This article discusses the outcomes of a research project undertaken in 2011/2013 by a team of researchers from Edith Cowan University (ECU) in collaboration with Wanslea Family Services. The project aimed to address the relative lack of voice of biological children in the fostering task, despite the increasing acknowledgement of children's rights and their capability to be involved in decision-making processes. Data was collected through the use of focus groups and interviews with a small number of biological children, foster carers and service providers in Western Australia (WA). The data indicated the necessity to reconsider the rights of biological children in the fostering task and the need for specific strategies to address these rights. The findings of the study informed the development of a set of interactive resources for supporting biological children of foster carers during all stages of the fostering process in Australia. The resources also have potential value for use in overseas jurisdictions.

Families who attract the attention of child protection services most often have ongoing lived experiences of poverty, gender-based domestic and family violence, problematic substance use and, sometimes, formally diagnosed mental health conditions. Without broader contextual knowledge and understanding, particularly regarding ongoing poverty, decision-making by child protection workers often leads to the removal of children, while the family’s material poverty and experiences of violence remain unaddressed. Case studies are a common tool to succinctly capture complex contexts. In this article, we make explicit, through case examples and analysis, how poverty is almost always the backdrop to the presence of worrying risk factors before and during child protection intervention. Further, we expose the existential poverty that parents live with after they lose their children into care and which invariably exacerbates material poverty. In the final section, we consider the multi-faceted organisational poverty that blights the work environment of child protection workers, and we suggest strategies for improved practice with families living in poverty.

This paper is based on a presentation at the Mission of St James and St John Forum ‘Protecting Our Children: Where Do We Draw the Line?’ in Melbourne on June 18, 1993. It provides an analysis of why inter-agency collaboration has often remained an elusive goal and identifies some of the structural obstacles to collaboration which are particularly relevant to the current context of child welfare in Victoria. While many of the obstacles to inter-agency collaboration are beyond the domain of the individual practitioner and agency, some suggestions are offered for strategies which can be pursued by practitioners and agencies.

Each year many families relocate to live in new places, but disputes will not usually arise over this when the family is intact because the two parents, and perhaps the children, will reach the decision about shifting together. Nevertheless the move will mean these children are likely to experience the loss of familiar surroundings and close friendships, need to change (pre)schools and start afresh with many aspects of their lives. It is when the parents are already living apart that a proposed relocation by one of them might mean the Courts are called upon to examine the interests at stake and determine the outcome. Relocation in this context has particular poignancy for the children involved because, if their parent's application to relocate is approved by the Court, this might marginalise the role of their other parent in their life.

It is not, of course, uncommon for separated parents to have to move in the aftermath of their relationship breakdown as they re-establish themselves in separate households and negotiate their children's care and contact arrangements. However, when the proposed relocation by the resident parent involves moving such a distance from the non-resident parent that contact visits become problematic, then the potential for a major dispute exists. This is particularly so when there has been a pattern of frequent contact and the non-resident parent refuses to acquiesce in the move. While these cases can be very difficult to resolve by agreement, some separated parents are able to negotiate the relocation without seeking recourse to the legal system.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been widely acknowledged as a prominent problem throughout Australia. A growing body of research has linked corporal punishment of children in the home with numerous adverse outcomes both in childhood and adulthood. Some of these adverse outcomes in childhood, such as aggression and antisocial behaviour, may be antecedents for involvement in violence as an adult. Adverse longitudinal outcomes of corporal punishment in childhood include involvement in intimate partner violence as an adult, both as victim and as perpetrator. Corporal punishment is a type of family violence that is legal in Australia, yet its role in the family violence scenario is not yet fully appreciated. This article presents extant scientific literature on the link between corporal punishment in childhood and involvement in intimate partner violence in adulthood, and argues for the employment of this knowledge in the implementation of policy making around corporal punishment of children.

The provision of therapeutic residential care offers opportunities for traumatised children and young people to build relationships through establishing a safe and nurturing environment that can facilitate healthy recovery. For the Aboriginal child and young person demonstrating symptoms of trauma, cultural connections have been severed, relationships broken and there can be an overwhelming sense of abandonment. Aboriginal children's experiences of trauma go beyond the individualistic or familial and incorporate pervasive intergenerational trauma. This means that healing for Aboriginal children requires a therapeutic response embedded within an Aboriginal cultural framework. This paper presents the approach undertaken by an Aboriginal community organisation in developing a therapeutic residential care programme for Aboriginal children in their care. The model developed has implications for all therapeutic care programmes.

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.

