Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T08:32:29.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Children in out-of-home care in Australia: International comparisons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

Clare Tilbury  and
June Thoburn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As governments increasingly search globally for strategies to improve child welfare outcomes, it is vital to consider how policies and programs developed in other countries are likely to suit local conditions. Routinely collected child welfare administrative data can provide contextual information for cross-national comparisons. This article examines out-of-home care in Australia compared to other developed countries, and explores possible explanations for differences in patterns and trends. In doing so, it also examines the similarities and differences between NSW, Victoria and Queensland. It is argued that a sound understanding of how out-of-home care is used, the profile of children in care and the influences on data can assist policy makers to match proposed solutions to clearly understood current problems. The imperative is to plan and implement policies and programs that locate out-of-home care within a range of child welfare services that meet the diverse needs of children and families within local contexts.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , 2008 , pp. 5 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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

REFERENCES

AIHW, see Australian Institute of Health and WelfareGoogle Scholar
SCRCSSP, see Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/ State Service ProvisionGoogle Scholar
Ainsworth, F. (2001) ‘After ideology: The effectiveness of residential programs for “at risk” adolescents’, Children Australia, 26, 2, 11–18.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2003) Child Protection Australia 2001-02, Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2006) Child Protection Australia 2004-05, Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008) Child Protection Australia 2006-07, Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
Cheers, D., Kufeldt, K., Klein, R. & Rideout, S. (2007) ‘Comparing caring: The Looking After Children system in Canada and Australia’, Children Australia, 32, 2, 21–28.Google Scholar
Crampton, D. (2007) ‘Research review: Family group decision-making: a promising practice in need of more programme theory and research’, Child and Family Social Work, 12, 202–209.Google Scholar
Crime and Misconduct Commission (2004) Protecting children: An inquiry into abuse of children in foster care, Brisbane: author.Google Scholar
Fox Harding, L. (1991) Perspectives in child care policy, Essex: Longman.Google Scholar
Hill, R.B. (2006) Synthesis of research on disproportionality in child welfare: An update, Washington DC: Casey-CSSP Alliance for Racial Equity in the Child Welfare System, <http://www.cssp.org/major_initiatives/racialEquity.html>, accessed 4 October 2007.Google Scholar
Libesman, T. (2004) ‘Child welfare approaches for Indigenous communities: International perspectives’, Child Abuse Prevention Issues, 20, 1–39.Google Scholar
Parkinson, P. (2003) ‘Child protection, permanency planning and children's right to family life’, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 17, 2, 147–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/State Service Provision (2006) Report on Government Services 2006, Canberra: Auslnfo.Google Scholar
Thoburn, J (2007) Globalisation and child welfare: Some lessons from a cross-national study of children in out-of-home care, Norwich, Social Work Monographs, School of Social Work and Psychosocial Studies, University of East Anglia. Individual country profiles at <www.uea.ac.uk/swk>.Google Scholar
Trocme, N., Knoke, D. & Blackstock, C. (2004) ‘Pathways to the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in Canada's child welfare system’, Social Service Review, 78, 4, 577–598.Google Scholar
US Department of Health and Human Services (2005) Child Welfare Outcomes 2002 Annual Report, Washington DC: DHHS Children's Bureau.Google Scholar