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Children in out-of-home care in Australia - International comparisons
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 influence of 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. Yes Yes
... Historically, Australia has tended to import child welfare policy, program and practice initiatives from other countries without fully analysing their implications in light of the significant social, cultural, institutional, legislative and political differences between the respective jurisdictions (Maluccio, Ainsworth, & Thoburn, 2000;Tilbury & Thoburn, 2008). In the 1980s, however, the Victorian Government introduced its own permanency model that was considered progressive at the time and remains so today. ...
... This chapter expands on the introductory comments regarding different models of welfare and child welfare, with the dual aim of situating Victoria in the broader international welfare context and exploring ideological approaches to the provision of child welfare. Jurisdictions establish child welfare systems that reflect their own unique history, vision, priorities and desired outcomes for children, families, communities and society (Fernandez, 1996;Carney, 1999;Cameron & Freymond, 2006;Pelton, 2008;Tilbury & Thoburn, 2008;Connolly, Katz, Shlonsky, & Bromfield, 2014). As a result, jurisdictional differences between child welfare systems are evident both internationally and across the states of Australia. ...
... This is shown in Figure 1 below, which also includes the total numbers of adoptions 20 granted during the same periods. Writers have noticed the continuing and increasing use of PCOs in comparison with adoptions in Victoria (Tilbury & Thoburn, 2008;O'Halloran, 2015;Ross & Cashmore, 2016). For example: "Permanent care has almost replaced formal adoption in Victoria as a way of placing children who are in need of family and security" (Quartly, Swain, & Cuthbert, 2013, p. 142). ...
This research investigated debates surrounding the introduction and implementation of Permanent Care Orders (PCOs), a type of guardianship, in the context of permanency for children unable to be reunified with their parents in the statutory child protection and out-of-home care system in the Australian state of Victoria. Two thematic document analyses were conducted using Applied Thematic Analysis, which facilitated rigor and reduced potential bias in the studies. The first study analysed the official records of the relevant 1984–1989 parliamentary debates to investigate the key issues and ideas that informed the introduction of PCOs in Victoria. Four primary themes were identified: the rhetoric of rights; the ‘hierarchy of family’ debate; child protection is everybody’s business; and the politics of influence. The second study analysed the publicly available submissions to a government-commissioned inquiry into the early outcomes from changes made in 2014 to Victoria’s permanency laws to investigate the implementation of PCOs in relation to the issues that triggered their introduction. Again, four primary themes were identified: the power of government; the assumption of a perfect system; disproportionate impact on the most disadvantaged; and the impact of the permanency hierarchy. Overall, the studies found that a children’s rights perspective, particularly with respect to continuity of care, family connections, culture and identity, has not been prioritised in the operationalisation of children’s right to protection and in the development of alternative permanency options. Viewed in terms of Fox Harding’s four-fold typology of ideological perspectives in Western child welfare, the findings indicate that the Victorian Government’s approach has shifted from a defence of the birth family and parents’ rights orientation, which emphasises the importance of biological families and values continuity in children’s relationships and connections with them, toward a state paternalism and child protection orientation, which more highly values legal permanency in the provision of alternative care arrangements for looked after children. The implications of the 2014 change to Victoria’s permanency hierarchy, which now positions adoption ahead of PCOs, mean that progress toward a children’s rights approach to policy development and practice in the area of child protection and out-of-home care may be further undermined. An alternative framework integrating a broad range of children’s rights and recent international research evidence is proposed with a view to stimulating thinking and debate in this politically sensitive and contentious area of social policy, practice and research.
... Several cross-national studies concerning social welfare have been undertaken across colonial societies. These include child welfare in Australia, Canada and Sweden (Nygren et al., 2009), child protection in Australia and other developed countries (Tilbury & Thoburn, 2008), Indigenous well-being in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States (Cooke et al., 2007) and the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system in Australia, Canada and New Zealand (Jeffries & Stenning, 2014). ...
