`Children, Spirituality & Religion'ÐA Training Pack byMargaret Crompton, published by CCETSW. ISBN 1-857-19-166-8, £35.00.

Margaret Crompton's training pack is an essential trainingresource. It is time we cracked the taboo of `let's not get tooinvolved with the religious bit'. Alongside my training work onabused disabled children I have also worked with women and menwho grew up in strong Christian homes and who were sexuallyabused, either in their homes or by clergy/ministers. Withoutexception, working with these survivors has meant needing towork with their beliefs, faith and spirituality and with theconnections they have made as children and as adults.

Margaret Crompton found social workers expressed negativefeelings about social work, spirituality and religion. Professionalswere embarrassed and found it di�cult to separate belief systems/religion from spiritual growth; carers with no spiritual a�liationwere acceptable, but carers with a religious a�liation wereperceived negatively, even with suspicion, and training encouragedsocial workers to hold back on their beliefs and not to projectthem. Recently, much to my surprise (perhaps naivety), I wasadvised against informing Social Services training departments ofthe courses I o�er on Christianity and abuse, as if I did so I wouldbe regarded with suspicion. Such a discriminatory and prejudicialattitude, if true, a�ords no honour to the social service sector.

Section 1 of the training pack begins by looking at the UKchild care legislation, in which the Children Act 1989 gives explicitinstructions that due consideration should be given to `. . . thechild's religious persuasion. . .' if `looked after' or in care. Thesection ends with exercises on spiritual and religious rights.

Section 2 looks at the spiritual needs of children and thedevelopmental track of spirituality in children.

Section 3 gives an introduction to religious beliefs and observ-ances in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism,Rastafarianism, Sikism and Humanism. These chapters are veryeasily understood and end with very useful glossaries. The con¯ictwithin all traditions between patriarchal and feminist values is notevident in these chapters. This is a failing, for it allows patriarchalvalues to predominate. For example, in the Christianity sectionGod is automatically assumed to be male and role models fromThe Bible are male (to quote): `Bible stories are important to manyChristian children, who may have favourite characters such asJoseph, Noah, or Saint Paul'.

Section 4 of the pack expands on the di�erence between`religion' and `spirituality'. Unlike the Children Act 1989, educa-tion legislation requires attention to the child's spiritual welfareand nurture. The pack unites these two concepts, thus correctingthe dichotomy endorsed by legislation.

Spirituality is broken down into manageable parts according toBradford (1995): human spiritualityÐwholeness of emotional,cognitive and intuitive self; devotional spiritualityÐformation ofcorporate and personal religious life; and practical spiritualityÐengagement in personal and public everyday living. FrancesCattermole adds: `valuing the experience of awe and wonder,valuing the spirit of hurt and sorrow, relationships with other

Child Abuse Review Vol. 8: 289±290 (1999)

CCC 0952±9136/99/040289±02. $17.50Copyright *c 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Review ofTrainingMaterials

`Carers with a

religious a�liation

were perceived

negatively'

`Education

legislation

requires attention

to the child's

spiritual welfare

and nurture'

people and the natural world, coming to an understanding of whatis meant by ``God'' '. The exercises at the end of this section wereextremely valuable and o�er an accessible way into very complexissues.

Part two of section 4 then links sensitive areas of social work andreligion/spirituality. Abortion, adoptive, foster and residentialcare; learning disability; seriously ill and dying children; abuseand neglect; bereavement; o�ending; each of these issues isdiscussed in relation to the various faith beliefs, then searchingand probing questions are asked of practitioners. I was delightedto see a `warning' that the material could be upsetting andthat practitioners should have access to supervisors who are awareof the content and possible impact. I was disappointed that thesection on learning disability was not from the social modelperspective and wondered why only one impairment was focusedon, as the history of disabled people within the religious contexthas been continually discriminatory, often o�ensive and certainlydamaging.

Section 5 looks at stories from each faith tradition and how tocommunicate with children. Here there are direct views fromchildren and some di�culties that might arise due to the child'smisunderstanding of concepts.

References come at the end of each section and section 6 has anextensive resource ®le.

This pack is a real milestone in encouraging practitioners tothink more deeply on what it means to be both a human and aspiritual being. Atheists or agnostics may ®nd the work di�cult,but entered into from a rights perspective it will help workersdevelop respect and admiration for those of faith traditions. It alsomust be approached from an anti-oppressive perspective, for todeny a child their religious or spiritual heritage is to deny them apart of their identity to which they have a right.

This is a most excellent beginning to addressing this complexand sensitive area of work. Perhaps after training with it, I maysend out my training information more hopefully.

Margaret KennedyLondon

Reference

Bradford, J. (1995). Caring for the Whole Child: A HolisticApproach to Spirituality. London: The Children's Society.

`A real milestone

in encouraging

practitioners to

think more deeply

on what it means

to be both a human

and a spiritual

being'

290 Review of Training Materials

Copyright *c 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Child Abuse Review Vol. 8: 289±290 (1999)