This article records briefly the history of the Family Inclusion Network as an organisation that promotes family inclusive child protection practice. Since its inception in Queensland in 2006, Family Inclusion Network organisations have been formed elsewhere and now exist in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. In 2010, developments at a national level saw the formation of the Family Inclusion Network Australia. Most organisations are incorporated and some have achieved charitable status. Each organisation endorses a common set of aims and objectives. There are, however, differences in terms of whether state or territory organisations accept government funding or not, are staffed by professionals or rely entirely on volunteer personnel, and have a capacity or otherwise to provide direct casework services to parents. Some state organisations focus on information and advice services, and legislative and policy reform efforts. All have telephone advice lines and a webpage presence. This article also focuses on a code of ethics for child protection practice and on the contribution parents can make to child protection services, and their rights to do so.

During the past two decades an explosion of interdisciplinary research, especially in developmental neuroscience, has transformed and deepened our understanding of how the seminal social emotional events of infancy indelibly impact, for better or worse, all later stages of human development. In this article I briefly summarise my contributions in regulation theory towards that effort. After describing a current paradigm shift in the developmental sciences, I present an overview of my ongoing studies on the interpersonal neurobiology of the mother–infant attachment relationship. I offer research which indicates that optimal attachment experiences facilitate the experience-dependent maturation of the early developing ‘emotional’ right brain and thereby a predisposition for emotional wellbeing in later stages of life. I conclude with thoughts about the application of regulation theory for early intervention and prevention programs, as well as some larger implications for family law, cultural and political systems, and human capital formation.

Kinship care has become the fastest growing form of out-of-home care in Victoria and is the preferred placement option for children who are unable to live with their parents. Little is known about family violence in kinship care that is perpetrated by a close family member of the child in care (usually the child's mother/father) against the carer(s) and children once the placement has started. In this context, family violence means any act of physical violence, emotional/psychological violence, verbal abuse and property damage. In 2017, Baptcare undertook research with 101 kinship carers to gain a better understanding of how family violence was impacting on children and families in kinship care in Victoria. The study used a mixed design that specifically targeted kinship carers who had direct experience of family violence during their placement. This study has demonstrated that significant amounts of violence from family members are being experienced by kinship carers in Victoria and the children in their care. As a response to these findings, Baptcare is proactively addressing family violence in kinship care, across a range of domains, to provide solutions to the issues identified in this research.

Young people transitioning from out-of-home care (OHC) are a vulnerable group. One particular manifestation of disadvantage is poor mental health outcomes which may reflect both the traumatic effects of childhood abuse, and a lack of support on leaving care. This article presents the findings of a small qualitative study undertaken in Victoria which explored the views of OHC and mental health service providers regarding the mental health support needs of care leavers. The findings are consistent with existing research results internationally in highlighting a number of key factors that influence mental health outcomes including the impact of pre-care, in-care and transition from care experiences.

In Australia, many researchers and policy makers believe that statutory child protection systems are overburdened and ineffective. The way forward, they suggest, is a public health model of child protection. A public health approach comprises four steps: (1) collecting surveillance data; (2) establishing causes and correlations; (3) developing and evaluating interventions; and (4) disseminating information about the effectiveness of intervention activities to the public health community. However, in Australia there are no reliable surveillance data. There is no information about ‘person’. Information is not collected about the characteristics of children (e.g., ethnicity) and parents (e.g., mental illness) reported to child protection services. Data are not comparable across place. This is because the states and territories have their own child protection legislation, definitions and data recording methods. Data are not comparable over time. This is because many jurisdictions have introduced new data recording systems over recent years. This paper concludes that it is essential to develop an effective child protection surveillance data system. This will ensure that services are located in areas and targeted towards populations in greatest need. It will enable large-scale evaluation of the effectiveness of prevention and intervention activities.

Families who attract the attention of child protection services most often have ongoing lived experiences of poverty, gender-based domestic and family violence, problematic substance use and, sometimes, formally diagnosed mental health conditions. Without broader contextual knowledge and understanding, particularly regarding ongoing poverty, decision-making by child protection workers often leads to the removal of children, while the family’s material poverty and experiences of violence remain unaddressed. Case studies are a common tool to succinctly capture complex contexts. In this article, we make explicit, through case examples and analysis, how poverty is almost always the backdrop to the presence of worrying risk factors before and during child protection intervention. Further, we expose the existential poverty that parents live with after they lose their children into care and which invariably exacerbates material poverty. In the final section, we consider the multi-faceted organisational poverty that blights the work environment of child protection workers, and we suggest strategies for improved practice with families living in poverty.

This paper reports on research investigating the educational status and needs of school-aged children in foster care placements. Using clinical data mining, data were collected about school experiences, attendance, educational achievements and needs, health needs and supports provided. The study found children faced enormous barriers to satisfactory participation and attainment at school. Improving educational outcomes depends upon successful linkages between the child protection, education and health care systems.

The ‘future’ orientation of the out-of-home care research literature which has focused on outcomes of care has risked ignoring children's experiences of care in their ‘present(s)’. In this paper we describe a project, the design of which reflects an alternative to the traditional way of looking at childhood, of which this ‘future’ (adult constructed) orientation is part. We discuss the use of qualitative research methods to identify children's needs in care. The project has attempted to involve children as co-constructors of knowledge around their needs through participatory research methods. These methods have required us to recognise that children and their needs exist within a context of relational structures; to address the power imbalances between adult researchers and child participants; and to be flexible in responding to the consequences of a participative process. Challenges which have surfaced in the implementation of this research and our responses to them are described.

This article is about parent blaming. It draws on the authors’ experience in health care agencies and the children’s court. Parent blaming involves practitioners attributing to parents an ‘excess’ level of responsibility expressed as ‘blame’ in regard to child care and protection or child treatment issues in the context of health. In the course of this process, structural factors such as low income, poor housing, unemployment, social isolation and prejudice that affect a parent’s capacity to protect and care for a child are frequently ignored.

Parent blaming is not a new phenomenon although currently it seems to be in vogue among practitioners in these fields. When blame is conveyed to parents, it creates anger and resentment and guarantees a non-cooperative response from them. This response is then all too readily used as evidence to support the view that parents are indeed to blame for their child’s lack of safety or medical condition. In practice, a blaming approach is futile. Suggestions are made about how this phenomenon can be avoided and how more positive approaches can be adopted to providing services to children and their families.

Social workers face unique challenges in working with families, young people and children in rural and remote communities. Simultaneously, workers juggle dual relationships, personal boundaries and high visibility. Social work practise in rural Australia also faces high staff turnover, burnout and difficulties with recruitment, retention and available professional supervision. A lack of professional supervision has been identified as directly contributing to decreased worker retention in rural and remote areas. This paper reports on emerging themes from a qualitative research study on peer supervision in virtual teams in rural and remote Australia. Data collection consisted of pre- and post-trial individual interviews, monthly group supervision sessions, online evaluations and focus groups. A key conclusion from the study is that peer group supervision worked in supporting rural and remote workers to perform their everyday professional roles. The ease and access afforded by the use of simple technology was noteworthy. Whilst the research was conducted with social workers in rural and remote areas, the use of peer group supervision could be applicable for other professionals who work with families and communities in rural and remote Australia.

This paper presents key findings from current North Queensland doctoral research on the topic of foster carer education, training and support. Sixty-one interviews were conducted with Indigenous, non-Indigenous and relative foster carers and a broad range of other ‘key informants’. Research findings presented indicate the need for more highly specialised and accredited training for foster carers than currently exists in Queensland, and argues for the professionalisation of foster care linked to increased payments and improved support for foster carers. The paper concludes that such changes in the current foster care system are crucial if foster carers are to be recruited to, and retained in, the role and, more importantly, for there to be much improved outcomes for children in statutory care.

Australia is experiencing major difficulties attracting and retaining foster carers. This crisis in recruitment has focused attention on whether fostering can continue to rely on voluntary carers. This paper examines data from a 2003/4 survey of foster carers in New South Wales commissioned by the Department of Community Services. The research explores carers’ perceptions of the nature of the fostering role and examines these in relation to three dimensions of professionalisation: training, support and payment. The findings indicate that the majority of carers believe fostering should be regarded as a professional or semi-professional role. Among these carers, there was a higher level of support for the three dimensions of professionalisation compared to carers who regard their role as voluntary. Differences in perceptions were not attributable to other socio-demographic characteristics, aside from education levels. This paper also addresses the policy implications of these findings for the future recruitment and retention of carers.

This article reviews recent reform, research and trends in foster care (family foster care, kinship care and group care) in the US. In presenting this data attention is drawn to the lack of comparable Australian materials. Practitioners are also cautioned against embracing US initiatives too eagerly as the time lag in the transfer of information means that these developments may have been modified by research findings by the time they come to notice in Australia.

