Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:33:15.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The importance of parents in the lives of children in the care system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Jane Thomson  and
Ros Thorpe
Jane Thomson
Affiliation:
School of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811. Email: [email protected]
Ros Thorpe
Affiliation:
School of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Research to date has found that natural parents may be an important source of identity and support for children in and young people leaving out-of-home care. There has, however, been limited research on natural parents themselves, both internationally and in Australia.

This paper provides a justification for a research focus on parents, documents what is known from research to date, highlights current issues for parents and their children in out-of-home care, and concludes by identifying future research priorities in the area. The paper calls for recognition of the need to maintain positive links between natural family members in order to ensure best practice outcomes for children and young people in care.

Type
Section One: Practice
Information
Children Australia , Volume 28 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue: Out-of-home care: Building a national research agenda , 2003 , pp. 25 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

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

Ainsworth, F. & Summers, A. (2001) Family Reunification and Drug Use by Parents, Perth: Western Australian Department of Family and Children's Services.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, F. & Maluccio, A.N. (2002) ‘Siblings in out-of-home care: Time to rethink?’, Children Australia, 27(2), 4–8.Google Scholar
Aldgate, J. (1976) ‘The child in care and his parents’, Adoption and Fostering, 84(2), 29–40.Google Scholar
Anonymous, (2002). Power and Partnership: a case study in child protection in Wilson, K and James, A (eds) The Child Protection Handbook. Edinburgh: Bailliere Tindall.Google Scholar
Argent, H. (2002) Staying Connected: Managing Contact Arrangements in Adoption, London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.Google Scholar
ARBIAS (1997) Our Health, Our Way: Information about Acquired Brain Injury for the Victorian Koori Community, Melbourne: Koori Services Centre, North Melbourne TAFE.Google Scholar
Barnardos Australia (2003) ‘Establishing permanency for children – the issues of contact between children in permanent foster care and their birth families’, Developing Practice, 6, 57–65.Google Scholar
Burgheim, T (2002) The grief of birth parents whose children have been removed: Implications for practice in out of home care, paper presented at What Works!? Evidence Based Practice in Child and Family Service, Association of Children's Welfare Agencies (ACWA) Biennial Conference, Sydney, 2-4 September.Google Scholar
Bruce, E.J. & Schultz, C.L. (2001) Nonfinite Loss and Grief: A Psycho-educational Approach, London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Byrne, L., Hearle, J., Plant, K., Barkla, J., Jenner, L. & McGrath, J (2002) ‘Working with parents with a serious mental illness: What do service providers think?’, Australian Social Work, 53(4), 21–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callahan, M. (2000) ‘Valuing the field: Lessons from innovation’, in Callahan, M., Hessle, S. with Strega, S. (Eds), Valuing the Field: Child Welfare in an International Context, Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, pp. 211–227.Google Scholar
Cashmore, J. & Paxman, M. (1996) Wards Leaving Care: A Longitudinal Study, Sydney: NSW Department of Community Services.Google Scholar
Cheers, D. (2002) ‘Looking after children (and their parents!) in Australia’, Developing Practice, 4, 5–59.Google Scholar
Community Services Commission (1999) Keeping Connected: Contact between Children in Care and Their Families, Surry Hills, Sydney.Google Scholar
Contole, J. & PACS (1996) Dealing with Challenging Behaviours After Acquired Brain Injury : A Guide for Workers, Flemington: Bouverie Publications.Google Scholar
Dalrymple, J. & Burke, B. (1995) Anti-Oppressive Practice: Social Care and the Law, Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Dodson, M. (1999) ‘Indigenous children in care: on Bringing Them Home’, Children Australia, 24(4), 7–12.Google Scholar
Family Rights Group (1986) Promoting Links: Keeping Children and Families in Touch, London: Family Rights Group.Google Scholar
Featherstone, B. (1999) ‘Taking mothering seriously: the implications for child protection’, Child and Family Social Work, 4, 43–53.Google Scholar
Featherstone, B. (2001) ‘Research Review: Putting fathers on the child welfare agenda’, Child and Family Social Work, 6, 179–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernandez, E. (1996) Significant Harm: Unravelling Child Protection Decisions and Substitute Care Careers of Children, Aldershot: Avebury.Google Scholar
Grotevant, E. & McRoy, R.G. (1998) Openness in adoption: Exploring family connections, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Hindmarch, C. (2000) On the Death of a Child, Abingdon, UK: Radcliffe Medical Press.Google Scholar
HREOC (1997) Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, Sydney: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.Google Scholar
Ife, J. (2001) Human Rights and Social Work: Towards Rights- based Practice, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laming, H. (2003) The Victoria Climbié Inquiry: Summary and Recommendations, London: HMSO (Crown Copyright 2003).Google Scholar
