficult to implement because
practitioners are loath to intrude into the privacy of family life
at the possible risk of causing damage, especially if accusations
are false. Furthermore, combating abuse of either type
demands the intervention of health services, social services
and criminal justice professionals, but determining the
allocation of responsibilities among agencies and arranging
joint working can be exceedingly intricate (Leslie, 1999).
Interestingly, the House of Commons Report on elder
abuse, which mentioned ‘child/ren’ 17 times in its first
volume, considered the two cases of abuse in order to
highlight not so much the similarities but rather the
differences between the two types of abuse (Nursing Older
People, 2004). The report presented elder abuse as a social
Why should they be abused
any more than children? Child
abuse protection and the
implementation of
No Secrets
Rachel Filinson
Rhode Island College
Claudine McCreadie
Janet Askham
Dinah Mathew
King’s College London
Practice paper
key words
adult protection, vulnerable
adult abuse, elder abuse,child
abuse, child protection,
No Secrets
abstract
The parallels between child
abuse and adult abuse have been
frequently noted as public
awareness of both has increased in
recent decades.Both can involve
the concealed victimisation of a
weaker family member, for both
interventions are difficult to
implement because practitioners
are loath to intrude into the privacy
of the family and risk causing harm,
and combating abuse of either type
demands multi-agency working.
Significant differences between the
two abuse constituencies have also
been stressed, namely that adults
are not invariably dependents
reliant for care on the persons
mistreating them and have the
autonomy to resist efforts to
intervene on their behalf.
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