Using<i>Looking After Children</i>to create an Australian out-of-home care database

Wise, Sarah

doi:10.1017/s1035077200005575

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Proponents of ICT have described its role in facilitating research in individual workers' practice, developing service collaborations, and facilitating the collection of otherwise unavailable data to assist reform of individual services and systems (Cheers & Morwitzer, 2006;Clare, 2003;Wise, 2003). Internationally, there are emerging examples of creative developments such as computer-assisted questionnaires to aid participation in care planning (Morgan & Fraser, 2010), the impact of portable computers in home visits (O'Connor, Laszewski, Hammel, & Durkin, 2011), computers in emergency interventions to retrieve and exchange information quickly, and use of Internet-based communication in foster care supervision (Dodsworth et al, 2013).…”

Section: The Debate About Ict In Child Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

Heads in the Cloud: An Example of Practice-Based Information and Communication Technology in Child Welfare

Tregeagle

2016

Journal of Technology in Human Services

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Changes in information and communications technology (ICT) in human services have accelerated rapidly and have elicited academic concern about the impact on practice, changes in approaches to implementation, and a shift to user-led development. This article describes the development of ICT by a nongovernment child welfare agency over the past two decades. It is guided by a social constructionist view of technology in which technology is shaped by social factors, but in turn shapes the "social" implementation as requiring the integration of two distinct technologies: a standardized framework for practice and the computer. Both technologies had to be carefully aligned to workplace culture, but the interests of workers have not been allowed to dominate those of and children and families. The organization of work has had to change. This article explores the agency's experience drawing on theories of implementation of ICT in human services. ARTICLE HISTORYThe evolution of information and communications technology (ICT) has been transformative in social workers' lives over the past two decades; however, the social workers' use of ICT has been slow to develop and mired in controversy. There have been expensive failures of software development, frustration among practitioners and a paralyzing academic debate. This article describes attempts by social workers at the child welfare agency to explore ICT's capacity to enhance practice and improve outcomes for children and families. It is based on a social constructionist view of technology in which social processes shape technology and technology affects social organizations. I draw on theorists who examine why social workers take up particular aspects of technologies (Hutchby, 2001(Hutchby, , 2003 and how implementation of computer technology needs to be attuned to the culture of the workplace. The resulting computer program has been used in this busy practice agency for over 18 years, its efficacy has been independently evaluated and it now used voluntarily by 22 similar agencies. The initial ICT project, and its CONTACT Susan Tregeagle

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Section: The Debate About Ict In Child Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

Heads in the Cloud: An Example of Practice-Based Information and Communication Technology in Child Welfare

Tregeagle

2016

Journal of Technology in Human Services

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“…In Australia, Wise (1999) reportedpoor involvement of family members in interventions, with many young people not understanding the way they were meant to participate or the purpose of gathering information: …some adolescents …were mistrustful of the process, and were not especially frank about sensitive issues (Wise, 2003a, p. 15).…”

Section: …[Lac] Reduces the Space For Children To Contribute To Deter...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data collection was also increasingly important for supervision of staff, maintaining information on young people and for reform of the system because data could be used as a basis for research (Wise, 2003b). ICT made the collection and use of this data easier.…”

Section: The Debate Over the Use Of Ict In Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Participation in Child Welfare Services Through Information and Communication Technologies

Tregeagle

2010

International Journal of Information Communication Technologies and Human Development

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Case management systems were designed to open the way for increased participation of young people and their families in child welfare interventions, and, their standardised format provides a valuable opportunity to use ICT in social work practice. Existing research is unclear about how effectively case management affects participation, nor, the impact of ICT on social work interventions. This paper describes the findings of qualitative research with service users about their experiences of case management and how ICT could further their involvement in critical decisions for families. Service users are keen to use ICT and this could help overcome the limitations of paper-based case management systems and exploit the communication potential of the internet and mobile phones. However, before ICT could be used, the complex ‘digital divide’ affecting disadvantaged families would need to be addressed and social workers’ understanding and current use of ICT would need to be explored.

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Children Australia–A 40 Year Retrospective of Australian Out-of-Home Care: Reflections of the Past and Future Directions

Vicary

2015

Children Australia

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For 40 years, Children Australia (and previous incarnations) has provided an enormously valuable space for research, practice and policy to delineate challenges, successes and innovation on issues pertaining to the wellbeing and welfare of children and their families. Articles published in the Journal during this period have been incredibly influential and have added to our collective knowledge of children, young people and their families. Nowhere has this been more evident than the area of out-of-home care (OOHC). This paper will explore and reflect on some of the issues that have been articulated in papers published in the journal over the last 40 years – with a specific focus on Australian Kinship, Foster, Residential and Therapeutic Residential Care. Past issues that are still presenting current challenges will be described and opportunities for change and future improvement identified.

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UsingLooking After Childrento create an Australian out-of-home care database

Cited by 7 publications

References 12 publications

Heads in the Cloud: An Example of Practice-Based Information and Communication Technology in Child Welfare

Heads in the Cloud: An Example of Practice-Based Information and Communication Technology in Child Welfare

Participation in Child Welfare Services Through Information and Communication Technologies

Children Australia–A 40 Year Retrospective of Australian Out-of-Home Care: Reflections of the Past and Future Directions

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