Amy Conley Wright
Biographic Data
| ID | 4249953 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Amy Conley Wright |
| GIVEN NAMES | Amy Conley |
| FAMILY NAME | Wright |
| SIGNATURE | WRIGHT A C |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7421-005X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 70 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Supporting the cultural connections of children from culturally diverse backgrounds in out-of-home care: Perspectives from Australian foster and kinship carers
Fathers of the Next Generation: A Community-Led Approach to Developing a Culturally Relevant Parenting Program for Indigenous Fathers in Canada
Background: The positive influence of fathers on the health of their children is well-established, however the role and needs of Indigenous fathers and Two-Spirit parents is not adequately described and relevant parenting programs are lacking in Canada. Initiative: The Fathers of the Next Generation project, is a 3-phased initiative designed to understand the needs of Indigenous men and Two-Spirit parents as they transition to parenthood and deve…
The Right to Cultural Connection for Children in Out‐of‐Home Care: Does Australian Policy and Practice Adequately Support Cultural Identity for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children
Development of cultural identity is understood to be central to well‐being; however, it is not always prioritised for children in out‐of‐home care (OOHC). This paper examines current policy and practice designed to support the cultural identity and connection of non‐Indigenous culturally and linguistically diverse children (CALD) in OOHC, who make up approximately 14% of children in care. These are children who have migrated to Australia or have …
The S.E.L.F. Framework for Keeping Children Connected to Their Culture in Out-of-Home Care
For children entering out-of-home care due to child protection concerns, meaningful connections to family and culture are important and necessary. In this article the complexities of promoting cultural connections for culturally and linguistically diverse children in out-of-home care are explored. Through the use of the settlement, ethnicity, language and faith (S.E.L.F) cultural framework, practitioners and leaders working in the child and famil…
Innovative Cultural Care for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children in Out-of-Home Care
Within the Australian context, we argue there is limited research to guide practice on supporting cultural connections for non-Indigenous children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in out-of-home care. Based on practice wisdom and international research evidence, a compiled case study demonstrates how a set of practices can work together. These key practices are respectfully engaging the children's family members in cultural …
Recruiting carers for older children and youth: Messages and methods of media campaigns
In recent decades, foster care systems across western countries have entered a state of crisis with the volume of children entering care outpacing new foster carers. Recruiting carers for older children and youth is particularly challenging, as most new foster carers and adoptive parents prefer younger children. This study reviews out-of-home care recruitment campaigns that target carers for older children and youth, across selected English-speak…
Supporting Carers to Coregulate With Children in Care: Learnings From Action Research With Caseworkers
Trauma negatively impacts on the ability of children in out‐of‐home care to experience safety in their relationships. Trauma rearousal can continue to occur even when children are living in a safe and stable setting due to environmental triggers. Carers who are emotionally regulated themselves can model and support emotional regulation (known as coregulation) when their child becomes dysregulated. To do this, carers need agencies to provide traum…
What can the development of video visitation in Australian correctional centres tell us about organisational transformation
Correctional services are closed, complex bureaucratic organisations which are historically slow to embrace change. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic catalysed a dramatic shift to widespread video visitation across correctional services in Australia. Drawing on qualitative data with corrective services staff (n = 19) from six jurisdictions (Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and West Australia), this art…
Collaboration between Australian peak bodies and governments in the context of the Covid‐19 pandemic: New ways of interacting
Peak bodies (“peaks”) are funded by Australian governments to fulfil a multifaceted role, including presenting a collective voice to government on behalf of their nongovernmental service provider members and the vulnerable client populations they serve. However, the relationship between peaks and governments has been fraught, with governments imposing contractual conditions in exchange for funding, thereby constraining advocacy. During the COVID‐…
Comparative analysis of third‐party permanency orders legislation in Australia
While permanency planning has long been a feature of child protection policy and practice in Australia (Tilbury & Osmond, 2006), the concept has gained greater prominence in recent years through nationally coordinated efforts and legislative changes. Permanency planning is defined by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) as the ‘processes used by state and territory departments responsible for child protection to achieve a stable …
Co-Design with People with Lived Experience: Designing Resources to Communicate with Children and Young People in Care about their Family Time Contact Visits
Contact visits, or family time, enable children in out-of-home care to sustain relationships with their birth families. In Australia, direct contact including face-to-face visits is typical for children on long-term orders, including guardianship and open adoption. Caseworkers are charged with supporting relationships between children’s birth family members and carers and ensuring contact is safe and child-centred. This article describes how peop…
