Competency in the complexity of child abuse and neglect

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The abuse and neglect of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children and adolescents is a human rights, pub- lic health, injury prevention, and high-cost ...
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ARTICLE IN PRESS Child Abuse & Neglect xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

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Child Abuse & Neglect

Editorial

Research at its best: Competency in the complexity of child abuse and neglect

It is such a mysterious place, the land of tears. The abuse and neglect of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children and adolescents is a human rights, public health, injury prevention, and high-cost problem. We understand this problem mainly from the work conducted in North America and Europe, and continued monitoring and clarification of parameters are critical to understand alongside impact indicators, ideally with a long-term view. We understand that the incidence from child welfare systems reporting is dramatically lower than self-reported indications. Indeed, poly-victimization calls attention to the violent victimization in homes, neighbourhoods and schools. For some, there are notable socio-political contexts to either State-sanctioned or State-implicated violence against children. The economic and political pressures create newer contexts for child abuse and neglect – youth uncalculated by their own families towards precocious independence, harsh labour, crime and terrorism. “Grown-ups love figures. . .When you tell them you’ve made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you “What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?” Instead they demand “How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?” Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.” Child Abuse & Neglect (CAN) has a core mission to profile compelling scholarship in these systems of care, and situations of inadequate care, with an interest in global trends, responses, and policy. Such scholarship unfolds a dynamic interplay in time (distal, proximal, transient, chronic, coherent exposures to maltreatment) and across the social ecology (global, national, community, neighbourhood, school and family transactions) for epigenetic and gendered processes. As scientists, we must always ask ourselves if we have adequately portrayed the person(s) behind the statistics or case report. Have we understood the phenomenology of suffering and resilience alongside statements about limits to our confidence in results of causal relationships? In child abuse and neglect research, we are at a place where we still need to be invested in the feasibility, generalizability, and implementation questions. With the mercurial risk in the science of child abuse and neglect prevention, intervention, best practices and policy decision-making, this is an era of transformative potential. The constellation of complexities inherent to the study of child physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect – and their overlap – have created opportunities for the advancement of science, evidence-based practice and evidence-informed policy. It is important to maintain a focus on both the contexts of challenge and resilience, especially from the youth perspective. As previous editors, Gary Melton, Don Bross, and Jill McLeigh sought to make strong ties to the realities of practice in an effort to feature community models of prevention and management of child abuse and neglect. CAN is, by virtue of its content area, interprofessional, cross-sector, multi-disciplinary, and global health in focus. As Don Bross noted, “In a way, CAN is a reporter at the center of our respective and collective ecological web” (Personal Communication, November, 2015). All . . .have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. . .But all these stars are silent. The Global Development Goals (www.globalgoals.org) position a sustainable environment as one where children are protected, safe from torture and violence. Health and well-being is interconnected with peace and justice and, while adversities at some level are unavoidable, a resilience framework is more in-tune with the effortful and self-righting within the http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.12.001 0145-2134/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Wekerle, C. Research at its best: Competency in the complexity of child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.12.001

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social ecology. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) tasks countries with being solutions-focused, via all means appropriate, be they legislation, education, social welfare and prevention initiatives. November 25, 2015 marked the 25th anniversary of the CRC tackling issues from survival to child labor to child leisure. Research is right there with rights. Scholars have tasked their minds to approach – not avoid – child abuse and neglect. While frequently referred to as a “complex” issue, scientists have challenged their methods to capture biological, developmental, psychosocial systems. Choice and voice is a key principle in realizing youth rights. When given the support, structure and safety, youth do not remain silent. The ethical-legal-clinical implication of research with minors, service-involved populations, and socio-economically disadvantaged groups is an important area of on-going empirical work. Similarly, we need to better assess our models of system collaboration to best support the best in children, youth, families and their communities and serving professionals. We need cross-sector collaborations to gain clarity on the economic and population-level impact of specific prevention, treatment and resilience initiatives. We especially need youth participation and social inclusion in the defining topics of their lives and generation. “Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she’s the one I’ve watered. Since she’s the one I put under glass, since she’s the one I sheltered behind the screen. Since she’s the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three butterflies). Since she’s the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she’s my rose.” This decade has been declared as one to focus on youth, their physical and mental health, wellness and resilience in contexts of adversity (World Health Organization, 2014; http://www.who.int/maternal child adolescent/ documents/second-decade/en/). It is our second chance to listen to youth, as well as to nurture and safeguard children and their developing resilience. We need to live in the worlds of children and youth – the multi-media, social media, on-line, accessible health service, mental health and labour market participation shifting realities. From the prior and new editorial teams, I think there can be a mutual thanks for contributors, reviewers, and the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect for keeping us all on-point is this very important area of work. We all maintain our eye on the preventable child abuse and neglect fatalities, disabilities, and suicides. We seek to appreciate the perspective of our children and youth in how we best can support their optimal development, recognizing the safety nets we must provide to caregivers, families, communities and cultures. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Note: All italicized quote in this document come from the book, The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Christine Wekerle (Ph.D.) Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Canada Available online xxx

Please cite this article in press as: Wekerle, C. Research at its best: Competency in the complexity of child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.12.001