In many areas of human services delivery high quality service provision is only possible through inter-agency co-ordination. This article discusses the literature as applied to school aged children and adolescents suffering with emotional, psychological, behavioural and social disturbances although the issues and principles have much wider applicability. Enthusiasm and goodwill are essential but insufficient components of good co-ordination. Also necessary is the development of co-ordinative structures. The paper is the first in a series of three. It defines concepts essential to a discussion of the area, looks at some general issues and describes models used in three American States which could be adapted to local conditions. The second paper will look at the collaborative efforts taken to adapt the ideas presented in this paper In a region of Metropolitan Melbourne and the third will present the model which evolved through the collaborative process.

Substantial changes in the nature of foster care during the last few decades place increasing demands not only on foster parents, but also on all members of their family. Some of these changes include the increasing number of children needing foster care and the resultant growth in the number of foster families, the move towards deinstitutionalisation, the use of treatment and specialist foster care and more emphasis on family reunification. Despite this, biological children of carers receive very little attention and recognition of their contribution.

In spite of the extensive literature on the subject of foster care, very little has been written on the impact of fostering on biological children. The literature related to foster care has primarily focused on professional processes, such as assessment and selection of foster families and management of the placement of a foster child. The limited amount of literature available on this topic is mainly from the UK and the US and is mainly related to foster mothers and their perceptions, with very little reference to their birth children. This along with my personal interest and practice experience has inspired me to conduct a literature review and write this paper.

Kinship-care placements in Australia are now more prevalent than foster care and are the fastest growing form of out-of-home care in this country (AIHW, 2014). On 30 June 2013, 93% of Australian children in out-of-home care were in home-based care, with 43% of these in foster care and 48% in relative/kinship care (AIHW, 2014). The past decade has seen a greater understanding of children's needs in out-of-home care, with models of therapeutic care showing promise in Australia and internationally. These models, however, are designed almost exclusively for children placed in foster care or residential care, and as such do not consider the unique features of kinship care. This paper will identify the needs of children in out-of-home care, before briefly examining the concepts of therapeutic foster care as a response to children who have experienced trauma. Key distinctions between foster care and kinship care will be highlighted and implications for a conceptual model of therapeutic kinship care discussed.

Young people placed in out-of-home care (OHC) through Child Protection in Victoria are formally discharged by the expiration of their care order at the age of 18 years or younger. In contrast, young people in Australia generally live in their family home with parents or carers well into their twenties. Whilst there are a range of leaving care and post-care services funded for care leavers, these supports tend to be temporary and discretionary in contrast to the ongoing support young people receive whilst in care or, in some cases, from family and social networks post care. Numerous studies have documented the developmental challenges experienced by young people leaving state care, and the often poor outcomes faced by this group. The Stand By Me (SBM) programme was developed in Victoria to replicate the ongoing support provided in the UK to care leavers by Personal Advisers who remain available to assist young people until 21 years of age. Evaluation of the SBM programme has shown that ongoing, holistic support, including housing support, has assisted 12 young people through the SBM pilot to access stable housing, address multiple and complex issues, and form trusting relationships with SBM workers that contribute to positive outcomes.

An earlier evaluation of the New Zealand child protection program ‘Keeping Ourselves Safe’ found, inter alia, that girls with learning problems were highly vulnerable to drugs, sexual abuse and violence (Briggs & Hawkins 1996a). This led to the present study, the aim of which was to focus specifically on children with learning disabilities, and to include data from boys as well as girls.

Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from one hundred and sixteen students aged 11–17 years (61 females and 55 males) who were interviewed in special education units. Their common characteristics were that they had all been assessed as being 3 years or more behind their chronological age group in their development and achievement, they needed individually planned curricula across the range of school subjects, and they had all previously attended mainstream schools throughout the North and South Islands of New Zealand.

The study confirmed the vulnerability of children with learning disabilities to the risks of drugs, violence, psychological bullying, pornography and sexual abuse. Significant levels of violence in both schools and the home were found. The study also showed the need for special attention for the protection of boys.

It is possible that children with learning disabilities were targeted because they were seen as safer targets in terms of an expectation that they would be less aware of the difference between right and wrong and less likely than other children to make a report about any abusive behaviour. If this speculative hypothesis is correct, it means that children with learning disabilities require even more vigilant forms of protection than other children.