This article offers a cross-national comparison of social work in two countries, Australia and Canada, about the care of Indigenous children within the context of colonization and the evolving profession. The discussion is based on data from two empirical studies that examined professional discourse relating to the removal of Indigenous children from their families and Indigenous peoples more broadly within key historical time frames. The studies involved a content analysis of the flagship journals of the Australian and Canadian professional associations. It is argued that a critical interrogation of professional discourse within these historical and national particularities provides insights that can inform a broader understanding of how practices and constructions of social work are shaped within contemporary practice contexts. The studies revealed that very little attention was paid to problematizing colonial policies and practices, including the state-sanctioned forcible removal of countless Indigenous children from their biological families, while the professions in both countries were complicit in the oppressive treatment of Indigenous peoples that have left a legacy of intergenerational trauma. The findings suggest a way of understanding social work as a discipline beyond the historical specificities of the two countries that has relevance to social work across the globe.
... However, while such work is informative, studies that focus on US or Australian samples are difficult to translate into the UK context due to the different pre-adoption experiences and processes, and consequently, potentially different post-adoptive child outcomes [24]. Specifically, the vast majority of children adopted in the UK are adopted from the looked after population, rather than internationally [25], and domestic private arrangements are not used [26]. ...
We investigated the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and children's internalising symptoms and externalising problems in the Wales Adoption Cohort Study, a prospective longitudinal study that used case file records (n = 374) for a sample of British children adopted from care (M = 2 years, 55% male). Parents (n = 96) completed questionnaires at 3-5 months, 15-17 months, and 31-33 months post-placement. We hypothesised that: (1) children adopted from care would have experienced more ACEs than children in the general population; (2) the number of ACEs would be associated with higher internalising symptom and externalising problem scores; and (3) adoptive parental warmth would moderate the relationship between ACEs and post-placement internalising symptoms and externalising problems. Nearly half (42%) of the children experienced four or more ACEs. Internalising symptoms and externalising problems were significantly higher than the UK general population. The number of ACEs was associated with internalising symptoms 3 years post-adoptive placement but this relationship was moderated by adoptive parental warmth. This study profiles the experiences and characteristics of a national sample of adopted children and highlights the potential importance of parent warmth as a factor that ameliorates the impact of ACEs on poor child outcomes.
... In contrast to the US and UK, Australian states and territories have historically not used adoption from out-of-home care (Fernandez, 2014;Ross & Cashmore, 2016;Tilbury & Thoburn, 2008). In 2014, however, for the first time in Australia's child welfare history, substantial legislative amendments were made in the two most populous states that could increase the number of adoptions: through the Children, Youth and Families Amendment (Permanent Care and Other Matters) Act in Victoria, and the Child Protection Legislation Amendment Act 2014 No 8 in New South Wales (NSW). ...
Seeking permanency for children is a central concern of Western child protection and out-of-home care systems, with approaches differing between and within countries. Historically, Australia has not prioritised adoption as a permanency pathway. In the state of Victoria there has been a preference for the use of Permanent Care Orders (PCOs), which have been positioned highly in the permanency hierarchy. Despite their significance, little research has been undertaken in relation to the implementation of PCOs. This article reports on a study that explored themes associated with the implementation of PCOs through an analysis of submissions to an inquiry into the early outcomes from Victoria's 2014 permanency amendments. Four key themes emerged: the power of government; the assumption of a perfect system; disproportionate impact on the most disadvantaged; and the impact of the permanency hierarchy. These themes are discussed with respect to their implications for practice and policy development.
IMPLICATIONS
• Systemic resource deficits and poor quality professional decision-making can significantly hinder timely and effective implementation of permanent placements for children in child protection and out-of-home care systems.
• Reducing timeframes for family reunification and promoting adoption of children in out-of-home care without first addressing resourcing and practice issues risks unintended consequences, as well as undermining the rights and best interests of vulnerable children and their families.
... Thus, different socio-cultural contexts and policies at any given time restrict the applicability of outcome findings. As suggested by Tilbury and Thoburn (2008), inappropriate comparisons between jurisdictions can lead to misleading conclusions and unwise policy choice. ...
