Welcome to our first Issue of Children Australia for 2018. We hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and entered the New Year with energy and enthusiasm for the challenges ahead. We also welcome back many of our Editorial Consultants and especially want to make our new members of the team feel engaged in the journal's activities for 2018. One of our new Editorial Consultants is Shraddha Kapoor who is Associate Professor at Department of Human Development and Childhood Studies, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi. Dr Neerja Sharma, now retired, who has supported Children Australia for some years, was Shraddha's Professor before becoming her colleague and now a dear friend. Shraddha herself has been teaching in the department for last 27 years in the subjects of developmental psychology, child development, wellbeing, family and gender. Her particular interests are childcare, early childhood education and gender.

In the last issue of Children Australia, we discussed the concerning impacts of failing social security systems on families with children and young people in their care. The continual reports of difficulties accessing income supports are contributing to poverty in Australia and elsewhere in spite of extreme poverty having decreased on a global basis (Roser & Ortiz-Ospina, 2018). In addition, there is ample anecdotal evidence of the frustrations and difficulties experienced when trying to access income support.

“For me context is the key – from that comes the understanding of everything.” Kenneth Noland, American painter, April 10, 1924–January 5, 2010

Neoliberal reforms and ring-wing ideologies have seen the ideal of the social security ‘safety net’ take a hammering in the UK, USA and Australia. While the gap between rich and poor has widened, and demand for welfare payments increased, politicians, certainly in Australia, have generally neglected low income families, preferring to twiddle the economic dials affecting middle and upper income earners instead. Of course, tussling over who pays tax, how much, what constitutes useful expenditure, and who receives welfare services and benefits is not new – these questions have attended the modern welfare state from its inception. But the welfare safety net that most of us, grudgingly or otherwise, concede to be necessary for collective social harmony is no longer proving as effective as we would wish. Even with a battered and frayed, but still ostensibly functional systems of welfare payment and support offered in Australia, the number of people experiencing perpetual disadvantage is rising, with intergenerational poverty – its increase and impacts on children – of particular concern.

The question in the title is addressed by exploring the challenges inherent in providing care for children who are unable to live with their birth families. It is argued that failure to interrogate the assumptions underlying traditional foster care and take account of changes in family structure and socioeconomic circumstances has created a situation in which children in care and their care givers are being set up to fail. Changes needed to address this are outlined.

This paper identifies some of the key debates about the evidence from outcomes for children placed in foster care, the challenging issues in the design of the system, how it operates and what the outcomes for children look like. The paper explores foster care as being based in the evolution of the human species in its capacity to adapt, problem-solve and identify resources through cooperative effort between individuals and social groupings with the family as key. An essential attribute of families and parenting is the ability to form close, meaningful and sustained relationships that provide security, stability and opportunity, including connectedness to the community and the resources that are a part of this. Family forms the basis for the child being able to access personal, social, cultural and economic capital both in the present and into the future. One of the serious issues for foster care is the short-term basis of that commitment and, even when it lasts over the longer term, the care arrangement typically ends as the child reaches adulthood. These issues are explored through the concept of resilience and place foster care within an ecological framework that evolves over time.

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.

We are in agreement with some of the points made in the recent article by Tregeagle, ‘Weighing up the evidence and local experience of residential care’ (Children Australia, 42(4), 240–247). For example, there can be no dispute about the high costs of residential placements or that achieving a stable residential environment is very challenging. Table 1 provides a three state cost comparison of residential placements (Ainsworth, 2017).

The Discourse of Child Protection and its ensuing political responses are discussed here following a 6 month analysis of media platforms in which child protection reforms were recommended following child abuse and neglect reports. The headlines, in social and other media were analysed to identify the significant aspects of reactions to horrifying tales, stories and reports of child deaths, injuries and other abuses. Clear evidence emerges of a disturbing discourse of deferral and political inaction that is only relieved when inquiries and Royal Commissions advocate strong and immediate changes. In addition, this study shows that lacunae (or what is missing in text or discourse) show that the voice of children is only heard after the event of horrific abuse and often relies on whistle-blowers or advocates. Despite the warnings and research of many distinguished child protection academics a cycle emerges which needs to reflect community desires to protect children via legislation and stronger regulations. Further, some inquiries have indicated stronger regulation and training of beleaguered child welfare staff.

Youth justice is at a crossroads in Australia. In every state and territory across the nation, governments are grappling with youth justice issues as they seek to reduce crime, improve community safety and respond to public concern that is being fanned by sensationalised media coverage.

Debate on Australian policy and practice about residential care is to be welcomed as it has important implications for the care and wellbeing of vulnerable young people, as well as the allocation of resources to care and protection systems. I therefore welcome the commentary provided by Ainsworth and Holden on the arguments offered in ‘Weighing Up the Evidence and Local Experience of Residential Care’. Whilst these reviewers of my Practice Commentary have accepted many of the points made, I wish to take this opportunity to reinforce my arguments in light of their critique.

Identifying optimal out-of-home placements for child welfare-involved youth is challenging. Examples of youth recovering within each “out-of-home” placement type (foster, relative, residential) are evident, as are examples of youth who are deteriorating. The heterogeneity in developmental history and current functioning of youth makes blanket policies regarding placement unwise. Examination of developmental heterogeneity and functioning of youth in the welfare system can provide insights about factors influencing outcomes, thereby informing practice, program and policy. We explore whether current relational health (connectedness) promotes positive outcomes for child welfare-involved youth while controlling for developmental risk (history of adverse, and lack of relationally positive, experiences). Clinicians at 19 organisations serving child welfare-involved youth used a neurodevelopmentally informed approach to intervention, the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), which includes metrics to assess the developmental timing of children's risk, “connectedness” and neurodevelopmental functioning (e.g., sleep, arousal, cortical control). Data-driven statistical techniques were used to produce stable, generalisable estimates. Risk during the perinatal (0–2 months) period significantly predicted children's functioning; current relational health predicted outcomes more strongly. Although early life developmental risk has a persistent effect on functioning, relationally supportive contexts may mitigate this risk. Improving relational contexts of child welfare-involved youth, regardless of placement type, is key.

This article explores the prevalence of cumulative harm as a subtle and pervasive harm type, often dismissed or ignored in child protection assessment and reporting practices. The author examines a range of trends and research that identifies current gaps in the legislative response to cumulative harm identification and intervention. Through analysis of the current practices informing child protection in Australia, it is clear that there is movement towards a more holistic understanding of harm and the impacts of long-term maltreatment. However, a nationwide level of consistent practice has not yet been achieved, which places cumulative harm and reoccurring maltreatment on an equal footing with episodic maltreatment, particularly in relation to notification and reporting. Internationally, although variations are evident, just as they are in national framework, there is an inclusive impetus towards early intervention as a means of addressing harm prior to the onset of cumulative impact. There is a growing emphasis on children's wellbeing, development and universal right to quality of life and fair treatment.

This article focuses on the variability in developmental outcomes of foster children and the implications for foster care research and practice. We first provide a brief overview of our previous work, where we have shown by means of meta-analysis and a longitudinal study that foster children greatly vary with respect to their developmental functioning. We then discuss that it is both the heterogeneity of developmental trajectories and the lack of an accurate model for predicting foster children's development that make the screening and monitoring of foster children's development important. We provide suggestions for screening and monitoring, and discuss the Brief Assessment Checklist as an example of a specific instrument available for screening and monitoring of vulnerable children exposed to severe social adversity. We conclude our article with directions to improve foster care and research on foster care, including a discussion of the effectiveness of and foster children's susceptibility to interventions, support for foster parents and the potential of large national and international studies.

In modern society children are valued and nurtured, and it is often stated in media discourses across a variety of platforms and via the press and elsewhere, particularly by politicians, that “Children are our future”. Thus, they deserve the best education and a safe and secure environment in order to thrive and become a part of society. To this end, this study looks at how the media and its language construct children as a commodity in the economy who are used by media as a barometer for society and its commitment to decency and community. However, on closer inspection, a disturbing discourse of division emerges showing the community is split on how best to care and protect our children so that they may partake of that future. Children are used to promote viewpoints (or even ideologies) by celebrities who use their children as exemplars of their parenting style. In addition, children are used by media as a measure of whether a modern democracy is fair or decent in its application of law. From issues related to the pester power through which marketers use children to sell products to the lure of the internet, children are used to make money or seek access to it. Most modern legal frameworks actively support the maintenance of children within culture and kinship groups, yet thousands of children each year are deliberately separated from their parents who are encouraged by marketing ploys to send their children to other parts of the world for education or to seek a migration outcome. This study suggests that modern democratic societies are not consistent in their discourses which, on the one hand, seek to promote active support for the care and wellbeing of children and, on the other, continue a divisive discourse about appropriate responses. In this analysis and commentary, italics are used to give emphasis to keywords and phrases.

