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Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, both the Gosford Training School for Boys in New South Wales and the Westbrook Farm Home for Boys in Queensland were well-established institutions. Both were state-run facilities that ostensibly existed to incarcerate, educate and reform boys convicted of criminal offences. Gosford and Westbrook had total responsibility for the boys under their care during their periods of incarceration. They were responsible not just for the formal education of the boys within them, but also for ensuring that those boys learned how to become good citizens and valuable members…
Abstract
Background
Strategies to reduce over-representation of Indigenous children in out-of-home care must start in pregnancy given Indigenous babies are 6 % of infants (<1 year), yet 43 % of infants in out-of-home care.
Objective
To determine if an Indigenous-led, multi-agency, partnership redesign of maternity services decreases the likelihood of babies being removed at birth.
Participants and setting
Women carrying an Indigenous baby/babies who gave birth at the Mater Mothers' Public Hospital, Brisbane (2013–2019).
Methods
A prospective, non-…
This study explored the experiences of children and young people in the community-based support model of the Mockingbird Family, in South Australia, during implementation and roll-out. The study involved semi-structured interviews with a diverse group of 54 participants, including 21 children and young people, 12 foster carers, and 14 agency workers. Thematic analysis, with the application of Axel Honneth’s recognition theory, showed the Mockingbird Family model to validate the emotional, cognitive, and social support needs of children and young people.
Through interconnected experience,…
Abstract
Background
The mental health and well-being of care-experienced children and young people remains a concern. Despite a range of interventions, the existing evidence base is limited in scope, with a reliance on standalone outcome evaluations which limits understanding of how contextual factors influence implementation and acceptability. The care-experienced children and young people’s interventions to improve mental health and well-being outcomes systematic review (CHIMES) aimed to synthesise evidence of intervention theory, outcome, process and economic effectiveness. This…
Abstract:
Children in out-of-home care may experience multiple losses, from separation from birth parents and siblings to loss of friendships, culture, and sense of belonging and normality. The impacts of these significant losses on a child's development and wellbeing have typically been the subject of childhood trauma research. While understanding the impact is important, children's experiences of the losses and the ways adults can support them to grieve are less explored in research. Recently, out-of-home care researchers have begun to address this knowledge gap by applying the…
This is an ethical framework to guide engagement with tamariki (children) and rangatahi (young people) who are care experienced (that is, who currently or at some stage in their lives have been in foster or residential care). Centring the voices and priorities of rangatahi with care experience, ‘Kia Tika, Kia Pono’ is intended for use by organisations and others working across the range of sectors and services that seek to engage tamariki and rangatahi who are care experienced in governance, policy making, service design, media or research. Its purpose is to ensure that these efforts are…
Increasingly progressive organisations are changing how they see and work with young people. Such organisations as well as government are acknowledging the invaluable skills and insights young people with lived experiences can contribute as youth leaders, and genuine co-design partners shaping policy with key decision makers.
This paper presents three care experienced perspectives on the benefits and challenges of capturing the voices of young people to inform policy and organisational decision-making in youth services. Sharing models of effective youth participation in policy development…
Removal from family of origin to state care can be a highly challenging childhood experience and is itself linked to an array of unfavourable outcomes in adult life. This systematic review aimed to synthetise evidence on the risk of adult mortality in people with a history of state care in early life, and assess the association according to different contexts.
The present synthesis of existing evidence found that the excess risk of adult mortality in this group was not attributable to other measures of adversity captured in included studies, suggesting that, in the countries…
This paper presents a case study that discusses the lived experiences of two LGBTQA + young people who have been in out-of-home care in Australia, focusing particularly on the influence of relationships on their developing sexual identity.
Utilising a secure base theoretical perspective, the authors argue that how young people experience support, care and safety may depend on the relational context in which it is received, and that warm, loving relationships may be just as significant for the development of positive gender and sexual identities as explicit support for identity…
Abstract
The wrongs experienced by Aboriginal people have caused life-long and intergenerational impacts that demand culturally grounded healing approaches, yet this is not experienced by Aboriginal people in mainstream services. This article details a culturally informed approach by sharing the findings of a Cultural Healing Program (CHP) designed, developed and delivered by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation. The program was for Aboriginal survivors of institutional child sexual abuse who had also experienced cultural abuse having been forcibly removed from their families as…