Margarita Frederico

Understanding the impact of abuse and neglect on children and young people referred to a therapeutic program

Abstract Until recently there has been insufficient attention to the impact of child abuse and neglect on children’s development and wellbeing. This paper explores children’s experiences of maltreatment and the range of consequences on many areas of their lives. This study is located within the Take Two program, a Victorian statewide developmental therapeutic service for child protection clients aged between 0 to18 years of age who have suffered serious abuse and neglect. The Take Two program commenced in 2004 and by the end of 2007, 1194 referrals had been accepted. The Harm Consequences Assessment (HCA) was developed by Take Two to describe the experience and impact of abuse prior to referral. Analysis of the first two years of data derived from 560 HCAs is reported in this paper and includes a case vignette by way of example. This study found that the majority of Take Two clients had experienced multiple forms of abuse and neglect and had complex presentations including emotional, behavioural and developmental concerns. This complexity of experience and presentation has implications for both the importance of and the challenges involved in designing and providing an effective therapeutic service for these children. There are additional complexities to take into consideration for providing a therapeutic service for Aboriginal children. This study also has implications for how the broader system including protection and care services and schools can better understand and respond to meet their needs.

Examining Rural Welfare Practice: Differences and similarities in welfare practice between rural and urban setting

A substantial prescriptive literature on welfare practice in rural areas has been written over the years. This literature suggests rural practitioners are generalists, as they must utilise a number of roles in practice, that they must use and nurture informal helping networks, and that clientele of rural agencies exhibit numerous social problems. An empirical survey compares differences between urban and rural welfare workers on these dimensions. Data analysis compares differences between rural and urban welfare workers and between rural and urban qualified social workers. A number of statistically significant differences between rural and urban welfare workers were found. However, very few significant differences between rural and urban qualified social workers were uncovered.

Safety as a Fifth Dimension in Supervision: Stories from the Frontline

Abstract Child and family practice is recognised as a field of social work that has become increasingly complex. While evidence is growing in relation to effective supervision, there has been little research about the attributes of an effective supervisor, or the components of effective supervision. This paper reports on research undertaken in Victoria, Australia, which explored practitioners’ and supervisors’ experiences of effective supervision in this field. Data collection involved in-depth interviews with experienced supervisors and supervisees in order to explore the concept of effective supervision from participants’ perspectives. The data were systematically interrogated using a thematic inductive process, designed to enhance the voice of participants in the research. The study findings confirmed the complexity and centrality of the supervisory relationship, with the experience of a safe supervisory relationship proving essential. The importance of contemporary knowledge, leadership skills, and an enabling organisational and community context were also highlighted.

Child abuse in the context of parental separation and divorce: New reality and a new intervention model

Child abuse allegations in the context of parental separation and divorce have long been seen as merely weapons fashioned by angry and vindictive parents involved in separation and divorce wars. They have been disregarded on the basis that they were unlikely to be real. However recent research from Australia and overseas has shown that this picture is not true. Child abuse in this context is real and it is serious. Moreover the research has shown that the socio-legal system does not serve children caught in this situation at all well. The Magellan program, a world first experimental program to overcome the problems for these children and their families as they progress through the socio-legal system, was introduced by a consortium of agencies in Victoria recently. This article reports on the program and its outcomes, and considers implications of some of the components of the new program for the various professionals working with this issue.

Building School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Developing a Theoretical Framework

Abstract School, family, and community partnerships are among the suite of strategies advocated for improved school outcomes in which social workers can play a valuable role. Such partnerships are complex to implement in practice and there is little systematic research to guide the practitioner. This study evaluated an early intervention partnership program involving school, family, community, and philanthropic partners implemented in two primary schools in rural Victoria, Australia. The findings highlighted challenges in the process of evaluation and program implementation and in the opportunities this provided to identify key enabling factors. These involved having: a shared vision and aims; democratic governance; a supportive policy and organisational environment including external funding; workers with skills and clear roles; activities for project momentum; and ongoing review and evaluation. These factors can be used by social workers and others working with schools as a valuable conceptual framework to facilitate school, family, and community partnership processes.

Organisational Culture and Human Service Organisations: A Case Application

In this paper the use of an organisational culture perspective to understand human service organisations is explored. A case study is presented to illustrate the organisational culture perspective in the human service organisation. The case presented demonstrates problems which can occur when organisational culture is not managed effectively.

Locum and Short Term Employment: Components of the Social Work Workforce

A neglected area of research in the social work profession is the functioning of the welfare labour market. An important feature of this welfare labour market is casual or locum employment. This paper presents findings from a survey of Melbourne social service agencies on the incidence of locum employment. Information on the characteristics of locums, sources of the locum labour-force, and reasons for employing locums are presented.

A consortium approach for child and family practice education

Abstract Child and family practice and child protection are extraordinarily complex. They require in-depth understanding of intra- and inter-personal skills and intricate service systems, and capacity to operate in a constantly changing policy environment. One way of meeting the needs of such practitioners is facilitating their access to experts working across direct practice, management and leadership and policy-making contexts. This article discusses the rationale for collaboratively delivered post-qualifying courses for child and family practitioners, and discusses a highly successful example of such courses delivered through La Trobe University. It outlines the unique developmental process and model of delivery adopted by the consortium responsible for the postgraduate programme. It concludes with reference to early evaluative findings indicating it as a promising pedagogical model.

Small Talk: Identifying communication problems in maltreated children

Development of speech and language is rapid in early years, yet if developmental problems in speech and language are not addressed they are likely to continue and impact negatively on a childs overall development and their life trajectory. Children who have experienced abuse and or neglect are particularly vulnerable. The aim of this study was to develop a tool to assist in identifying a childs need for assessment by a speech pathologist so that there could be early identification of problems. A culturally sensitive tool was developed to be completed by the childs carer included questions on language, speech and hearing, voice, fluency, understanding sentences, vocabulary and expression. Sixty-five children aged between 4 and 8 years, who had experienced abuse and/or neglect participated in the study. Fourteen percent were Aboriginal. A speech pathologist undertook an assessment for each child and the results were compared with the information on the Small Talk tool. The Tool was found to be high in sensitivity but low in specificity, requiring further refinement. However, it has the potential to assist non speech pathologists to identify a childs need for speech and language assessment with the findings identifying the Tool as promising practice.

Listening to child protection workers in Saudi Arabia: Child protection workers speak of how they experienced the policies and programs introduced to protect children between 2010 and 2013

The protection of children at risk of abuse and neglect requires engagement of the whole community. In this article, child protection managers and direct service workers in Saudi Arabia report their experiences in implementing new policies. Findings of the study showed that early improvements to child protection policies and programs led to confusion among workers regarding their role and were perceived by the workers to be placing children at risk. Limited power assigned to workers, conflict with cultural norms, and a lack of specialist education in child protection were among the barriers preventing workers from undertaking their roles effectively.