scholarly journals Cannabis Use Among Aboriginal Youth in the Non-Aboriginal Child Protection Services System

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall Waechter ◽  
Eman Leung ◽  
Christine Wekerle ◽  
Marlyn Bennett ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Cannabis Use ◽  
Risky Behaviour ◽  
Aboriginal Youth ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Aboriginal Child ◽  
The Social ◽  
Aboriginal Children ◽  
The Relationship

The social, cultural and political contexts of vulnerability need to be considered in defining, understanding, and reducing substance abuse among maltreated youth with an Aboriginal background (MacNeil, 2008; Tatz, 1999). Aboriginal cultures tend to incorporate an ideology of collectivism that manifests in shared childrearing responsibilities within aboriginal families and communities (e.g., Dilworth-Anderson & Marshall, 1996). As such, Aboriginal children may identify with multiple and equally important attachment figures, and be more accepting of multiple caring adult guardians who can direct them away from risky behaviour (Christensen & Manson, 2001). We examined the relationship between cannabis use and reported identification with a caseworker among youth-identified Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal adolescents randomly drawn from the active caseload of a large urban non-Aboriginal Child Protection Services (CPS) system. While an Aboriginal-specific child welfare agency exists in this catchment area, youth need to be identified as Aboriginal to be involved in that system and some youth with Aboriginal heritage inevitably end up in non-Aboriginal CPS agencies. There were no significant differences in rates of maltreatment, trauma symptomatology, or overall cannabis use between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth in this study. However, Aboriginal youth who reported a more negative (i.e., low) identification with their caseworker were five times more likely to use cannabis in the past 12 months compared to Aboriginal youth who reported a more positive (i.e., medium-high) identification with their caseworker. These results suggest that having a moderate-to-high positive identification with caseworker may be a protective factor in regard to abstinence from cannabis use among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth in the non-Aboriginal CPS system.

School Absenteeism Associated With Child Protection System Involvement, Maltreatment Type, and Time in Out-of-Home Care

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-445
Author(s):  
Jason M. Armfield ◽  
Emmanuel Gnanamanickam ◽  
Ha T. Nguyen ◽  
James C. Doidge ◽  
Derek S. Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Home Care ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Protection System ◽  
School Absenteeism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
Cohort Design ◽  
Maltreatment Type ◽  
The Relationship

Greater school absenteeism is associated with numerous negative educational outcomes. We used a retrospective cohort design with linked administrative data on 296,422 children to examine the relationship between school absenteeism and child protection system (CPS) involvement. Children with substantiated maltreatment had 4.1 times more unexplained and problem absences than children with no CPS involvement. In multivariate analyses, children with substantiated maltreatment had significantly greater “chronic” truancy ( OR = 3.41) and less “acceptable” levels of absences ( OR = 0.74) compared to children with no CPS involvement. Greater absenteeism was seen for children with substantiated neglect and who had their first CPS notification earlier in life. Being in out-of-home care for 3+ years was a protective factor for children who had a CPS notification before age 5. Additional adversities had a strong additive effect with CPS involvement on absenteeism and chronic truancy. This study demonstrates the potential scope for reducing problem absenteeism and helps inform the public debate regarding how the type and timing of CPS involvement might ameliorate or exacerbate harm for children.

scholarly journals Children and childhood in Chile

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-164
Author(s):  
Ida Bruheim Jensen ◽  
Ingunn T. Ellingsen ◽  
Ingunn Studsrød ◽  
Manuela Garcia Quiroga
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Q Methodology ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Childhood Studies ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Contextual Risk ◽  
The Social ◽  
Children And Childhood

EnglishThis study explores understandings of children and childhood among 21 social workers from five child protection services in Chile. To help grasp multiple ideas about children and childhood, we use Q methodology and the ‘child visibility’ concept. The object is to explore dissimilar and/or similar views on child visibility among social workers and the characteristics of these viewpoints. The results reveal three distinct views on child visibility. Based on the characteristics of these perspectives, we have conceptualized the workers associated with them as: activists, buffers and experts. The activists vigorously seek children’s own perspectives, and produce an image of capable children with unique perspectives. The buffers and the experts, however, typically define children’s needs from their own perspectives. Nevertheless, through differing logics, the experts focus on children’s vulnerability and protection needs, while the buffers are more inclined to view children in terms of their contextual risk and on the margins in an underfunded child protection context. Despite these differences, there are shared viewpoints among the social workers, for example, by understanding children as relational. The results are discussed in light of current theory within childhood studies. SpanishNiños e infancia en Chile: Perspectivas de los trabajadores sociales.Este estudio explora las concepciones que sobre los niños y la infancia desarrollan 21 trabajadores sociales de cinco servicios de protección infantil en Chile. Para comprender estas múltiples ideas, utilizamos la Metodología Q y el concepto de “visibilidad del niño”. El objeto es explorar perspectivas similares o diferentes respecto a la visión que tienen los trabajadores sociales sobre este grupo social, así como las características de esos puntos de vista. Los resultados revelan tres tipos de visión distintivos sobre los niños. Con base a las características de estas tres perspectivas, hemos conceptualizado a los trabajadores sociales asociados con ellas como: activistas, baluartes, y expertos. Los activistas buscan vigorosamente las perspectivas de los propios infantes y producen una imagen de que los niños poseen capacidades y perspectivas únicas. Los otros dos grupos, sin embargo, típicamente definen las necesidades de los niños desde sus propias representaciones. A través de lógicas distintas, los expertos se enfocan en la vulnerabilidad de los infantes y sus necesidades de protección; mientras los baluartes están más inclinados a ver a los niños en términos de sus propios riesgos contextuales, y en los márgenes de un contexto de protección infantil con financiación insuficiente. A pesar de estas diferencias, existen puntos de vista comunes entre los trabajadores sociales, por ejemplo, al entender a los niños en términos relacionales. Estos resultados son discutidos a la luz de las teorías actuales dentro de los estudios de la infancia.

