The Child Protection Centres

The Child Protection Centres have been established to provide support to families who are involved in mental, physical, sexual abuse and the neglect of children.
The aims and goals of the Child Protection Centres are to work towards the reduction and prevention of the maltreatment of children and violence towards them.
These centres provide consultation and support directly to those in need, addressing the source of the problem.

• Help is provided free of charge
• Attendance is voluntary and without obligation
• Consultations are confidentia

Services

Consultations For Whole Families Or Individuals Affected

Services include:

• crisis intervention
• telephone consultations
• counselling and therapy for children and parents
• referrals to Social Services
• family oriented services
• referrals to emergency accommodation and crisis centres
• assistance and counselling for the perpetrator

Working Together With Specialists

• consulting, organising and staging appropriate conferences
• coordinating assistance and establishing networks with related professionals and institutions
• organising guidance and supervision by social workers and other relevant institutions
• organising continuing education through seminars and related conferences

Prevention And Public Relations Work

Our centres are active in:

Providing: information about day care centres, schools and children?s homes.
Information about group outings and parent groups
Organising: press releases and media coverage
the development of policies aimed at the prevention of child abuse
the implementation of policies towards the prevention of child abuse
the publication of related reports

Our Approach

In today´s society there are numerous alternative family structures which may be confusing to some and are sometimes not without limitations and pressures. To be a family can mean many things. Options and possible family structures include:

• partners and their child or children living together with or without a marriage certificate
• a single parent with one or more children being possibly involved with one or more partners at the same or different times
• parents, single or otherwise, with one or more children from previous relationships

Children must learn to cope with the realities associated with different family structures and changing circumstances. The following, are examples of environmental factors which impact on a child's life: school, kindergarten, day-care centres etc. Adults, on the other hand, must learn to deal with the demands of work, on the job training, hobbies and free time, etc. Gone are the days when simple structures existed which were based on ? ideal? and unquestioned traditions and values and appeared to provide security.

The everyday circumstances of families today does not correspond realistically to society´s, and sometimes even their own, expectations and wishes. Furthermore children, simply by their existence, require a safe and sound environment. Now, as much as ever, children need to relate to mother and father roles. They need an in tact frame of reference and a protective nest which is reliable; offering flexibility and durability. Children should be allowed, at times, to exceed boundaries without losing the feeling of security. Families must provide answers to many questions.

As our society grows in leaps and bounds, increasing numbers of children are destined to live in poverty. Especially, single parents are at risk. Violence within the family may be a signal or indication that today families have to work harder to stay in tact. This is all the more reason to work more closely together with children and parents who are not coping with the demands of modern society.

There are many causes for the "phenomena" of child abuse and it is not helpful or constructive to apportion blame solely to the affected families. Instead it is advisable to consider the following insights and recommendations:

• families are an important institution and should be the focus of our attention
• parents must be encouraged to act responsibly and competently
• a range of constantly evolving social norms should be acknowledged
• some parents may lack the ability to act responsibly because they themselves were subjected to traumatic
• experiences in their past
• parents who were victims of child abuse are deeply affected when faced conflict and stressful situations and, due to old fears, may display violence towards their children

To protect children from child abuse one has to help parents find a new balance between the longed for ?ideal? world and their every day reality.