1.3.1 The Title

The title that I choose is The Natural World of Child Protection, and, as I promised in Chapter One of the Prologue, I will now explain the reason why I use the terms Natural World and Child Protection in the title.

Most of us are enthralled by nature programmes (I certainly am) so when I refer to the natural world you may think of plants, animals, wildlife, (flora and fauna, as they are called), mountains, rivers, the mysteries of the seas and deep oceans, in other words, the wonderful worlds of people like David Attenborough and Jacques Cousteau.

And, of course, they are the natural world.

Also, when I use the term natural world I am reminded of the current focus on ecological matters, manifest in such disciplines as eco-psychotherapy and similar.  That is, when we think of healing the self we also need to think of healing our Planet.  Such emphasis, is, of course is very welcome and necessary.

In fact, being aware of the planet’s needs is a vital (in fact one could say the most important) aspect of child protection. Because if we don’t look after our Planet there may be no children to protect!

Which brings me to the second half of the title. Why child protection? Why not protection of vulnerable members of society in general?

I think it it will become clear as the website is read that, in respect of society, I am more interested in solutions than problems. And I believe that if we protect children – effectively – we will be moving towards solutions to some of the most difficult and intractable problems that beset society.

These include addiction, crime, homelessness, mental illness, and overall health and wellbeing, most of which are inter-related anyway.

In my experience all of the above problems occur downstream of the child that, despite the best efforts of everyone concerned, was hurt and often misunderstood.

Naturally enough we all feel that children are the most vulnerable members of our communities. And indeed they are – so, of course, that is a good reason to protect them.

But there is a financial reason too. Children that are troubled often grow up to be troubled adults. Troubled adults can cost our state an incalculable amount of money. And there is no need – I am sure – to spell out the reasons why.

On the other hand, healthy, vigorous, creative and emotionally intelligent adults make major contributions to society through entrepreneurial spirit, self-confidence etc. which has an obvious, immediate financial benefit.

And this has a multiplier effect – improving morale, self-efficacy, and how we view ourselves at large. (This will be expanded upon in the Chapter on Systems Theory).

And, emotionally intelligent adults generally tend to be concerned about the degradation of our planet.

People might not think that this is important – but, because I think holistically, I believe it is.

Talking about our Planet brings me back to the Natural World. While the term is linked to nature as we know it (i.e. flora and fauna) and protection of our planet, it will, in this website, have a slightly different meaning.

That is, the environment in which we live our lives from conception to death.

Because I will often refer to the physical (as well as the emotional, cognitive/knowledge and spiritual environments) I will, from time to time, be dipping into the world of physics.

Now, if you have not studied physics or science before; please do not be turned off.

Physics is full of practicality, and in keeping with my commitment to common sense, I will describe only those principles or theories that I feel are relevant to the subject matter.

I don’t think that physics is a subject that is studied in courses on social work, social care, psychotherapy, counselling or addiction.  Yet it is all around us, within us, at all times and in all places, from conception to death.  It is ubiquitous.

(For which I recently discovered, the correct pronunciation is you-b-quish-us with a shortened ‘b’ sound)!

I mentioned in the previous post that I’d be dipping into the world of physics now and again. Physics is concerned with the laws of nature, and the physical environment that we experience every day is governed by such laws.

A law of nature can be defined as an event that we confidently predict will happen time and time again under the same conditions.  The simplest one that I can think of, and that, I am sure, everyone is familiar with, is what goes up must come down! This happens on Earth because of gravity but it will not happen in outer space because the conditions are not the same; that is, there is no gravity.

Another law of nature would be Boyle’s Law (which I will mention again in the Chapter on Cause and Effect when I discuss reductionist thinking). Simply put, this law states that if we double the pressure on a gas in an enclosed container, its volume decreases by half.  (Think bicycle pump here)!

Yet another says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction – which is Newton’s Third Law that applies in the natural world and usually holds true in family and society too! (Isaac Newton was one of the world’s greatest physicists – I will be mentioning him a few times).

A law that is, these days, very important in respect of Planet Earth is the Law Of Conservation Of Energy. This law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed – it can only change from one form to another. An important implication of this law is that we cannot take more energy out of a system than we put into it. Yet this is what we have been doing for thousands of years. But now, with more than seven billion of us on the planet, and using vast amounts of precious irreplaceable energy every day, the chickens, as we say, are coming home to roost.

In the Chapter on Energy I will explore how this law applies to individuals and groups of humans – i.e. how to conserve energy so we work more effectively.

Now, a different kind of law of nature – this time not usually associated with physics, but with economics – would be that the price of something in demand goes up as it gets scarce.

Finally, there is a law of nature that we are all familiar with that points out that we get what we deserve. That is what goes around comes around. or, to use an agricultural metaphor, we reap what we sow. And William Shakespeare warns us – if we do wrong – evil deeds return to plague the inventor.

For our purposes a law of nature arises from human experience, and is explained using a theory.

In my experience, the natural world, (and the laws of nature through which we become aware of our physical environment), are generally ignored when it comes to protection of children.  Yet I believe that that they are hugely influential.  That is because they are, like physics itself, ubiquitous!

The natural world is ever-present in our lives.  That is, as I said in Chapter One of the Prologue, it has high impact-low noticeability.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I will distinguish a law of nature from a natural law which is more to do with the rights of humans in society.  Natural laws are, of course, very important in respect of work with vulnerable populations, and I will be referring to them if and when appropriate.

In the Chapter entitled Universal Theory of Change (Section Three) I refer to what I call the root foundations of emergence, identity, relationship, integration, affect, time, love and consciousness.

These, I propose, are part of the natural world that are mostly in the feeling and emotional (and even spiritual) dimensions.

The Concepts and Propositions in Section Four are also part of the natural world – many of them straddle the cognitive/knowledge and the emotional/spiritual. 

But there is another reason why the word natural appeals to me when I talk about child protection.

That is, whether we are parents, uncles/aunts, teachers, grandparents, youth club leaders, social care workers, therapists etc. I really don’t believe that we have to learn an awful lot when attending to the well-being of children who are in our company.  I believe that all humans have, to a greater or lesser extent depending on our personality, these skills naturally.

If we look at child protection in the context of 40,000 generations of evolution it is clear that we would not have evolved into what we are today without an abundance of characteristics such as presence, warmth, empathy, love, boundaries, common-sense, patience, genuine care etc.  (We will revisit this theme in the Chapter on Anthropology).

However, in order to allow them to emerge and then flourish, we may have to unlearn some behaviours that originate in prejudices, beliefs, or attitudes that we have absorbed into our bodies and minds and informed our value system over many years or even decades.

Much of the website is concerned with raising our awareness that will, in turn, assist this unlearning.