Background Little is known about the nature and reactions to sexual abuse of children with intellectual disability (ID). The aim was to fill this gap. Method Official reports of sexual abuse of children with ID in state care were examined (N = 128) and compared with children without ID (N = 48). Results Clear signs of penetration or genital touching by male (adolescent) peers or (step/foster) fathers were found in most ID reports. Victims often received residential care and disclosed themselves. Type of perpetrator seemed to affect the nature and reaction to the abuse. Cases of children with and without ID seemed to differ in location and reports to police. Conclusions Screening of (foster)homes seems crucial. Residential facilities should find a balance between independence of children and protection. Care providers should be trained in addressing sexual issues and sexual education, accounting for different types of perpetrators (peers/adults). Uniform reporting guidelines are needed.
Over the last decade, many (European) countries have created special committees or conducted special investigations into the occurrence of sexual abuse in residential and/or foster care. Many of these studies concluded that children and young people in care are at a greater risk of being sexually abused, compared to youth growing up at home. However, the extent and scope of sexual abuse which has historically occurred in residential and/or foster care remains contested and is highly controversial. Although a broad range of factors are involved, one issue that is of crucial importance in the prevention of sexual abuse is paying attention to the healthy sexual development of children and young people in care. This sounds easy, but it isn’t easy at all. Ideas about relationships, intimacy and healthy sexual development differ between people and countries. It’s a sensitive subject that many professionals working in care find difficult to talk about. As most professionals working in care in Europe graduate from schools of Social Work, social work education should prepare (future) professionals to address this issue. Although some authors have addressed this issue, in general, social work education does not pay sufficient attention to the subject. This project aims to help (future) professionals build competencies on this specific subject by providing the following products:1. An international summer school on the subject of sex and sexuality, for social work students.2. An online course on the subject of sex and sexuality for professionals working in residential care or working with foster parents.3. A website with materials for European lecturers who teach future social workers on the subject of sex and sexuality.4. A reflection instrument as a tool for on-the-job training on the subject.These products are based on a set of practice based core competencies that professionals should develop in order to be able to provide care and upbringing on the theme of sex and sexuality. Next to that five central themes were used to order the development of modules.
An effective implementation approach is crucial for successful integration of structured risk assessment instruments into practice. This qualitative study explored barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV) in a Dutch residential youth care service. Perceptions of staff members from various disciplines were gathered through focus group interviews at three consecutive occasions. After inductive coding of the interview extracts using thematic analysis, the identified codes were linked to the consolidated framework for implementation research. Through this framework, factors that influence an implementation project can be organized into multiple domains and constructs. In the present study, staff members described implementation barriers related to characteristics of the risk assessment instrument, staff, and the implementation process. In addition, features of the setting were frequently mentioned as hindering the implementation, such as hierarchy, culture, communication, as well as implementation climate and readiness for change. Staff members also identified multiple facilitators, such as experienced advantages of the START:AV compared to the previous risk assessment practice and positive beliefs about the instrument. The article concludes with recommendations for successful implementation of structured risk assessment instruments in forensic-clinical practice.
The objective of CW4N is to identify opportunities for wood reuse through the use of advanced digital production technologies1, and develop related implementation strategies for public organisations, in particular housing corporations and municipalities. Strategies include concrete proposals on how to: a) collect and process wood waste from residential buildings; b) add value to reclaimed wood by means of digital production; c) increase tenant involvement and acceptance for waste wood collection and circular reuse; d) create impactful applications for a circular economy. The research is carried out in four work packages. The first identifies the nature of residential wood waste (volume, type, application) from past case projects of housing corporations Ymere and Rochdale. Their upcoming renovation plans are evaluated, to identify resources and hotspots for future implementations. The second workpackage explores what applications can be conceived, given the available wood and digital production tools at the AUAS Robot Lab. In the third workpackage case studies are carried out for actual projects of the housing corporations. Physical prototypes are used as conversation pieces to involve tenants and increase their acceptance for circular applications. In the fourth workpackage all findings are combined in a set of implementation strategies. High-quality data-collection is crucial for the project, since it will determine the nature of the materials for designing and manufacturing applications. In this proposal, additional resources are added to the project to take care of data-collection. Due to covid-19, project managers at Ymere and Rochdale must focus on day-to-day work to get ongoing and planned building projects done, reducing their time for data collection from previous projects. In addition, because of teleworking, non-digital data such as drawings and reports are not easily accessible. To enhance data-collection, student-assistants will be added to the project to survey ongoing renovation projects in the field.
