Refocusing on Early Intervention and Family Support: A Review of Child Welfare Reforms in New South Wales, Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriet Churchill ◽  
Barbara Fawcett
Keyword(s):  
Early Intervention ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Family Services ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Welfare Reforms

Since 2000, the New South Wales (NSW) Government in Australia has pursued major child welfare reforms. Responding to the ‘crisis in child protection’ and informed by a public health approach, key aims were to prevent child maltreatment and promote child welfare by ‘expanding and enhancing early intervention and family services’. This article critically reviews the aims, approach and main developments in NSW. The article argues that in several respects the reforms extended and enhanced early intervention and family services in cost-effective ways but suffered from implementation problems, limitations in service developments and major reform challenges which inhibited their scope and impacts. These limitations raise critical issues about the reform framework, resource constraints and ideological influences.

Challenges posed by kinship care: A study focussing on New South Wales

2003 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 12-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonie Gibbons ◽  
Jan Mason
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Kinship Care ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Care And Support ◽  
Placement Option

Kinship care as a formal placement option has been steadily increasing over recent years, particularly in New South Wales. This paper draws on a report of research on kinship care in New South Wales, in which the two authors participated (Mason et al, 2002). In conducting the research, qualitative and quantitative methods were used to explore both ‘top down’ perspectives (from policy documents and statistics) and ‘bottom up’ perspectives (from child protection practitioners and those who experience policy as service recipients – kinship carers, young people in kinship care and parents of children in kinship care).In this paper we briefly outline the research and discuss findings relating to definitions of kinship care, the extent of kinship care in NSW, decision making around the placement of children in kinship care, reasons given by participants for kinship care, and support for carers.

Privatisation and substitute care: recent policy developments in New South Wales and their significance

1996 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Mason
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
New South ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Care Program ◽  
Substitute Care ◽  
Child Welfare Policy ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Direct Government

During recent years a significant change has occurred in child welfare policy in New South Wales as a large component of the government's substitute care program has been, or is in the process of being, shifted away from direct government provision to non-government agencies. Analysis of some aspects of the policy process by which this change has occurred illustrates the complexity of social policy development. In particular this analysis highlights the importance of the ideological and political context of child welfare policy development and the way in which this contributes to contradictions between official policy statements and policy as experienced by the recipients of the implementation of these policies.

scholarly journals Developmental vulnerability at age five among children who enter and progress through the child protection system in New South Wales, Australia: a cross-sectoral data linkage study

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Falster ◽  
Mark Hanly ◽  
Rhiannon Pilkington ◽  
Marilyn Chilvers ◽  
Elizabeth Whittaker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Data Linkage ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Protection System ◽  
Similar Data ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
South Wales

IntroductionA recent independent review of the child protection system in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, highlighted the need for whole-of-government reform to improve outcomes for children at risk of, or experiencing, maltreatment. Population-level evidence on outcomes of children who enter and progress through the child protection system is currently lacking. Objectives and ApproachWe aimed to quantify developmental vulnerability at age five among children who enter and progress through the child protection system during early childhood to demonstrate the value of cross-sectoral data linkage to inform and evaluate policy at a population-level. We used Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data linked to cross-sectoral population datasets in NSW, including birth registrations, perinatal, and child protectionnotification and out-of-home care (OOHC) placement data. Linked AEDC data, collected in 2009 and 2012, areavailable for 153,670 NSW children. Socio-demographic and perinatal characteristics available in the linked data were used to characterise the population. Results21,179 (13.9%) children had ≥1 ‘screened in’ notification, 4927 (3.2%) had ≥1 substantiated abuse and neglect notification, and 2177 (1.4%) had ≥1 OOHC placement before their fifth birthday. Indicators of disadvantage and adverse birth outcomes were more common among children who progressed to higher levels of the child protection system. The proportion developmentally vulnerable on ≥1 domains of the AEDC increased for children who entered and progressed through the child protection system; from 21% of children with no contact with child protection before age five, to 39% of children with ≥1 ‘screened in’ notification, 50% with ≥1 substantiated notification, and 54% with ≥1 OOHC placement before their fifth birthday. Comparison of findings from other Australian jurisdictions with similar data will be discussed. Conclusion/ImplicationsThis study demonstrates there is scope to improve developmental outcomes through targeted interventions among children who become known to child protection during early childhood in NSW. Moreover, it illustrates that cross-sectoral data linkage can be used to inform and evaluate policy reforms to drive better outcomes for vulnerable children.

Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in New South Wales (the Wood Report): A review and commentary

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Hansen ◽  
Frank Ainsworth
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Child Wellbeing ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Special Commission ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Set Up

The Wood Report is the product of a Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW that was set up in June 2006 and reported in November 2008. In March 2009, the NSW Government published a response to the report, ‘Keep them safe: A shared approach to child wellbeing’. The NSW Parliament in April 2009 also passed the Children Legislation Amendment (Wood Inquiry Recommendations) Act 2009 with little debate. This legislation has introduced many of Justice Wood's recommendations and has enacted other changes that were not included in the Commission of Inquiry report. While many of the amendments are welcome, there is cause for concern about the likely consequences of some of the new provisions.

Insecure Families: Early Adoption Practice in New South Wales

1978 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Michael Horsburgh
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Effective Practices ◽  
Legal Provision ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Early Adoption

AbstractEffective legal provision for the adoption of children was not introduced into New South Wales until the passage of the Child Welfare Act of 1923. This paper examines some of the less formal and less effective practices which preceded that Act. The lack of adequate legislation affected all of those arrangements, creating problems out of issues which are today assumed to be solved. The early difficulties are seen to shed some light on modern discussions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document