The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics
2009 , Vol 51 , Num 4
Six-Year Experience of a Hospital-Based Child Protection
Team in Turkey
Departments of 1Pediatrics, 2Psychiatry, 3Forensic Medicine, 4Child Psychiatry, and 5Pediatric Surgery, Gazi University
Faculty of Medicine, 6Child Protection Center, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey; and 7Child Protection Program,
University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
The objective of this article was to review the case series’ profile followed
up by the Gazi University Multidisciplinary Team for Child Protection and to
describe the challenges in our child protection system. The cases referred to
this team between February 2001 and January 2007 were analyzed. In addition
to the clinical management, challenges encountered during follow-up due to
gaps in the child protection system were reviewed. A total of 139 patients
were referred to the team during the study period. Mean age for physical
abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect were 8.9±6.2, 10.8±4.2, and 5.1±5.5 years,
respectively. Sexual abuse was significantly less common while neglect was
significantly more common in the 0-5 years of age group. In addition to
the gaps within each link of the child protection system (medical, legal and
social services) in Turkey, interagency collaboration seems to be inadequate.
Hospital-based multidisciplinary teams can start such a collaboration.
Keywords :
child abuse, multidisciplinary team approach, neglect, hospital-based child
protection center.