L'enfance maltraitée: l'action de l'équipe SOS-enfants de l'Hôpital Saint-Pierre.

Child abuse has emerged in the past twenty-five years as a visible and important social, physical and mental health concern. We have tried to present some general approaches of the phenomenon: our goals are to protect the interest of the child and to develop help for the abusing parents, through crisis interventions and long-term coordination with the medico-social network.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Utilisation paradoxale du secteur néonatal dans le cadre de la prévention du syndrome de l'enfant battu ou gravement néglige

A multidisciplinary team for antenatal prevention of child abuse and neglect has been created in 1979 in the department of obstetrics of the Saint-Pierre hospital in Brussels. Some newborns at risk were decided to be hospitalised in the neonatal unit (according to previously established criteria). Of the 6,000 deliveries that occurred in our department during a four year period (1979-1983), 51 newborns transited through the neonatal unit. Our results indicate that: 1) In contrast with current believes, the passage in the neonatal unit does not contribute to abnormal maternal-child relationship including rejection, neglect and battering. 2) Though the passage to the neonatal unit is usually considered by professionals as a major obstacle to the establishment of a good mother-child relationship, this because of distorsions in parent-child, the prevention team has used the neonatal unit paradoxically, observing and increasing the mother-infant bounding and reducing the risk of baby battering in specific situations. The results will be detailed and illustrated. We conclude that the neonatal unit may have a diagnostical and/or therapeutical function. It can help ameliorating mother-child relationship or preparing to separation in the battered child syndrome.SCOPUS: NotDefined.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

A coordinated attempt for prevention of child abuse at the antenatal care level

The authors report the preliminary result of an integrated approach to the primary prevention of the child abuse syndrome. The problem has been approached through a new concept of prenatal and postnatal care, the obstetrical team working in close cooperation with the child psychiatrist of the department of pediatrics. The obstetrical team followed 91 patients during their pregnancy; they were all discussed at supervisory sessions. This permitted a gynaecologist and a social nurse to develop a therapeutic plan for 72 patients. For the 19 more problematic cases, the child psychiatrist intervened immediately in the surroundings of the antenatal clinic. Short, specific psychotherapeutic interventions based on the alleviation of a family crisis have remedied important stress situations. The favourable influence of this new methodology has led to: (1) reduction of a potentially high expected prematurity rate; (2) improved integration of outpatient and in-patient care; (3) improved adaptation of the health staff to this type of situation. A case example to illustrate the functioning of both teams is given. © 1982.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe