Abused children in New Zealand/Aotearoa : presentation and investigation McKenzie, Kay
Material type:
- A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, Dunedin
- 362.76 ABU
Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Barcode | |
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Vine library | TRO 362.76 ABU | Copy 1 | Available | A00668257B | |
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Vine library | TRO 362.76 ABU | Copy 3 | Available | A00669628B | |
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Vine library | TRO 362.76 ABU | Copy 2 | Available | A00715654B |
PhD (University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand).
This thesis is not available online (Otago U library checked 20/09/2019)
Thesis (PhD) - University of Otago, 2004. This thesis had an overarching goal of identifying the interface between research and practice in the area of child abuse investigation. The specific aims of the research were to explore how abused children present to investigators, to identify the characteristics of the children's disclosures and the role of disclosure in the investigation, to establish the factors that influenced child abuse investigators' decision to interview children, and to make comparisons between sexually and physically abused children. Three hundred substantiated cases of child abuse (150 sexual abuse and 150 physical abuse investigations) investigated by the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services of New Zealand, prior to July 2001, were analysed. Children were most often physically abused by their biological parents, and mothers were marginally more often the abusers than were fathers. Child abuse investigators often tolerated physical assaults on children, particularly by mothers. Moreover, child abuse investigators did not routinely interview physically abused children or treat the abuse as a criminal matter, especially if there were complicating family dynamics. Sexually abused children were usually victimised by unrelated, known males, less often by male relatives, and infrequently by strangers, fathers, or step-fathers. Child abuse investigators usually did not refer the young sexual offenders to the authorities for follow-up. Social workers often did not meet with sexually abused children, but instead usually referred them for a forensic interview. In both physical and sexual abuse cases, social workers were more likely to take action if children had made clear disclosures of abuse. The majority of factors that influenced child abuse investigators' decisions to interview children were related to practice issues, in sexual abuse cases, or tolerance of parental violence towards children, in physical abuse cases.--AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT
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