Child Protection in Sport: Reflections on Thirty Years of Science and Activism

dc.contributor.authorBrackenridge, C. H., & Rhind, D.
dc.date.accessioned2014-12-29T16:48:16Z
dc.date.available2014-12-29T16:48:16Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractThis paper examines the responses of state and third sector agencies to the emergence of child abuse in sport since the mid-1980s. As with other social institutions such as the church, health and education, sport has both initiated its own child protection interventions and also responded to wider social and political influences. Sport has exemplified many of the changes identified in the brief for this special issue, such as the widening of definitional focus, increasing geographic scope and broadening of concerns to encompass health and welfare. The child protection agenda in sport was initially driven by sexual abuse scandals and has since embraced a range of additional harms to children, such as physical and psychological abuse, neglect and damaging hazing (initiation) rituals. Whereas in the 1990s, only a few sport organisations acknowledged or addressed child abuse and protection (notably, UK, Canada and Australia), there has since been rapid growth in interest in the issue internationally, with many agencies now taking an active role in prevention work. These agencies adopt different foci related to their overall mission and may be characterised broadly as sport-specific (focussing on abuse prevention in sport), children’s rights organisations (focussing on child protection around sport events) and humanitarian organisations (focusing on child development and protection through sport). This article examines how these differences in organisational focus lead to very different child protection approaches and “solutions”. It critiques the scientific approaches used thus far to inform activism and policy changes and ends by considering future challenges for athlete safeguarding and welfare.en_US
dc.identifier.citationBrackenridge, C. H., & Rhind, D. (2014). Child Protection in Sport: Reflections on Thirty Years of Science and Activism. Social Sciences, 3(3), 326-340.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/3/3/326
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/2025
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherSocial Sciencesen_US
dc.subjectsportsen_US
dc.subjectchild abuseen_US
dc.subjectchild protectionen_US
dc.subjectathletesen_US
dc.subjecthuman rightsen_US
dc.titleChild Protection in Sport: Reflections on Thirty Years of Science and Activismen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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