While it may, at first, appear absurd to associate Stockholm syndrome with situations other than those involving kidnapping or hostage relationships, it is quite tenable to do so. In fact, research has shown that a variety of different psychological issues and forms of captivity are best explained as instances of Stockholm syndrome. Originally, Stockholm syndrome was typified as a disorder resulting from situations involving negative face-to-face contact between captors and captives. The resulting environment is one of extreme fright or terror to victims, rendering them helpless and, over time, totally subservient to their perpetrators. Typification helps to shed light on the connection between abusive athletic coaches and consequential victimisation of young athletes, which can lead to Stockholm syndrome. This correlation supports the view that Stockholm syndrome relates to victimisation of young athletes in a paradoxical, but very real way. This concept paper addresses the potential for domain expansion of Stockholm syndrome into the area of youth athletics. It develops the theory that once youth begin to rationalise the actions of abusive athletic coaches, they begin to sympathise and defend the actions of the abusive coach leading to a pattern of events which can be labelled as indications of Stockholm syndrome.

The parent–child bond known as attachment plays a pivotal role in the development and wellbeing of all young children. While research indicates that there are challenges for children with a disability in developing a secure attachment, little is known about early childhood intervention (ECI) professionals’ knowledge of attachment, how they view its importance in their work, and how they translate this knowledge into practice. To address this gap in research, a questionnaire was developed and administered to ECI professionals at an Australian ECI organisation. Qualitative analysis of results (N = 49) revealed an overall understanding of the role of attachment in child development and indicated that ECI professionals perceive attachment as being very important in their role of enhancing children's learning and wellbeing. Importantly, it emerged that less than half the participants learnt about attachment in their undergraduate training, with most learning about it ‘on the job’ and just over half the respondents felt comfortable in addressing attachment concerns with families. Some families are thus left at risk of being inadequately supported to manage attachment problems. Participants identified a desire for further training. This exploratory study has implications for orientation, training, practice, and further research.

This article reviews developments in the NSW child protection system which aim to reduce the number of children in state care. The first development was changes to the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1988 made in 2016 that created a permanency hierarchy for children who have been removed and not restored to parental or extended family care. Under Section 10A of the Act, guardianship and adoption becomes the priority if restoration is not possible, although Aboriginal children are exempt from adoption to some extent. The more recent development, during 2017, is the purchase by the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) of a license for two US models, namely Multi-Systemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST-CAN®) and Functional Family Therapy through Child Welfare (FFT-CW®). US studies have shown that these models reduce the number of children being taken into care. Related to this effort is the recognition by FaCS that the cost of out-of-home care (OOHC) is increasingly unmanageable given the 16,843 children in care in NSW. Added to this is the knowledge, confirmed by the Minister, that for many children in OOHC the outcomes are dismal. Finally, the article turns to the issue of poverty and seeks to address the established correlation (not causality) between poverty and child abuse and neglect. This remains the key issue that underscores child abuse and neglect that has to be addressed if a significant reduction in the number of children taken into state care is to be achieved.

Placement stability is sought for children who enter care and need a place to call home. This is deemed to be necessary for the formation and continuation of secure and loving relationships with parents and carers. However, the term placement stability does not capture the quality of the placement or the subjective experience of the young person. In contrast, the term relational permanence denotes an enduring and supportive relationship between a young person and a caring adult. Research studies have tended to focus on placement stability, or legal and physical permanence, and overlook relational permanence. Within the current study, we found high levels of long-term placement stability for the study population, 354 young people who were under five and in care in Northern Ireland on the 31st March 2000. Placements for those who were adopted, on Residence Order, and rehabilitated with birth parents were more likely to be stable than those in long-term foster care and kinship foster care. However, early interview data with 30 young people and/or their parents/carers revealed high levels of relational permanence, irrespective of placement type, and that placement disruption did not necessarily mean a breakdown in the relationship. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

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.