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This interim report focuses on hearing the lived experiences of children and young people in alternative care arrangements and lifts up the voices of those who have participated in private hearings as part of this Special Inquiry to date.
Key themes explored in the report include:
- Safety and quality of care
- Stability and communication
- Access to supports and services
- Connection to family, friends, community and culture.
In Australia, there are more than 46,000 children in out-of-home care (OOHC). Most of these children have been in OOHC for more than 2 years. Similarly, there are more than 407,000 children in the United States and over 80,800 in England who are ‘looked after’ with approximately one third of these children being in OOHC for more than 2 years.
This paper concerns ‘looked after’ children's rights to contact with their birth parents. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) requires child protection systems to recognize the rights of children to maintain contact with…
Abstract
Background
There is an identified need to improve the evidence-base in relation to contact visits for children in the out-of-home-care (OOHC) system, to ensure optimal outcomes.
Objective
The aim of this cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to test the effectiveness of a contact intervention for parents having supervised contact with children in long-term OOHC.
Participants
183 study children in 15 clusters (OOHC services) and their parent(s) were randomized to the intervention (8 clusters, 100 children) and control groups (7 clusters, 83 children) in three…
Abstract
This article documents my experiences with the state’s contemporary removal of Aboriginal children in Western Australia (WA) and the practice of Aboriginal Family Led Decision Making (AFLDM), a family led decision making process supported as best practice for Aboriginal families. Unfortunately, this practice of AFLDM is not implemented in the state of Western Australia, but is adopted in Victoria, New South Wales, and more recently Queensland. AFLDM is supported by the peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care — the Secretariat for National Aboriginal…
‘Children Safe, Family Together', the new family and kin care model outlined in this paper forms an integral part of the overall strategy being currently implemented by Territory Families (TF) to transform Out-of-Home Care in the Northern Territory (NT). The strategy addresses worrying trend data pointing to the significant over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the NT child protection system. The strategy also seeks to reinforce the voices of Aboriginal organisations and communities for the Out-of-Home Care sector (OOHC) in the NT to honour the…
As the keynote speaker at the Family Inclusion Network South East Queensland’s Global Day of Parents Forum on Tuesday, 4th June, sociologist David Tobis told the story of how parents worked with allies in New York City for over twenty years to bring about dramatic change to the child protection system. This article describes the keynote address and the story of the parents and allies who changed the child protection system in New York City.
Positive Powerful Parents (PPP) is a self advocacy group in Australia run by and for parents with an intellectual disability. PPP are currently running the Hand In Hand project which seeks to educate government and the community about the needs of families where a parent has an intellectual disability.
The Hand In Hand Parent Meeting was held in Melbourne on the 19th of September 2018. This meeting aimed to capture the authentic voices of parents with intellectual disability about their experiences with the services and supports available to them to support their parenting. This…
ABSTRACT
Parents with intellectual disability are overrepresented in child protection matters due to a combination of socioeconomic disadvantage and assumptions of parenting incapacity by child welfare workers and courts. Inability to understand the investigation process or instruct a solicitor can deny these parents equal access to justice. Specialist support can ensure parents exercise their legal capacity to participate in proceedings and have their views heard. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with parents with intellectual disability (n = 10) who accessed…
It is widely agreed that there are too many children and young people in out of home care in Australia and that rates of restoration home are too low. It is also accepted that children have a right to be cared for by their families whenever this is safe and for their families to be supported to be the best families they can be. Even when children stay in care and cannot go home, it is vital for them to know and have relationships with their families, especially their parents and siblings. This Churchill Fellowship has explored family inclusion initiatives in the USA, Canada, Norway and the UK…
Abstract
Australia’s approach to combating migrant smuggling and deterring irregular migration involves the use of extensive coercive, carceral, and punitive powers. It also severely limits the human rights of migrants who arrive in Australia by sea and without authorisation. The measures that underpin this approach, including maritime interdiction, immigration detention, regional processing, and the use of temporary protection visas, amount to a framework of crimmigration control. This chapter charts the application and impact of these measures on unaccompanied minors, a particularly…