A rapid literature review of evidence on child abuse linked to faith or belief

This publication from the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre, funded by the Department for Education (England and Wales), is a small scale review of previous research conducted to collate information for future policy. The review looked at the incidence and characteristics of child abuse linked to faith or belief in the UK and some other countries, looked to identify good practice in the identification and reduction of such abuse and sought to define gaps in the evidence base where further research may be helpful. The main sources of information were Stobart’s analysis of Metropolitan Police cases (2006; 2009) and the more recent (as yet unpublished) research from La Fontaine (2012). The review includes evidence on "witchcraft and spirit possession" related cases and also "ritual and satanic abuse".

Social Care Researching

SCIE have published Bibliographical Databases for Social Care Searching, J. Clapton, 2010, a report on the use of bibliographic databases, coverage and strategies, for researching in the field of social care. Among others the report recommends Social Care Online, Child Data, Psychinfo and Applied Social Science Information and Abstracts (ASSIA), all of which are available via our Social Work Electronic Services page. The report recommends search coverage of a minimum of eight databases to ensure in depth research. Our Articles and Search on the Suprimo Catalogue page, can help you with this, and you can now compile customised bundle of databases to cross search using the Find Databases function. Ask at the library enquiry desk for further help.

Two new E-documents

Shaw, C. (2010). Research into private fostering. Department for Children Schools and Families. This research aimed to collect information into the practices and procedures of local authorities in relation to private fostering arrangements and to improve the understanding of the needs of privately fostered children, especially in regard to safeguarding issues.

Hart, D. (2010). Children and young people in breach: a scoping report on policy and practice in the enforcement of criminal justice and anti-social behaviour orders. NCB. This research is the first phase of a project undertaken by NCB to increase understanding of policy and practice in relation to breach proceedings, wih particular focus on young people who are incarcerated as a result of breach of bail conditions or ASBOs.