Digital Relationality, Rights, Resilience: Conceptualising a Digital Social Ecology for Children’s Birth Family Relationships When in Care or Adopted
The use of digital communication technology by children residing in out-of-home care or adopted from foster care has mainly been approached hesitantly and from a risk paradigm. The Covid-19 pandemic catalysed many digital and social work intersections, including practices used for birth family contact where in-person visits were supplemented or replaced with ‘virtual’ contact via digital devices. Whilst technology-mediated contact is characterise…
Conceptual meanings of permanency: Photovoice with care-experienced youth
Children in out-of-home care have a developmental need for safe and secure relationships to meet their long-term social, emotional and physical needs. Permanency has been a guiding principle in child protection since the mid-1970s, with the focus on creating legal and residential certainty. Permanency is a complex felt and lived experience for children and young people that cannot be reduced to a single dimension, such as legal permanency. A crit…
“You are mum and then they are mum”: Negotiating roles, relationships, and contact in out‐of‐home care
A systematic review of common elements of practice that support reunification
Action research with caseworkers: Responding to and reflecting on the impacts of Covid‐19 on birth family contact
Social distancing due to COVID-19 forced changes to contact with birth relatives for children in out-of-home care. This required a shift to using technologies, which was previously underutilized and viewed as risky. In an action research study, 33 caseworkers in New South Wales, Australia, reflected upon adapting their practices. Three key themes characterized the changes in caseworker practices and how these impacted upon social interactions bet…
Trauma-informed Family Contact Practice for Children in Out-of-home Care
Trauma knowledge and skills are needed to support relational safety for children in out-of-home care and birth family contact is a particular area where trauma-informed approaches are critical. Mixed methods were used to understand the application of trauma-informed approaches to contact in New South Wales, Australia. A total of 118 caseworkers and 15 organisational leaders took part in an anonymous survey or semi-structured interview. Descriptiv…
Telling visual stories of loss and hope: Body Mapping With Mothers About Contact After Child Removal
Visual research methods reduce reliance on verbal communication and offer an avenue for non-verbal storytelling. Body mapping is a visual arts-based research method with its origins in art therapy and community development. It has been successfully used to explore embodied experiences of marginalised social groups. Participants engage in sensory and multimodal storytelling by tracing a life-size body outline and adorning it with fabrics, drawings…
I’m the centre part of a Venn diagram’: Belonging and identity for Taiwanese-Australian intercountry adoptees
Intercountry adoptees face many challenges in developing their identity and achieving a sense of belonging in post-assimilation Australia. This study uses a constructivist approach to analyse narrative interviews with a sample of Taiwanese intercountry adoptees in Australia ranging in age from early to middle adulthood. Social identity theory and postcolonial theory are used to frame thematic findings about the impact of micro, meso and macro inf…
Changing nature of adoption and need for post-adoption services: Intercountry adoption practice in Taiwan and Australia
This study explores issues on post-adoption services in intercountry adoptions based on the perspectives of adoption professionals from Taiwan and Australia. Findings revealed that both birth and adoptive families identify service needs for material and emotional support and connection after the adoption process is finalized. However, the current lack of government funding for post-adoption services result in gaps in service delivery. Adoption ag…
Narrating connection in intercountry adoption: Complexities of openness in Taiwan‒Australia adoptions
Connection and reunion is central to adoption, though complicated by geographical, cultural and linguistic differences in the intercountry adoption space. Drawing from narrative interviews, this study investigated perspectives on connection from the perspectives of adult adopted persons and adoptive parents in Australia, from families of origin in Taiwan and from professionals in both countries. Two primary themes characterising perspectives were…
Two families joined by a child: The role of direct contact in fostering relationships between birth and carer families in permanent care
Background: Most Australian children in permanent care continue to see birth relatives. In New South Wales, foster and kinship carers are encouraged consider open adoption and guardianship, which reduces caseworker involvement in contact. Research is needed to understand what supports children's families to form positive relationships. Family systems theory is helpful to understand the kinship networks created in permanent care.Method: Semi-struc…
Sibling networks of children adopted from out-of-home care in New South Wales, Australia
How foster carers experience agency support for birth family contact
Long‐term foster carers in New South Wales, Australia, are being encouraged to consider open adoption of the child in their care. This includes an agreement to facilitate direct or face‐to‐face birth family contact without agency support. There is little Australian research on the factors that influence decisions to adopt children from out‐of‐home care. A mixed methods study was conducted to address this gap. An online survey ( n = 76) and four f…
Contact and Adoption Plans for Children Adopted from Out-of-home Care in New South Wales
In New South Wales (NSW), legislation prioritises open adoption over long-term foster care when restoration is not possible, and suitable kin or guardians cannot be found. The adoption application includes an adoption plan that outlines the nature of a child’s post-adoption contact with his or her birth family. There are efforts to include the views of the child, birth family, and prospective adoptive parents when developing this plan. This paper…
