Upon the completion of WP3, La Voix de l’Enfant will be hosting the PROCHILD project partners from Germany, Britain, Finland, Greece and Italy in Paris for the first project meeting on May 8-9.
The partners will assess and discuss the results of WP3 which aimed to collect and review each nation’s good practices. The hope is that the discussions will be as rich and as productive as those had in Bologna during the kick-off meeting of the project.
The grey literature analysed by each project partner has highlighted the significant existence of informative articles and publications regarding procedures and “warning signs” of possible situations of abuse. The existence of this literature is simultaneously encouraging and puzzling, as it leads one to wonder why so many situations of children either at risk or facing situations of maltreatment remain undisclosed.
Further explanations to this query will be examined in light of the results from an online questionnaire created by the partners of PROCHILD and assessed by the German and Finnish partners. The survey aimed to identify the training needs of professionals who come in to contact with children and families in their line of work. Many respondents indicated that they feel insufficiently prepared to detect situations of child maltreatment or discuss these suspicions with an at-risk child. Additionally, most respondents highlighted the potential benefit of training courses aimed at opening dialogue among professionals and peers in order to provide victims with the help they need.
In analysing the effectiveness and implications of WP3 at the all-partner Paris meeting, we hope to transition to the next phase of the PROCHILD project. We hope for a thoroughly productive meeting in Paris and eagerly anticipate the future of PROCHILD as the project moves forward.
Photo by Chris Karidis on Unsplash