Amendments to the child protection legislation in New South Wales (NSW), enacted in October 2014, prioritise adoption over foster care for children who cannot live safely with their families. Therefore, psychologists could have an increasing role in conducting assessments and interventions in this field. The purpose of this article is to provide psychologists and adoption researchers with a conceptual model for the psychosocial adjustment of foster care adoptees with a background of maltreatment. A scoping review of the literature on contributors to outcomes for children adopted from care was conducted. A model of adjustment was proposed in which the relationship between risk factors and adjustment is moderated by both adoptive family factors and relationship factors, and indirectly impacted by system supports. Finally, we name some of the psychological assessments and interventions that may have a key role in enhancing the adoptive family resources and parent-child relationships as moderators of outcomes.
... There are policies to encourage supportive family-based responses to concerns about children, but support services are insufficient (Lonne et al., 2009). There are very high rates of racial disparity, with Indigenous children seven times more likely to be in care than non-Indigenous children, but not a high rate of out-of-home care by international standards (Tilbury and Thoburn, 2008). There are also demographic, cultural and historical factors to be taken into account. ...
Social work makes an important contribution to child protection practice and policy in Australia, but data are limited about
the discipline's contribution to research. The aim of this scoping review was to examine the quantity and nature of Australian
social work child protection research for the period 2007–14. A comprehensive search of nine bibliographic databases identified
255 peer-reviewed articles. The papers were authored by 287 researchers, most of whom published only one paper during the
period. The research was published in seventeen Australian and thirty-five international journals. Non-empirical papers and
those using qualitative methodologies were most prevalent, and there was a lack of research depth and quantum on particular
child protection topics. The findings indicate that developing more sustained programmes of research, underpinned by a balanced
portfolio of methods and approaches, would maximise the potential for research impact on child protection policy and practice.
The adoption of children from out-of-home care is uncommon in Australia and rarely occurs in the state of Victoria. This paper reports on how professionals involved in making decisions about the permanent placement of children explain the current rates of adoption from out-of-home care in Victoria. Interviews were conducted with eight child welfare specialists, eight adoption and permanent care specialists and five judicial officers. The current low rates of adoption were attributed to the effect of current legislation, the impact of past adoption practices and the establishment of a culture in Victoria in which adoption is now rarely considered an option for children in out-of-home care.
Although numerous international studies point to large variations in child welfare interventions, comparative analysis has tended to focus either solely on England or the UK as a whole, discounting differences across the four UK countries. This paper compares trends in national statistics relating to the operation of child protection systems across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2004/5 and 2013/14. Despite a number of legislative, operational and definitional differences between nations, a number of trends are apparent. All systems show an increasing orientation towards child protection as evidenced by rising rates of child protection investigation and children subject to child protection planning. Increasingly, this relates to emotional abuse and involves younger children aged 0-4 years. However, the way cases are processed can differ with only one in ten referrals resulting in a child protection investigation in Northern Ireland compared to one in five in England. Potential reasons for these differences are discussed and questions raised as to why, more than quarter century after the introduction of the Children Act 1989, we still have no clear picture of the circumstances of families who come into contact with social services or the services provided to support them.
Performance indicators have both technical and value dimensions, capable of providing data for monitoring and reporting in addition to framing policy problems and their solutions. This paper considers the performance indicators proposed in a recent child protection inquiry in Australia that recommended ?decreasing the numbers of children in the child protection system? as a primary policy objective. The paper examines the context in which the indicators were set, the values and theories they endorse, and how they position stakeholders. The analysis shows how the indicators communicate that child protection services should be only for the most serious cases of child maltreatment, and the reach of statutory services should be curtailed. Children who have been maltreated or who are at risk of harm from abuse or neglect should be diverted from the child protection system (positioned as bad) to the family support system (positioned as good), and at the same time from the state to the nongovernment sector. The shifting relations between government, service providers, and families signified by the indicators can be seen in a broader international context of tightening the boundaries around child protection and concurrently advancing concepts of compliance within family support.
