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Professional team response to violence against children: From experts to teamwork
Naeem Zafar1, Mehek Naeem1, Andleeb Zehra2
1Protection and Help of Children Against Abuse and Neglect (PAHCHAAN), Pakistan; Child Rights Department, The University of Lahore, Pakistan.
Insights
Multidisciplinary teams are crucial for child protection, but their implementation varies significantly by country income level. High-income nations have more established systems, while lower-income countries face challenges in developing these vital child protection services.
Area of Science:
- Child Protection
- Public Health
- Sociology
Background:
- Violence against children demands a multidisciplinary approach for effective prevention and management.
- Child protection strategies and team structures differ globally based on national capacity and understanding.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine multidisciplinary approaches and challenges in child protection across high, upper-middle, and lower-middle-income countries.
- To provide a global overview of responses to violence against children.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative study employing a phenomenological design.
- Purposive sampling of key informants (N=11) from eleven countries.
- Semi-structured online interviews analyzed thematically.
Main Results:
- High-income countries have established capacity-building systems and functional multidisciplinary teams, though leadership varies.
- Lower-middle and even upper-middle-income countries lack sufficient multidisciplinary teams, with significant gaps between policy and implementation.
- Lower-income countries struggle with system development, while the Philippines demonstrates a more structured child protection system.
Conclusions:
- Countries must fulfill their commitment to protecting children as per Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- While high-income countries show better multidisciplinary team functioning, lower-income nations are adapting strategies to combat child violence based on their priorities.
Background:
Prevention and management of violence against children requires a multidisciplinary approach. Countries and regions tackle this problem according to their understanding and capacity, and therefore these teams work differently in different countries and regions.
Objectives:
Current study is a bird's eye view looking at the response to violence against children through exploring multidisciplinary approaches and challenges in child protection in high, upper-middle, and lower-middle-income countries.
Participants:
Participants for this study were selected through purposive sampling from eleven countries, one key informant from each country (N = 11).
Methods:
Current study is qualitative in nature and phenomenological design was used. Key informants were approached through email, and semi-structured online interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data and several themes emerged.
Results:
Capacity building systems are established in upper-middle and high-income countries, whereas lower-income countries are struggling with these systems, the Philippines having a better structured system. The process of child protection services is mostly similar except the availability of multidisciplinary teams, which lacks in lower-middle and even in upper-middle-income countries. These teams function relatively well in high-income countries although the lead role in these teams differs from country to country. There are many challenges in managing these teams in low-middle income countries. Child protection systems are also reasonably well established in upper and upper-middle-income countries whereas gaps are visible between policies and implementation in lower-middle-income countries.
Conclusion:
It is the responsibility of each country to protect children as per their commitment to SDGs. Although the functioning of multidisciplinary teams seems better in high and upper-middle countries, the low-middle income countries are trying to combat violence against children according to their priorities, some are doing better than others.
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