ABSTRACT
Children in out-of-home care (OOHC) have been removed from their caregivers because remaining with them is assessed as significantly compromising the child’s current safety and putting them in significant risk of future harm. It is understood that the removal of children is intrusive, and is regarded as a last resort consistent with the ‘principle of minimal intrusion’ (Elliot and Sultman, 1998), unless the harm is severe. Examples of keeping families together and designing long-term support for families were found in the case files:
Multicultural CW advised that DoCS could have removed the children this week but we wanted to keep them with their mother. [LEB_case file]
DoCS provided case management to the family around issues of parenting, alternative ways of disciplines and understanding child development for 2 years, and [now] closed the case stating that the issues seemed to have settled within the family. The children are good at home and at school. [LEB_case file]
Caller upset that Department of Housing [DOH] told her that her children would be taken away if she didn’t seek accommodation. DOH stated they won’t assist mother anymore and will involve DoCS to have the children removed from her. Mother wanted to again confirm that DoCS would not take her children away from her. Advised mother that removal of children was not DoCS’ first response when assisting families. [LEB_case file]
Example of poor practice 9.1 – Removing children too quickly and denying restoration plans From my experience, if there is injury or harm already caused, we just go straight to removal. We don’t look at the whole picture. We are there for one or two hours doing the assessment. We don’t really know if this child
feels loved in this home. If they have had all the good times, but then there was just that one breaking point … Some caseworkers have the mentality, ‘previous research has shown that children that have been removed [and] gone into the system, when you restore them, it doesn’t work, so what’s the point? It causes more harm to put them back than having them in care longterm [so] go straight to long-term orders, don’t work on a restoration plan. If they get their act together, they can reapply’. Where’s the fairness in giving this family a chance? Especially when they are not in a relativeplacement, they are in foster care, that damage from one placement to another (it’s very rare that they stay in that one placement), that process, is causing harm one way or another to the child, psychologically. The child is damaged by the whole process. We are here about maintaining families. Keeping families together is our focus. We should not be the judge of saying, ‘this child would be much better in this non-relative foster placement [because] this carer can put her in private school’. If we can work on this mother, whether she can’t provide as much quality of life as somebody else, that’s wrong. They’ve gone through a crisis, they’ve done something wrong, [but] if they’ve identified it, acknowledged it, done what they can to fix it, [then] what are they [DoCS] tearing families apart for? That’s not what we are here for … If we can keep them together, in an environment where the child is safe, in [an] adequate [and] loving environment, [then] that’s it. That child needs a sense of belonging, a sense of roots. [CW_NESB]
I really hate 1998 Child Protection Act, [and how] it says DoCS can involve in family, take the kids, out-of-home care and shit. You know what they say? Simple. One sentence: If they feel [the] ‘child [is] at risk’. That’s how they took us to court. They said, “child at risk”. I said “what do you mean ‘child at risk’?”, just give me one example. Is there any report? Do you have any proof? In six years, there’s no report, then all of a sudden, ‘child at risk’. He is a perfectly healthy, intelligent, social, like if I am bad father, he wouldn’t end up like that. It sort of speak for itself. I’m telling you, when they got you, they got you. That’s why [the] system has to be changed. I talk to lots of parents. It’s unbelievable. Like one, they took the kids [when] she was breastfeeding in the hospital. What sort of a human can do that? It’s against nature. Something has to be changed in this country. They’re acting like a God. Not even third world countries doing that. Australia’s democratic and developed country, that’s one of the reasons why I chose to live here. But when I actually involved with DoCS, when I get in the system, I find out
that it is, unbelievable. If you are outside the system, you thought ‘oh everything is perfect, Australia’s good country’. No. I agree lots of families out there, junkies, they don’t care about kids, I actually agree as an Australian citizen, that there are kids out there who need help. But [the] government have to look at the case individually. Don’t put me in the same bag … You took the kids from the parent, for me, [it’s] like they took my arm or leg, [a] part of me. They supposed to help families, not destroy families. I haven’t heard one single good word about the DoCS whoever involved with them. [FAM_Turkish]
Families, regardless of their cultural background, report frustration, disappointment, disempowerment and sadness when their children are removed:
NM: Don’t take the children away. [CHN_case file]
“I miss my mum, I haven’t seen her since court, 2 weeks ago”. [CHN_case file]
NF was very focussed on expressing his frustration for the removal of his son, he was very angry. He feels this is unfair. [CHN_case file]
NM does not agree to this addendum. NM is of the opinion that all four children should be restored to her care. NM does not want her children to be separated. [LEB_case file]
Counselling goals: 1. to address the impact of sexual assault, emotional abuse and neglect, and 2. to address the impact of grief and loss from entering care and changing family environments. [ANG_case file]
Caller wants to highlight that child was “very fearful” about revealing this information. Child is worried about being removed from parents, as this happened one year ago through DoCS. Child said this has been the first actual physical abuse by the parents since her restoration. [VIE_case file]
Thus, removal is equally traumatic to the child and family across cultures. The trauma is not greater for ethnic minority children, for example, just because there is a significant emphasis on family cohesion among collectivist groups. While the strength of family cohesion should not be under-estimated as a protective factor for ethnic minorities during a ‘strengths and needs assessment’, the trauma of removal itself is comparable for any child. This is because the importance of family is the same (even if dependency may not be):
We have difficulties working with any group because of the nature of our work. People don’t like us because we remove children. [CW_NESB]
Case Study 9.1 – The trauma of removal is universal across cultures
While the trauma of removal is universal, reactions to it, however, may be influenced by cultural norms, and these should not be misunderstood when attempting to understand family dynamics and what is best for the child:
We know so little on how different groups react to grief and loss. Some cultures, they will completely detach themselves, they believe they don’t have any more chances. It’s then seen as ‘they’re not interested in child, they don’t fight for child, they don’t come for contact’, not understanding that their understanding of contact is too sad, it’s too much for them to take on, to see a child for [only a short while]. [CW_NESB]
In short, it is important that the power to remove children not be under-estimated or abused by child protection authorities, as parents can experience serious mental ill-health as a result of thinking they have lost their children:
There are lots of different orders – not just removal – that caseworkers can use, like for 12 months, just to scare parents, so that they think twice the next time they go to do something abusive or neglectful. [CW_ANON]
Abuse in the foster care system
Depending on the situation, removal of children into OOHC can be short or long term. OOHC includes placement with kinship carers – which is ideal, as the child at least remains within its family, community and cultural circles (Barn, 2007; Hackett and Cahn, 2004; Wilhelmus, 1998). However, when this is not possible, children may enter a range of other options such as supported independent living, group homes or foster care. While these options provide safety from immediate risk of harm, there are issues even in these systems:
Neglect by foster carers. [ABR_case file]
Disclosure of physical abuse from foster father. [ABR_case file]
Older sibling has experienced verbal/emotional/physical abuse by foster carer. [PAC_case file]
Child abused by [a] previous foster carer and is therefore extremely cagey about DoCS. [CHN_case file]
Child has an extremely disrupted attachment disorder, having been shuffled from China, Australia and various foster placements, and is consequently behaviourally disordered. [CHN_case file]
Paediatrician: From a clinical point of view, child presents as having experienced disruptive family life with what appears to have been abuse and neglect in OOHC. “I don’t like my old carers because they hit me for no reason and I use to spy on them and they smoke drugs. I get very upset when I leave my mum’s house. I want to stay longer but I know we are not allowed”. [ LEB_case file]
When someone tells them [DoCS] something, they’ve got to take it serious. How many times I rang up saying, ‘the kids are in danger, he’s [foster carer] bashing the kids’. ‘Ok, we’ll take that information down’. I said, ‘it’s not information, it’s true, it’s happening, I’m seeing it’. ‘What can I do?’ ‘You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to come and take the kids away’. ‘If you do that, it’s called kidnap’. I said, ‘I don’t care’, and I went and did it. I don’t care, I did the right thing. [FAM_Lebanese]
He [son] had eight different foster carers over six years. I just got him back last year. Who is going to bring [back] his childhood over six years in foster care? DoCS made terrible mistake … The foster parent assaulted my son twice. He ran away, and I went to the DoCS office and had an emergency meeting with the manager, and they said there is nothing they can do. All they can do is change the foster parents. I find [that] very unprofessional, unfair. Not everyone qualified to be a foster parent. They have to be very careful … My son’s last foster parent, I just found out that before she became a foster parent, DoCS took her own kids. How that stupid woman became a foster parent and look after my son? The whole problem is, they dump the kid to the foster parent and don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors … ‘What do you mean you can’t do anything? You are the manager. Fix the problem. That’s your responsibility’. They’re telling me ‘go to the minister’. Which I did actually. [But] nothing has happened … Kids [are] better off to stay in their own family. DoCS must help that family, rather than get the kids out of the family. It’s [the] easy way – take the kids and dump with foster care. They don’t really give a shit about what kids actually think, kids’ feelings, kids’ life. They don’t care about family life. This has to be changed immediately. I want a big apology. [FAM_Turkish]
Needs and experiences of ethnic minorities in out-of-home care
The trauma of removal and likelihood of maltreatment in the foster care system is experienced equally by all children, regardless of their cultural background. However, there are some other needs and experiences particular to ethnic minorities that caseworkers should be aware of to best meet their needs and ensure better outcomes for ethnic minority children in OOHC.
