Intervention Effectiveness for Children and Youth (Whitney&Hilston, 2013)

This paper focused on the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions, as suggested

in 11 articles published in 2012 in the American Journal for Occupational Therapy (AJOT),
addressed to children and youths.
The ability of an interventions to produce the desired effect when implemented by expert
clinicians is what efficacy is about. Efficacy studies questions the effectiveness of clinical
interventions, its safety, the cost-benefit ratio, and the acceptability of the interventions to the
clients. Further, intervention effectiveness studies were divided into two categories:
comparative effectiveness and pragmatic intervention studies.
Comparative effectiveness studies compares existing health care interventions to find out
which works best for whom and under what circumstances. Meanwhile, pragmatic
intervention research focuses to the overall effectiveness of an intervention delivered
clinically, research evaluating a therapy holistically.
In this meta-analysis study, it was found out that the published articles were more on
reflecting the factors central to children and youth and their families however the factors
such as barriers to and supports for procuring/maintaining jobs were not included.
Moreover, the studied papers showed signs of moving in a positive direction toward guiding
practitioners towards an evidence-based decision affecting skills, processes and foundation
for childhood and adolescent occupations through increasing the understanding of the
pragmatic relevance of intervention and the extent to which intervention promotes
participation on both subjects of occupations.
Child Protection: The case for support (UNICEF, 2015)
Proposed solutions:
1. Providing quality and integrated services for children and families that are supported
by legislative, policy, and budgetary framework. This proposed solution is focused on
services that children can be of concerned of including: (1) birth registration – which
includes the modernization of birth registration systems to strengthen links between
other services such as health and education; (2) social welfare services – may
include reporting mechanism where children and families can report cases of
violence to be dealt with social welfare workforce; (3) basic social services because
children has the right without discrimination to get access on these; (4) services for
children in contact with the law – this calls for the justice system to recognize need of
children emphasizing on decision and non-custodial measures rather than getting
them into detention. Support to children in justice processes and reintegrate them
into the society as also a key.

2. Social norm and attitudes that contribute to violence, exploitation, neglect, and abuse
of children should be changed and needs to adequately analysed and addressed
using community-based approaches where the different stakeholders should be
involved.

3. Investing in data. Progress in child protection might be hampered due to data

constraints. Thus, monitoring and assessment on child protection programs should
be strengthened to facilitate interventions that will have maximums impact,
preventing violations against child protection.
Save the Children’s Child Protection Strategy (2013)
Save the Children’s global strategy (2010-2015) for child protection focuses on four priority
areas, mainly: children without appropriate care; child protection in emergencies; physical
and humiliating punishment; and children and work.
1. Children without appropriate care. This include children that are neglected, families
unable to support their own, and more importantly, children that are affected with
HIV/AIDS, and those children that are on the move are the center for this area of
concern. Because of violence, abuse, poverty, parental illness, conflict and disasters
and those children with HIV/AIDS, many children are deprived of appropriate care.
Save the Children comes in by addressing these issues through reforming of care
systems such as institutional care towards a family-based care system. Further,
development and implementation of family- and community based prevention and
alternative care models are supported by the social organization to divert children
from inappropriate care arrangements. In the case of protecting children who are on
the move or those who crosses boarders after boarders, the said organization
supports programs with regards to national policies to ensure that children at risk of
unsafe migration can access to protection services and will benefit from quality care
and support in their families – or in family- and community-based alternatives. The
organization also advocates for the changes in policies and service provisions to
ensure that children in transit and at their destinations, they receive an adequate and
coordinated support.

2. Child protection in emergencies/ the organization believes that children are extremely
vulnerable during humanitarian crisis and are at risk of various form of violence and
exploitation due to family separation and breakdown of national and community-
based child protection systems. Save the Children had selected three areas to work
on to have a significant change for children who are stuck in humanitarian crisis
situations and these are – sexual violence against children in emergencies; children
associated to armed groups, armed forces; and family separation. With the aspects
to work on being identified, the organization then provide capacity-building, resource-
mobilization, psychosocial support, and inclusion of child protection in disaster risk
reduction.

