This article focuses on parental drug use and the impact on child welfare. The gravity of this issue is well documented in a number of reports from government and in annual reports from relevant state and territory departments. Yet, there has been little attention to this issue in Australian journals in spite of the fact that this is probably the most critical issue child protection services have had to face for two decades or more. Parental drug use is almost certainly responsible for the rise in the number of children, especially young children, entering out-of-home care. Drug use also creates issues in relation to family reunification. The final part of the article proposes an enhanced three stage model of family reunification that addresses these issues. This model is based on greater collaboration between child protection services, drug treatment agencies, and the legal system.

This paper reports on a study of child protection practice in a non-government child protection organisation in inner Sydney. The purpose of the study was to explore workers ‘perceptions of critical issues in child protection and family support work in families affected by parental substance use. The findings raise issues about prevalence of substance use issues in child protection work, the risks posed to workers in this domain of practice, and the importance of improved co-operation amongst agencies involved with these families affected by parental substance use. Future research directions for improving child protection and family support practice with families affected by parental substance use are considered.

Early studies concerned with permanency planning identified that many children remained in care for prolonged periods of time, in the absence of clearly defined plans for their long-term future. The studies also highlighted concern that multiple placements have a deleterious impact on children. As a consequence, permanency planning frameworks were developed to address the problems of welfare drift, the essence of permanency planning being timely decision-making and concurrent planning. However, there appear to be some systemic issues impacting on the application of the permanency planning framework. There also remains a policy preference for family preservation, which adversely affects permanency planning. The need is to conceptualise permanency planning as existing along a continuum of planning options for children, co-existing with family preservation models.

This paper describes the development by Parkerville Children's Home, WA, of a therapeutic residential programme, based on current research and clinical experience, relating to the impact of traumatic experience. It describes the theoretical framework, its incorporation into an intervention plan and the process of implementation. A case study is used to illustrate the process of assessment and implementation.

An issue of some concern that has emerged in the field of youth welfare in recent years is that of treatment services for young people who are sexually abusive and unable to reside with their families, or other family settings. This issue has been of such concern to staff at St Luke's Anglicare in Central Victoria that a project of review, both of the need for therapeutic intervention and of contemporary practices, was undertaken in the last twelve months. This short paper summarises the specific findings of staff who worked on this practice oriented project and makes recommendations for future practice with the client group.