Two families joined by a child: The role of direct contact in fostering relationships between birth and carer families in permanent care
Background: Most Australian children in permanent care continue to see birth relatives. In New South Wales, foster and kinship carers are encouraged consider open adoption and guardianship, which reduces caseworker involvement in contact. Research is needed to understand what supports children's families to form positive relationships. Family systems theory is helpful to understand the kinship networks created in permanent care.Method: Semi-struc…
Strategies of Policy Advocacy Organizations and Their Theoretical Affinities: Evidence from Q‐Methodology
Policy advocacy is an increasingly important function for many nonprofit organizations, yet their advocacy activities have largely escaped theoretical grounding. The literature on nonprofits has described how they engage in policy advocacy, without linking them to theories of policy change. The policy studies literature, on the other hand, has explained how various forms of influence result in policy change, but has largely ignored organizational…
Identity Formation in Children and Young People in Open Adoptions from Out-of-home Care in New South Wales, Australia
Semi-structured interviews were used to explore identity development for nine adoptees (aged 9–23 years) who were adopted by their foster carers in New South Wales, Australia. Adoptions were open, with court-ordered face-to-face contact with birth families. Findings suggest that participants had healthy adoptive identities, with coherent and meaningful narratives about their life histories. Adoption provided a sense of security and belonging. Ope…
Differential response: A critical examination of a secondary prevention model
Trauma-informed Family Contact Practice for Children in Out-of-home Care
Trauma knowledge and skills are needed to support relational safety for children in out-of-home care and birth family contact is a particular area where trauma-informed approaches are critical. Mixed methods were used to understand the application of trauma-informed approaches to contact in New South Wales, Australia. A total of 118 caseworkers and 15 organisational leaders took part in an anonymous survey or semi-structured interview. Descriptiv…
Telling visual stories of loss and hope: Body Mapping With Mothers About Contact After Child Removal
Visual research methods reduce reliance on verbal communication and offer an avenue for non-verbal storytelling. Body mapping is a visual arts-based research method with its origins in art therapy and community development. It has been successfully used to explore embodied experiences of marginalised social groups. Participants engage in sensory and multimodal storytelling by tracing a life-size body outline and adorning it with fabrics, drawings…
I’m the centre part of a Venn diagram’: Belonging and identity for Taiwanese-Australian intercountry adoptees
Intercountry adoptees face many challenges in developing their identity and achieving a sense of belonging in post-assimilation Australia. This study uses a constructivist approach to analyse narrative interviews with a sample of Taiwanese intercountry adoptees in Australia ranging in age from early to middle adulthood. Social identity theory and postcolonial theory are used to frame thematic findings about the impact of micro, meso and macro inf…
How foster carers experience agency support for birth family contact
Long‐term foster carers in New South Wales, Australia, are being encouraged to consider open adoption of the child in their care. This includes an agreement to facilitate direct or face‐to‐face birth family contact without agency support. There is little Australian research on the factors that influence decisions to adopt children from out‐of‐home care. A mixed methods study was conducted to address this gap. An online survey ( n = 76) and four f…
Contact and Adoption Plans for Children Adopted from Out-of-home Care in New South Wales
In New South Wales (NSW), legislation prioritises open adoption over long-term foster care when restoration is not possible, and suitable kin or guardians cannot be found. The adoption application includes an adoption plan that outlines the nature of a child’s post-adoption contact with his or her birth family. There are efforts to include the views of the child, birth family, and prospective adoptive parents when developing this plan. This paper…
From Maid to Mother: Transforming Facilities, Staff Training, and Caregiver Dignity in an Institutional Facility for Young Children in Nepal
This article provides a case study of a project to improve the health, safety, and development of children birth to 6 years old in a large orphanage in Nepal. Two interventions were conducted: improvement of physical infrastructure and training, mentoring, and support for caregiving staff. As a result of these interventions, positive outcomes in terms of children's health and development have been observed, including reduction of communicable dis…
Advocacy by Parents of Young Children With Special Needs: Activities, Processes, and Perceived Effectiveness
This article examines parental advocacy for young children with disabilities using a subset of data drawn from a larger exploratory and descriptive study on parental advocacy for children with disabilities from birth to age 18 with a sample of 400 participants. Because this article focuses on parents of children from birth to age 6, only parents (n = 76) meeting this criterion were selected. Data were collected through an online survey, with a sn…
Collaboration between Australian peak bodies and governments in the context of the Covid‐19 pandemic: New ways of interacting
Peak bodies (“peaks”) are funded by Australian governments to fulfil a multifaceted role, including presenting a collective voice to government on behalf of their nongovernmental service provider members and the vulnerable client populations they serve. However, the relationship between peaks and governments has been fraught, with governments imposing contractual conditions in exchange for funding, thereby constraining advocacy. During the COVID‐…
Comparative analysis of third‐party permanency orders legislation in Australia
While permanency planning has long been a feature of child protection policy and practice in Australia (Tilbury & Osmond, 2006), the concept has gained greater prominence in recent years through nationally coordinated efforts and legislative changes. Permanency planning is defined by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) as the ‘processes used by state and territory departments responsible for child protection to achieve a stable …
Action research with caseworkers: Responding to and reflecting on the impacts of Covid‐19 on birth family contact
Social distancing due to COVID-19 forced changes to contact with birth relatives for children in out-of-home care. This required a shift to using technologies, which was previously underutilized and viewed as risky. In an action research study, 33 caseworkers in New South Wales, Australia, reflected upon adapting their practices. Three key themes characterized the changes in caseworker practices and how these impacted upon social interactions bet…
Sibling networks of children adopted from out-of-home care in New South Wales, Australia
Childcare: Welfare or investment
Conley A. Childcare: welfare or investment? Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 173–181 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Childcare (also called day care or preschool) has generally served three purposes: to care for children while parents are employed; to provide early childhood education; and to cater to the needs of poor and disadvantaged children. This article propo…
The Right to Cultural Connection for Children in Out‐of‐Home Care: Does Australian Policy and Practice Adequately Support Cultural Identity for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children
Development of cultural identity is understood to be central to well‐being; however, it is not always prioritised for children in out‐of‐home care (OOHC). This paper examines current policy and practice designed to support the cultural identity and connection of non‐Indigenous culturally and linguistically diverse children (CALD) in OOHC, who make up approximately 14% of children in care. These are children who have migrated to Australia or have …
Innovative Cultural Care for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children in Out-of-Home Care
Within the Australian context, we argue there is limited research to guide practice on supporting cultural connections for non-Indigenous children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in out-of-home care. Based on practice wisdom and international research evidence, a compiled case study demonstrates how a set of practices can work together. These key practices are respectfully engaging the children's family members in cultural …
Co-Design with People with Lived Experience: Designing Resources to Communicate with Children and Young People in Care about their Family Time Contact Visits
Contact visits, or family time, enable children in out-of-home care to sustain relationships with their birth families. In Australia, direct contact including face-to-face visits is typical for children on long-term orders, including guardianship and open adoption. Caseworkers are charged with supporting relationships between children’s birth family members and carers and ensuring contact is safe and child-centred. This article describes how peop…
Digital Relationality, Rights, Resilience: Conceptualising a Digital Social Ecology for Children’s Birth Family Relationships When in Care or Adopted
The use of digital communication technology by children residing in out-of-home care or adopted from foster care has mainly been approached hesitantly and from a risk paradigm. The Covid-19 pandemic catalysed many digital and social work intersections, including practices used for birth family contact where in-person visits were supplemented or replaced with ‘virtual’ contact via digital devices. Whilst technology-mediated contact is characterise…
Changing nature of adoption and need for post-adoption services: Intercountry adoption practice in Taiwan and Australia
This study explores issues on post-adoption services in intercountry adoptions based on the perspectives of adoption professionals from Taiwan and Australia. Findings revealed that both birth and adoptive families identify service needs for material and emotional support and connection after the adoption process is finalized. However, the current lack of government funding for post-adoption services result in gaps in service delivery. Adoption ag…
Narrating connection in intercountry adoption: Complexities of openness in Taiwan‒Australia adoptions
Connection and reunion is central to adoption, though complicated by geographical, cultural and linguistic differences in the intercountry adoption space. Drawing from narrative interviews, this study investigated perspectives on connection from the perspectives of adult adopted persons and adoptive parents in Australia, from families of origin in Taiwan and from professionals in both countries. Two primary themes characterising perspectives were…
It’s Like I Have an Advantage in All This: Experiences of Advocacy by Parents of Children with Disabilities from Professional Backgrounds
Supports and services for children with disabilities are not distributed equitably. There are disparities in access to and quality of services for children with disabilities from low-income and ethnic minority groups. There are likely many contributors to these disparities, but one factor may be barriers to access that require parents to advocate to obtain services for their children. This qualitative study explores advocacy experiences of parent…
Three variations on the Australian supported playgroup model
The supported playgroup model has widespread popularity in Australia, though its informality may work against building the evidence base needed to sustain governmental funding. The wide uptake of the supported playgroup service model among community organisations in Australia demonstrates its potential and popularity. This article discusses the Families New South Wales (NSW) supported playgroup model and demonstrates how it can be adapted to meet…
Child Welfare Revisited: An Africentric Perspective. Joyce E. Everett, Sandra P. Chipungu and Bogart R. Leashore (Eds.)
