I was asked by a group of students to offer some ideas about things that social workers should think about as they consider entering child protection work. Here is the video that raises some questions - I don't expect that everyone will agree with all of these ideas. These are issues that require conversations as we think about child protection.
I would welcome any thoughts you may have.
I would welcome any thoughts you may have.
Hi Peter. I was interested in what you had to say about poor outcomes for children the longer they are in care. I would be interested to know what you do to ensure that children are not trapped int the system and that they have the opportunity to return to their parents? Most child protection systems are inherently risk averse, this often prevents children from being returned to their parents even when parents are more than capable of caring for them. How do you manage that to ensure that children are returned earlier rather than later.
ReplyDeleteMy thought, you never remove a child because of harm that has already occurred. The child protection system does not exist to punish parents, that is what the criminal justice system deals with. You only remove a child because of the risk of future harm occurring. The previous harm only informs the risk assessment you do, it does not on its own decide whether you should remove a child.
ReplyDeleteDefining "good enough" parenting is bloody hard work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZRObPN0Q00
ReplyDelete