Sexual violence on this aspect is addressed by doing community interventions and

national strategies that fight the liberty of perpetrators, prevent sexual violence to
happen, and provide rehabilitation services for those who had been victim of this
malicious act.

For children who are associated with the armed groups, the organization assists with
the release, reintegration, and rehabilitation. And works with government, armed
forces/groups to prevent child recruitment in the first place and advocates for more
legal frameworks and practices in collaboration with other agencies.

Children who got separated with their families due to emergencies are also
monitored closely by this organization to trace and reunite them with their families
once separated and accompanied children get registered. Children’s right to birth
registration is strongly advocated by this organization to hasten the tracing of family
 members. With this, interagency guidelines and tools for daily tracing and
reunification have been developed.

3. Physical and humiliating punishment

Violence by parents and other adults is the most common form of violence against
children. This may be because parents and other caregivers and even teachers,
lacks knowledge on how to guide children using non-violent methods, and worse, in
many communities, physical and humiliating punishment is deeply rooted in social
norm and culture. Children in humanitarian crisis are more at risk to these kind of
violence due to the increased stress on families, separation, and breakdown of
formal and informal safety nets.

Save the Children comes in through advocating for legal reforms and supporting
awareness raising initiative that will lead to changes in attitudes and practices. The
organization also promote parenting education and positive discipline programs
where caregivers, teachers, and other people working on children are the recipients.
Boys and men will also be involved to serve as partners in stopping violence against
children.

4. Children and work. Save the Children addresses this issue regarding on children who
are engaged in hazardous work forms such as slavery, forced and bonded work,
child trafficking, and others by doing an integrated approach where expertise in child
protection, economic strengthening, health and education are combined to create
opportunities for them to become healthy, educated, and empowered citizens.

Save the Children Programme in the Philippines called The Safe Families, conduct
training on positive discipline and advocates legal reforms towards making homes
and schools safe for children. Field-tested positive discipline training for teachers and
parents particularly on a non-violent approach to discipline that teaches children and
guides their behaviour for healthy development.

Further, Save the Children believes that building a strategically community-based

and natural child protection systems is a way to a holistic, inclusive, sustainable, and
well-coordinated way to protect all children from all forms of violence – and will
continue to be the key approach for the organization’s child protection work.
Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect: A technical Package for Policy, Norms and
Pragmatic Activities (Fortson et. al., 2016)
The package includes the strategies and approaches with the best available evidence for
preventing child abuse and neglect. These are:
1. Strengthen economic support for families. This can be done by targeting household
financial security and family-friendly work. Strengthening household security can
reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect because parents’ ability to satisfy
children’s basic needs can be improved and they can provide developmentally
appropriate child care. Household financial security can be improved in various ways
such as provision of child support payments; tax credits; providing cash benefits to
be purchased only for food by low income families; leasing properties at lower rents
 to allocate a more stable, better, resourced and safer communities while saving
money for rent; and giving subsidized child care.
Family-friendly work policies works by helping families to have a balanced work and
family life income while economic security is achieved. Giving liveable wages which
is enough to cover costs of living and can provide children’s basic needs reduces the
likelihood of neglect and improves parenting behaviours. Paid leaves to ensure
income while the worker is on leave whatever the nature might be, reduces the risk
factors for abuse and neglect like parental stress. Flexible and consistent work
schedules also reduces the risk of child abuse and strengthens child care.
2. Change social norms to support parents and positive parenting. There are two
approaches under this strategy that seek to change social norms to support parents
on positive parenting. One is, public engagement and education – this involve the
use of communication strategies, a range of communication channels, and
community efforts to cause change (in a positive way), the way people think and talk
about child abuse and neglect, and who is responsible of preventing it.

The second approach is to legislate approaches that will reduces corporal

punishment. Norms around safe, more effective parenting discipline strategy to
reduce the harm and harsh physical punishment shall be established is also paired
with engagement and education campaigns. Potential outcomes can be the reduced
on belief that corporal punishment is appropriate and reduced reports of using it.

