Restoring Children From Out‐of‐Home Care

Insights From an Aboriginal‐Led Community Forum

Bibliographic Data

ID6417834
AuthorsBj Newton (0000-0003-2299-4029, Scientia Senior Research Fellow UNSW Sydney Sydney Australia), Paul Gray (0000-0002-3090-2596, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research University of Technology Sydney Ultimo Australia), Kyllie Cripps (0000-0002-9193-4153, Monash Indigenous Studies Centre Monash University Melbourne Australia), Kathleen Falster (0000-0003-2035-5485, Faculty of Health and Medicine, School of Population Health UNSW Sydney Sydney Australia), Ilan Katz (0000-0001-9002-0205, Social Policy Research Centre UNSW Sydney Sydney Australia), Kimberly Chiswell (Social Policy Research Centre UNSW Sydney Sydney Australia), Lisa Wellington (Waminda South Coast Women's Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation Nowra Australia), Richard Ardler (South Coast Medical Service Aboriginal Corporation Nowra Australia), Fiona Frith (Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation Wollongong Australia), T Anthony Jones (0000-0001-7924-5147, South Coast Medical Service Aboriginal Corporation), Tori Jones (South Coast Medical Service Aboriginal Corporation Nowra Australia), M I Kent (Tharawal Aboriginal), Mandy Kent (Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation Wollongong Australia), Neika Tong (Social Policy Research Centre UNSW Sydney Sydney Australia)
Year2024
Volume30
Issue3
Pages366-376
Publication date2024-04-22
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChild & Family Social Work (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-7500 • E-ISSN: 1365-2206
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/cfs.13174
OpenAlexW4395003941
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited8

Restoring children from out‐of‐home care (OOHC) to their families is the preferred outcome for all children removed by child protection services, yet little is known about how restoration processes are experienced by families and services supporting them. This paper provides important insights about Aboriginal child restoration from 40 practitioners and stakeholders at a community forum led by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. This is one component of larger Aboriginal‐led research, which investigates child protection experiences and pathways to successful restoration in NSW and the data source for this paper. The community forum explored the issues for families navigating family preservation, OOHC and restoration within child protection and legal systems. Findings include the need for a continuum of support for families throughout their engagement with child protection systems and crucially following the removal of their children. Barriers to effective restoration practice included a lack of access to meaningful and ongoing preservation services, insufficient cultural care planning and family finding efforts that are often too late, the pressure on services to support families without adequate capabilities or enough resourcing, the lack of transparency and the complexities in navigating the restoration process, and the lack of culturally informed support for children and their families while children are in care. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. This paper contributes to understanding practice, processes and barriers for restoration, particularly focused on the perspectives of Aboriginal families and communities, with potential insights for practice within Australia and internationally

Child Welfare and Adoption · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Gerontology

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