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The social worker must also introduce group therapy and family therapy to reinforce
all the newly learned behaviour. The parents can then join self-help groups in order
to maintain their improvement. Social workers must not forget that stress is acute at
the point of abuse and that crisis intervention must be offered. This, if rendered
rapidly and effectively can enable children to be kept in their homes at times
(Ostbloom & Crase 1980). Crisis services in order to relieve stress effectively must
offer:
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a twenty-four hour on-eall child protection service;
telephone counselling ;
emergency day care ;
caretaker services so that the parents can obtain temporary relief; and
long-term care if children have to be removed.
Highly-trained social workers should be in charge of seeing these services function
effectively.
Cameron (1973 : 692-697) reiterated that child welfare services must be available
twenty four hours a day, 365 days a year so that child abuse cases can be reported for
immediate action, either by the public aware of the abuse, or by potential abusers
asking for instant relief. These services carry the responsibility of invoking the
authority of the court to secure adequate protection, care and treatment of children
whose parents neglect or abuse them. The decision to request court action should
always be based on the belief that this is in the best interests of the child and his
family. Cameron (1973) pointed out that social workers in child protection services
cannot take responsibility for abused children single-handedly. The community, the
doctors, the hospital, all have an integrated role to play in the protection and
treatment of abused children.