engleski

Evaluation of the Prevention of Child Abuse within the Family Police Program

There are no national, regional or local program for prevention of child abuse within family in the Republic of Croatia. This essay brings detailed descriptions of the first such program, conceptualized and realized by the officers of Međimurje District Police Prefecture in cooperation with the Department of Behavioral Disorders at the Faculty of Special Education and Rahabilitation, University of Zagreb. The objective of this Program was to improve the cooperation between the police, elementary and high schools, and the Social care Center within the area of responsibility of Međimurje District Police Prefecture. The purpose of the subsequent research part of the Program was to investigate whether and in what measure has the participation in the Program changed the level of information about the child neglect and abuse of teachers in elementary and high schools and workers at the Social Care Center, as well as the level of their motivation for cooperation with the police. The sample was composed of 102 teachers and Social Care Center workers. Before and after the realization of the Program, the examinees were asked to fill in the Indications Questionnaire (29 variables) and the Cooperation Questionnaire (8 variables). The obtained results have confirmed the proposed hypothesis according to which there should be statistically significant difference between the first and the second measuring of the results in the above Questionnaires. The concluding results have shown that after the realization of the Program the examinees were able to recognize more indications of child neglect and abuse and that they were starting to show more trust in police work. The number of criminal acts related to child neglect and abuse, known to the police, was 100% higher after the realization of the Program, than it was during the same period in the year before. The authors note that, in spite of all positive effects of this Program, the heightened rate of discovery of criminal acts related to family violence affecting children and young people, does not even being to solve the problem, because of the numerous gaps in the children and young people protection and care system which are rendering impossible any attempt at solving of this problem.

Child abuse ; prevention ; police program ; evaluation

nije evidentirano