This paper aims to give an overview of out-of-home care in India. It looks at the history and culture of extra-familial care in the country, the urgent need for organised out-of-home care, and tries to understand the role of the state, including legislation and policies. The belief that individual families should solve their children's problems is deeply ingrained. There are different support systems that cater to the children's needs and right to healthy living in home and with family. While the government and community choose and decide for the children of the country, the government drags its feet in drafting policies which recognise that large number of children are growing up without families. More research is needed to look at the need and quality parameters for out-of-home care. Action from both government and non-government organisations (NGOs) will require a large number of institutions that, in turn, will require sufficient budgets and trained staff to ensure an environment of protection, support and appropriate development for an estimated 20 million children in need of good quality out-of-home care in India.
This article reviews recent research evidence about the effectiveness of residential care, education and treatment programs, singularly referred to as treatment programs, for ‘at risk’ adolescents. This evidence is drawn from child welfare, mental health services and education studies. The national and international evidence is that foster care is in crisis and is unable to provide stable and continuous placements for many of our most difficult youth. It is time to reconsider residential alternatives. The research suggests that these alternatives are not ‘all bad’ and that they have an important place in the continuum of child and family services.
This study compares child welfare services provided to Aboriginal (Indian) and Caucasian children in Canada. The findings suggest that child welfare reports involving Aboriginal children are more likely to be classified as suspected or substantiated than reports for Caucasian children. Aboriginal children also are twice as likely to be placed in foster care. This overrepresentation in out-of-home placement is explained statistically by socioeco-nomic, child, parent, and maltreatment characteristics. In addition, these variables play a significant role in accounting for higher rates of case substantiation among Aboriginal children. These factors may reflect the multiple disadvantages experienced by Aboriginal families.
The Looking After Children (LAC) system is currently used in a number of countries world wide, providing increasing opportunities for international research collaboration. This paper describes early results of one such collaborative effort between Canada and Australia. The LAC system is a child-centred case management approach aimed at enhancing the developmental needs of children and young people in out-of-home care placements. LAC has the capacity to connect research, policy and practice. For research and practice LAC measures and enhances outcomes of care. Aggregation of data collected via the use of LAC allows policy makers to assess current practices in order to monitor and measure the extent to which intended program goals are achieved. LAC promotes and encourages collaboration in the care system, enhancing participation opportunities and partnerships between social workers, direct carers (foster parents and residential workers), parents, children and young people.
The use of family group decision-making (FGDM) in child protection is rapidly increasing throughout the world. This paper provides a brief overview of the research evidence from 1996 to 2005 and proposes future directions for both practice and research. The purpose of the review is to help move the discussion of FGDM from a promising practice to an evidence-based practice. The research review considers what is known about the child welfare outcomes of FGDM. The paper then turns to research concerning which families are offered FGDM and which FGDM processes appear to be important. The paper concludes with specific suggestions for developing FGDM programmes that can improve child protection practice and then testing these specific programmes in rigorous trials.
Modern child protection law demonstrates a tension between two competing approaches. The first emphasizes the importance of partnership with birth families in the protection of children. The second emphasizes the need for children to have security in alternative care arrangements when it is not safe for them to remain in their parents' care, with a particular focus on adoption. Increasingly, these two approaches are seen as poles on an ideological spectrum, and the pro‐adoption approach is championed in the name of children's rights. This article explores these issues through the experience in New South Wales, Australia where a government proposal to promote adoption as the preferred option for permanency was defeated. The proposal was influenced by developments in America and Britain, and in particular, the Adoption and Safe Families Act 1997 (ASFA) (US). The arguments against the move were that adoption severs all ties with the birth family as a matter of law; that permanent arrangements can be made without adoption; that the pro‐adoption stance is focused on the needs of very young children; that the pro‐adoption stance may undermine child protection efforts by making it less likely that child abuse reports will be made; that adoption may leave the adopting parents without adequate supports and that the pro‐adoption stance is insensitive to the history of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. While affirming the value of adoption as one option for permanency, this article explores the importance of children's rights to continuity of relationships with people significant to them in making arrangements for long‐term alternate care.
Synthesis of research on disproportionality in child welfare: An update, Washington DC: Casey-CSSP Alliance for Racial Equity in the Child Welfare System
- R B Hill