A Practitioners' Tool for the Asses

With checklists and a central case study, master social worker Fowler gives practitioners significant tools they can use to interpret and apply information they collect in the investigation and remedy processes. Fowler describes the impact of sexual abuse on children and the means by which abusers are identified, then describes the abusing adult in terms of initial assessment, family structure, chronology, experience in childhood and adult life, the perception of self, adult relationships, perceptions about children, criminal offenses beside sexual offenses, self-esteem, dominant and submissive behaviors, anger and aggression, violent behavior, and the adult's perception of child sexual abuse. He also describes the typical behavior of the non-abusing adults involved, including assessment of their ability to protect the child from future abuse. He includes information on terms and tools used in assessing adults who sexually abuse children and lists of future reading as well as references. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jeff Fowler is a qualified social worker with over 30 years' experience of working with children and families. He has worked in both residential and fieldwork settings as a practitioner and senior manager. He currently provides risk assessments for local authorities and for parties in both public and private law proceedings, and is author of A Practitioners' Tool for Child Protection and the Assessment of Parents, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.