Parents' involvement in care order decisions: a cross‐country study of front‐line practice

Berrick, Jill Duerr; Dickens, Jonathan; Pösö, Tarja; Skivenes, Marit

doi:10.1111/cfs.12277

Cited by 20 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Both models also highlight the impact of factors external to parents such as worker characteristics and organisational factors. The impact of these three groups of factors is reflected within the broader child protection literature (Berrick et al, 2016;Darlington et al, 2010;Healy et al, 2014;Littel & Tajima, 2000;Venables et al, 2015) and will now be discussed.…”

Section: Factors That Impact Parent Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The participation of citizens in decision-making processes that impact their lives is central to contemporary approaches to governance (Wright, Turner, Clay, & Mills, 2006in Darlington, Healy, Yellowlees, & Bosly, 2012. This is due to recognition that the legitimacy of State-made decisions is enhanced when decision-making processes include the input of those impacted by the decision (Berrick, Dickens, Pösö, & Skivenes, 2016). Further to this, as signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989), and the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (United Nations, 1994) countries like Australia, New Zealand and the UK are obligated to include children and their parents in decisions that impact them.…”

Section: Participatory Principles and Child Protection Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thirdly, participatory practice has also been linked to parental satisfaction and positive outcomes (Dale 2004;Kojan, 2011;Holland, 2000, Trotter 2008Maiter, Palmer & Manji, 2006;Thomson & Thorpe, 2003). As such, there is a large and growing body of literature that cites participatory approaches to child protection as best practice (Berrick et al, 2016;Healy & Darlington, 2009).…”

Section: Participatory Principles and Child Protection Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, there is a large body of literature that highlights the difficulties of achieving partnerships in child welfare and protection practice (Berrick et al, 2016;Broadhurst & Holt, 2010;Gladstone et al, 2014;Horwitz & Marshall, 2015;Kemp et al, 2014;Venables et al, 2015). There is further evidence that suggests that whilst parents may be provided with opportunities to participate they find this difficult due in part participatory principles are enshrined in legislation the manner in which they are enacted in practice may not result in active parent involvement.…”

Section: Factors That Impact Parent Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The research evidence indicates that factors internal and external to parents impact their engagement in child protection practice (Berrick et al, 2016;Kemp et al, 2014;Platt, 2012). This suggests that there is an impetus for child protection authorities to recognise that parents may experience barriers to engagement and that investment into exploring ways to address these be prioritised.…”

Section: Factors That Impact Parent Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Collaborative practice in statutory in child protection practice: Parental agreements and procedural justice

Venables¹

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Internationally, there is a growing trend to introduce alternative pathways for children and their families involved with statutory child protection systems. These alternatives focus on developing partnerships with families in order to promote children's safety and well-being within their homes. The form that alternative pathways take varies by jurisdiction.In Queensland (Australia), where this study takes place, the State Government has identified the use of parental agreements to be the least intrusive option available to the child protection authority when a child has been substantiated, via a full investigation, as in need of protection. These agreements are known as 'Intervention with Parental Agreement' (IPA) and allow for the statutory authority to work in partnership with families to address child protection concerns, without the use of a court order. Little is known about how IPA occurs and the extent to which its collaborative ethos is realised in practice.This study aims to provide a detailed understanding of collaborative practice in statutory child protection, using the example of IPA. The study has a key focus on procedural justice, that is the quality of treatment that people receive from an authority during decision-making processes (Tyler, 2006). Using a two-phase, qualitative methodology the study explores the perspectives of practitioners and parents involved in IPA practice.Phase one involved semi-structured interviews with 33 practitioners from the Queensland child protection authority, tertiary family support services and a service responsible for providing cultural guidance in cases that involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. Phase two of the study involved semi-structured interviews with four parents. The interviews captured their unique experience of being subject to IPA, with a focus on their procedural justice judgements.The findings of the study indicate that the crisis-driven nature of statutory child protection in conjunction with the dominance of a risk-adverse culture is perceived by practitioners to be a barrier to collaborative practice. However, the local office culture within branch offices of the child protection authority and relationship-driven models of practice were found to facilitate collaboration in IPA practice.In particular, the nature and quality of three key partnerships of practice was found to shape how IPA practice occurred. These partnerships are: intra-agency partnerships, particularly those between statutory officers at the branch office level; inter-agency 2 partnerships; and those between practitioners and parents. The findings highlight that each of these partnerships are characterised by hierarchical relationships between the different stakeholders. Within all three of these partnerships, procedural justice emerged as an important factor for facilitating positive and collaborative working partnerships. This demonstrated that procedurally fair treatment is important to both parents and practitioners during IPA practice.All of the p...

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Section: Factors That Impact Parent Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Participatory Principles and Child Protection Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Participatory Principles and Child Protection Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Factors That Impact Parent Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Factors That Impact Parent Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Collaborative practice in statutory in child protection practice: Parental agreements and procedural justice

Venables¹

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Care order templates as institutional scripts in child protection: A cross-system analysis

Berrick

Dickens

Pösö

et al. 2018

Children and Youth Services Review

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This article compares blank care order application templates used in four countries (England, Finland, Norway, and USA (California)), treating them as a vital part of the ‘institutional scripts’ that shape practice, and embody state principles of child protection. The templates are used when child protection agencies apply to court for a care order, usually to remove a child from the family home. The templates prescribe and shape the type of information and analysis that is required justify such an extreme level of state intervention in family life. They are a mechanism and a manifestation of the principles and the legislation of each child welfare system, and are able to cast light on issues that might otherwise remain unseen or unnoticed in cross-country comparisons. The analysis of the documents compares the language and form of the four blank templates, their inter-textuality, their readership, and authors. The analysis highlights the discretionary space allocated to social workers across countries and the state frameworks within which child protection efforts are embedded

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Multi-professional work in child protection decision-making: An Israeli case study

Alfandari

2019

Children and Youth Services Review

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Based on the premise that functional, multi-professional work in the child protection process is crucial to the delivery of effective service, this article reports on a qualitative study carried out to evaluate inter-agency and multidisciplinary practice in Israeli decision-making committees. The investigation was directed by the systems approach and looked at practice in the context of the work environment. It examined the cases of 21 families referred to the committees of one of seven social services departments, with follow-up after six months. Data collection involved observations of the discussions and interviews with social workers. According to the findings, school representatives were the only professionals outside of the social service system to participate in the committees, and the committee chairs and senior social workers were dominant in making intervention decisions. Indication of groupthink bias was also found. The follow-up data revealed partial implementation of intervention plans and limited improvement in the children's condition. The analysis identified several systemic sources of difficulty towards achieving meaningful interagency working, including a lack of legislation and departmental organizational conditions. The study advocates an alternative, fresh, whole system approach to the delivery of services for vulnerable children and families.

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Parents' involvement in care order decisions: a cross‐country study of front‐line practice

Cited by 20 publications

References 32 publications

Collaborative practice in statutory in child protection practice: Parental agreements and procedural justice

Collaborative practice in statutory in child protection practice: Parental agreements and procedural justice

Care order templates as institutional scripts in child protection: A cross-system analysis

Multi-professional work in child protection decision-making: An Israeli case study

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