Download or read book Supporting Children in the Australian Foster Care System written by Ray Beekmans and published by . This book was released on 2020-10 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you at times frustrated, sleep deprived, confused and unsure about how to connect, communicate with and support your foster child? This book has been written by five authors who have worked in the child protection and foster care system for more than three decades and have learned the hard way what works and what doesn't. Their writing is easy to understand and they have identified the key areas that may create confusion and uncertainty in the world of foster care and provided solutions for these problem areas. Understanding Children in the Australian Foster Care System includes a step by step guide to assist you to remove pressure and confusion in your home.Chapters include:- A child's view of placement.-What impact trauma has on a child's brain.-How to build resilience in young children for lifelong success.-Key skills to reduce anxiety in young children and teenagers.-Helpful coaching for foster carers.-How to start and have conversations about sexuality and gender awareness.-The importance of understanding nutrition and the part it plays with the children's health.This book is a must-read for everyone working in the Australian foster care system.

Download or read book Children in Foster Care written by James Barber and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Researchers, practitioners, journalists and politicians increasingly recognise that foster care throughout the world is in a state of crisis. There are more and more children needing care and, as residential alternatives dry up, more of these children are being assigned to foster families. This book reports the major findings of a two-year longitudinal study of 235 such children who entered the foster care system in Southern Australia between 1998 and 1999. As well as examining the changing policy context of children's services, the book documents the psychosocial outcomes for these children, their feedback on their experiences of care, and the views of their social workers and carers. In the process, the book examines some cherished beliefs about foster care policy and sheds new light on them. The research reveals that while most children do quite well in foster care up to the two-year point, there is a worrying amount of placement instability at a time when the concentration of emotionally troubled children in care is increasing throughout the western world. Although, surprisingly, placement instability does not appear to produce psychosocial impairment for a period of up to eight months in care, it has an extreme effect on children who are moved from placement to placement because no carer will tolerate their behaviour. These children are consigned to a life of distribution and emotional upheaval because of the lack of alternative forms of care. Another unexpected finding of the research is that increasing the rate of parental contact achieves little or nothing in relation to the likelihood of family reunification. As child welfare increasingly enters a world of research-based practice, Children in Foster Care provides some much needed hard evidence of how foster care policy and practice can be improved.

Download or read book Supporting Children and Young People of Foster Carers written by Anna Targowska and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite research highlighting the needs of the biological children of foster parents, little has been done in Australia to address this issue. This report presents evidence on the current needs of and services for biological children of foster carers in Western Australia. Drawing on a literature review and interviews with children and stakeholders, it examines the foster care experience from the point of view of foster carers' biological children, supports offered prior to and during the fostering period, and the possible role of foster agencies in developing more inclusive practice. This project was required to produce a set of resources for foster families, which are noted.

Download or read book Foster Youth in the Mediasphere written by Milissa Deitz and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-11-16 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers the impact of digital media and technology on lived experience for young people in foster care. While the extent and intricacies of foster care—known as out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia, where this study takes place—are not widely understood by the general public, youth in care might struggle to construct a personal identity that goes beyond reflecting the stereotypes and stigma by which they are often recognised. In today’s digital environment, media can play a significant role in any individual’s developing sense of self, identity, and belonging. Deitz and Sheridan Burns examine OOHC through the lens of networked media environments and investigate the conditions that encourage belonging and resilience in order to establish the role that digital technology can play in supporting those conditions for individuals, family networks, and the care sector.

Download or read book Preventing Child Abuse and Providing Support for Parents in the Australian Foster Care Sector written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Handbook of Therapeutic Care for Children written by Joe Tucci and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. This book was released on 2019-09-19 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative book brings together a wide range of therapeutic approaches, techniques and models to outline recent developments in the practice of supporting children in out-of-home care. It sheds light on the significance of schools, sports and peer relationships in the lives of traumatized children. It also draws particular attention to the vital importance of taking into account children's cultural heritage, and to the growing prevalence of relative care. Each chapter is set out by acclaimed and world-renowned contributors' specific approach, such as Dan Hughes and his work on conceptual maps and Cathy Malchiodi and her research on creative interventions, and gives practical ways to support children and carers. It also includes contributions from Bruce Perry, Allan Schore and Martin Teicher. This comprehensive volume will open new avenues for understanding how the relationship between child and carer can create opportunities for change and healing.

