Alaggia, R., & Millington, G. (2008). Male child sexual abuse: A phenomenology of betrayal. Clinical Social Work Journal, 36(3), 265-275.
The prevalence rate of male child sexual abuse varies in the literature but is estimated by many researchers to be between 4-14% in the general population. This qualitative phenomenological study sought to explore the effects of boyhood sexual abuse on the present lives of men and examine how those effects have found expression in men's everyday lives. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 male survivors of childhood sexual abuse (all abused by men) selected from a clinical population through snowball sampling methods.
Emergent themes included men's denial, rage, and confusion about their roles in the abuse; feelings of specialness; early sexualization; disturbances in sexuality and intimacy; profound feelings of loss; and feelings of hope and resilience. Findings suggest that therapists have a responsibility to ask male clients about sexual victimization, educate themselves on therapeutically responding to disclosure of male child sexual abuse, receive training to counsel sexually victimized males, advocate for the development of men's services, and take an active role in shifting attitudes towards men's vulnerabilities.
These findings are constrained by the study's small sample size, the clinical nature of the sample, and its retrospective design.
Sullivan, C., Whitehead, P. C., Leschied, A. W., Chiodo, D., & Hurley, D. (2008). Perception of risk among child protection workers. Children and Youth Services Review, 30(7), 699-704.
In this study, the authors sought to determine whether ratings on risk and recommendations for wardship varied as a function of social workers' experience. Sixty-three social workers from a large urban southwestern Ontario child welfare agency participated. The sample was almost equally split between those workers with fewer than 3 years of experience and those with more than 3 years of experience. Social workers were randomly assigned to read two of eight vignettes and then rate the extent of risk present to the child using an abbreviated version of the Risk Assessment Model (RAM) used in Ontario to guide case management decisions. Workers were also asked to recommend whether the child in the vignette should be taken into care.
Results showed no significant differences between the cumulative risk scores of less experienced and more experienced social workers. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling for cumulative risk score, revealed no significant difference between less experienced and more experienced workers in their recommendations to take a child into care.
These findings are not consistent with previous research indicating that variability in case management decisions are, partly, attributable to level of experience. However, the authors note that this study compared social workers who were all within the same agency. They suggest that in-service training combined with the use of a risk assessment protocol might have mitigated the influence of experience. This implies that the training social workers receive may have the potential to counter the possible negative influences of less experience.
Strega, S., Fleet, C., Brown, L., Dominelli, L., Callahan, M., & Walmsley, C. (2008). Connecting father absence and mother blame in child welfare policies and practice. Children and Youth Services Review, 30(7), 705-716.
This study explored the lack of father engagement in a retrospective case file review of 116 child protection files dated between 1997 and 2005 randomly chosen from a child welfare agency in a mid-size Canadian city. Choice of case files was restricted to those in which the mother was an adolescent (19 years of age or younger) at the time of the birth of at least one child. Within the 116 files, a total of 128 fathers were mentioned.
Results showed that fathers were typically about 2-3 years older than mothers; a majority were Indigenous; many had less than a high school education; and a significant percentage had histories of incarceration, alcohol misuse, or drug misuse. A small, but significant, proportion of young fathers provided either financial or in-kind support to mothers and/or children. Almost 50% of all fathers were considered "irrelevant" to both mothers and children. This assessment was derived from raters' categorizations of fathers based on a combination of social workers' expressed description of fathers, actions (or inactions) of the social worker, and the number and types of contacts or attempted contacts with the fathers. Over half (60%) of fathers who were identified as a risk to children were not contacted by social workers. It is interesting to note, however, that about 20% of fathers were considered to be an asset to both mothers and children.
The findings suggest that practitioners need to understand the sources for men's disengagement, particularly the impact of housing and welfare policies on fathers' abilities to maintain relationships with their children. There also needs to be continued advocacy for better resources for single mothers in concert with efforts to increase father involvement. Limitations of the study include a lack of generalizability, the retrospective nature of the file reviews, and considerable amounts of missing data.