Understanding Animal Abuse and How to Intervene with Children and Young People

Understanding Animal Abuse and How to Intervene with Children and Young People offers a positive, compassion-based and trauma-informed approach to understanding and intervening in animal abuse. It provides an accessible cross-disciplinary synthesis of current international evidence on animal abuse and a toolkit for professionals working with people and/or animals to help them understand, prevent and intervene in cases of animal abuse. With contributions from experts in the field, this essential text offers ten user-friendly chapters with questions for reflection and key summary points. It offers a definition of animal abuse, synthesises the latest research on children, young people and animal abuse, explores the link between animal abuse and other forms of abuse and outlines legal perspectives on animal abuse. The second half of the book presents a practical toolkit for professionals, offering guidance and strategies for the prevention of and intervention in cases of animal abuse. It provides multidisciplinary perspectives on interventions; from teachers' and social workers roles in detection and intervention of childhood animal abuse, to the roles of enforcement agencies and veterinarians in legal cases of adult animal abuse. Together with a final chapter proposing new directions for research, policy and practice, this guide is for all who work with children, young people and/or animals, including psychologists, social workers, veterinarians, education professionals and animal welfare educators. It is also a key reading for those involved in legal and policy issues relating to animal welfare.

Gilly Mendes Ferreira joined the Scottish SPCA in 2005 and, together with amazing colleagues, creates innovative solutions to address key animal welfare concerns, conducts research in the fields of animal welfare and human-animal interactions and engages at a political level to ensure current animal welfare legislation meets modern-day issues. Joanne M. Williams is Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology and an expert in children's interactions with animals. Her research spans the positive effects of pets on children's development to psychological risk factors for animal cruelty. She works extensively with the Scottish SPCA and other welfare charities to promote children's compassion to animals.

1 Animal abuse: A concern for all 2 Psychological risk factors for animal harm and abuse among children and young people 3 The links between animal abuse and domestic violence/abuse 4 Defining animal cruelty within an international framework 5 Investigating animal abuse and the importance of sharing intelligence 6 What to do about animal cruelty from a veterinary perspective 7 Parents and professionals working with children and young people 8 Interventions for intentional and unintentional abuse towards animals 9 A toolkit for evaluating animal welfare education interventions 10 Animal Abuse: What we know, what we can do, and what we need to know