Joyce E. Everett, Sandra P. Chipungu and Bogart R. Leashore (Eds.), Child Welfare Revisited: An Africentric Perspective. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2004. $62.00 hardcover, $23.95 papercover
War on the Family: Mothers in Prison and the Families They Leave Behind. Renny Golden
Book note for
Social Capital and Welfare Reform: Organizations, Congregations and Community. Jo Ann Schneider
Book note for Jo Ann Schneider, Social Capital and Welfare Reform: Organizations, Congregations, and Community. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. $69.50 hardcover, $29.50 papercover
Differential response: A critical examination of a secondary prevention model
Childcare: Welfare or investment
Conley A. Childcare: welfare or investment? Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 173–181 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Childcare (also called day care or preschool) has generally served three purposes: to care for children while parents are employed; to provide early childhood education; and to cater to the needs of poor and disadvantaged children. This article propo…
From Maid to Mother: Transforming Facilities, Staff Training, and Caregiver Dignity in an Institutional Facility for Young Children in Nepal
This article provides a case study of a project to improve the health, safety, and development of children birth to 6 years old in a large orphanage in Nepal. Two interventions were conducted: improvement of physical infrastructure and training, mentoring, and support for caregiving staff. As a result of these interventions, positive outcomes in terms of children's health and development have been observed, including reduction of communicable dis…
Advocacy by Parents of Young Children With Special Needs: Activities, Processes, and Perceived Effectiveness
This article examines parental advocacy for young children with disabilities using a subset of data drawn from a larger exploratory and descriptive study on parental advocacy for children with disabilities from birth to age 18 with a sample of 400 participants. Because this article focuses on parents of children from birth to age 6, only parents (n = 76) meeting this criterion were selected. Data were collected through an online survey, with a sn…
Social Investment and Social Welfare: International and Critical Perspectives
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare Vol. 45 No. 4
This article provides an historical background to the special issue by tracing the evolution of social development, asset building and social investment in different parts of the world.These approaches transcend remedial and service-oriented interventions and seek to promote progressive social change.They also stress the importance of investing in people and communities, and focusing on their strengths rather than deficits.The historical evolutio…
Three variations on the Australian supported playgroup model
The supported playgroup model has widespread popularity in Australia, though its informality may work against building the evidence base needed to sustain governmental funding. The wide uptake of the supported playgroup service model among community organisations in Australia demonstrates its potential and popularity. This article discusses the Families New South Wales (NSW) supported playgroup model and demonstrates how it can be adapted to meet…
Identity Formation in Children and Young People in Open Adoptions from Out-of-home Care in New South Wales, Australia
Semi-structured interviews were used to explore identity development for nine adoptees (aged 9–23 years) who were adopted by their foster carers in New South Wales, Australia. Adoptions were open, with court-ordered face-to-face contact with birth families. Findings suggest that participants had healthy adoptive identities, with coherent and meaningful narratives about their life histories. Adoption provided a sense of security and belonging. Ope…
Investing in Adoption: Exploring Child Development Accounts for Children Adopted from Foster Care
Adoption is arguably the most powerful intervention available for children in foster care who are unable to be restored to their birth families. Adoption promises stability and a family for life, in contrast to foster care or guardianship, which are expected to end when the child reaches adulthood. In comparison to foster care, adoption is associated with better educational, financial, and social outcomes. However, because children adopted out of…
Strategies of Policy Advocacy Organizations and Their Theoretical Affinities: Evidence from Q‐Methodology
Policy advocacy is an increasingly important function for many nonprofit organizations, yet their advocacy activities have largely escaped theoretical grounding. The literature on nonprofits has described how they engage in policy advocacy, without linking them to theories of policy change. The policy studies literature, on the other hand, has explained how various forms of influence result in policy change, but has largely ignored organizational…
How foster carers experience agency support for birth family contact
