Child abuse

In this episode, Dr Juliet Soper will discuss child abuse, talking to families and child protection agencies about possible child abuse. We discuss strategies to support you to have these difficult conversations.

Topics

intro
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Case study
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How do you approach this conversation with Grandma?
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Do you also need to inform the child’s parents of your concerns?
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coming out of these conversations with the relationship intact?
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what advice can you give us when making these notifications to Oranga Tamariki.
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what do we need to say in that initial referral?
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What are we able to tell families?
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How do you suggest we follow up with families?
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What other supports should we be offering families?
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Take-home messages
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Take home messages

Be honest, transparent, and objective in your discussion with parents about the possibility of child maltreatment being one of the possible causes of the injuries you are seeing.
You do not need to be certain a child is in need of care and protection to make a referral to Oranga Tamariki, you just need to have reasonable concern
Use the ICE (identification, Concern/Context, Effect) pneumonic when communicating your worry to Oranga Tamariki
You can always phone-a-friend – The Te Puaruruhau duty phone (021 492 365) is answered during regular work hours or the on-call Te Puaruruhau Paediatrician is available via your local hospital switchboard after hours

Patient Resources

Report of concern Oranga Tamariki

Presenter

Juliet Soper

Consultant Paediatrician

Juliet undertook her medical studies at the University of Auckland before completing her paediatric training via the Northern Clinical Training Network. For the last 10 years she has been in Saskatchewan, Canada where among other roles she been the lead paediatrician for child protection and involved in regional and national service development, inter-agency collaboration and training in the area of child protection. She is currently working as a member of the Te Puaruruhau multidisciplinary team as a consultant paediatrician and Service Clinical Director.