Kinship-care placements in Australia are now more prevalent than foster care and are the fastest growing form of out-of-home care in this country (AIHW, 2014). On 30 June 2013, 93% of Australian children in out-of-home care were in home-based care, with 43% of these in foster care and 48% in relative/kinship care (AIHW, 2014). The past decade has seen a greater understanding of children's needs in out-of-home care, with models of therapeutic care showing promise in Australia and internationally. These models, however, are designed almost exclusively for children placed in foster care or residential care, and as such do not consider the unique features of kinship care. This paper will identify the needs of children in out-of-home care, before briefly examining the concepts of therapeutic foster care as a response to children who have experienced trauma. Key distinctions between foster care and kinship care will be highlighted and implications for a conceptual model of therapeutic kinship care discussed.

In this paper, we examine some of the principal findings of a recent 3-year longitudinal study into foster care in South Australia and their implications for addressing the needs of children who experience high rates of placement disruption while in care. A critical finding of this study was that many of the most serious problems in foster care, such as repeated placement disruption, can be anticipated and predicted with considerable accuracy. Children who experience a disproportionately higher rate of placement disruption appear to be readily identifiable at intake. In addition, there appears to be an approximate threshold or point beyond which children subject to placement disruption begin to experience significant deterioration in their psychosocial functioning. This predictability of outcomes suggests the possibility of the early detection of children most at risk in foster care, and a means of identifying children failing to adapt to care. We believe that the extension of this form of analysis to other Australian states, for example, through the development of nationally agreed-upon definitions of ‘at risk’ and ‘harm due to disruption’ in foster care, may significantly enhance current attempts to evaluate and target treatment programs designed for children with challenging behaviours.

Between 1947 and 1953, Australia received over 170,000 Displaced People from Europe including widows and unmarried mothers. These refugees were expected to conform to the policies and expectations of the State, in particular the adherence to a 2-year work contract. This was an impossibility for many mothers who could not find work or accommodation outside of the government supplied migrant accommodation centres, and who, as a consequence, resorted to placing their children, either temporarily or permanently, in institutions or for adoption. Through an examination of archival documents, this paper examines the policies that resulted in migrant child placement and adoption and considers the role played by Department of Immigration social workers. It asks why, when migrant children were considered amongst the most desirable of new arrivals, were many fated to become orphans?

Young people transitioning from out-of-home care (OHC) are a vulnerable group. One particular manifestation of disadvantage is poor mental health outcomes which may reflect both the traumatic effects of childhood abuse, and a lack of support on leaving care. This article presents the findings of a small qualitative study undertaken in Victoria which explored the views of OHC and mental health service providers regarding the mental health support needs of care leavers. The findings are consistent with existing research results internationally in highlighting a number of key factors that influence mental health outcomes including the impact of pre-care, in-care and transition from care experiences.

Kinship care has become the fastest growing form of out-of-home care in Victoria and is the preferred placement option for children who are unable to live with their parents. Little is known about family violence in kinship care that is perpetrated by a close family member of the child in care (usually the child's mother/father) against the carer(s) and children once the placement has started. In this context, family violence means any act of physical violence, emotional/psychological violence, verbal abuse and property damage. In 2017, Baptcare undertook research with 101 kinship carers to gain a better understanding of how family violence was impacting on children and families in kinship care in Victoria. The study used a mixed design that specifically targeted kinship carers who had direct experience of family violence during their placement. This study has demonstrated that significant amounts of violence from family members are being experienced by kinship carers in Victoria and the children in their care. As a response to these findings, Baptcare is proactively addressing family violence in kinship care, across a range of domains, to provide solutions to the issues identified in this research.

This paper, based on material previously presented at the ACWA Biennial Conference in Sydney, describes the design, development and implementation of the ‘Looking After Children’ practice and management materials in the UK. The paper traces the research and practice background to the trialing of these out-of-home care assessment and planning materials in the UK, where they are expected to be adopted and implemented by all statutory agencies by the end of 1998. The international interest in the Assessment and Action Record is supported by an exploration of the arguments for child-focussed assessment and planning for ‘placement as a process – not an event’. Finally there is coverage of the three recently completed pilot projects in Western Australia. An argument is made for the adoption and adaptation of these materials as potential practice standards for the ‘State as parent’.

Although childhood trauma and family adversity can increase vulnerability to serious mental health problems, uncertainty exists about the nature and prevalence in a clinical population. This embedded research aims to establish the prevalence of trauma and adversity in young people seeking help from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). All children, adolescents, and their parents/guardian attending their initial assessment at a CAMHS service were invited to participate in the ‘Stressful Life and Family Difficulties study’ and a clinical interview. 162 families participated in the study. It was more common for young people to experience multiple adversities (three or more) in the last 12 months than single events. Mothers self-reported a greater number of family adversities than fathers. According to clinicians, the most frequent adversities experienced by young people were having a parent with a mental illness (66%), being bullied (63%) and parental divorce or separation (43%). Overall, clinicians reported that 69% of CAMHS clients had experienced a potentially traumatic experience (any physical, emotional or sexual abuse, child neglect or traumatic event). Moreover, young people with trauma histories were significantly more likely to have a parent with a history of trauma.

