1st Edition
Child Protection and the Care Continuum Theoretical, Empirical and Practice Insights
This important new book critically examines the complex policy and practice issues surrounding child protection, including the impact of theoretical orientations, contemporary debates, policy initiatives and research findings, and maintains an emphasis on the ethics and values underpinning child welfare interventions.
The book introduces policies that are central to understanding the position and needs of children and young people, and how policy and practice have been influenced by developments including the children’s rights agenda. It also explores the most significant issues in child welfare. These include: the experience of maltreatment by children, the systems of child protection to safeguard them, the methods and challenges of risk assessment, and the wide range of policy and therapeutic interventions to respond to children’s needs. The book also examines family support to promote children’s wellbeing before considering provision for children and young people who are looked after in out-of-home care. There is also a final section that focuses on best practice in communicating and working with children and young people, drawing on participatory, rights-oriented and resilience-based approaches, and supporting foster and adoptive carers and biological parents.
Contributing in a substantive and clear manner to a growing international conversation about the present function and future directions for child welfare in contemporary societies, this textbook will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate social work students and those from allied disciplines, and professionals who are engaged in child welfare services.
Acknowledgement
Biographies of Contributors
Foreword
Part 1: The context of child and family welfare
Chapter 1: Policy and Trends in Child Welfare in Australia and the Global Context
Elizabeth Fernandez and Paul Delfabbro
Chapter 2: Theoretical and Value Frameworks Underpinning Work with Children and Families
Elizabeth Fernandez and Paul Delfabbro
Chapter 3: Children’s Rights and the Protective Care Continuum
Jennifer Driscoll
Part 2: Child abuse and neglect
Chapter 4: Working with Cases of Neglect and Emotional Abuse
David Shemmings and Alice Loving
Chapter 5: Child Sexual Abuse
Dale Tolliday
Chapter 6: Assessment in Child Protection
Elizabeth Fernandez
Chapter 7: Child Protection and the Role of the Children’s Court
Rosemary Sheehan
Chapter 8: Therapeutic Approaches to Children and Families in Child Protection Contexts
Paul Delfabbro and Alexandra Osborn
Part 3: The protective care continuum
Chapter 9: Prevention and Early Intervention with Children, Young People, and Families
Carmel Devaney
Chapter 10: Foster Family Care as a Response to Child Maltreatment
June Thoburn
Chapter 11: Kinship Care in Australia and the United Kingdom
Meredith Kiraly and Elaine Farmer
Chapter 12: Therapeutic Residential Care
Kenny Kor and Patricia McNamara
Chapter 13: Educational Interventions that Improve the Attainment and Progress of Children in Out-of-home Care
Judy Sebba
Chapter 14: Reunification in Out-of-home Care
Elizabeth Fernandez and Paul Delfabbro
Chapter 15: Creating a Family Life for a Child through Adoption
John Simmonds
Chapter 16: Beyond Care: Identities, transitions and outcomes
Philip Mendes and Jade Purtell
Part 4: Children, parents and carers as stakeholders
Chapter 17: Child Protection and Child Participation
Jan Mason and Tobia Fattore
Chapter 18: The Right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Families to Effective Child Protection Services
Clare Tilbury and Natalie Lewis
Chapter 19: Engaging First Mothers, Fathers and Grandparents in the Care Continuum
Elizabeth Fernandez and Ros Thorpe
Chapter 20: Responding to Carers’ Needs
Jill Duerr Berrick
Biography
Elizabeth Fernandez is Professor of Social Work, School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia. She teaches courses in Life Span Development, Child and Family Welfare Practice and Research. Her research focuses on child and family poverty, early intervention and family support, pathways and outcomes for children in care, including reunification of separated children and outcomes of care leavers. She has led several Australian Research Council funded research studies focusing on these themes and has published widely. She is Associate Editor for Children and Youth Services Review and The Journal of Child and Family Studies. She is recipient of the 2019 International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI) Award in honour of Alfred J. Khan and Sheila Kamerman in recognition of outstanding contribution to the field of child indicators research from an international perspective.
Paul Delfabbro completed his PhD in Psychology in 1998 and has been employed by the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide, Australia, since 2001 in a combined teaching and research position. He was appointed to Professor in 2014. His principal research areas are behavioural addictions, applied cognition and child protection. He has published over 250 refereed journal articles and another 100 government reports, book chapters and conference papers.
"Packed with cutting-edge evidence and insights from experts across the field, this remarkable book will inform thinking and practice in child protection for years to come."
Professor Robbie Gilligan, School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin"This is an excellent collection of significant international relevance. The book’s 20 chapters bring together leading scholars from across the globe to address critical issues in child welfare and protection. Chapters cover key elements of the child protection process, whilst at the same time underscoring the central role that family networks play in providing care and protection for children. Given the book’s comprehensive scope, it will be of considerable value to social work educators, students and practitioners alike."
Professor Karen Broadhurst, Director: Centre for Child and Family Justice Research, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, UK"This carefully curated volume includes an impressive array of internationally renowned scholars who grapple thoughtfully and constructively with the theoretical and practice dilemmas inherent within the child protection and child care continuum. The accomplished editors pull the diverse threads of knowledge, theory and practice together to achieve better understanding, assessment and decision making for children and their families, not just in Australia but globally."
Marian Brandon, Professor of Social Work and Director of the Centre for Research on Children and Families, University of East Anglia, UK"This book is essential reading for practitioners and students working with children, young people and families involved with child protection systems. The editors present contributions from leading international researchers to offer an evidence-informed and practice-based approach to better practice from early intervention to protective care. The approach is child-centred, family-inclusive and culturally sensitive. I strongly recommend this book."
Professor Karen Healy, AM, Head of Discipline for Social Work and Counselling, The University of Queensland, Australia
