Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:23:54.617Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Change and continuities in foster care in Victoria: Prospects and Tasks in Foster Care revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Abstract

Foster care in Victoria is under strain. As Victoria implements major legislative and service system reforms, we should consider how the future of foster care can be informed by its past. To that end, this paper revisits the document on which Victoria’s current system of foster care was founded, Tierney’s 1973 report ‘Prospects and Tasks in Foster Care’. With reference to that template, this paper examines some of the service system changes that have threatened the viability of foster care, and draws attention to some enduring qualities of foster care that nevertheless are worthy of preservation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AIHW—see Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
DHS—see Department of Human Services.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2006) Child Protection Australia 2004–05, Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2007) Child Protection Australia 2005–06, Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
Barber, J. & Delfabbro, P. (2004) Children in foster care, London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, L. (1999) ‘The wider caring network’, Children Australia, Vol. 24, No. 4,4348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, L., Jackson, A., Cameron, N., Goodman, H. & Smith, S. (2003) ‘High risk infants in the Children’s Court process in Australia: Dilemmas and directions’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, Vol. 25, No. 2, 121135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, J. (2002) Toward better foster care: Reducing the risk, Melbourne: The Children’s Foundation.Google Scholar
Cashmore, J. & Ainsworth, F. (2004) Audit of Australian out-of-home care research, Sydney: Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies Inc.Google Scholar
Cashmore, J., Higgins, D., Bromfield, L. & Scott, D. (2006) ‘Recent Australian child protection and out-of-home care research: What’s been done – and what needs to be done?’, Children Australia, Vol. 31, No. 2, 411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Community and Disability Ministers Council (2004) The National Plan for Foster Children, Young People and their Carers 2004–2006.Google Scholar
Considine, M. (2005) Partnerships and collaborative advantage: Some reflections on new forms of network governance, Melbourne: Centre for Public Policy, University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
Department of Human Services (2003) Public parenting: A review of home-based care in Victoria, Melbourne: Victorian Department of Human Services.Google Scholar
Department of Human Services (2005) Victorian families, children and their carers in 2016, Background paper No. I, for the Family and Placement Services Sector Development Plan, Melbourne: Victorian Department of Human Services.Google Scholar
Delfabbro, P., Osborn, A. & Barber, J. (2005) ‘Beyond the continuum: New perspectives on the future of out-of-home care in Australia’, Children Australia, Vol. 30, No. 2, 1118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, S. & Tiemey, L. (1995) ‘Making foster care possible: A study of 307 foster families in Victoria’, Children Australia, Vol. 20, No. 2, 49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markiewicz, A. (1996) ‘The child welfare system in Victoria: Changing context and perspectives 1945–1995’, Children Australia, Vol. 21, No. 3, 3241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meredith, E. (1973) The agency’s role in foster care, Foster Care in Australia, 2nd ACOSS Conference, Canberra, 17–20th May, 1973, Sydney: Australian Council of Social Service.Google Scholar
Norgard, J.D. (1976) Committee of Enquiry into Child Care Services in Victoria, Report, Melbourne: Social Welfare Department, Victoria.Google Scholar
Nutt, L. (2006) The lives of foster carers: Private sacrifices, public restrictions, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Neill, C. (2003) ‘The simplicity and complexity of support’, Ch 1 in Argent, H. (ed), Models of adoption support: What works and what doesn’t, London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.Google Scholar
Smyth, C. & McHugh, M. (2006) ‘Exploring the dimensions of professional fostering: Carers’ perceptions of their fostering role’, Children Australia, Vol. 31, No. 1, 1220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tierney, L.J. (1963) Children who need help. A study of child welfare policy and administration in Victoria, Parkville: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Tierney, L.J. (1973) Prospects and tasks in foster care, report prepared for the Family Welfare Advisory Council, Ministry of Social Welfare, Melbourne: Department of Social Studies, University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
Tierney, L. & Were, A. (1991) ‘Contextual dimensions of foster care’, Children Australia, Vol. 16, No. 3, 711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar