Child Protection

Violence, Threats and Intimidation of Child Protection Workers

A recent study conducted by the Institute of Criminology has found that workers in child protection face high levels of violence and that this may lead to physical and psychological illness. The researchers also argue that this leads to workers suffering burnout, seeking transfers or resigning from the profession. This in turn affects the delivery of appropriate child protection. It confirms the health and safety concerns of workers and unions.

The study Violence, Threats and Intimidation of the Lives of Professionals Whose Work Involves Children by Prof. Briggs, Donna Broadhurst and Russell Hawkins of the Institute of Criminology is one of few Australian studies that actually looks at the effect of violence and intimidation on child protection workers

The researchers found that exposure to violence is not uncommon and workers face a high risk of abuse. Child protection is stressful and stress leads to a range of negative outcomes one of which is professional burnout. Burnout consists of three aspects: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment. For the workers this can manifest in psychosomatic complaints and depression.

The study surveyed professional child protection workers and found that the majority of respondents had experienced intimidating behaviour (91%), threats of violence (72%), ongoing harassment (41%) and physical assault (24%). Three quarters of workers felt that their training had not adequately prepared them for the exposure to violence.

Many workers thought that they were not adequately supported when reporting their concerns. They commented that incidents of abuse were not taken seriously by management and there was a tendency to blame the worker, bully the victim and accept a level of violence as being part of the job.

Child protection workers thought that intimidation and the threat of violence impacted on their emotional health and effected their personal, social and professional lives.

The study recommends that more attention be paid to the mental health of child protection workers.

While workers in the field have long discussed the issues raised by this study it is pleasing to see academic researchers contributing to the discussions and we hope that this encourages continuing research and debate.

A copy of the study can be found on website www.aic.gov.au

© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office

http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/campaigns/child_protection/20040315_187.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005