Recruiting caregivers for children with an intellectual disability who require out-of-home respite or longer-term care is a problem which has challenged service providers for many years. This paper summarises findings of a recent evaluation of Shared Family Care, a foster care program in Victoria for children with intellectual disabilities/developmental delay. Current recruiting is not succeeding in meeting the demand for either respite, short term or long term care. Findings of the evaluation suggest that factors such as use of appropriate media, and running effective recruitment campaigns is only part of the answer. It is also important at every stage to address caregiver satisfaction with the job and employ strategies to find potential caregivers in the community.

The recent trial and conviction in relation to the death in Victoria of Daniel Valerio has prompted renewed debate on mandatory reporting. But would such a measure have prevented Daniel's death?

This article is written by a non indigenous person who has spent a number of years working with Torres Strait Islanders and is currently working in Victoria on a project that has its origins in Maori child care practice. The author has found that his work as a white social worker has been markedly influenced by contact with both Torres Strait Islander and Maori culture, and considers that this effect has been both positive and beneficial. White social workers for a number of years have been guilty of implementing an assimilationist policy where Governments treat indigenous people as though they are the same as white Australians. While this can be considered an equal treatment model, this policy and practice has been detrimental to the unique contribution indigenous people can provide to social work knowledge and understanding of child care practices. This article intends to share some insight into both these cultures and to hopefully influence readers to be more open when considering their dealings with indigenous people. Particular attention will be given to Torres Strait Islanders as they are indigenous Australians, with additional reference made to the influence of the Maoris in New Zealand.

A version of this article was presented at the Fourth Australasian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, ‘Rights and Responsibilities: Wrongs and Remedies’, Brisbane, 11th - 15th July, 1993.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by Australia in December 1990. The Convention contains 55 articles, 41 of which are substantive, the others being procedural.

The Convention has been analysed in legal and other literature in Australia. Its ratification was actively promoted by the National Children's Bureau of Australia and other bodies. Its implementation is the primary responsibility of the Federal and State governments. Periodic reports are required to be made to a Committee of the United Nations established for this purpose. It is foreseen that non-government organisations in each ratifying country will be invited to comment on the performance of their country. This surely means that the NCHA has a role in monitoring the implementation of the Convention.

The Aboriginal family unit has seen many changes since European invasion. Like families all over the world, the Aboriginal family is the place where social behaviour is constructed, interpreted and transmitted from one generation to another. This is a process which has continued since the invasion of white man. Aboriginal people see the family as a place of nurturing, with the ability to provide and teach. When one or both of these factors is not functioning adequately, a family breakdown can occur.

This article is based on a small part of a review of relevant literature for a Master of Social Work thesis entitled, ‘Do You Mean We're Not The Only Ones?… Experiences of Permanent Placement Disruption’. Statistics and trends from the State of Victoria have been included where relevant.

This paper reviews the Skills Enhancement Project for social welfare workers in child protection. It argues that both the description and conceptualisation of competencies is flawed. These enterprise competencies use a language that suggests expertise and control in human relationships that is antithetical to good practice. The push for incorporation of these competencies into the higher education curriculum is also problematic because of their messages about worker client relationships; the failure to consider the moral and ethical basis of practice and the assumption that professional expertise is developed solely through a technical approach.

“I mean we're sitting back waiting for our younger people to take over. When I'm talking about younger people I'm talking about teenagers and ah our people in their early twenties. They are the ones that have the new ideas, some of us now I think our ideas are a bit stale, a bit old, we try and keep abreast of what's happening with issues that are affecting people but ah, the same way as we can't, ah don't want white people telling Aboriginal people what should happen, you can't have older people telling younger people what should happen either. But I think we should work together and map out a future and the younger people should come in and take it…seize the time”.

In the last edition of Children Australia [18(3)], I started an interview with a woman who came to see me several years ago claiming that her child was both sexually and physically abused by his teacher. At considerable cost to herself and her family, she has refused to ignore the abuse her child suffered and the lack of action by the authorities.

PART TWO of the interview commences with discussing her son's disclosure.

Today if someone mentions the word ‘treaty’ in the Aboriginal context, the usual next question is ‘Why a treaty?’ The educated English reader of the 19th Century press would have been more likely to ask the opposite question ‘Why not a treaty?’ Treaties with the indigenous people were a normal part of the colonising process. Treaties were concluded by the British in New Zealand, and with many Indian tribes in Canada and the United States.

The article ‘A Word Salad - Enterprise Based Competencies in Child Protection’, Children Australia 18 (2) 1993 by Dr. Lesley Cooper, examines the Victorian Department of Health and Community Services (H&CS) Skills Enhancement Project (SEP). H&CS plainly rejects the negative criticisms of the skill analysis work which the article espouses.