Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- 1 Child welfare practice -- 2 Interpreting child protection -- 3 Protecting children -- 4 Punishing kids -- 5 Boilerplating -- 6 'It's no bed of roses' -- 7 Working in child welfare -- 8 Redoing child welfare practice -- Methodological appendix -- References

In child protection, 'status indicators' typically describe the status of children in care in regard to reason for coming into care, length of time in care, racial or ethnic identity and whether specific bureaucratic milestones have been reached. With Indigenous children, status indicators are broadened to encompass explicit requirements arising from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle. Our contention is that this approach serves administrative decision-making and not the needs of Indigenous children.We propose a different process for evaluating the effectiveness of foster care for Indigenous children that considers their well-being rather than their status as cases. This paper examines 'well-being indicators' for Indigenous children in care that emphasise foster family capacity to fulfil basic developmental, health, educational, social, cultural, spiritual, housing (Fisher, Pecora, Fluke, Hardin & Field, 1999) and economic needs. The paper concludes with recommendations for practice research on well-being indicators in Indigenous families.

The construction of silence Concerns about juvenile crime and juvenile justice have attracted the most intense public interest in Australia over recent years. This has come about largely as a result of a deep sense of public concern over a 'law and order crisis' generated by 'rising juvenile crime', 'crime waves', 'youth gangs' and so forth, as well as from more general worries associated with the social problems of homelessness, teenage suicide and youth unemployment (Polk 1993, Presdee 1990, Cunneen & White 1995).

Indicators for children in care typically describe the administrative status of children, an approach that serves administrative decision-making more than the personal well-being of foster children. At the same time, there is little research on what constitutes indicators of the personal well-being of children in care, especially Indigenous children.This paper reports research that sought to define social, cultural and spiritual well-being indicators for Indigenous children in care by seeking the opinions and knowledge of Indigenous child protection workers and foster carers. The study examines a series of strategic change indicators that address Indigenous concerns about the social, cultural and spiritual development of Indigenous children in care.