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Identifying the most appropriate approach for small-scale program evaluation remains a vexed issue for both the researchers who design and implement evaluations, and for the service provider organisations that seek to ensure that they can use the findings as evidence for further program funding. This article reflects on our experiences and the issues encountered in attempting to undertake useful small-scale, community-based program evaluation, particularly in regional settings, where the evaluation capacity, practices and cultures of organisations are still evolving. Cognisant of increasing funder-fundee tensions arising from more externally controlled social program evaluations and considering varied organisational, program, personnel, funding and broader political needs and influences, we have focused on tailoring evaluation approaches to ensure they are robust, relevant and responsive to the varied organisational contexts in which we are endeavouring to strengthen evaluation capacity. The approach that has emerged over the past eight years fits most closely with an empowerment evaluation framework that, although theoretically well suited, has had to be adapted in order to respect, and work productively with the frequently competing imperatives of the different stakeholders involved.

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the experience of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren in New South Wales, Australia. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 34 grandparents and their narratives transcribed and studied using paradigmatic analysis to reveal common themes among the stories told. Identity theory further informed the discussion of these findings. Woven throughout the grandparent narratives is a story of paradox – of experience simultaneously made up of pain/pleasure, myth/reality, inclusion/exclusion, being deserving/undeserving, visible/invisible and voiced/silenced. The findings signal a significant role‐identity conflict for grandparents who are parenting grandchildren. This study points to the need for policy and practice that more closely reflects the complexity of experience associated with the grandparent‐as‐parent role.

This paper outlines the possibilities and tensions that emerge in legal and social discourse when popular images and narratives of children as 'at risk' are juxtaposed with more revised constructions of the child as capable and autonomous. The paper explores this shift in representation of children against a background of extensive family law reform currently under way in Australia. It then reports insights from a pilot study which found that children 'to and fro' between accounts of hurt and powerlessness associated with divorce, and their desire to participate in the processes and decisions taking place around them. The paper posits that discourses of participation taken up in research, practice and policy need to acknowledge a dialectic relationship between agency and vulnerability if we are to respond to children in ways that include rather than marginalise. The paper concludes by highlighting some of the challenges that exist for researchers and practitioners seeking to be open to new ways of thinking about children's lives – ways based on an ethic that refuses the kind of normalisation and neat analyses conventionally pursued through research endeavours.

AbstractSocial policy in Australia and internationally, that is focused on improving children's safety and well‐being, increasingly makes implicit or explicit reference to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Concomitantly, children and young people's participation is more widely acknowledged as being key to ensuring policies, programmes and services reflect their views and lived experience. The non‐government sector, along with statutory bodies like the National and State‐based Children's Commissions in Australia, have led the way in advocating for children's participation, including the development of resources to assist in facilitating this. Little is known, however, about the nature, scope and extent of such resources nor the evidence informing them. This article reports the findings of a scoping review of rights‐informed resources and academic articles that provide a sound rationale and "good practice" information, education and/or professional learning about children's participation rights, in particular. The findings highlight some of the tensions and possibilities between the rhetorical aspirations of participation and existing practice. The analysis is intended to support the efforts of organisations endeavouring to improve their understanding and approaches to embedding children's rights, including participation in decision making and other matters of interest or concern to them.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine a model of effective forensic practice with positive interventions for men with learning disabilities who have committed serious sexual offences. It outlines the theoretical and philosophical frameworks which have informed the model of care and support in a community-based setting and the evidence base for the efficacy of the approach.


Design/methodology/approach
This approach to a community-based forensic learning disability service is informed by systemic practice and underpinned by models of human occupation (Keilhofner, 2008) which informs occupational therapy and total attachment (Harbottle et al., 2014). This is a whole systems model for developing compassionate and participatory practice based on attachment theory and approaches to professional parenting drawn from foster care settings and prevention frameworks for adult safeguarding. It uses Klinean Thinking Environments (1999) to give practical communication to the model.


Findings
The attachment model which underpins both the support for staff and the framework for scaffolding the care and support provided for service users is building calm, consistent and respectful relationships. This enables workers and service users to feel accepted through the availability of support; to feel a sense of belonging and inclusion in which skills and confidence can flourish helping all to feel more effective. This is evidenced by the stability of the service user group and the staff team.


Research limitations/implications
The model of whole system care and support care outlined in this paper can help to provide a therapeutic environment in which men who have committed sexual offences can develop effective skills within a safe, supportive and effectively managed setting. This is on-going research but there is evidence of service users and staff in this model of practice, feeling scaffolded, able to enjoy and achieve progress and personal development.


