An exploration of ethnic minority communities' understanding and awareness of child protection and the Children's Hearings system in Scotland.

Henderson, Gillian; Woods, Ruth; Kurlus, Indiya

Abstract

Protection of children at risk of abuse and promotion of their rights continues to be at the forefront of policy and legislative developments in Scotland. Organisations such as the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) have both legal and ethical duties to protect the well-being and rights of children in Scotland, particularly the most vulnerable. The increasing ethnic diversity among Scotland’s children raises the question of how effectively SCRA and its partner organisations can identify risks and effectively intervene to protect children of all ethnic backgrounds. However, there has been little research in Scotland on ethnic minorities and their involvement in child protection services. This research aimed to explore with agencies and third sector bodies working with ethnic minority groups in Scotland: a) their service users’ understanding of child protection and children’s rights; and b) what SCRA and its partner agencies could do to make the Children’s Hearings System more responsive and accessible to families from Scotland’s ethnic minorities and raise awareness of child protection and the role of the Hearings System within these communities. The research comprised of: 1) A review of the published literature on barriers to engaging ethnic minority communities in child protection. 2) An electronic survey of 182 professionals working universal services on their views of what factors might affect ethnic minority children and families accessing child protection services. 3) Interviews and focus groups with 31 individuals from ten organisations working directly with children and families from Scotland’s ethnic minorities. Findings: The barriers to services engaging with ethnic minority families in Scotland were found to be: a) Language and communication barriers, and linked to this concerns about confidentiality and poor quality of translation. b) Fear and distrust of services, and likelihood that services may underestimate the extent that ethnic minority community members fear them. c) Lack of knowledge of services and child protection, and that this may have wider implications for minority communities’ integration and participation in Scottish society. d) Culture-specific parenting in terms of lack of understanding of abuse and neglect, and differences in concepts of good parenting and protecting their child. e) That child welfare is the concern of the family rather than the state, and lack of understanding of children’s (and adults) rights. f) The perception that services are racist or culturally insensitive was the barrier rated lowest, although it was acknowledged to exist. The more significant barrier to services intervening to protect a child were difficulties in finding out when a child was at risk due to the insular nature of some communities. Marginalised communities – many of the barriers above faced by ethnic minority families are very similar to those experienced by marginalised white Scottish families. It may be that poverty and social exclusion are more important barriers rather than ethnic background, and that SCRA and its partner organisations should focus their activity on engagement with marginalised communities from across Scottish society and not solely on ethnic minorities. Recommendations: Improve cultural awareness: 1) All Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership (CHIP) member organisations – to raise awareness amongst their staff on the extent that families from marginalised communities fear involvement with services, and how this may impact on their engagement with them. Raising awareness of child protection and the Hearings System: a) CHIP to produce information materials for children young people and parents who have none or very little knowledge of the Hearings System and law related to child protection and children’s rights in Scotland. These materials to be circulated via libraries, schools, colleges, nurseries, religious organisations, third sector organisations, hospitals, etc.; and to be in different languages, in formats suitable for those with limited literacy, and age appropriate. To do this will require dedicated resources.

Citation

HENDERSON, G., WOODS, R. and KURLUS, I. 2017. An exploration of ethnic minority communities' understanding and awareness of child protection and the Children's Hearings system in Scotland. Research report. Stirling: SCRA [online]. Available from: https://www.scra.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Ethnic-minority-research-report-final.pdf

• Report Type: Research Report
• Online Publication Date: Aug 31, 2017
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 8, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 8, 2022
• Publisher: Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA)
• Series Title: Research reports
• Keywords: Children; Protection; Scotland; Intervention; Minority groups; Children's rights; Children's Hearings; Language barriers; Distrust; Culture; Child welfare
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1615551
• Publisher URL: http://www.scra.gov.uk/resources_articles_category/research/
• Related Public URLs: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1328364