Long‐term foster carers in New South Wales, Australia, are being encouraged to consider open adoption of the child in their care. This includes an agreement to facilitate direct or face‐to‐face birth family contact without agency support. There is little Australian research on the factors that influence decisions to adopt children from out‐of‐home care. A mixed methods study was conducted to address this gap. An online survey ( n = 76) and four f…
Contact and Adoption Plans for Children Adopted from Out-of-home Care in New South Wales
In New South Wales (NSW), legislation prioritises open adoption over long-term foster care when restoration is not possible, and suitable kin or guardians cannot be found. The adoption application includes an adoption plan that outlines the nature of a child’s post-adoption contact with his or her birth family. There are efforts to include the views of the child, birth family, and prospective adoptive parents when developing this plan. This paper…
It’s Like I Have an Advantage in All This: Experiences of Advocacy by Parents of Children with Disabilities from Professional Backgrounds
Supports and services for children with disabilities are not distributed equitably. There are disparities in access to and quality of services for children with disabilities from low-income and ethnic minority groups. There are likely many contributors to these disparities, but one factor may be barriers to access that require parents to advocate to obtain services for their children. This qualitative study explores advocacy experiences of parent…
Narrating connection in intercountry adoption: Complexities of openness in Taiwan‒Australia adoptions
Connection and reunion is central to adoption, though complicated by geographical, cultural and linguistic differences in the intercountry adoption space. Drawing from narrative interviews, this study investigated perspectives on connection from the perspectives of adult adopted persons and adoptive parents in Australia, from families of origin in Taiwan and from professionals in both countries. Two primary themes characterising perspectives were…
Two families joined by a child: The role of direct contact in fostering relationships between birth and carer families in permanent care
Background: Most Australian children in permanent care continue to see birth relatives. In New South Wales, foster and kinship carers are encouraged consider open adoption and guardianship, which reduces caseworker involvement in contact. Research is needed to understand what supports children's families to form positive relationships. Family systems theory is helpful to understand the kinship networks created in permanent care.Method: Semi-struc…
Sibling networks of children adopted from out-of-home care in New South Wales, Australia
I’m the centre part of a Venn diagram’: Belonging and identity for Taiwanese-Australian intercountry adoptees
Intercountry adoptees face many challenges in developing their identity and achieving a sense of belonging in post-assimilation Australia. This study uses a constructivist approach to analyse narrative interviews with a sample of Taiwanese intercountry adoptees in Australia ranging in age from early to middle adulthood. Social identity theory and postcolonial theory are used to frame thematic findings about the impact of micro, meso and macro inf…
Changing nature of adoption and need for post-adoption services: Intercountry adoption practice in Taiwan and Australia
This study explores issues on post-adoption services in intercountry adoptions based on the perspectives of adoption professionals from Taiwan and Australia. Findings revealed that both birth and adoptive families identify service needs for material and emotional support and connection after the adoption process is finalized. However, the current lack of government funding for post-adoption services result in gaps in service delivery. Adoption ag…
“You are mum and then they are mum”: Negotiating roles, relationships, and contact in out‐of‐home care
A systematic review of common elements of practice that support reunification
Action research with caseworkers: Responding to and reflecting on the impacts of Covid‐19 on birth family contact
Social distancing due to COVID-19 forced changes to contact with birth relatives for children in out-of-home care. This required a shift to using technologies, which was previously underutilized and viewed as risky. In an action research study, 33 caseworkers in New South Wales, Australia, reflected upon adapting their practices. Three key themes characterized the changes in caseworker practices and how these impacted upon social interactions bet…
Trauma-informed Family Contact Practice for Children in Out-of-home Care
Trauma knowledge and skills are needed to support relational safety for children in out-of-home care and birth family contact is a particular area where trauma-informed approaches are critical. Mixed methods were used to understand the application of trauma-informed approaches to contact in New South Wales, Australia. A total of 118 caseworkers and 15 organisational leaders took part in an anonymous survey or semi-structured interview. Descriptiv…
Psychology (29 works) · Political science (25 works) · Sociology (24 works) · Child Welfare and Adoption (22 works) · Medicine (18 works) · Nursing (13 works) · Public relations (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Law (12 works) · Social Psychology (11 works)