Meanings of Aboriginal gambling across New South Wales,Australia

A social perspective of gambling explains gambling as a consequence of the social, structural and cultural environment in which gamblers live. In the Australian Indigenous context the social perspective is important, given the significance of community and family ties. This paper aims to explore meanings of Aboriginal gambling across New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Taking an interpretivist stance, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 knowledgeable Indigenous Australians, key elected and nominated state representatives. Meanings of Aboriginal gambling included the collective activity of gambling within social networks in the hope of a win. More problematic meanings of gambling were always gambling to win, chasing losses and continual financial distress which appeared to reduce social network bonds. Contrasting problem gambling with recreational gambling revealed that some Indigenous gamblers use their existing cultural and kin relationships on which many of their social networks are based to gamble together in a controlled recreational manner.     

Descriptive Analysis of Foster Care Adoptions in New South Wales,Australia

This paper describes the population of children in care in New South Wales, Australia, who were adopted by their foster families (N?=?372) from 2003 to 2014. Data pertaining to 370 of these adoptees were available and obtained from administrative records accompanying adoption applications. Most of these children had been placed with their subsequent adoptive family during infancy. However, adoption orders occurred much later in their lives. According to the available information at the time of adoption, these children did not suffer the high levels of mental health problems typically identified in populations of children in foster care. Though the data do not include follow-up to determine if the contact agreed upon at the time of adoption orders translated into practice, the most frequently postadoption arrangement recorded was face-to-face contact, four times a year with mother and siblings. The high levels of openness and face-to-face contact in Australian adoptions from care are a significant point of difference with other adoption models, and presents a need for research in the area.

IMPLICATIONS

• Following the change of legislation in New South Wales, Australia, that prioritises open adoption over foster care, social workers in the field of child protection are well placed to assist in this process.

• Social workers can assess children entering care to identify those who will benefit from adoption in a timely manner; undertake casework and administrative aspects of the adoption process; work closely with the child, and birth and adoptive families by delivering pre- and post-adoption supports; and conduct longitudinal research on the outcomes for children adopted from care.

     

Domestic violence: a priority in child protection in New South Wales,Australia?

Over the last several years there has been increasing awareness of the connection between domestic violence and child abuse, yet only minimal attention has been paid to the implications of this for child protection practice. This article begins to address this gap. Drawing on research undertaken in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, it examines child protection practice in relation to children and young people who have been exposed to domestic violence. The research involved analysis of the responses of the statutory child protection authority in NSW (the Department of Community Services or DoCS) to abuse allegations involving domestic violence. The data are drawn from observation and analysis of the initial responses to referrals to DoCS and the ‘tracking’ of a sample of these referrals over an 18 month period. From the data obtained, it is evident that domestic violence referrals are treated less seriously than other referrals, with more being confirmed as abuse but fewer resulting in follow up or intervention. The implications of this for child protection practice are teased out. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Counter-geographies: The campaign against rationalisation of agricultural research stations in New South Wales, Australia

This paper discusses an example of community action mounted in a rural region of New South Wales, Australia, in response to proposals by the State Government to rationalise agricultural research stations operated by the Department of Primary Industries. Informed by a Foucaultian understanding of power and the concept of governmentality, neoliberalism is theorised as being the broad governmental context in which rationalisation proposals were put forward. Recent literature drawing on this theoretical perspective has emphasised that neoliberalism is enacted through a relationship of power, and is not monolithic or inevitable. Neoliberalism is always negotiated by those seeking to govern and those who are the object of such governmental actions. This paper analyses how plans to rationalise publicly funded agricultural research stations were opposed by those seeking to keep research facilities open in the case study area. The paper discusses the methods and scope of community action and, drawing on interviews, identifies a series of discourses articulated by campaigners. Non-local actors were depicted as uncaring and insensitive. In contrast, campaigners discussed the emergence of a ‘city-country divide’ in domestic politics; the need for specialist agricultural knowledge given the region's unique geographical location; and local impacts of an economic, social and emotional nature. Central were discourses of maintaining community, tradition, and continuity in unique local places defined by their climate, biophysical environment and economy. These were ‘counter-geographies’ that sought (successfully, it would transpire) to disrupt the state's imagined geography of a homogenous and flexible administrative space in which research services could be relocated wherever most efficient. Important too were embodied resistances to the way rural industries and people were subjected. Campaigners refused to accept preferred codes of neoliberal behaviour (particularly mobility and rationality) and instead demanded respect for their careers, families and communities. Important considerations are suggested for further research on impacts and negotiations of neoliberalism. This study particularly highlights the successes—as well as contradictions and limitations—of arguments that construct rural places as socialised, unique and unfairly treated (by governments), in opposition to metropolitan dominance and ‘placeless’ neoliberalism.     

Examining links between cocaine use and street-based sex work in New South Wales, Australia

We examined potential links between cocaine use and street-based sex work in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, following reports of increased cocaine use among injection drug users (IDU). Police data on prostitution and possession/use of cocaine was analysed using time series analysis. Interviews with key informants and IDU were also conducted, and data on cocaine use from ongoing monitoring systems targeted at IDU were analysed. There was a clear increase in cocaine use among IDU which occurred in 2001. This occurred at the same time as an increase in prostitution offenses. Qualitative data suggested that a greater number of primary heroin users were engaging in street-based sex work, which was driven in part by the increases in cocaine use among this group. Subsequent reductions in cocaine availability led to decreased cocaine use and possession offenses, along with reductions in prostitution offenses.     

Open Adoptions of Children From Foster Care in New South Wales Australia: Adoption Process and Post-Adoption Contact

In Australia, adoptions from care are infrequent and mostly conducted in New South Wales (NSW) despite being legislated in other states. This qualitative study explored the experiences of the adoption process and post-adoption contact of eight foster parents adopting children in their care through the public welfare agency in NSW. The interviews were analyzed following a structured approach, by means of thematic networks. The study revealed that adoption processes and maintenance of birth family relationships depend on a number of factors (e.g., the behavior of the professionals, adoptive and birth parents, children's reactions, policy and practice contexts). However, the adoptive parents' experience of the adoption process was largely determined by the system, and in most cases this appeared to subsequently influence post-adoption connection in the families. The findings and the adoptive parents' recommendations are likely to apply beyond specific geographical jurisdictions. In addition, the reported complexities regarding connections through open adoptions at times resemble those tensions faced by children living in other family types such as those referred to in the foster care literature. Further research on some of these commonalities may expand in some countries the debate regarding adoption as an inherently contestable practice.     

Identity Formation in Children and Young People in Open Adoptions from Out-of-home Care in New South Wales,Australia

Semi-structured interviews were used to explore identity development for nine adoptees (aged 9–23 years) who were adopted by their foster carers in New South Wales, Australia. Adoptions were open, with court-ordered face-to-face contact with birth families. Findings suggest that participants had healthy adoptive identities, with coherent and meaningful narratives about their life histories. Adoption provided a sense of security and belonging. Openness provided information to build a self-narrative and encouraged discussion of adoption issues within adoptive families. Adoptive parents were critical in helping children understand their adoption and facilitating direct contact with birth families, thus laying foundations for positive identity development.     

Sources of Double Disadvantage for People with Disabilities Living in Remote and Rural Areas of New South Wales, Australia

This study demonstrates how people with disabilities living in remote and rural areas experience double disadvantage in regard to receipt of services. They tend to experience similar disadvantages to other remote and rural dwellers (as compared with their urban counterparts), but these disadvantages are compounded by those associated with living in an environment which does not cater for the needs of people with disabilities. Findings display how geographical, physical, cultural, social and psychological factors within the external environment create disadvantages for the individual. The project involved data collection from people with disabilities, disability groups, service providers, families and carers through consultations and field trips. Major issues emerging from consultations were concerned with: transport and distance, isolation, the need for more consumer involvement, the nature of service provision (appropriateness, flexibility, co-ordination and location), the need for community and professional disability awareness education, protection of rights, carers and respite care, accommodation and housing, education, employment, information dissemination and access to specialised equipment. Comparison with overseas studies indicates that findings from this Australian study have applicability in other countries which have large remote and rural areas.     

Social work and pre-school education in New South Wales

In Australia, males of 65 years and over and females of 60 years are generally regarded as aged persons. Social service and other pensions are payable to this age group. Service pensions are payable to males at 60 years of age.     

Women's Unprotected Sex Intentions: Roles of Sexual Victimization,Intoxication, and Partner Perception

Sexually victimized women may make sexual decisions differently than nonvictimized women. This study used an eroticized scenario and laboratory alcohol administration to investigate the roles of victimization history, intoxication, and relationship context in women's perceptions of a male partner and their subsequent intentions for unprotected sex. A community sample of 436 women completed childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adolescent/adult sexual assault (ASA) measures. After random assignment to an alcohol or control condition, participants read and projected themselves into a sexual scenario that depicted the male partner as having high or low potential for a lasting relationship. Participants rated their perceptions of his intoxication, sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk level, and anticipated reactions to insistence on condom use. They then indicated their likelihood of allowing the partner to decide how far to go sexually (abdication) and of engaging in unprotected sex. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed that intoxication predicted greater unprotected sex likelihood indirectly via abdication. CSA and ASA predicted partner perceptions, which in turn predicted unprotected sex likelihood. These findings indicate that, compared to their nonvictimized counterparts, sexually victimized women may respond differently in sexual encounters partly as a function of their perceptions of partners' STI risk and anticipated reactions to condom insistence.     

Perceived density, social interaction and morale in New South Wales rural communities

This paper explores the relationships between population density, social interaction patterns, and morale in rural communities. It tests two apparently competing hypotheses concerning rural population density, social interaction patterns and overall levels of morale: one, that low (and rapidly declining) rural densities lead to feelings of isolation and low morale in response to contractions in local social interaction networks; or two, that communities facing the demographic scenario just provided might provide more social space for individuals to assume leadership roles, thereby developing their self-confidence. This situation could be expected to produce higher levels of morale and satisfaction with community life. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative survey research conducted within the social catchment areas of three contrasting rural New South Wales (Australia) communities, the paper finds that some of the key hypotheses of ‘manning theory’ are confirmed: declining population densities can open up space for previously less self-confident individuals to assume important public roles. However, while overall levels of community morale are high across all three communities, regardless of population density, there is also obvious dissatisfaction in the community of greatest density decline with the declining local educational and economic opportunities, and the increasingly concentrated burden of community responsibility. This suggests that rate of change in actual measured density, and in perceived density, may be more influential than the level of density in affecting community morale.     

Norma Parker: The beginnings of social work in New South Wales,a personal account

This is an edited version of an address given by Norma Parker on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the New South Wales Branch of the Australian Association of Social Workers, Sydney Opera House, 1982. The Association had formed 50 years earlier under circumstances that were fraught with conflict. Two outcomes of this conflict were the foundation of the New South Wales Institute of Hospital Almoners in 1936 and the incorporation of social work education into the University of Sydney in 1940. The bitterness, which lasted for many years, was overcome and is now forgotten, but the inauspicious beginnings of social work in New South Wales should not be forgotten.     

Working collectively in competitive times: case studies from New Zealand and Australia

Collectives offer an alternative organisational structure toservice delivery organisations that seek to embody criticalsocial change. This model is challenging to implement as itsassumptions and values are contrary to the dominant socio-politicalclimate of economic rationalism. This paper explores experiencesof two workers employed as coordinators in collective-basedorganisations in Australia and New Zealand. They share the joysand challenges of these experiences, and conclude with fivekey reflections about implementing this model: keeping reflectiveand honest about philosophical assumptions, keeping processcentral, having robust conflict resolution processes, reflectabout the external factors influencing organisational structure,and finding ways to value workers.     

A survey of the employment problems of physically handicapped persons in New South Wales

In the last of his series of four articles, Scott Christie describes how Community Aid Abroad organises its work within Australia and how the approach taken parallels the development process on which Community Aid Abroad bases its work amongst overseas communities. He suggests that supporters need to understand development as a partnership in which they have as much to gain as the people who benefit from their contributions. Finally, he reminds us that a simple transfer of resources from the haves to the have-nots will never eradicate poverty unless its structural causes are addressed. He concludes with an invitation to readers to become Community Aid Abroad supporters.     

Gender Nonconformity,Homophobic Peer Victimization,and Mental Health: How Same-Sex Attraction and Biological Sex Matter

We assessed whether homophobic name-calling accounts for the relationship between gender nonconformity and mental health (social anxiety and psychological distress) in a sample of 1,026 Dutch adolescents (boys: n = 517) ages 11 to 16 (M_age = 13.4). We also explored whether this hypothesized mediation differs by sexual attraction and biological sex. Data were collected by means of paper-and-pencil questionnaires at five secondary schools located in urban areas in the Netherlands. Mediation analysis indicated that gender nonconformity was related to both social anxiety and psychological distress partially via homophobic name-calling. Moderated mediation analysis further showed that the mediating role of homophobic name-calling varied according to levels of same-sex attraction (SSA) and biological sex. The mediation effects increased in magnitude when levels of SSA increased and were significant only for adolescents with mean and high levels of SSA. The mediation effects were significant for boys and girls in general, although the mediation effects were stronger for boys than for girls. Our findings emphasize the importance of research and school-level interventions to focus on factors that promote acceptance of cross-gender behavior among adolescents.     

Social Control and Intersectionality: A Multilevel Analysis of School Misconduct,Location, Race,Ethnicity, and Sex

Adolescent violence and misconduct, especially within schools, is a top sociological and educational concern because of the detrimental effects on adolescent physical health, emotional well-being, and educational progress. Concurrently, public schools in the United States are in the midst of a demographic transformation. More importantly, prior research suggests contextual characteristics are associated with rates of deviant behavior particularly in urban areas where racial and ethnic minorities reside. What remains uncertain, however, is the relationship between social control, intersectionality, and school misconduct. This study utilizes data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 and incorporates multilevel modeling techniques to examine how the link between social control and adolescent school misconduct may differ by race, ethnicity, and biological sex in urban, rural, and suburban locations. The results suggest intersectionality may matter when understanding the associations between social control and school misconduct. The implications of how intersectionality may matter in social control are discussed.     

一个新生代农民工的城市务工经历感悟

该研究突破了社会问题研究中惯用的“诊断——治疗”的研究范式,采用了叙事探究的研究方法,通过一个新生代农民工小X对其城市务工经历的叙述,多维度地呈现出他对城市务工经历的感悟,表现在对教育价值、土地情感、务工体验、未来期望四方面的矛盾性。揭示出制约新生代农民工在城市发展的三种力量：缺乏支撑力——主体具备的基本素质条件不足：缺乏保障力——主体可支配的经济资本有限;缺乏推动力——主体拥有的社会资本同质及低层次。