Safeguarding 6: Physical abuse

Simply being a service-user/resident/patient or whatever isn’t sufficient to remove a person’s rights. If it was then anyone who is registered with a family doctor (GP) would give up their rights too. We’re all service-users but we still have rights.

Safeguarding 5: Financial abuse

At its most basic financial abuse is very clear and straightforward. Criminal offences such as theft, fraud and extortion leave no room for doubt. They are plainly abusive. However there are other, rather more subtle examples of financial abuse, some of which are a lot more common in practice than we might like to think.

Safeguarding 4: Horror stories

Miss X had been interviewed by professionals on several occasions but each time she was accompanied by her ‘carer’. We may assume that it would have been difficult for her to make any allegations in the presence of her abuser.

Safeguarding 3: Basic definitions

If there is a ‘shorthand’ way of defining abuse it’s to say that it’s a violation of an individual’s human and civil rights. This is different from simply saying that if a person doesn’t like what we do we’re being abusive.

Safeguarding 2: A little history

If we rely upon convictions only then the price will be countless abused children. Imagine how many youngsters a paedophile teacher will come across in the space of a career. How many vulnerable elderly residents might an abusive ‘carer’ come into contact with too?

Tabloid justice equals lynch mob vigilantism

I’m not suggesting that John Venables is a wonderful human being who I’d love to go and have a pint with. I strongly suspect that I wouldn’t like him at all but that’s not the point I’m trying to make. The issue at stake here is much bigger than one young man – however much we may abhor his past offences.

Recovery in action?

This very timely report seems to demonstrate that removing the preconceptions about ‘incurability’ yields positive results through social processes rather than biomedical ‘chemical cosh’ treatments.

Don’t I know you?

The man weho gave me that job – and with it some self esteem – was Tony.