Jenkins, S. & Norman, E. (1972) Filial Deprivation and Foster Care, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Jenkins, S. & Norman, E. (1975) Beyond Placement: Mothers view Foster Care, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Macaskill, C. (2002) Safe Contact? Children in permanent placement and contact with their birth relatives, Dorset: Russell House Publishing.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, L.K. (1998) Trust and Betrayal in the Treatment of Child Abuse, New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Maluccio, A.N., Ainsworth, F. & Thoburn, J. (2000) Child Welfare Outcome Research in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, Washington, DC: CWLA Press.Google Scholar
Mason, J, Falloon, J., Gibbons, L., Spence, N. & Scott, E. (2002) Understanding Kinship Care, Haymarket, NSW: Association of Children's Welfare Agencies.Google Scholar
Mason, M., Payne, V. & Pecora, P. (2002) Assessing Foster Care Alumni Outcomes: A Short Term Follow Up Study, Seattle, US: Casey Family Programs.Google Scholar
Masson, J., Harrison, C. & Pavlovic, A. (1997) Working with Children and ‘Lost’ Parents: Putting Partnerships into Practice, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Millham, S., Bullock, R., Hosie, K. & Haak, M. (1986) Lost In Care: The Problem of Maintaining Links Between Children in Care and Their Families, Aldershot, UK: Gower.Google Scholar
Milner, J. (1993) ‘A disappearing Act: The differing career paths of mothers and fathers in child protection investigations’. Critical Social Policy, 38, 48–63.Google Scholar
Mullaly, R. (1997) Structural Social Work: Ideology, theory and practice, Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
O'Neill, C. (1999) Support and Permanent Placements for Children, Melbourne University: PhD Thesis.Google Scholar
Osmond, J. & Darlington, Y. (2001) Attachment Theory and Child Protection Practice, Using Knowledge in Practice Information Sheet Number 2, St Lucia: University of Queensland.Google Scholar
Pearson, N. (2001) On the Human Right to Misery, Mass Incarceration and Early Death, Dr Charles Perkins Memorial Oration, University of Sydney, http://www.koori.usyd.edu.au/centre/oration/2001.html Google Scholar
Pelton, L. (1989) For Reasons of Poverty: A critical analysis of the Public Child Welfare System in the United States, New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Rees, S. (1991) Achieving Power: Practice and Policy in Social Welfare, Sydney: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Richards, S. (2001) Second Time Around: A Survey of Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildren, London: Family Rights Group.Google Scholar
Rickarby, G. (2002) Post traumatic phenomena following separation from a baby, paper presented at the 1st National Conference on the Mental Health Aspects of Persons Affected By Family Separation, Liverpool, NSW, 10-11 October.Google Scholar
Rowe, J., Cain, H., Hundleby, M. & Keane, A. (1984) Long-Term Foster Care, London: Batsford.Google Scholar
Rubin, S.S. (1993) ‘The death of a child is forever: The life course impact of child loss’, in Stroebe, M.S., Stroebe, W. & Hansson, R.O. (Eds.), Handbook of Bereavement: Theory, Research and Intervention, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rutman, D., Strega, S., Callahan, M. & Dominelli, L. (2002) ‘Undeserving' mothers?: Practitioners working with young mothers in/from care’, Child and Family Social Work, 7(3), 149–159.Google Scholar
Scott, D. & O'Neil, D. (1996) Beyond Child Rescue: Developing Family-Centred practice at St Luke's, Melbourne: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Smith, B. (1993) ‘You have to be perfect, don't you?': Parents talk about their experiences of using shared care’, in Mason, J. (Ed.), Child Welfare Policy and Practice: Critical Australian Perspectives, Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, pp. 211–227.Google Scholar
SNAICC (2002) Through Young Black Eyes: A handbook to protect indigenous children from the impact of family violence and child abuse, Canberrra: Secretariat National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care.Google Scholar
Thoburn, J. (1999) ‘Working in partnership with parents being looked after: Issues of theory, research and practice’, in Masson, J., Harrison, C. & Pavlovic, A. (eds), Lost and Found: Making and Remaking Working Partnerships with Parents of Children in the Care System, Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. (2003) ‘This is nothing new: Child protection concerns and poverty’, Children Australia, 28(1), 4–10.Google Scholar
Thorpe, R. (1974) The Social and Psychological Situation of the Long-Term Foster Child with Regard to His Natural Parents, University of Nottingham, PhD Thesis.Google Scholar
Thorpe, R. (1993) ‘Empowerment groupwork with parents of children in care’, in Mason, J. (Ed.), Child Welfare Policy: Critical Australian Perspectives, Sydney: Hale & Iremonger.Google Scholar
Thorpe, R. (1996) ‘High expectations, Low resources: Mothering, violence and child abuse’, in Thorpe, R. & Irwin, J. (Eds.), Women and Violence: Working for Change, Sydney: Hale & Iremonger.Google Scholar
Tomison, A.M. (1996) Child Maltreatment and Substance Abuse, Discussion Paper 2, National Child Protection Clearing House, Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.Google Scholar
Tregeagle, S. (1985), Poverty and the Abuse and Neglect of Children, Bernardos Monograph No. 12, Sydney: Bernardos.Google Scholar