Playing it safe? Opportunity is knocking!

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Chris-Maree Sultmann
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Protection System ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Protection Commission

Has child protection in Queensland suffered from a risk-averse approach? The recent Child Protection Commission of Inquiry found that a risk-averse culture was one contributing factor to systemic failure in the State’s child protection system. Somewhat paradoxically, such an approach to child protection work can bring its own risks for children and young people. This commentary considers this and asks us to consider what a less risk-averse approach might look like in practice.

Saying and Doing

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 710-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Bessant ◽  
Karen Broadley
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Legal Requirements ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
Espoused Theory ◽  
Right To Participation ◽  
Official Recognition

Modern policy-making communities repeatedly proclaim the idea and value of participation and ‘listening to children and young people’. We note the growing official recognition of children and young people’s right to participation in policies relating to child protection and out-of-home care. Indeed, taking their views into account is mandated in many countries with domestic and international legal requirements accompanying the policy commitments to its value. In this article we explore the disparity or tensions between the ‘espoused theory’ and the ‘theory-in-use’ within child protection. We observe a gap between what policy-makers and practitioners say is the practice and what is actually done, and consider whether there is an effective commitment to the participation of children in child protection. While we rely primarily on Australian and English material, we suggest the arguments and findings presented here have a general international relevance.

Aftercare

2020 ◽  
pp. 299-311
Author(s):  
Kenneth McK. Norrie
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Young Person ◽  
Continuing Care ◽  
Formal Care ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Care Leavers ◽  
Industrial Schools ◽  
And Training

Aftercare, the duties owed to young people after they leave formal care, has always been an inherent aspect of the child protection process in Scotland, perhaps more so indeed in the early days when the assumption was that child protection necessitated the permanent removal of the child from the parent’s care. Early aftercare obligations were primarily around assistance in finding employment for young people when they reached school-leaving age, though managers of reformatory and industrial schools also had obligations to supervise the young person who had left their care for three years or until their 21st birthday. Latterly, education and training grants were made available, as were other forms of financial assistance. Finally, the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 imposed on local authority the obligation of “continuing care” towards young people who had previously been “looked after” by the local authority, and on a range of public bodies to act as “corporate parents” to such care leavers.

The new face of exploited children in Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Olivier Peyroux
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Sexual Trafficking ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Physical And Sexual Abuse

Children and young people are often trafficked for financial gains as a consequence of trafficking for physical and sexual abuse. The number of such refugees and asylum seekers is almost impossible to determine accurately. Children can be used to smuggle drugs across countries. Although small networks for local crime built around drug dealing, cigarette sales, or the resale of stolen goods use children and young people, there are also highly evolved and structured organizations specializing in drug and sexual trafficking. These challenges require new and different ways of approaching them so that mental health and well-being of children and young people can be maintained. Furthermore, it will be helpful to change the terms of child protection, strengthening structures of support, creating community and street teams with appropriate linguistic competencies, better links between countries of origin and European countries, and better cooperation between police, justice, social workers, and non-governmental organizations. Better approaches are indicated.

Children and Young People in Out-of-Home Care: Treating and preventing individual, programmatic and systems abuse.

1992 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Cavanagh
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
The Family

It is well recognised that the maltreatment of children results from a range of factors; some residing within the person, their family history and background, and others, clearly attributable to social stress and difficulties originating external to the family. In the last few decades, child welfare efforts have centred on the improvement of Child Protection Services and raising the prevention of child abuse as a community concern. More recently, attention has been focussed on strengthening the capacity of families to nurture and protect their own as the best means of meeting the developmental needs of children. However, our best efforts to assist families may still necessitate removal to protect the child.Research has identified that children removed for their own protection may be at even greater risk in out-of-home care. (Ryan 1987, Dawson 1984) Whether the incidence of abuse of children in out-of-home care is currently equivalent or higher than for the general population, is at this point a secondary concern. Out-of-home care is an essential and complex service. It is imperative to acknowledge that abuse can occur within the very system entrusted with the responsibility of protecting and caring for vulnerable children and young people.

SPLAT: A model of young people's participation that moves beyond the rhetoric to empowerment

2004 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 20-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne Daly ◽  
Colin McPherson ◽  
Lucinda Reck
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Community Practice ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
The Voice

Paying attention to under-represented voices is considered by some researchers to be one of the current critical issues in child welfare (Kufeldt & McKenzie 2003; Mason & Gibson 2004). Children and young people in care have often been the targets of public policy, the subjects of research projects and the focus of practice that is aimed at protecting them, but not necessarily involving them. Is there really a preparedness to invite children and young people to have a say? Do adults and professionals rather presume to know what is best? Children and young people have much to offer researchers and policy makers by giving their opinions and expressing their views about a range of matters that concern them. This paper will discuss a Department of Families' initiative in the Mackay Whitsunday Region that invites children and young people to be part of the community of practice. It will showcase the successful positioning of eight to ten young people within the research, practice and policy agenda, and outline a vision to champion children and young people's participation at a community practice level throughout Australia. It will explore the journey of placing the voice of children and young people at the centre of the child protection system.

scholarly journals CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION: THE CHOICE BETWEEN ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE AS CHILD PROTECTION RESPONSES

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Bonfili
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Young People ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
Choice Of Care

This article seeks to expand the conversation started in the primary article by Stephen Gay in this volume entitled ‘The Choice Between Adoption and Foster Care as Child Protection Responses’. It discusses the need for stability and permanence of care arrangements for children and young people living in out-of-home care in Part II before moving on in Part III to consider the option of widening the choice of care arrangements to better meet their needs. The importance of listening to the voices of children and young people and giving them a say in where they live and how they are cared for is also explored in Part IV.

Protecting children, creating citizens

2020 ◽  
pp. 133-148
Author(s):  
Katrin Križ
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Building Block ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Participatory Approaches ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Neglected Children ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
Abused And Neglected Children

This chapter highlights the participatory approaches that exist in child protection practice. Citizens are people who actively participate in decisions about their lives and the communities in which they live. If child protection caseworkers promote children's participation in these decisions, they also play a role in promoting their status as citizens. Of course, children's interactions with other children and young people and other adults may contribute to children's and young people's status as citizens as well. The participation of children in child protection-related decisions is only one 'building block' of a larger historical trajectory towards children's citizenship and children's rights. Nonetheless, it is worthy of exploration because abused and neglected children are in an especially vulnerable position.

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