Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T00:25:10.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Changing Face of Out-of-home Care in Australia – Developing Policy and Practice for the 21st Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2017

Meredith Kiraly  and
Cathy Humphreys
Meredith Kiraly*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Cathy Humphreys
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Dr Meredith Kiraly, Department of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This Opinion Piece traces the rise of statutory kinship care in Australia from the progressive reduction of residential care and the struggle to recruit sufficient foster carers to meet demand for protective care. It outlines identified benefits of kinship care for children and flags concern about the early stage of development of kinship care policy, programs and data systems. It is argued that there are significant risks for children's safety and well-being in failing to assess carers thoroughly and to provide equitable case management and support (both financial and non-financial) to children in kinship care as in foster care.

Keywords

Kinship careout of home carechild protectionchild welfare
Type
Opinions
Information
Children Australia , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 230 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2017 

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 Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017). Child protection Australia: 2015–16 and supplementary data tables. Canberra: AIHW.Google Scholar
Boetto, H. (2010). Kinship care: A review of issues. Family Matters, 85, 60–67.Google Scholar
Breman, R., & MacRae, A. (2017). ‘It's been an absolute nightmare’: Family violence in kinship care. Melbourne: Baptcare.Google Scholar
Connolly, M. (2003). Kinship Care: A selected literature review. New Zealand: Submitted to the Department of Child, Youth and Family, May 2003.Google Scholar
Connolly, M., de Haan, I., & Crawford, J. (2013). The safety of young children in care: A New Zealand study. Adoption & Fostering, 37 (3), 284–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
del Valle, J. F., López, M., Montserrat, C., & Bravo, A. (2009). Twenty years of foster care in Spain: Profiles, patterns and outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 847–853.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farmer, E. (2010). What factors relate to good placement outcomes in kinship care?. British Journal of Social Work, 40, 426–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geen, R. (2003). Kinship foster care: An ongoing, yet largely uninformed debate. In Geen, R. (Ed.), Kinship care: Making the most of a valuable resource (pp. 1–24). Washington: The Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Geen, R., & Berrick, J. D. (2002). Kinship care: An evolving service delivery option. Child and Youth Services Review, 24 (1/2), 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayden, P., Mulroney, L., & Barnes, M. (2010). Shared stories, shared lives. Sydney: Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies (ACWA) and Community Services, Department of Human Services NSW.Google Scholar
Hegar, R. L. (1999). Kinship foster care: The new child placement paradigm. In Hegar, R. L. & Scannapieco, M. (Eds.), Kinship foster care: Policy, practice and research. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiraly, M., & Humphreys, C. (2013). Policy briefing paper: Kinship care and family contact. Developing Practice, 35 (Winter), 68–74.Google Scholar
Kiraly, M., & Humphreys, C. (2016). ‘It's about the whole family’: Family contact for children in kinship care. Child & Family Social Work, 21 (2), 228–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiraly, M., & Humphreys, C. (2017 forthcoming). Fairy godparents and fake kin: Exploring non familial kinship care (‘kith care’). Melbourne: University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
McFadden, E. J. (1998). Kinship care in the United States. Adoption and Fostering, 22 (3), 7–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McHugh, M., McNab, J., Smyth, C., Chalmers, J., Siminski, P., & Saunders, P. (2004). The availability of foster carers. Sydney: Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, report prepared for the NSW Department of Community Services.Google Scholar
Messing, J. T. (2006). From the child's perspective: A qualitative analysis of kinship care placements. Children and Youth Services Review, 28, 1415–1434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nixon, P. (2008). Relatively speaking: Developments in research and practice in kinship care. Dartington: Blacklers.Google Scholar
NSW Department of Community Services. (2003). Step by step foster carer assessment tool. Sydney: Association of Children's Welfare Agencies NSW.Google Scholar
Perry, G., Daly, M., & Kotler, J. (2012). Placement stability in kinship and non-kin foster care: A Canadian study. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 460–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sallnas, M., Vinnerljung, B., & Westermark, P. K. (2004). Breakdown of teenage placements in Swedish foster and residential care. Child and Family Social Work, 9, 141–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smyth, C., & Eardley, T. (2007). Out of home care for children in Australia: A review of literature and policy. Sydney: Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales.Google Scholar
SNAICC. (2005). Policy paper: Achieving stable and culturally strong out of home care for aboriginal and torres strait islander children. Melbourne: Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care.Google Scholar
Spence, N. (2004). Kinship care in Australia. Child Abuse Review, 13, 263–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
State of Victoria, Children, Youth and Families Act, No. 96 of 2005. (2005).Google Scholar