Developmental Perspectives on Children in Need of Care and Protection

Abstract

This chapter focuses on child development, with emphasis on the parenting needs of children at different levels of development, and aspects of children’s development that influence their proficiencies in accurately recalling, reporting, understanding, and appreciating the impact of childhood trauma. Identifying children’s parenting needs at different developmental levels, while also considering the relevance of the care and protection context, might seem a somewhat capacious endeavor. Theories of parenting provide a general framework for considering children’s needs. In examining children’s proficiencies as reporters of childhood trauma, this chapter isolates features of child development that are most common in forensic evaluations of children and families in care and protection proceedings. Special attention is given to children’s perceptions of continuity and stability of residence and relationships, children’s language development as it affects reporting capacity, and the integrity of memory in childhood and adolescence. This chapter reviews research relevant to the accuracy of the recollections of child victims, along with theoretical constructs of children’s perceptions of shame, lies, family allegiance, secrets and the process of disclosure of abuse or neglect. Juxtaposed with the common problem of children’s propensity to be loath to report family problems, the opposite problem of the suggestibility and magnification or embellishment of children’s recollections is reviewed.