Social pediatrics and child protection

Social pediatrics

• It is based on taking into consideration the whole child and his/her family, family support and strengthening.
• The patient is examined from the somatic point of view and welcomed with his needs and rights of his social and school context.
• A rapid response is offered in case a child no longer has an adult referral for care.
• Thanks to an interdisciplinary and multi-professional approach (pediatric physicians, nurses, psychologists, teachers and social workers activated at the request of the pediatrician if necessary), children in vulnerable situations are supported to optimize their biopsychosocial development with special attention to situations of maltreatment and violence.
• Excellent collaboration with educational institutions enables the teacher present on the ward to take care of school intake in the hospital setting when medical conditions permit and upon authorization of parental authority. Makes contact with the home site directors of the hospitalized boy/daughter, and after receiving the required school materials, provides hours of study accompaniment so that the boy/daughter can keep up to date while absent from school.
• A gradual school reintegration is encouraged and organized when the situation requires it, cooperating with the hospital doctors and the home school, keeping regular contact with the school sites in a spirit of cooperation.

Child protection

• It aims to ensure that a child's basic needs are taken into consideration, support his or her mental, affective intellectual and social development, and preserve safety, morality and education while respecting his or her rights.
• The departments of pediatrics are one of the points of reference for cantonal institutions in case of the need to place a child in protection.
• The work carried out in this area aims to:
  • Help in identifying possible forms of child maltreatment (child maltreatment can be of various degrees either consciously or unconsciously).
  • Point out to caregivers and/or the existing network the appropriate procedures for taking charge in cases of maltreatment or suspected maltreatment.
  • Be a liaison with cantonal and on-the-ground institutions to foster or put in place a child protection network.

Social pediatrics

• Depending on the needs identified, there is the possibility of psychotherapeutic or pedopsychiatric intake, both of the patient as well as the entire family unit.
• Individualized school accompaniment is coordinated with a teacher when the situation requires it.
• Social support is offered.
• Psychological and psychotherapeutic support is arranged.

Child protection

• The child protection group acts primarily in terms of advising the treating teams.
• In situations where a child protection hospitalization is necessary, the group works in close relationship with the medical-nursing team of the pediatrics department of the Lugano Civic Hospital, and can liaise with social and legal institutions for case management.
• In cases of sexual abuse, the necessary medical evaluations are carried out at Lugano Regional Hospital, Civic in close collaboration with the Section of Crimes against the Integrity of Persons (SRIP) and the Institute of Forensic Medicine.
  

Interdisciplinary Child Maltreatment Group for professional figures.

The Child Maltreatment Interdisciplinary Group (GIMI) is composed of various figures and is advisory to professional figures in the health care field. It helps in gathering information or reports, and after discussion within the group, propose the various possible procedures, with the aim of safeguarding the welfare of the child involved.

The group consciously and as fully as possible includes the findings or information gathered in terms of personal and environmental risk and protective factors or resources in its considerations. This is done in relation to the child in question and the individual environmental factors mentioned, such as the need for medical/therapeutic care and treatment, the family and relationship system, including religion, ethnicity and culture, the family's socioeconomic situation, preschool or school situation, and social interactions and leisure time.

The GIMI can be contacted 24h/24h through the pediatrics department of the Lugano Civic Hospital (picket number for all pediatric emergencies +41(0)91 811 68 22).All reports are discussed weekly and a return is given to the person who reported. The group also provides support in case a decision is made to proceed with a report to civil authorities.

In case of minors as direct victims of violence, how to proceed with placing them in protection will be discussed together.