Download or read book The Slow Evolution of Foster Care in Australia written by Nell Musgrove and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-08-10 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ​This book draws on archival, oral history and public policy sources to tell a history of foster care in Australia from the nineteenth century to the present day. It is, primarily, a social history which places the voices of people directly touched by foster care at the centre of the story, but also within the wider social and political debates which have shaped foster care across more than a century. The book confronts foster care’s difficult past—death and abuse of foster children, family separation, and a general public apathy towards these issues—but it also acknowledges the resilience of people who have survived a childhood in foster care, and the challenges faced by those who have worked hard to provide good foster homes and to make child welfare systems better. These are themes which the book examines from an Australian perspective, but which often resonate with foster care globally.

Download or read book Reforming the Foster Care System in Australia written by Marilyn McHugh and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This report from Berry Street, with additional analysis from the University of New South Wales, explores the reasons why foster care is currently in a state of crisis and proposes a new model for a professional foster care system for all young people in Out Of Home Care (OOHC). The report summarises a proposed operational and funding model that takes account of the differing needs and circumstances of these children and that integrates: Clinical assessment and therapeutic support; Carer recruitment, training, support and supervision; A fostering allowance (reimbursement of direct costs); A foster parent fee (income for the foster parent(s))."--Page 1.

Download or read book Raising a Secure Child written by Kent Hoffman and published by Guilford Publications. This book was released on 2017-02-03 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today's parents are constantly pressured to be perfect. But in striving to do everything right, we risk missing what children really need for lifelong emotional security. Now the simple, powerful "Circle of Security" parenting strategies that Kent Hoffman, Glen Cooper, and Bert Powell have taught thousands of families are available in self-help form for the first time.ÿ You will learn:ÿ *How to balance nurturing and protectiveness with promoting your child's independence.ÿ *What emotional needs a toddler or older child may be expressing through difficult behavior. *How your own upbringing affects your parenting style--and what you can do about it.ÿ Filled with vivid stories and unique practical tools, this book puts the keys to healthy attachment within everyone's reach--self-understanding, flexibility, and the willingness to make and learn from mistakes. Self-assessment checklists can be downloaded and printed for ease of use.

Download or read book Review of Best Practice in Residential Out of Home Care written by Robyn Seth-Purdie and published by . This book was released on 1919-09-06 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This review commences by examining the incidence of child maltreatment in Australian States and Territories and internationally. It considers research on the major risk factors that increase the likelihood of child abuse and neglect and considers how these factors can occur within both major child protection systems - the informal, customary system, centred around children and families within a network of community support, and the formal, statutory child protection system, particularly as it places children in out of home care, distancing them from their families and other networks of support. Removal from family, even one that has been abusive or neglectful, is traumatic, particularly for Indigenous children whose out of home placements may isolate them from meaningful connections with culture. The characteristics and special needs of children and young people in out of home care show a high incidence of trauma, mental illness and challenging behaviour. The most complex needs are found in children in residential out of home care, who often have a history of multiple failed placements. The poor reputation of residential care in English speaking countries reflects both the systemic problem of failing to intervene sufficiently early to support families who struggle to meet the needs of their children and keep them safe, and the difficulty of providing a therapeutic, trauma-informed care environment in which highly traumatised children can have their developmental needs assessed and have access to individually tailored programs of professional support to meet those needs. The review identifies 12 principles for best practice in the provision of residential out of home care, but strongly emphasises the need to act on our knowledge about preventing child maltreatment and placement into out of home care by strengthening the informal system of care and protection.

Download or read book Reforming Child Protection written by Bob Lonne and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-07-10 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Child protection is one of the most high profile and challenging areas of social work, as well as one where children’s lives and family life are seen to be at stake. Vital as child protection work is, this book argues that there is a pressing need for change in the understanding and consequent organization of child protection in many English speaking countries. The authors present compelling evidence from around the globe demonstrating that systems across the Western world are failing children, families and social workers. They then set out a radical plan for reform: Providing an overview of contemporary child protection policies and practices across the English speaking world Presenting a clear and innovative theoretical framework for understanding the problems in the child protection system Developing an alternative, ethical framework which locates child protection in the broader context of effective and comprehensive support for children, young people and families at the neighbourhood and community levels Grounded in the recent and contemporary literature, research and scholarly inquiry, this book capitalises on the experiences and voices of children, young people, families and workers who are the most significant stakeholders in child protection. It will be an essential read for those who work, research, teach or study in the area.

