Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T21:40:14.334Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in out-of-home care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

J.G. Barber ,
P.H. Delfabbro  and
L. Cooper
J.G. Barber
Affiliation:
School of Social Administration & Social Work, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001
P.H. Delfabbro
Affiliation:
School of Social Administration & Social Work, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001
L. Cooper
Affiliation:
School of Social Administration & Social Work, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A full year’s intake of 38 Aboriginal children and 198 non-Aboriginal children referred for a new out-of-home placement in South Australia were studied as part of the first phase of a 3-year longitudinal study into the outcomes of alternative care. The baseline profile of this cohort revealed a number of significant racial and geographical differences between the children. Among the most important of these was an interaction between race and geographical location on length of time in care which indicated that Aboriginal children from metropolitan areas and non-Aboriginal children from rural areas had the longest histories of alternative care. In addition, Aboriginal children in metropolitan areas were the least likely to be referred into care for reasons of emotional abuse or neglect, no doubt because so many of them were already in alternative care at the time of the referral. Metropolitan Aboriginal children were also the unhealthiest and, together with rural non-Aborigines, the most likely to be under a court order at the time of placement. Overall, results are consistent with the proposition that metropolitan Aboriginal children and rural non-Aboriginal children are the most reliant on the formal alternative care system.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , 2000 , pp. 5 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (1995) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey 1994: Detailed Findings, Canberra (ABS catalogue no. 4190.0).Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1996) Census 1996: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, South Australia, Canberra (ABS catalogue no. 3235.4).Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1998) Population by Age and Sex. South Australia, Canberra (ABS catalogue no. 2034.4).Google Scholar
Benedict, M.L., White, R.B. & Stallings, R. (1987) ‘Race and length of stay in foster care’, Social Work Research & Abstracts, 23, 23–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, L.P., Landsverk, J., Newton, R. & Ganger, W. (1996) ‘Parental visiting and foster care reunification’, Children and Youth Services Review, 18, 363–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farmer, E. (1996) ‘Family reunification with bight risk children: Lessons from research’, Children and Youth Services Review, 18, 403–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finch, S.J. & Fanshel, D. (1985) ‘Testing the equality of discharge patterns in foster care’, Social Work Research & Abstracts, 2, 3–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraser, M.W., Walton, E., Lewis, R.E. & Pecora, P.J. (1996) ‘An experiment in family reunification: Correlates of outcomes at one-year follow-up’, Children and Youth Services Review, 18, 335–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogan, P.T. & Siu, S-F. (1988) ‘Minority children and the child welfare system: An historical perspective’, Social Work, November-December, 493–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1997) Bringing Them Home. National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, Sydney.Google Scholar
Jackson, A. (1996) ‘The reconnections and family admission programs: Two models for family reunification within Melbourne, Australia’, Community Alternatives: International Journal of Family Care, 8, 53–75.Google Scholar
Jenkins, S., Diamond, B.E., Flanzraich, M., Gibson, J.W., Hendricks, J. & Marshood, N. (1983) ‘Ethnic differentials in foster care placements’, Social Work Research & Abstracts, 41–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, S. & Diamond, B. (1985) ‘Ethnicity and foster care: Census data as predictors of placement variables’, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 55, 267–276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keppel, G. (1973) Design and Analysis: A Researcher’s Handbook, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Landy, S. & Munro, S. (1998) ‘Shared parenting: Assessing the success of a foster parent program aimed at family reunification’, Child Abuse and Neglect, 22, 305–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawder, E.A., Poulin, J.E. & Andrews, R.G. (1986) ‘A study of 185 foster children 5 years after placement’, Child Welfare, 65, 241–251.Google ScholarPubMed
McMurtry, S.L. & Gwat-Yong, L. (1992) ‘Differential exit rates of minority children in foster care’, Social Work Research and Abstracts, 28, 42–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsen, L. (1982) ‘Services for minority children in out-of-home care’, Social Services Review, 56, 572–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, H. (1990) With the White People, Ringwood, Vic: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Seaburg, J.R. & Tolley, E.S. (1986) ‘Predictors of the length of stay in foster care’, Social Work Research & Abstracts, 22, 11–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar