Author: Peter Sidebotham
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Child Abuse Review Impact Factor
I am delighted to report that we have just received news of the 2014 Thomson Reuters journal citation report, and the Impact Factor for Child Abuse Review has risen from 0.787 to 0.841. This represents the fourth successive rise and an increase of 51% from our 2011 Impact Factor. We are ranked 18 out of…
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Grey
This morning, in our reflections, Lois and I were using a practice called Terra Divina which we came across in Ian Adams’ helpful book, Running over rocks. Adams encourages us to pause and contemplate the natural world around us, to ‘read the text of the landscape. [This is] like reading a book, except now it’s…
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In the footsteps of a carpenter
We have just returned from a weekend celebrating my father’s 80th birthday. A truly wonderful occasion for an amazing man. Those 80 years have taken him from the rural idyll of a childhood in Sussex, to 18 exciting years in Hong Kong, urban ministry in Gravesend, and the stillness of the Acorn Healing Trust in…
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Going Green
Frustrated by the outcome of the general election, the apparent pervasiveness of what comes across as an inward-looking, focus on ‘what’s best for me’ in our society, and the gradual merging of the main political parties into a somewhat right-of-centre common ground, I decided this week to join the Green Party. Having spent some time…
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Pride
Yesterday, Lois and I watched Pride (BBC Films, 2014), a truly inspirational film which I would highly recommend (thank you Kevin Finnan for your recommendation). A small minority group, hated and victimised, struggling with their own weaknesses and infighting, choose, in spite of that, to look beyond their own problems to recognise and do something…
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On the eve of the general election
On the eve of the general election I find myself increasingly exercised by the issues of justice that are at stake here. This election isn’t just about who we would like to govern our country, it is about how we, as a country, and the people who govern us, treat our fellow-citizens, particularly the most…
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Borrowdale
I am feeling most blessed after spending a weekend with friends in the peace and beauty of Borrowdale in the Lake District. To share good food, wine and laughter in the company of friends, to appreciate the beauty around us: the bleak fells opening up before us as we climb through a blizzard (yes, nearly…
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2015 Wiley Prize for the best papers published in Child Abuse Review
It is a great pleasure to announce the 2015 Wiley Prize for the best papers published in Child Abuse Review. Jane Appleton and I have selected three papers, published between 2011 and 2014 which we believe are all outstanding papers, reflecting innovative thinking and relevance to practitioners. The quality of papers published in the journal…
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The child at the centre of care
Placing the child at the centre of care requires professionals and organisations to adopt a position that recognises and responds to the child or young person’s best interests (Appleton, Powell and Coombes, 2014, unpublished report to NSPCC). As Munro (2011a, 2011b; p6) stated in her review of child protection, the child protection system needs to…
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New Directions in Child Protection and Wellbeing
Today is the last day of the BASPCAN Congress. Over the past three days I have had the privilege of meeting some awesome people from around the world – friends and colleagues old and new, united in one purpose: to make this world a better place for children. We have heard some inspiring talks, considered…