Practical implications
This model appears to promote stable, sustained, supportive relationships. Placement breakdown has been minimal indicating that the disruption rate is low and therefore therapeutic interventions are likely to take place and be effective. This is a hopeful and positive approach which enables individuals to flourish in a safe environment.


Social implications
The social implications of this model are positive for creating a stable workforce in an industry plagued with rapid turn over of staff to the detriment of the quality of life for service users. It creates stability and confidence for the residents allowing them to begin to relax and thereafter achieve more positive relationships.


Originality/value
This paper examines the application of theoretical frameworks drawn from other disciplines and fuses them into a therapeutic approach to support this service user group. It is a model that can have great portability to other settings but it is its application in forensic services that is new and which is growing its evidence base for its effectiveness.

Research involving children raises complex and well‐documented ethical questions and challenges that extend far beyond the reach of formal review and governance systems, where these exist. However, researchers collectively have a wealth of knowledge and experience in applying universal ethical principles in diverse social, cultural and methodological settings, which offers much potential for understanding how ethical concerns are responded to in situ. Through extensive consultation and research, the Ethical Research Involving Children (ERIC) project, discussed in this article, has drawn on this collective knowledge in generating evidence‐based resources that highlight best practice while grounding ethical decision‐making in lived experience.

AbstractThe emergence of the 'child‐safe' organization requires close attention to practices that contribute to children's wellbeing and safety. Based on data collected in schools, residential care and disability services, this article argues for a more nuanced understanding of the ethical frameworks informing practice in these settings. Findings suggest both young people and adults predominantly describe ethical practice in terms of intersubjective relations. This ethical relationality is understood, less in terms of vertical responsibilities of care (largely the domain of adults and shaped by institutional norms), and more in terms of vertical and horizontal (interpersonal) relations, giving way to more empowered inclusion.

Purpose
Qualitative researchers working with children are increasingly sharing accounts of their research journeys, including the inherent ethical tensions they navigate. Within such accounts, reflexivity is consistently signalled as an important feature of ethical practice. The purpose of this paper is to explore how reflexive engagement can be stimulated within ethical decision-making processes, with the aim of generating professional dialogue and improved practice in qualitative research involving children.


Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on the authors' work in the Ethical Research Involving Children (ERIC) project, an international initiative that synthesised literature, research evidence and the views and experiences of almost 400 researchers and other key stakeholders internationally, to consider the key philosophical and practical components that underpin reflexivity in the context of research involving children.


Findings
A conceptual approach linking 'Three Rs' - reflexivity, rights and relationship - was found to be a useful framework for enacting universal ethical principles while provoking the kind of critical engagement required for navigating the ethical tensions that characterise decision-making in research involving children.


Originality/value
This paper introduces a framework to help bridge the gap between espoused ethical principles and the real world dilemmas that emerge in research practice. In doing so, the paper invites a deeper engagement with the ways in which children are constructed in and through research, while offering a shared language for shifting professional dialogue and academic discourse from the aspirational to the operational of ethical reflexivity.

The involvement of children in research has gathered significant momentum following the almost universal ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the emergence of new theoretical interests that challenge conceptions of children as irrational, incompetent, vulnerable and unable to know and articulate what is in their own best interests. However, seeking the views of children and responding to what they have to say are heavily circumscribed by social and cultural norms and values that must be known and respected in order to ensure that the research is ethically and methodologically sound. This article reports on the experiences of a team of researchers undertaking a project that sought the views and perspectives of children in relation to learning and education in a rural province of Vietnam. It discusses the reflexive nature of such an endeavour that required a deep recognition of the influence of Confucian culture, particularly in relation to issues of who has authority to speak and on what matters, as well as detailed attention to children's existing experience of being consulted.

Hypothetical scenarios were used to assess the influence of the sensitivity of the study topic, payments, and study methods on research ethics committee (HREC) members' approval of social research studies involving children. A total of 183 Australian HREC members completed an online survey. The higher the perceived sensitivity of the study topic, the less likely the study would be approved by an HREC member. HREC members were most likely to approve each of the hypothetical studies if no payment was offered. Payment was the most common reason for not approving the low risk studies, while risks were the most common reasons for not approving the more sensitive studies. Face-to-face interviews conducted at home with children elicited substantially higher rates of approval from HREC members with more sensitive study topics. Both HRECs and researchers may benefit from additional guidance on managing risks and payments for children and young people in research.