My life's been a total disaster but I feel privileged’
Care‐leavers’ access to personal records and their implications for social work practice
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12569509 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Suellen Murray (Centre for Applied Social Research RMIT University, corresponding author), Cathy Humphreys (0000-0001-8997-8993, Department of Social Work University of Melbourne Melbourne Victoria Australia) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 215-224 |
| Publication date | 2012-08-16 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Child & Family Social Work (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1356-7500 • E-ISSN: 1365-2206 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2012.00895.x |
| OpenAlex | W1892763906 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 10 |
In A ustralia, there is no binding protocol that proscribes the processes by which the release of personal records of adults who grew up in care occurs. Individual agencies that hold the records – both government and non‐government organizations – have their own policy and practice guidelines. While not specific to care‐leavers, the existence of freedom of information and privacy legislation means that the subject of the records is entitled to access information about themselves, but this is not unproblematic. Drawing on qualitative in‐depth interviews with a group of A ustralian care‐leavers, this paper discusses their experiences of accessing personal records. Accessing these records was often highly significant to identity formation, but could produce both positive and negative effects. The negative aspects of the records were that, typically, at least in part, they were incomplete, insulting, incorrect and/or incomprehensible. Currently, the range of support provided to those accessing their records varies significantly across agencies. The findings of this research suggest the need for the greater provision of supported release and the implications for social work practice are discussed
Government (linguistics · Identity (music · Internet privacy · Legislation · Medical record · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Subject (documents · Work (physics · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Engineering · Healthcare innovation and challenges · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work
If there are no records, there is no narrative
Finding traces of everyday life in unusual places
Making Records Meaningful
Improving the Archiving of Records in the Out-of-home Care Sector
Life after Growing Up in Care
Client access to case records in Australian social work
Compassion and Compliance
The flexibility of the records continuum model
Recordkeeping and the life‐long memory and identity needs of care‐experienced children and young people
The Turn to Biographical Methods in Social Science
Adults who grew up in care
After the Orphanage
Building a Life Story
After All These Years
Putting the Heart Back into the Record’
Identity Issues for Looked after Children with No Knowledge of Their Origins
A Childhood on Paper
A Childhood on Paper
Representing Children's Identities in Core Assessments
| Citations per year | 0.69 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2025 (13) |
| Highly cited | No |