Download or read book Accomplishing Permanency Reunification Pathways and Outcomes for Foster Children written by Elizabeth Fernandez and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-09-07 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reunification is a primary goal of foster care systems and the most common permanency planning decision. It is defined as the return of children placed in protective care to the home of their birth family and used to describe the act of restoring a child in out-of-home care back to the biological family. Yet reunification decision-making and the process of reintegrating children into birth families remains under researched. This Brief takes a look at family reunification knowledge and research in Australia where there is evidence that most children placed in protective care are eventually reunited with their birth parents. It explores how a knowledge of reunification decision making and outcomes can contribute to strengthening practice and informing policy formulation and program planning in Child Welfare.​

Download or read book Working Together to Care for Kids written by Lixia Qu and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'Working Together to Care for Kids Survey' was commissioned by the Australian Government to learn more about the characteristics and needs of carers of children in out-of-home care in Australia, to help inform support policies and practices. 2,203 foster and kinship carers were interviewed in late 2016 regarding their characteristics and circumstances, experiences of service support and training, motivations and challenges, and wellbeing and family relationships. Participants were also asked about: children's previous experience of abuse and problems at home, children's development, contact between children and parents, types of services and supports used and their perceived helpfulness, barriers to support, the Grandparent Adviser Phone Line, preparedness for the caring role, and likelihood of looking after other children. The study also compared foster and kinship carers and male and female carers. Overall, the findings provide a national picture of carers and the multiple and complex challenges they face.

Download or read book Maybe Days written by Jennifer Wilgocki and published by American Psychological Association. This book was released on 2022-10-31 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Will I live with my parents again? Will I stay with my foster parents forever? For children in foster care, the answer to many questions is often "maybe." Maybe Days addresses the questions, feelings, and concerns these children most often face. Honest and reassuring, it also provides basic information that children want and need to know, including the roles of various people in the foster care system and whom to ask for help. An extensive afterword for adults caring for foster children describes the child's experience, underscores the importance of open communication, and outlines a variety of ways to help children adjust to the "maybe days"—and to thrive. From the Note to Foster Parents and Other Adults: The enormity of adjustment that children in foster care are asked to make is hard to over-state. Children in foster care may experience and express a range of feelings, many of which may emerge during the reading of this book. Multiple feelings may occur at the same time and may include: Relief and a sense of safety Happiness and a sense of enjoyment Sadness Anger Fear or worry Confusion Guilt Shame Loneliness Sense of loss ​Some children respond well to verbal discussion about their feelings....Keep in mind that asking questions and encouraging activities can be useful for some children, but it is not always necessary and is never a substitute for simply listening.

Download or read book Young People Transitioning from Out of Home Care written by Philip Mendes and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-09-26 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges and revises existing ways of thinking about leaving care policy, practice and research at regional, national and international levels. Bringing together contributors from fifteen countries, it covers a range of topical policy and practice issues within national, international or comparative contexts. These include youth justice, disability, access to higher education, the role of advocacy groups, ethical challenges and cultural factors. In doing so it demonstrates that, whilst young people are universally a vulnerable group, there are vast differences in their experiences of out-of-home care and transitions from care, and their shorter and longer-term outcomes. Equally, there are significant variations between jurisdictions in terms of the legislative, policy and practice supports and opportunities made available to them. This significant edited collection is essential reading for all those who work with young people from care, including social workers, counsellors, and youth and community practitioners, as well as for students and scholars of child welfare.

Download or read book Child Protection and the Care Continuum written by Elizabeth Fernandez and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-25 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important new book critically examines the complex policy and practice issues surrounding child protection, including the impact of theoretical orientations, contemporary debates, policy initiatives and research findings, and maintains an emphasis on the ethics and values underpinning child welfare interventions. The book introduces policies that are central to understanding the position and needs of children and young people, and how policy and practice have been influenced by developments including the children’s rights agenda. It also explores the most significant issues in child welfare. These include: the experience of maltreatment by children, the systems of child protection to safeguard them, the methods and challenges of risk assessment, and the wide range of policy and therapeutic interventions to respond to children’s needs. The book also examines family support to promote children’s wellbeing before considering provision for children and young people who are looked after in out-of-home care. There is also a final section that focuses on best practice in communicating and working with children and young people, drawing on participatory, rights-oriented and resilience-based approaches, and supporting foster and adoptive carers and biological parents. Contributing in a substantive and clear manner to a growing international conversation about the present function and future directions for child welfare in contemporary societies, this textbook will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate social work students and those from allied disciplines, and professionals who are engaged in child welfare services.

Download or read book Supporting Carers of Other People s Children written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: