Eileen Baldry

Building Indigenous Australian Social Work

Abstract An Indigenous social work guided by Indigenous Australians’ participation and experience that has, at its heart, human rights and social justice is in its infancy in Australia. The present paper continues a discussion on Indigenous Australian social work theory and practice developments being generated by those working in this field. Aspects of this “praxis” include recognition of the effects of invasion, colonialism, and paternalistic social policies upon social work practice with Indigenous communities; recognition of the importance of self-determination; contemporary Indigenous and non-Indigenous colleagues working in partnership; the impact of contemporary racist and neocolonialist values; and rethinking contemporary social work values and practices. There is discussion of appropriation and reinterpretation of social work concepts, incorporation of international and local Indigenous theory, and the framing of social work by Indigenous Australians’ views and values.

Imprisoned Indigenous Women and the Shadow of Colonial Patriarchy

Imprisonment in Australia has been a growing industry and large numbers of vulnerable people find themselves in a state of serial incarceration. Women and Indigenous peoples in particular have experienced rapidly expanding imprisonment rates over recent decades. Our argument in this article is relatively straightforward: to understand contemporary penal culture and in particular its severity and excess in relation to Indigenous people and women, we need to draw upon an understanding of the dynamics of colonial patriarchy. We develop this understanding through a specific focus on Indigenous women. Although at a micro level, specific legislation and policy changes have had a negative impact on the imprisonment of vulnerable groups, it is within a broader context of the strategies and techniques of colonial patriarchy that we can understand why it is that particular social groups appear to become the targets of penal excess.

Defining the Role of the Hospital Social Worker in Australia

This study assessed the role of the hospital social worker during the hospital stay and post-discharge period. Findings revealed that social workers performed various tasks, and the most common concerns of patients were coping and/or post-discharge issues. Findings also demonstrated the complexity of this role in meeting the needs of patients.

Disabling criminology: conceptualising the intersections of critical disability studies and critical criminology for people with mental health and cognitive disabilities in the criminal justice system

Increasing numbers of people with mental health disorders and cognitive disabilities (MHD&CD) are becoming caught in a cycle of social exclusion and criminalisation, resulting in their incarceration and re-incarceration in the criminal justice system. Our capacity to conceptualise and protect the human rights of such people, although recognised in a range of instruments, is questionable. Their over-representation in the criminal justice system constitutes a complex human, social and economic problem and suggests the need to move beyond traditional theoretical approaches which examine social support systems, processes of criminal justice and the presence of impairment as separate issues. This article reflects on issues raised in a study investigating the pathways people with MHD&CD take through the criminal justice system and is aimed at describing and analysing the interactions among the criminal justice subsystems and associated human services using detailed records of a cohort (around 2800) of those already diagnosed in the criminal justice system. The outcomes will assist in the development of new interventions to address preventive health, duty of care and human rights. Early analysis of the data in the MHD&CD in the criminal justice system study indicates that individual experiences of impairment and social disadvantage are powerfully amplified when they intersect with exclusionary practices within social, systemic, community and institutional spaces. These findings suggest the need to develop a hybrid interdisciplinary theoretical perspective merging critical disability studies and critical criminology to open up new spaces from which to reconsider the complex matrix of concerns impacting upon this groups enjoyment of their rights.

Disability at the margins: limits of the law

People with mental and cognitive disability are over-represented as both victims and offenders. In Australia, those with disability who are most likely to be incarcerated are persons from poor, highly disadvantaged families and neighbourhoods, as well as Indigenous Australians. This article first clarifies definitions of mental and cognitive impairment and complex needs. Evidence from studies using administrative data from criminal justice and human service agencies, work by the Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign, reports by the Australian Human Rights Commission and New South Wales and Victorian Law Reform Commission references are analysed using a critical disability criminology approach. These reveal that protections for people with multiple and complex support needs are lacking; diversions and therapeutic approaches do not address the underlying causes of concerning behaviour engaged in by people with disability. It is argued that the law is a blunt and often punitive instrument by which to address these matters. There is evidence of the social and financial benefits that would flow to the individual, family and community from a wholesale change in the way the law, the criminal justice system, and human and social agencies work together to support people with mental and cognitive disability.

The impact of vocational education and training programs on recidivism : a systematic review of current experimental evidence

Although the association between unemployment and offending is well established, relatively little is known about the impact of vocational education and training programs on re-offending, with much of the previous work in this area failing to control for, or correct, selection bias. This article reports the findings of a systematic review, which considers the findings of only those studies that have used experimental or quasi-experimental designs to evaluate vocational training and employment program outcomes for adult offenders. The analysis identifies key features, based on these studies, of those programs associated with the best outcomes and recommends selection criteria for those who are most likely to benefit from prison vocational education and training.

