Children's Needs – Parenting Capacity - Digital Education Resource ...

86 Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacityassault, suffocation or poisoning, More often, significant harm is a compilationof significant events, both acute and long-standing, which interrupt, change ordamage the child’s physical and psychological development. Some children live infamily and social circumstances where their health and development are neglected.For them, it is the corrosiveness of long-term emotional, physical or sexual abusethat causes impairment to the extent of constituting significant harm. In each case,it is necessary to consider any maltreatment alongside the child’s own assessmentof his or her safety and welfare, the family’s strengths and supports, as well asan assessment of the likelihood and capacity for change and improvements inparenting and the care of children and young people.(HM Government 2010a, p.36, paragraph 1.28)Vulnerable childrenThe seriousness of parental problems is less relevant than the capacity of parents toprovide protection and support for their developing child when parents experiencepersonal, environmental and relationship stressors. ‘Parents need to be sensitive andmindful of their children’s needs, anxieties, joys and success’ (Brandon et al. 2008, p.57).Those who are most at risk of suffering significant harm are children whose parentsface a combination of stressors (Daniel et al. 2009). Children in these circumstancesare more likely than children living in families whose parents experience fewerproblems to have severe developmental needs, and experience abuse and neglect(Falkov 2002; Cleaver et al. 2007; Cleaver and Nicholson 2007; Brandon et al.2008). For example, the co-morbidity of maternal depression and alcohol problemsincreases the likelihood of children’s exposure to physical violence (Berger 2005).Most relevant is the presence of domestic violence. There is much research to suggestthat when domestic violence is present along with other issues such as parentalmental illness, learning disability, drug or alcohol misuse, it increases the likelihoodof children suffering significant harm (Velleman and Reuber 2007; Daniel et al.2009; Brandon et al. 2010).Research on adverse childhood experiences suggests that the more negativechildhood events (such as emotional, physical and sexual abuse, parental substancemisuse, mental illness and domestic violence) to which an individual is exposed,the more likely it is that as adults they will experience physical and mental illnesses(Bentovim et al. 2009). For example, experiencing domestic violence and childphysical maltreatment not only has an immediate negative impact on children’shealth and development, but is also associated with increased trauma symptomsand behaviour problems in young adults (Shen 2009). The salience of psychologicalaggression during childhood has also been highlighted by Miller-Perrin andcolleagues (2009). In fact, their work suggests that the negative messages childrenreceive from psychological aggression may be more important in contributingto the psychological outcomes for the child than the actual occurrence of physicalviolence.