Protecting Children with Disabilities from Violence in CBR Projects: Why we need to work with a different form of child protection policy for children with disabilities

Résumé de l'auteur

Children with disabilities encounter more violence in their lives than their peers without disability. Organisations involved in Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) come across many cases of violence against the children they work with.  Many organisations have no policy on child protection since it is not within the scope of their expertise. Others work with child protection policies that are hard to apply in the realities they deal with. Through research done in Ethiopia, with a recent update, the author attempts to show that there is a need for policies in CBR, that follow a community approach rather than an individual approach to child protection.

Commentaire du Centre Ressources

This author proposes that an alternative to traditional child protection policies may be more effective in protecting children with disabilities from violence. 

This is of particular interest to those engaged in child protection and to Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) organisations.

Current policies are child-centred, recommend transfer of the child from the abusive environment to a safe facility and pursuit of each case through the courts. 

The author points out that often in low-resource settings there are no safe places to transfer children to.  Community Based Rehabilitation workers reduce the violence suffered by children with disabilities within the home by educating and supporting the parents.  For example, parents may stop beating a child into “paying attention” when they understand the child is deaf.  Going to the police and courts can add to the trauma for the child where officials do not take them seriously or know how to help them.  Helping the community at large understand children with disabilities could also help reduce the violence. 

The author therefore proposes a family-centred / community-centred approach rather than a child-centred approach and education for CBR workers.

This document was selected in the literature review « Contextual factors around the sexual abuse of people with disabilities in East Africa ». You can find the list of the linked references on the attachements.