PROCHILD

PROCHILD – PROtection and support of abused CHILDren through multidisciplinary intervention

Project Number 810109 – PROCHILD – REC-AG-2017/REC-RDAP-GBV-AG-2017

Programme and call
Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme – Call for proposals REC-RDAP-GBV-AG-2017 “Prevent and combat gender-based violence and violence against children”.

Short description

PROCHILD aims to create a model of multi-professional and integrated cooperation between the actors involved in the response to the phenomenon of violence against children, in order to promote the detection of cases of abuse and to combat the fragmentation of services for the protection of children and families by applying an interdisciplinary approach based on the best interest of the child and on the complementarity of skills of different professional profiles.

Objectives

The specific objectives of the project are as follows:
– protect the fundamental rights of children in line with the implementation of EU Directive 2012/29
– promote the early identification of cases of maltreatment/abuse
– adopt a multi-professional model of protection and assistance to child victims (Bronfenbrenner model)
– develop shared and integrated protocols between social services, health care, educational institutions, law enforcement agencies, judicial authorities to facilitate cooperation and define criteria and priorities for cases requiring reporting
– increase the skills of the professionals involved for a more effective identification of the phenomenon and accustom them to an interdisciplinary approach of comparison and sharing of their specific skills
– Involving children and families in the improvement of anti-maltreatment information material and existing protection and care services.

Actions

– WorkPackage 1: project management and coordination
– WorkPackage 2: communication and diffusion
– WorkPackage 3: mapping of operators’ training needs and best practices for early identification and treatment of cases of child abuse
– WorkPackage 4: development of protocols between the actors involved in the assistance and protection of minors in accordance with a transferable interdisciplinary intervention model
– WorkPackage 5: interdisciplinary training of professionals involved in the response to the phenomenon of violence against minors

Results

The main expected results are:
– strengthening the integration and interdisciplinary nature of the services involved in cases of child maltreatment/abuse by defining a transferable intervention model at European level based on best practices and on the real needs of operators
– increasing the skills of professionals responsible for childcare and legal procedures, by improving the integration of social and health services, law enforcement agencies, lawyers and judicial authorities
– compilation of local/national protocols for the creation of an integrated model that allows the early identification of cases of maltreatment/abuse, reporting and protection of minors
– Improvement of assistance systems for child victims through their direct involvement in the evaluation of existing services.
– raising awareness of the phenomenon of violence and of the tools available to direct and indirect victims
– launch of a dialogue for the creation of an Italian national epidemiological register on violence against minors, which will encourage research and analysis of data for more effective intervention.

Lead partner

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – University of Bologna, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (IT)

Partnerships

The partnership is made up of 5 players from 5 different countries:
– La Voix de l’Enfant (FR)
– National Institute for Health and Welfare – THL (FI)
– Independent Academic Research Studies International Institute – IARS (UK)
– Catholic University of Applied Sciences North Rhine-Westphalia (DE)
– Institute of Child Health (GR)

Duration
The project has a duration of 24 months (1 November 2018 – 31 October 2020)

Website
www.prochildproject.org

EU contribution
The European grant received is € 733 816.00.

Funding body
European Commission – DG Justice and Consumers