3. Provide quality care and education early in life. Quality child care and early education
does not only improve children’s cognitive and socioemotional development, it also
increase the likelihood that children will experience safe, stable, nurturing relationship
and environment may it in school or home setting. There are also two approaches
under this strategy: preschool enrichment with family engagement – provide high
quality early education and care to economically disadvantaged children which in turn
will build a string foundation for future learning and healthy development. Parent’s
involvement is emphasized in this approach for they are the critical factors in the
child’s development and success in school.

Second approach is to improve quality of child care through licensing and

accreditation – this ensures that the quality of the children’s daily experiences are
positive and supportive. Potential outcomes of this strategy include: lower rates of
depressive symptoms, disability, grade retention and special education services;
juvenile and felony arrests and detention among others.

4. Enhance parenting skills to promote healthy child development. It is said that parents
who have inadequate parenting skills or are under health and financial issues are
having difficulties in parenting and providing care and nurturing the child deserves to
have a safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environment. Two approaches were
outlined to deliver this strategy. One is to early child home visitations, a program
which is offered to low income first time mothers that will teach proper parenting skills
that will prevent child abuse and neglect incidents. This program is delivered by
professionals or authorities that are master on this field.
The second one is parenting skills and family relationship approaches which provide
parents and caregivers support and teaching behaviour management and positive
parenting skills necessary/foundation towards strong and safe families. Information
 about child development and the consequences of violence, anger management
skills, and discipline techniques that does not involve physical punishment are the
information typically received by parents and caregivers which in turn will potentially
reduce child abuse and neglect to happen and will improve parenting behaviour.
5. Intervention to lessen harms and prevent future risks. To prevent abuse and neglect,
the negative outcomes and the risk of it from happening again, several approaches
were developed under this strategy to influence or minimize and prevent risks
associated to child abuse and neglect and other risk factors connected to it.
One approach is by enhancing primary care – this can be the addressing of problems
in the family that could trigger child abuse and neglect. Factors such as depression,
substance abuse, and the like are identified and addressed by primary care providers
to prevent child abuse to happen in the future. Social workers conduct follow-ups and
parents also receives handouts.
Second approach is creating behavioural parent training programs delivered to a
single or group of families. Topics covered on this program range from parent-child
interaction skills and skills regarding relationship enhancement to management of
child behaviour and discipline skills. Through these, recurring of child abuse and
neglect may be reduced while parents are learning, too, to build a safe, stable, and
nurturing relationship with their children.
Third approach is giving treatment to children and families to lessen the harms of
abuse and neglect exposure. By doing so, health consequences of abuse and
neglect exposure will be mitigated. Risk for other types of violence later in life will be
decreased and so does the likelihood that individuals will abuse their own children.
Lastly, treatment for children and families to prevent problem behaviour and later
involvement in violence. This is given by highly trained professionals. Focus is on the
child/youth and his entire social network in monitoring and guiding child’s behaviour
and everyone are involved in the treatment process.
Some potential outcomes of this strategy include: reduction of substance abuse
among youths, reduction in reoffending; reduction in depression, emotional distress;
improved parent-child interaction, parenting behaviour, and family functioning.
Systemic Literature Reviews of the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children in the
Philippine Setting (UNICEF, 2016)
Chapter 8 Prevention
Some of the prevention programs for childe maltreatment that is currently mandated in the
country are as follows:
1. Conditional cash transfer programs. In this country, 4P’s (Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program) is the government’s cash transfer program. 4p’s invests in the
health and education of children who are within the poverty threshold to break the
transmission of poverty from generation to generation. Though prevention of VAC
wasn’t explicitly stated to be one of the goals of this program, however several
outcomes suggest or contributes to the prevention of VAC by being able to give early
education, care, and poverty alleviation.
2. Parenting support. This is provided by the government through the Parent
Effectiveness Service (PES) that is delivered under the Family Development Service
of 4P’s. Topics under PES include understanding the dynamics of Filipino Family, the
 challenges of parenting, child development, keeping child safe from violence, building
positive behaviour in children and many others.
3. Home visitation programs. These programs focus on increasing positive parenting
behaviour and decreasing environmental risks through (a) increased parental
knowledge of child development; (b) games and activities to support healthy
development and learning; (c) strengthened family relationships; and (d) increased
access to social, medical, and employment services. Home visits are conducted by
trained Family Support Workers (FSW) through group sessions using scripted
curriculum.