Displaying 1 - 5 of 5
ABSTRACT
This chapter from the Routledge Handbook of Family Law and Policy examines how permanency for children is achieved in New Zealand in the child protection context. The permanent removal of Maori children from their families and extended family groups, including placement for adoption, has been a profound issue for Maori. The concern for Maori about the numbers of children being taken into care was a driver for the July 2019 amendments. Unlike other jurisdictions (such as England and the US), adoption of children in permanency cases has generally not been followed in New Zealand…
Abstract
Preventing child abuse is a unifying goal. Making decisions that affect the lives of children is an unenviable task assigned to social services in countries around the world. The consequences of incorrectly labelling children as being at risk of abuse or missing signs that children are unsafe are well-documented. Evidence-based decision-making tools are increasingly common in social services provision but few, if any, have used social network data. We analyse a child protection services dataset that includes a network of…
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Examining basic trends in child protection statistics give some insight into the functioning of the system overall.
METHODS: This article uses Official Information Act and publicly available data to examine recent trends of children in contact with the Aotearoa New Zealand child protection system. It discusses these trends with reference to child protection policy reforms, and an inequalities perspective.
FINDINGS: There has been an increase of children in care despite steady reductions in hospitalisations for physical abuse and possibly child deaths, accepted…
Abstract
Across the English-speaking world, child protection authorities are increasingly placing children with extended family rather than in foster care or residential care. Many more children are in such arrangements informally. A number of surveys of kinship carers have been conducted in recent years in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This paper systematically reviews these surveys to identify messages for policy and practice about the characteristics and support needs of kinship care families. Some comparisons are made with population studies of kinship…
This webinar presentation by Professor Marie Connolly of the University of Melbourne was given at a UNICEF Seminar on the 1 April 2014. Professor Connolly began by introducing the history and background of Family Group Conference (FGC) in New Zealand, which was developed initially in the late 1980s as a culturally responsive way of diverting children and their families from the court system. It has since become a key decision-making mechanism for both care and protection and youth justice systems. FGC was later…