Good enough decision‐making? Improving decision‐making in adult protection

This paper examines decision‐making in adult protection based on arrangements operating in a local authority social services department and discussion generated in a specialist training intervention. The paper seeks to identify ways in which approaches to decision‐making can be made both more effective and more user centred. The need for good information for efficient and effective decision‐making is highlighted, along with the need for user involvement for the production of positive and valued outcomes. The paper looks at how user centred arrangements can be put into practice and discusses the potential for advocacy, outlining possible approaches for adult protection casework. With local authority social services departments struggling to implement No Secrets (2000), with adult protection a key social care competence and with the implementation of PCP and similar approaches a priority (Valuing People, 2001), it is important to improve decision‐making in adult protection in ways that are not only time and resource efficient, but place service users and their advocates at the centre of related processes.     

Together Protecting Our Children: Reflections on a South African/English University Higher Education Link Programme

This article explores some of the issues underpinning the development of a British Council funded Higher Education Link between the University of the Western Cape, South Africa and University College Chichester, England. The Link began in 1999 and finished in 2005. The focus of the Link was child protection. The initial emphasis was on developing national multidisciplinary child protection training programmes within South Africa. Latterly this has expanded to encompass the broader concept of child welfare, particularly children's well being and children's participation in both South Africa and England. For both partners the process has been challenging and transforming. The article reflects on the initial objectives of the Link programme and analyses lessons learned both professionally and personally for the South African and English authors.     

The Education of Children in Out-of-home Care

Abstract

In spite of a high investment in out-of-home care services across Australia, the educational attainment of children in care remains an issue of concern. This paper discusses findings from a study designed to identify the factors that promoted educational attainment of children in care based on 18 university-educated women with a care background. The narratives of these women from primary schooling through to graduating from a university were collected and analysed using narrative inquiry. The women's narratives strongly suggested that the educational needs of children in care vary according to individual care circumstances and individual characteristics, and can be identified in five groups: Destined, Decision, Determined, Denied, and Delayed. It was concluded that the promotion of educational attainment for children in care requires carefully tailored support and resources following assessment based on this information.     

There are no Answers,Only Choices: Teaching Ethical Decision Making in Social Work

Abstract

In teaching students about ethical decision making in social work, it is essential that the students are able to recognise the moral implications of their work and develop a deep understanding about ethical issues and their personal responsibility for making ethical choices. Thus, more than a “how to do it” approach is needed and teaching students about values and ethics is an essential thread that runs through our experience-based social work education program. The present paper describes a learning unit that sought to teach students about ethical decision making as a critical thinking process and, in so doing, to integrate students’ knowledge and experience of values, ethics, policy, and research in the final year of study. The relationship between values, ethics, policy, research, and social work practice provided an ideal context within which students could learn to integrate their knowledge and experience and apply it directly to their fieldwork practice. The paper ends with our critical reflection on this teaching experience and a critique of decisionist ethical frameworks.     

Case Reading as a Practice and Training Intervention in Domestic Violence and Child Protection

This article explores the role of a case-reading tool, developed by the Safe and Together Institute, deployed across five Australian states, and which engaged workers from child protection (CP) and specialist domestic and family violence (DFV) services. It aimed to assess the extent to which DFV is identified in CP case files and to assess the quality of case practice from a DFV-informed perspective, as documented in the case file. The Safe and Together approach to child welfare provides a robust foundation upon which practitioners from statutory and nonstatutory backgrounds can work collaboratively and reach consensus about how best to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children living with DFV. The case reading is both a process of transformative working for practitioners and an analytical tool through which their agencies can affect systemic change.

IMPLICATIONS

• A national audit of 20 child protection case files using the Safe and Together case-reading process indicated that documented child protection practice sits at the lower end of a domestic and family violence-informed Continuum of Practice.

• Analysis indicates a need to improve: child protection engagement with fathers who use DFV, assessments of their parenting role and its impact on children and family functioning; identification of adult survivors’ protective capacities and their impact on children.

• Research in this area may have broader implications for other professions and government policy both nationally and internationally.

     

The Reunification Partnership: Engaging Birth Parents and Foster Carers as Collaborators in Restoration Casework

Collaboration is recognised as a key factor influencing the success of efforts to reunite children with their family following a protective intervention and a period in out-of-home care. Until now, little research has explored the possibilities of collaboration in this context, especially between parents and foster carers. This qualitative, interpretive study asked child protection caseworkers involved in restoration cases about their perceptions, perspectives, and experiences of collaboration between parents and carers. In-depth interviews were conducted with six caseworkers from five locations in New South Wales. The study found that caseworkers identified factors that influence the development of collaboration. These factors include trust, motivation and willingness, knowledge, and agreement. They also described strategies for promoting these factors in their casework. The research highlighted that a collaborative relationship between parents and carers can be facilitated through casework practice that considers certain factors and that strategically addresses the barriers to collaboration.     

美国儿童保护制度的历史演进

回顾美国儿童保护制度的历史轨迹,不难发现,它最早可以追溯到17世纪初的殖民时期,至今已有四百多年的历史。美国的儿童保护制度大致经历了萌芽时期、形成时期、过渡时期和现代化时期四个历史阶段。从最初零星的保护到民间组织发挥主导作用,从儿童保护的低潮到政府发挥主导作用,美国儿童保护制度历史演进中蕴含着丰富的社会、经济和文化内涵。     

Protecting the child witness in the courtroom

The 1988 and 1991 Criminal Justice Acts have transformed the law and procedure governing the appearance of children as witnesses in criminal trials. Traditional legal constraints such as the competency test, the requirement of corroboration, the special warning to the jury and the hearsay rule have all been abolished or extensively qualified. In addition, the 1988 Act introduced a major procedural change in the form of the video-link which was designed to make it easier for children to give their evidence. A survey of existing research confirms that children do find the giving of evidence in open court stressful and that the experience may have long-term adverse consequences. A study for the Home Office indicated widespread acceptance of the use of the video-link among courtroom personnel and observational data confirm its effectiveness in empowering children's testimony. The 1991 Act allows pre-recorded video-taped interviews to be admitted as evidence in criminal cases but retains live cross-examination via the link. The legal requirements of such interviews will place heavy demands on interdisciplinary cooperation in training and the establishment of good practice. The impact of this novel scheme on child witnesses and the court deserves rigorous evaluation.     

台湾儿童保护服务的实践与启示

台湾儿童保护服务的发展近30年,已实现儿童保护服务的专业化与职业化。台湾儿童保护服务的法制架构与行动信念包含初级预防、次级预防和三级预防等不同层次,其中,家庭维系和家庭重整是当下台湾儿童保护服务的重要转向。     

Power and Child Protection: The Need for a Child Welfare Service Users' Union or Association

Abstract

This paper reports a study in which parents who had received child protection intervention set out to develop a “Service Users' Guide” to help parents newly receiving intervention better understand and cope with the process. The study took place in Ontario, Canada between 2004–2009. Ninety-five parents took part in 13 focus groups and 20 individual interviews. A mix of Participatory Action and grounded theory methods were used to enable parents to develop their service uses guide. As the study progressed it quickly became evident that the biggest issue parents face when receiving intervention is an imbalance in power between themselves and workers. This paper describes the problems this power imbalance causes for parents and presents a potential solution suggested by parents themselves – the development of a child welfare service users' association or union. Parent's ideas about why this association is needed, how it could function, and the benefits it might bring, are discussed. The paper concludes by reviewing the benefits a service users' association might bring not only for those receiving child welfare intervention, but all social work services.     

Parental Imprisonment and Child Protection: A Study of Children Presented to the Melbourne Children's Court

Abstract

This paper reports on a study funded by the Criminology Research Council, Australia, which set out to investigate the intersection between the child protection and criminal justice systems and the extent to which children before the Melbourne Children's Court on child protection matters had a parent currently in prison, awaiting sentencing, or previously in prison. Magistrates identified 156 children as meeting these criteria during the study period June to December, 2006. Analysis of court records gathered quantitative and qualitative data about parents' offending, why the children had been brought to the attention of the court, and the health, welfare, and behavioural concerns the child protection service expressed about the children. There was no coordinated response by the child protection and justice systems to managing these children's situations. Early intervention and the development of child protection service protocols with the corrections system for children whose parents enter prison is essential, to better address the instability and disruption in care these children experience.     

When practice and policy collide: Child welfare workers' perceptions of investigation processes

This qualitative study examines variability in practices surrounding Child Protective Services (CPS) investigations regarding the allegations of child maltreatment. Working under the auspices of a community-research collaboration with Department of Human Services officials, university researchers conducted a series of focus groups with CPS caseworkers in a state that was under court-ordered consent decree to improve child welfare investigations. Focus groups with caseworkers sought to better understand caseworkers' common investigative practices and their perceptions of best practices in conducting child welfare investigations. Two main areas were noted for improvement: (1) the need for ongoing training of CPS workers, particularly at the stage of initial intake of the allegations of maltreatment, and cross-training of police and hospital staff who regularly work with CPS, and (2) implementation of an improved risk assessment tool. These recommendations are discussed in detail.     

The Role of Carers and Caseworkers in the School-to-work Transition of Young People in Care

Abstract

How young people in State care decide upon future careers, and the support offered for this process by carers and child protection caseworkers, has received little research attention. This qualitative study sought the views of young people in care, foster and kinship carers, and child protection caseworkers about career development for in-care youth. We found young people were thinking about career options but encountered a safety driven, acute casework approach, which sidelined education and work planning. Career development was not viewed as a caseworker responsibility, and, by default, was primarily developed by carers. The study highlights the need for a greater focus on the transition to adulthood and the inclusion of career development in policy and practice development.     

Treatment of Children with Absent Fathers

The last few decades have seen a dramatic increase in the number of children raised in homes where the biological father is not present. Many of these children, mired in secrecy, guilt, and family conflict, are left with unanswered questions and self-doubts about this absence. Depression and behavioral problems often result. This article reviews the clinical literature around relevant issues such as father hunger, developmental deficits, and the varying effects on the child depending on age, sex, and the degree of the father's absence. Several case examples are offerred to illustrate these issues, and treatment recommendations are given in an attempt to help the child come to terms with the absent father and him/herself.     

Grandparent Carers,Child Protection Practice,and the Best Interests of Children: A Case Study

Increasingly, grandparents are involved in the care of grandchildren, particularly after child safety concerns. Some grandparents, because of changed circumstances, relationships, or decisions made, can experience reduced or lost contact with grandchildren. A recent qualitative, collaborative study explored how relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren could be optimised after child safety concerns. Many grandparents in that study spoke of the frustration of being overlooked in decision-making about their grandchildren, even when they had been providing primary care for the grandchildren. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief background study context, before presenting a case study of one family's ongoing struggles to maintain the children in the grandparents’ care. The presented case study has relevance for social work education and training and more widely, for all students and practitioners in the child protection field.     

The Value of the Relationship in Volunteer Home Support Programs Working with Vulnerable Families

This paper reports on a program evaluation project that included interviews with 35 parents from high-risk backgrounds who received home volunteer support as part of the Dalwood Volunteer Home Support Program. It provides insight into the meaning and value parents attach to the volunteer relationship. The evaluation findings suggest that home volunteer support was associated with parent perception of increased wellbeing, decreased social isolation, and an improved relationship with their child. The results also suggest that parents perceived their relationship with their volunteer as significant in providing a secure base relationship.     

中国儿童保护制度建设论纲

推进公权力对家庭育儿过程的干预,积极预防和有效应对家庭内的儿童虐待问题,是儿童保护制度的重要价值追求,也是现代国家的共同努力。中国在政治上高度重视儿童保护,并在法律层面为儿童保护制度的实践提供了基本框架,但儿童保护的相关法律规定不够健全、具体、可操作,儿童保护制度缺乏相应的社会政策与服务基础,缺乏有力的组织机构保障。我国儿童保护制度的发展,要在不断健全法制、强化组织机构的同时,致力于建立健全面向儿童及其家庭的监护监督制度、监护支持制度、监护替代制度等国家监护制度,发展并完善一系列儿童保护服务,全面落实国家之于儿童的监护责任。     

Prevention of child maltreatment in high-risk rural families: A randomized clinical trial with child welfare outcomes

Few studies have specifically examined prevention of child maltreatment among higher-risk populations in rural communities. The overarching goal of this study was to conduct a randomized clinical trial of SafeCare augmented for rural high-risk population (SC+) compared to standard home-based mental health services (SAU) to examine reductions in future child maltreatment reports, as well as risk factors and factors proximal to child maltreatment. Parents (N = 105) of young children (5 years or less) who had identifiable risk of depression, intimate partner violence, or substance abuse were randomized to SC+ or SAU. Participants randomized to SC+ were more likely to enroll (83% vs. 35% for SAU) and remain in services (35 h vs. 8 h for SAU). SC+ (for participants who successfully completed services) may have had limited impact on child welfare reports during service provision. Further, SC+ had fewer child welfare reports related to DV than SAU. Parent self-reports of parenting behaviors, risk factors, and protective factors did not demonstrate significant sustained program impact. Limitations include power constraints related to sample size. Promising next steps entail future trials with larger sample sizes examining service compliance and further augmentation of SafeCare to bolster service impact and address risk and protective factors.     

Collaborating to Focus on Children in Australian Social Work Education

Social work educators across the world are engaged in developing a curriculum that prepares students to be effective practitioners in a range of settings that involve working with children. This paper reflects on collaborative strategies and research that have influenced the child wellbeing content of social work courses in Australia. It presents a critical analysis of the tensions and challenges that can occur in (this) collaborative work. It then discusses an outcome of this advocacy to influence the child wellbeing content of social work education, an undergraduate module aimed at increasing students' knowledge and skills in communicating with children. This paper argues that Indigenous children (such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children) are over-represented in child protection systems and out-of-home care services, and that this needs to be acknowledged and given increased attention in the education of social work students internationally.