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The child in family services: expanding child abuse prevention |
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| Authors: | Sarah Wise |
| Affiliation: | Sarah Wise is the Principal Research Fellow leading the Children and Parenting Program at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, 300 Queen Street, Melbourne 3000, Australia. Sarah holds a Master of Arts degree (Criminology), and is currently enrolled in a degree of PhD at the University of Melbourne, Psychology Department. Email:, Email: sarahw@aifs.org.au |
| Abstract: | Child welfare concerns have drifted to an inappropriate focus on crisis intervention and a punitive approach to child protection intervention at the expense of community-based preventive child welfare programs. Recent attempts to divert cases from the child protection system through differentiated response mechanisms have been criticised for failing to provide access to relevant services or preventing vulnerable families from re-entering the child protection process. A tension inherent in providing both child protection and family support within the one agency is also identified as a barrier to effective service delivery. This paper discusses the value of the UK Children in Need approach as a model for enhancing support to children and families outside the statutory child protection system. Information from an evaluation of a trial implementation of the UK Children in Need approach in Victoria is used to discuss the implications for policy and practice of placing responsibility for coordinating a response based on the needs of children and their families within family support services. |
| Keywords: | child abuse prevention Children in Need family support services |