scholarly journals Public Measures to Deal with the Negative Effects of Intra-EU Migration. Case Study: Suceava County, Romania

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Delia Cristina BALABAN ◽  
Viviana HUȚULEAC
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
County Council ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Media

"Abstract Romania is one of the EU member states reported to have a high rate of intra-EU migration. There is a temporary labor migration, but also Romanian migrants decide to leave their country for good. This phenomenon has a large economic, cultural, and social impact on society, with the northeastern region of Romania being especially affected. The main objectives of the present research are: (1) to analyze the social measures applied by the local authorities, especially the County Council and DGASPC (Social Work and Child Protection Services) Suceava to strengthen the ties with the diaspora, and to deal with the problem of the children with one or both parents working abroad, and (2) to determine how the local public authorities communicated on this issue. The applied research methods are document analysis, content analysis of the social media accounts of the above-mentioned institutions, and local media, as well as in-depth interviews that were conducted at the Suceava County Council and the Social Work and Child Protection Services. Our findings underlined that Suceava county has a defined strategy to deal with the negative effects of the labor migration phenomenon related to the phenomenon of the children left at home, there was a constant preoccupation during the analyzed period to communicate on this subject and even more, the local authorities took some measures to deal with this relevant issue. As both local authorities and local media acknowledged, more social measures are still needed."

scholarly journals Observations on the Relationship between Resilience and Mindfulness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Linder ◽  
Jay A. Mancini
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Scholarly Attention

In the last three decades, mindfulness and resilience have received extensive scholarly attention. Research has burgeoned and they have both become “buzz words” in the social sciences and mental health fields. That said, they are often presented as unrelated qualities, skills, or states, and few studies and texts have examined their linkages and/or how they complement each other. Masten’s (2001, 2009) seminal papers and subsequent book (2014) that presented resilience as “ordinary magic” have had large impacts on resilience scholarship, bringing forth that resilience is much more of a common human occurrence and proclivity than previously considered. In this paper, we explore the potential for mindfulness to be a potentially overlooked and ubiquitous protective factor in the development and maintenance of resilience. To achieve this, we propose that mindfulness is fundamental to resilience by investigating linkages between mindfulness and resilience yet to be thoroughly explored in the literature, and discuss how mindfulness is logically connected to resilience. Likewise, we suggest that the complementary interplay between mindfulness and resilience is readily applicable and highly germane, as mindfulness may beget resilience and vice versa.

scholarly journals Grandparents battle to be key stakeholders in protecting grandchildren

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-113
Author(s):  
Susan Gair ◽  
Ines Zuchowski
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Child Safety ◽  
Research Partnership ◽  
Kinship Networks ◽  
Child Protection Workers ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Emerging Themes ◽  
Aboriginal Children

INTRODUCTION: Grandparents are increasingly involved in the care of grandchildren, including after child protection intervention.METHOD: A recent Australian qualitative research partnership explored how relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren could be optimised after child safety concerns.  Interviews and focus groups were undertaken with 77 participants, including 51 grandparents, 12 parents, six foster carers and eight child and family workers. Emerging themes reported here focus on the role of grandparents and their perceptions of, and interactions with, the child protection system.FINDINGS: Overall, findings identify that grandparents wanted to help safeguard their grandchildren but many encountered an adversarial child protection system that left them feeling powerless, fearful and unimportant. Aboriginal participants reiterated that child protection workers needed to better understand how maintaining kinship networks provided a protective factor for Aboriginal children, and that grandparents were key stakeholders in their grandchildren’s lives.IMPLICATIONS: The findings from this study affirm the value and role of grandparents and highlight the need for implemented family-inclusive child protection practice within and beyond the Australian context.

scholarly journals Human Resources in Romanian Child Protection Social Services. A Regional Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106
Author(s):  
Zoltán Elekes
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Services Sector ◽  
The Social ◽  
Level Analysis

Abstract Efficiency and cost effectiveness of human resources implied in social services in general and in child protections services specifically is a taboo subject in Romanian social policy. On the following pages, I will make a general analysis of human resources included in the Romanian social services sector, starting from the topic of territorial coverage with professionalized social workers. After a regional- and county-level analysis of this, linked to the social and economic situation of the regions, I look at the specific field of child protection to see if there exists any cost effectiveness in the volume of human resources implied in these services. In the final part of my study, I will make considerations about the quality of the personnel within child protection services.

scholarly journals Gendered Practices in Child Protection: Shifting Mother Accountability and Father Invisibility in Situations of Domestic Violence

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 228-237
Author(s):  
Beth Archer-Kuhn ◽  
Stefan De Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Large City ◽  
Gender Expectations ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
Professional Development Training

This article reports on an exploratory, qualitative, multiple-methods study that included individual interviews and a focus group with child protection services (CPS) workers in a large city in Alberta, Canada. The findings illuminate current CPS worker practices in situations of domestic violence where inclusion and exclusion decisions are made for service provision, and the ways in which documents reflect these day-to-day practices; how service user descriptions are constructed and reconstructed, the social problem of domestic violence conceptualized, and the ways in which professional development training encourages critical thinking about existing practices to create new solutions for families experiencing domestic violence. Thematic analysis reveals three themes about CPS workers’ experience: 1) current practices reflect invisibility of men and accountability of women; 2) personal and professional shift in perspectives on who to work with, gender expectations, and how CPS are delivered; and 3) reflexive practice into potential intervention strategies and professional development training. The findings suggest specific recommendations for practice including the need to engage men in child welfare practice, shift perspective about service delivery with families experiencing domestic violence, and account for gender norms and practices in service delivery.

scholarly journals Surveillance and Child Protection: De-mystifying the Trojan Horse

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 304-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Wrennall
Keyword(s):  
Information Sharing ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Trojan Horse ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Social Body ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Agendas ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Relationship

This paper belongs to an embryonic body of scholarship that documents the camouflaging of political, economic and social agendas under the rhetoric of Child Protection. The Trojan Horse theory of Child Protection, as this scholarship may broadly be termed, alleges the misuse of Child Protection powers for ulterior motives. Years of struggle against the Law and Order, Psychiatric and other discourses have won a raft of Civil and Human Rights protections. Bypassing these protections, Child Protection provides a rhetoric that disguises surveillance and disarms opposition, because a justifiable and apparently benign pretext has been found in the ostensible and entirely laudable, aim of protecting children. The paper collates widespread evidence of how the pretext of Child Protection has been used to extend surveillance and disarm populations.Through the discourse of Child Protection, children are propelled through various constructions from ‘child in need’, to ‘child at risk’, to ‘potentially delinquent’, to ‘delinquent’, but in each case, transgressions of ever more restrictive and constantly morphing laws, regulations and expectations are used to infiltrate techniques of information gathering deeper into more intimate parts of the social body. Child Protection is now used to penetrate where orthodox policing can no longer go. Wherever they are placed in the process of criminalisation, as victim or transgressor, children are constructed as a pretext for expanding power and increasing profit. Transgression by, or against, children, is used to further the economic, political and commercial interests in surveillance. To fully understand the relationship between surveillance and Child Protection, it is necessary to interrogate the information-sharing model that is built into the major Child Protection frameworks. The paper explores the manner in which Child Protection has been structured by the information- sharing model, to benefit the sectional interests in surveillance and the detrimental consequences that this has for children and young people.

scholarly journals Settler-Colonial Violence and the ‘Wounded Aboriginal Child’: Reading Alexis Wright with Irene Watson (and Giorgio Agamben)

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-60
Author(s):  
Joanne Faulkner
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Terra Nullius ◽  
Aboriginal Child ◽  
Colonial Violence ◽  
A Site ◽  
Aboriginal Children

Drawing on Alexis Wright’s novel The Swan Book and Irene Watson’s expansive critique of Australian law, this article locates within the settler–Australian imaginary the figure of the ‘wounded Aboriginal child’ as a site of contest between two rival sovereign logics: First Nations sovereignty (grounded in a spiritual connection to the land over tens of millennia) and settler sovereignty (imposed on Indigenous peoples by physical, legal and existential violence for 230 years). Through the conceptual landscape afforded by these writers, the article explores how the arenas of juvenile justice and child protection stage an occlusion of First Nations sovereignty, as a disappearing of the ‘Aboriginality’ of Aboriginal children under Australian settler law. Giorgio Agamben’s concept of potentiality is also drawn on to analyse this sovereign difference through the figures of Terra Nullius and ‘the child’.

scholarly journals Talking about the Aboriginal Community: Child Protection Practitioners’ Views

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Walmsley
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Aboriginal Communities ◽  
Aboriginal Community ◽  
Aboriginal Child ◽  
Full Responsibility ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Child protection practitioners view Aboriginal communities as victim, adversary, participant, partner, and protector of children. These representations of communities are derived from interview data with 19 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal child protection social workers in British Columbia, Canada. The representations of the community are informed by the practitioner’s geographic relationship to the community and the length of community residency (including whether it’s the practitioner’s community of origin). Practitioners view communities as a victim or adversary when no relationship of trust exists with the community. Practitioners view communities having a participative or partnership role in child protection when trust has developed. When communities take full responsibility for children’s welfare, practitioners view the community as the protector of children. No clear association was found between the different representations of the community and the practitioner’s culture or organizational auspices. The practitioner’s own vision of practice is believed to significantly influence the relationship that develops with the community.

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