Domestic Violence and Children with Disabilities: Working Towards Enhancing Social Work Practice

Abstract Globally, domestic violence, where a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically, sexually or psychologically dominate or harm the other, is now recognised as one of the most entrenched and pervasive forms of violence in society. Nevertheless, internationally and in Australia, the occurrence of domestic and other forms of violence in families affecting children with a disability is poorly understood. The present article examines the information available on domestic violence and children with a disability. Through the use of case studies drawn from a large disability organisation in New South Wales, Australia, practice issues with families where domestic violence affects a child with a disability are drawn out for social workers to consider. These considerations are designed to enhance practice in this field.

Cohort profile: a data linkage cohort to examine health service profiles of people with intellectual disability in New South Wales, Australia

Purpose People with intellectual disability are a minority group who experience poorer physical and mental health than the general population and have difficulty accessing healthcare services. There is lack of knowledge about healthcare service needs and gaps experienced by people with intellectual disability. This study aims to interrogate a large linked administrative data set containing hospital admissions, presentations to emergency departments (ED) and mortality data to provide evidence to inform the development of improved health and mental health services for this population. Participants A retrospective cohort of people with intellectual disability (n=51 452) from New South Wales (NSW), Australia, to explore health and mental health profiles, mortality, pattern of health service use and associated costs between 2005 and 2013. The cohort is drawn from: the Disability Services Minimum Data Set; Admitted Patients Data Collection; Emergency Department Data Collection, Australian Bureau of Statistics Death Registry and Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Mental health service usage among those with intellectual disability will be compared to a cohort of people who used mental health services (n=1 073 139) and service usage other than for mental health will be compared with published data from the general population. Findings to date The median age of the cohort was 24 at the time of the last hospital admission and 21 at the last ED presentation. The cohort has a higher proportion of men than women and accounts for 0.6% of the NSW population in 2011. Over 70% had up to 5 ED presentations and hospitalisations between 2005 and 2012. A high proportion of people with intellectual disability live in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Future plans Results will be used to inform the development of more responsive healthcare, including improved interactions between health, social and disability supports. More generally, the results will assist the development of more inclusive policy frameworks for people with intellectual disability.

The role of primary health care services to better meet the needs of Aboriginal Australians transitioning from prison to the community

BackgroundAboriginal Australians are more likely than other Australians to cycle in and out of prison on remand or by serving multiple short sentences—a form of serial incarceration and institutionalisation. This cycle contributes to the over-representation of Aboriginal Australians in prison and higher rates of recidivism. Our research examined how primary health care can better meet the health care and social support needs of Aboriginal Australians transitioning from prison to the community.MethodsPurposive sampling was used to identify 30 interviewees. Twelve interviews were with Aboriginal people who had been in prison; ten were with family members and eight with community service providers who worked with former inmates. Thematic analysis was conducted on the interviewees’ description of their experience of services provided to prisoners both during incarceration and on transition to the community.ResultsInterviewees believed that effective access to primary health care on release and during transition was positively influenced by providing appropriate healthcare to inmates in custody and by properly planning for their release. Further, interviewees felt that poor communication between health care providers in custody and in the community prior to an inmate’s release, contributed to a lack of comprehensive management of chronic conditions. System level barriers to timely communication between in-custody and community providers included inmates being placed on remand which contributed to uncertainty regarding release dates and therefore difficulties planning for release, cycling in and out of prison on short sentences and being released to freedom without access to support services.ConclusionsFor Aboriginal former inmates and family members, release from prison was a period of significant emotional stress and commonly involved managing complex needs. To support their transition into the community, Aboriginal former inmates would benefit from immediate access to culturally- responsive community -primary health care services. At present, however, pre-release planning is not always available, especially for Aboriginal inmates who are more likely to be on remand or in custody for less than six months.

‘I feel like I failed him by ringing the police’: Criminalising disability in Australia:

The stigmatisation, control, criminalisation and incarceration of people with disability have a long history. While in recent decades there has been increasing commitment to the rights of people with disabilities by governments in western nations, the over-representation of people with mental and cognitive disability in criminal justice systems has continued. Although there are similarities amongst Western jurisdictions in regard to the treatment of people with disability in justice systems, there are particularities in Australia that will be drawn out in this article. We argue that disadvantaged people with mental and cognitive disability are being managed by and entrenched in criminal justice systems across Australia’s six states and two territories, including so-called diversionary and therapeutic measures that appear to accommodate their disability. In the absence of early and appropriate diagnosis, intervention and support in the community, some disadvantaged and poor persons with mental and cognitive disability, in particular Indigenous Australians, are being systematically criminalised. Criminal justice agencies and especially youth and adult prisons have become normalised as places of disability management and control. Drawing on research that focuses in detail on the jurisdictions of the Northern Territory and New South Wales, we argue for a reconstruction of the understanding of and response to people with these disabilities in the criminal justice system.