Family Group Conferences, part two: Putting the ‘family’ back into child protection

1994 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 11-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Ban ◽  
Phillip Swain
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Family Group ◽  
Child Welfare Services ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
Previous Edition ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Decision ◽  
Family Decision Making

This is the second of two articles examining the establishment of Family Decision Making in Victoria. The first ‘Family Group Conferences – Part One: Australia's first Project in Child Protection’ was presented in the previous edition of Children Australia. This article builds upon the first by presenting an overview of the evaluation of the Victorian Family Decision Making Project, and pointing to practice and other implications of the development of this Project for child welfare services generally.

Family group conferences, part one: Australia's first project within child protection

1994 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 19-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Ban ◽  
Phillip Swain
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Family Group ◽  
The Past ◽  
Family Decision ◽  
Family Decision Making

Family decision making through Family Group Conferences has been trialled in a pilot project by the Mission of St James and St John, Victoria, for the past 16 months (as of February 1994) in a two year Project. This article, the first of a series of two, intends to briefly explain the technique and how the project was established in Victoria. The theoretical basis, or project assumptions, will be outlined, together with the obstacles which currently prevent the wider implementation of the practice. The project was independently evaluated from October 1992 up to 31 August 1993 (Swain, 1993a; 1993b). Key findings of that evaluation will be discussed in the second article in this series along with practice issues that need further exploration.

Family Decision Making: Good practice in child protection solutions

1999 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-27
Author(s):  
Linda Mondy ◽  
Patricia Kiely
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Practice Model ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Decision ◽  
Family Decision Making

This paper provides an introduction and background to the Family Decision Making project which was piloted in the Department of Community Services Cumberland/Prospect area of NSW, in partnership with Burnside (an agency of the Uniting Church NSW). The paper outlines the core features and values of the DoCS/Burnside project with the aim of promoting discussion as to Family Decision Making’s wider application as a best practice model of working with children and families.

scholarly journals Development and validation of the Family Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie T. Nolan ◽  
Mark T. Hughes ◽  
Joan Kub ◽  
Peter B. Terry ◽  
Alan Astrow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Loved One ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Decision ◽  
Patient Scenario ◽  
Family Decision Making ◽  
Test Retest Reliability

AbstractObjective:Several studies have reported high levels of distress in family members who have made health care decisions for loved ones at the end of life. A method is needed to assess the readiness of family members to take on this important role. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure family member confidence in making decisions with (conscious patient scenario) and for (unconscious patient scenario) a terminally ill loved one.Methods:On the basis of a survey of family members of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) enriched by in-depth interviews guided by Self-Efficacy Theory, we developed six themes within family decision making self-efficacy. We then created items reflecting these themes that were refined by a panel of end-of-life research experts. With 30 family members of patients in an outpatient ALS and a pancreatic cancer clinic, we tested the tool for internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha and for consistency from one administration to another using the test–retest reliability assessment in a subset of 10 family members. Items with item to total scale score correlations of less than .40 were eliminated.Results:A 26-item scale with two 13-item scenarios resulted, measuring family self-efficacy in decision making for a conscious or unconscious patient with a Cronbach's alphas of .91 and .95, respectively. Test–retest reliability was r = .96, p = .002 in the conscious senario and r = .92, p = .009 in the unconscious scenario.Significance of results:The Family Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale is valid, reliable, and easily completed in the clinic setting. It may be used in research and clinical care to assess the confidence of family members in their ability to make decisions with or for a terminally ill loved one.

Ethical decision-making in internet research – Investigating protest groups against Child Welfare Services on Facebook

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-317
Author(s):  
Edda Stang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Internet Research ◽  
Child Welfare Services ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
Insight Into

At a time when both extensive international and national protest and criticisms are directed toward the Norwegian Child Welfare Services, it is of great interest to researchers to gain insight into the viewpoints presented in protest groups on social media. The paper aims to give insight into the ethical judgement involved in research on digital communities where it is difficult to decide whether certain material is public or not. In addition, the paper reflects on the social consequences of understanding some participants as vulnerable versus understanding them as citizens, in a social work/child protection context on social media. A considerable amount of literature focuses on ethical questions in Internet research. There is also literature on the ethical considerations connected to resistance and protest groups on social media. There is, however, less existing research about the ethical decision-making within the field of social work, child protection and client protests on the Internet. This paper analyses certain experiences from a qualitative research project regarding Facebook groups protesting Child Welfare Services in Norway. The paper concludes that in some social media research contexts, as the one presented here, taking extra care to anonymize participants in publications is sufficient to secure privacy, and covert collection of data is possible without jeopardizing ethical guidelines. Further, by developing practical ethical judgement, we can – in some social work contexts – avoid putting people into categories like “vulnerable” and instead approach the participants in public Facebook groups as citizens with socio-political opinions.

Decision-making in foster care: A view on the dynamic and collective nature of the process

2020 ◽  
pp. 146801732092882
Author(s):  
Doris Chateauneuf ◽  
Marie-Andrée Poirier ◽  
Geneviève Pagé
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Child Welfare Services ◽  
Foster Family ◽  
Her Family ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
The Social

Summary Placement in a foster family by child welfare services is a crucial decision in the trajectory of a child. Nevertheless, the strategies and procedures underlying the decision to remove a child from his/her family for placement in foster care remain little studied. Based on 39 semi-directed individual interviews with social workers from child welfare services, the current study aims at highlighting how social workers come to the decision to remove a child from parental care, and how they choose a foster family. Findings The thematic analysis of the qualitative data collected reveals that four main components were raised by social workers to explain how they make their decisions regarding placement and what are the considerations associated with this process: (1) Professional consensus and collaboration, (2) Clinical and legal guidelines, (3) Risk assessment and clinical judgment, and (4) Personality and values of the social worker. The results of this study show that decisions surrounding the removal of a child from his/her family and the choice of a foster family are the result of multiples factors and strategies involving the social worker and other collaborating professionals, as well as their legal and administrative context. Application The findings suggest that additional efforts could be made in child protection organizations and agencies in order to develop supportive measures that take into account the collective and interactional aspect of the decision-making process regarding placement in foster care.

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