This article reports on a qualitative study of Australian parents’ perceptions of their children's reactions to a military deployment as well as their help-seeking behaviours. Thirty-eight in-depth interviews were conducted with 34 Australian Defence Force (ADF) parents and 33 non-deployed parents (67 participants). Twenty-nine interviews were with couples and nine were with individuals. The findings revealed that this group of children generally fared poorly in terms of physical and mental health, and behavioural outcomes. Children and adolescents had a number of needs which were not identified, assessed or treated, and prevention programmes were reported to be limited. Factors that are associated with positive and negative outcomes from the families’ perspective are outlined. The data showed how developing a deeper understanding of military families’ needs, as well as positive worker–parent relationships, would enhance the therapeutic alliance between parents and service providers. Implications for prevention and intervention approaches in relation to both policy and service delivery are outlined.

Recent government decisions to close schools with small enrolments appear not to have taken into consideration the implications such a move might have for children’s out-of-classroom activities. Drawing on relevant literature, and accounts from teachers who have taught, or are teaching in small and large primary schools, this paper questions the prevailing belief that ‘bigger is better’ by pointing to some of the unique characteristics of small school playgrounds which provide children with opportunities and experiences not available in larger schools.

The history of the provision of child protection services in Victoria, and the lack thereof, is a long and complex one. Yet another twist in the tale occurred recently.

A report by Mr Justice Fogarty and Mrs Delys Sargeant, entitled Protective Services for Children in Victoria: An Interim Report, was released in January 1989. This report (hereinafter the Fogarty Report) was commissioned by the Victorian Government in August 1988:

“… to inquire into and advise it upon the operation of Victoria's child protection system and on measures to improve its effectiveness and efficiency.”

This article examines the politics and ideology of Victorian child protection services during the Kennett years. The argument advanced is that the Kennett Liberal/National Party Coalition Government viewed child abuse in narrow, individualistic terms. In contrast to the previous Labor Government, which emphasized a philosophy of minimal intervention based on a partnership of family, community and the state, the Kennett philosophy was one of minimal support. The key emphasis was on the reporting of child abuse to statutory child protection authorities, and the treatment and punishment of individual offenders. Spending on broader structural prevention and support services which actually help the victims of abuse was not a priority.

A number of examples of this neo-liberal agenda are given, including the poorly timed introduction of mandatory reporting and the associated diversion of resources from support services to investigation; the early cuts to accommodation and non-government support services; the inadequate response to demonstrated links between child abuse and poverty; the censorship of internal and external critics; and the appalling handling of the strike by child protection workers. Attention is focused primarily on the broader macro-political debates, rather than specific micro-service delivery issues.

Aboriginal children in Australia are over-represented in both the child protection and juvenile justice systems. Using Western therapeutic models of practice with Aboriginal people who live in remote communities can be highly problematic. Moreover, the historical legacy of past and present legislation, government interventions and racist service provision needs to be acknowledged and addressed prior to any service implementation. This paper presents a therapeutic model of practice that incorporates Aboriginal concepts of healing and spirit within a creative therapeutic framework. It will demonstrate how the model works through principles of community engagement and capacity building, enabling the provision of a culturally derived therapeutic intervention that involves a synergy of both Aboriginal- and Western-based healing practices. The findings from the implementation of the TeaH model affirm the need to incorporate Aboriginal concepts of healing, spirit and creative therapies into mainstream practice with Aboriginal people.

Young people placed in out-of-home care (OHC) through Child Protection in Victoria are formally discharged by the expiration of their care order at the age of 18 years or younger. In contrast, young people in Australia generally live in their family home with parents or carers well into their twenties. Whilst there are a range of leaving care and post-care services funded for care leavers, these supports tend to be temporary and discretionary in contrast to the ongoing support young people receive whilst in care or, in some cases, from family and social networks post care. Numerous studies have documented the developmental challenges experienced by young people leaving state care, and the often poor outcomes faced by this group. The Stand By Me (SBM) programme was developed in Victoria to replicate the ongoing support provided in the UK to care leavers by Personal Advisers who remain available to assist young people until 21 years of age. Evaluation of the SBM programme has shown that ongoing, holistic support, including housing support, has assisted 12 young people through the SBM pilot to access stable housing, address multiple and complex issues, and form trusting relationships with SBM workers that contribute to positive outcomes.