Ilan Katz

Missing Elements of a Child Protection System in China: The Case of LX

Many of the systems which had protected vulnerable children in China have broken down, but China has not developed a modern child protection system. We present initial findings from a project which investigates responses to child abuse and the potential for developing a comprehensive protection process. The research found that physical chastisement is commonly practised. Other forms of maltreatment tend to be denied. There are no mechanisms to report abuse and no organisation taking a lead in child protection. Furthermore, there is great reluctance by professionals and the public to identify or report child abuse and neglect.

Early impacts of Communities for Children on children and families: findings from a quasi-experimental cohort study

Background There have been few evaluations of national area-based interventions. This study evaluated the early effects of Commmunities for Children (CfC) on children and their families and whether the effectiveness differed for more disadvantaged families. Methods A quasi-experimental cohort study in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in Australia. Mothers of children aged 2–3 years participated at wave 1; 1488 children in CfC communities and 714 children in comparison communities. Outcome measures included child health and development, family functioning and parenting, and services and community. Results After controlling for background factors, there were beneficial effects associated with CfC. At wave 3, in CfC areas children had higher receptive vocabulary (mean difference (MD) 0.25, 95% CI −0.02 to 0.51; p=0.07), parents showed less harsh parenting (MD −0.14, 95% CI −0.30 to 0.02; p=0.08) and higher parenting self-efficacy (MD 0.11, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.21; p=0.04). Fewer children living in CfC sites were living in a jobless household (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.32 to 0.95; p=0.03) but childrens physical functioning (MD −0.26, 95% CI −0.53 to 0.00; p=0.05) was worse in CfC sites. For children living in households with mothers with low education there were reduced child injuries requiring medical treatment (MD −0.61, 95% CI −0.07 to −1.13; p=0.03) and increased receptive vocabulary (MD 0.57, 95% CI 0.06 to 1.08; p=0.03). Conclusions CfC showed some benefits for child receptive vocabulary, parenting and reducing jobless households and two adverse effects. Children living in the most disadvantaged households also benefited.

Missing Elements in the Protection of Children: Three Cases from China

ABSTRACT. The article analyzes 3 severe cases of child abuse that were widely discussed in the mass media in China in 2007 based on a framework used by the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect in its official publication World Perspectives on Child Abuse. The framework sets out the basic elements that must be included in systems of child protection: a) a responsible government or government-authorized organization; b) a set of institutional arrangements for reporting cases of child abuse, investigation, and intervening when necessary; and c) state guardianship or mechanisms to remove children from their parents’ care when necessary. By applying the framework to the 3 cases under analysis, the authors found that these basic elements are missing from the Chinese child protection system, and therefore, they recommend that a reform of the system to address these elements should be a priority for Chinese social policy. The article makes a number of recommendations for reform.

Investment in early childhood in Australia: international comparisons and recent trends

Abstract There is growing recognition that investment by governments on children in their early years is an important part of social policy. However there is currently little information either about how much governments invest on children of different ages, or about what the optimum investment in the early years would look like. Using currently available Australian datasets, this article explores two approaches to estimate the adequacy of investment in early childhood; comparing government expenditure between countries, and analysing one country (in this case Australia) in terms of expenditure over time on children of different ages. We find that, overall, Australia spends more than the average of OECD countries on the early years, but that a much higher proportion of this expenditure is spent on cash transfers to parents rather than on early care and education. Furthermore, spending on the early years has grown proportionately to spending on older children over the past several years. The paper ends with a number of suggestions for further research which will refine the analysis of investment in the early years.

‘Normalizing the Novel’: How Is Culture Addressed in Child Protection Work With Ethnic-Minority Families in Australia?

ABSTRACT To address the need for empirical evidence on how culture is and should be addressed in child protection work in Australia to ensure equity in service delivery, this study reviewed 120 case files of children from ethnic-minority, Aboriginal, and Anglo backgrounds and conducted 46 qualitative interviews with ethnic-minority client families and the caseworkers who service them. Overall, the results indicated that the issue of culture for ethnic-minority families receives less consideration than it does for Aboriginal families and more than it does for Anglo families, indicating that cross-cultural parity is yet to be achieved. To ensure equity in service delivery, it is important that culture is neither overlooked nor used to essentialize the needs and experiences of ethnic-minority families; balancing the amount of attention that culture receives in child protection work may help “normalize the novel”—that is, reduce the use of cultural stereotypes without reducing the significance of cultural factors in child protection work with culturally nonmainstream families. Mandatory consultation with “multicultural” caseworkers may help get the balance right and warrants future research.

Newspaper coverage of childhood immunisation in Australia: a lens into conflicts within public health

Abstract Public health efforts to lift childhood vaccination rates can be supported or undermined by media representations of parents. Polarising representations neglect the large range of ‘middle-ground’ positions people occupy, potentially alienating parents. In recent years, Australian public health actors have tried to better engage journalists to avoid this. As these efforts have unfolded, the main national immunisation policy lever has become more punitive. This paper examines whether Australian newspaper representations of parents have changed, by comparing 153 newspaper articles from two periods: 1997–1998 (prior to the development of a public health lobby targeting the media; when the first national childhood immunisation policy was introduced) and; 2015–2016 (5 years after advocacy groups began working with the media; and when the national policy took a punitive turn). We analyse patterns and shifts (between 1997–1998 and 2015–2016) in the portrayal of parents as complacent, alternative, hesitant and as choosing. Australian newspaper portrayals of parents are broadly aligned with the policy targets of the day. In 2015–2016, there was less negative representation of parents who occupy the ‘middle-ground’ between vaccine acceptance and rejection. However, coverage of alternative parents (vaccine objectors) intensified in quantity and negativity. Concurrently, there were new (minority) portrayals of vaccine objectors as invisible, and as victims being denied choice. This signals that reporting may simultaneously align with national policy targets and destabilise public health efforts to avoid polarising misrepresentations of parents, characterisations likely to undermine trust in public health. Rather than ‘blame the media’, this analysis illuminates conflicts within public health.

Proposing a Model of Service Delivery for Victims/Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) from Ethnic Minority Communities in Australia

Abstract A systematic literature review on child sexual abuse (CSA) and ethnic minority communities was conducted to help address the current gap in knowledge in the area. This article reports on one explored theme – aspects of service delivery models identified as effective, as the basis for developing a model for Australia. The findings indicate two key aspects of effective service delivery: (i) models should be ecologically grounded to the specific cultural context, and (ii) individuals should be placed at the center of intervention so their needs and experiences are not ‘boxed in’ by their ethnicity. The model proposed for the Australian context is guided by these two key principles. Service delivery models are important because they help guide practice and standardize treatment and support in the field. However, the model proposed here also values flexibility, cultural competency, a strengths-based approach, an empowerment-based approach, intersectionality, and a feminist framework. These model elements are particularly relevant in relation to the family cohesion and support that collectivist cultures offer; whether, to what extent, and how they act as a risk or protective factor, or even both, is best determined by the victim/survivor. The utility of the model for practitioners and clients requires rigorous evaluation.

Kids in Communities Study (KiCS) study protocol: a cross-sectional mixed-methods approach to measuring community-level factors influencing early child development in Australia

Introduction Healthy childhood development in the early years is critical for later adult health and well-being. Early childhood development (ECD) research has focused primarily on individual, family and school factors, but largely ignored community factors. The Kids in Communities Study (KiCS) will test and investigate community-level influences on child development across Australia. Methods and analysis Cross-sectional mixed-methods study exploring community-level effects in 25 Australian local communities; selection based on community socioeconomic status (SES) and ECD using the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), a population measure of child development, to create a local community ‘diagonality type’, that is, those performing better or worse (off-diagonal), or as expected (on-diagonal) on the AEDC relative to their SES. Data collection includes stakeholder interviews, parent and service provider focus groups, and surveys with general community residents and service providers, mapping of neighbourhood design and local amenities and services, analysis of policy documents, and the use of existing sociodemographic and early childhood education and care data. Quantitative data will be used to test associations between local community diagonality type, and ECD based on AEDC scores. Qualitative data will provide complementary and deeper exploration of these same associations. Ethics and dissemination The Royal Childrens Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee approved the study protocol (#30016). Further ethics approvals were obtained from State Education and Health departments and Catholic archdioceses where required. ECD community-level indicators will eventually be derived and made publically available. Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals, community reports, websites and policy briefs to disseminate results to researchers, and key stakeholders including policymakers, practitioners and (most importantly) the communities involved.

The Challenges of Working with People and Systems

Many of the contributions to this issue of Australian Social Work (as with most issues) are concerned with interrogating and problematising various aspects of social work theory and practice, challenging the assumptions and adding dimensions to our understanding of the issues. This is an extremely important part of the ongoing struggle of social work to develop increasingly effective, theoretically driven, and evidence-informed ways of working with vulnerable populations. Some of the papers directly address the issue of complexity; for example, the papers by Agllias, Howard, Schubert, and Gray on emergency relief and employment, Heward-Belle on domestic violence perpetrators, and Tilbury, Walsh, and Osmond on childaware practices in adult services. All of these articles point out that the assumptions about particular groups of people, on which policy and practice are based, need to be questioned in order to provide a more responsive and informed service. The other articles similarly illustrate the need for more nuanced understandings of particular client groups including single parents of African background in rural areas (Ochala & wa Mungai), birth parents of children in out-of-home care (Ankersmit), spouses providing care in rural areas (Cash, Hodgkin, & Warburton), and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (Day, Nakata, & Miller). These articles point to one of the fundamental challenges for social work, and indeed all human service professions: that social work is fundamentally a profession that works with people, and that people do not fit neatly into categories or silos. On the other hand, policy almost by definition deals with generalities and always defaults to providing “mainstream” solutions to problems and dividing clients into manageable categories based on presenting problem and diagnosis or demographic characteristics such as ethnicity, location, age, or gender. At a theoretical level, this is perhaps the most fundamental challenge for social work: the recognition that social problems are principally structural in nature, reflecting the economic and societal arrangements that have been put into place to maintain the welfare state. However, many social workers have to work with vulnerable individuals, families, and communities rather than the broader structural issues. Policy makers have to respond to these challenges, and since the 1990s a whole range of policy solutions have been developed that aim to organise services and policies so that they better reflect the diversity of the client groups that use those services. These policy solutions have included the push towards collaboration and interagency working, and the provision of “packages of care” in disability and mental health services. The evidence base for most of these approaches is remarkably thin. For example, although collaboration makes sense and is regarded positively by Australian Social Work, 2016 Vol. 69, No. 3, 257–259, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2016.1170170