Challenges of operationalizing trauma-informed practice in child protection services in New Zealand

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Atwool
2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (03) ◽  
pp. 146-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Zuchowski

AbstractChild protection work is a complex and difficult area of practice, one that is closely scrutinised and criticised, and impacts on the lives of many children. In Australia, child protection systems are overloaded, and increasing numbers of children and families receive child protection interventions each year. This study explored the views of North Queensland practitioners who work in the child protection field, examining changes and challenges in this field of practice, and their suggestions for the future research that is needed in child protection. The study took place 5 years after the 2013 Queensland Carmody inquiry into child protection intervention, which recommended sweeping changes to the child protection system. Twenty-two practitioners participated in this study. Respondents reported an increase in the complexity of cases, a gap in legislation change/practice frameworks and practice, and the application of trauma-informed practice. They highlighted the intersection of child protection, domestic violence and family law and observed that women and children continue to be exposed to violence because of Family Law Court orders. Respondents identified a number of areas where research is needed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Annette Jackson

This opinion piece draws on the literature regarding absconding from care and its links with child sexual exploitation and trauma. The author draws on her experience in the child protection, out-of-home care and therapeutic services to raise some questions and suggest some themes about how the system responds when young people run away from what is purportedly safe to what is palpably unsafe. The article concludes with a brief description of trauma-informed practice and suggests that this concept is a useful contribution in our response to helping young people no longer needing to run.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Fang Zhao ◽  
Ning Zhu ◽  
Juha Hämäläinen

This study investigated the resilience of the Chinese child protection system in responding to the special needs of children in difficulty under the specific circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study applied qualitative document analysis of child protection administrative documents, in-depth interviews with 13 child protection professionals, and an in-depth case study of 14 children living in difficulty, complemented by relevant information available in the media. The results indicate that there are good policies in China’s child protection services but the organizational and functional fragmentation complicates implementation, suggesting a need for the development of bottom-up practices. The essential conclusion supported by these results is that the child protection system should be regarded and developed as a systematic project combining the legal, policymaking, and professional systems of child welfare services as well as governmental and non-governmental forces. As the COVID-19 pandemic has raised awareness of the need to develop the field of child protection holistically as an integrated system in terms of social sustainability in China, an international literature-based comparison indicates that the pandemic has also raised similar political awareness in other countries.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
CIARÁN MURPHY

Abstract The Munro Review of Child Protection asserted that the English child protection system had become overly ‘defensive’, ‘bureaucratised’ and ‘standardised’, meaning that social workers were not employing their discretion in the interests of the individual child. This paper reports on the results of an ethnographic case study of one of England’s statutory child protection teams. The research sought to explore the extent of social worker discretion relative to Munro’s call for ‘radical reform’ and a move towards a more ‘child-centred’ system. Employing an iterative mixed methods design – encompassing documentary analysis, observation, focus group, questionnaire, interview and ‘Critical Realist Grounded Theory’ – the study positioned the UK Government’s prolonged policy of ‘austerity’ as a barrier to social worker discretion. This was because the policy was seen to be contributing to an increased demand for child protection services; and a related sense amongst practitioners that they were afforded insufficient time with the child to garner the requisite knowledge, necessary for discretionary behaviour. Ultimately, despite evidence of progress relative to assertions that social worker discretion had been eroded, the paper concludes that there may still be ‘more to do’ if we are to achieve the ‘child-centred’ and ‘effective’ system that Munro advocated.


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