1 / 16

Thinking about how we think about children : social policy and related child welfare practices

Thinking about how we think about children : social policy and related child welfare practices. Dr Wendy Foote Deputy CEO ACWA Adjunct Lecturer: Social Work Practice UNSW . Thinking about how we think about children . 1. Thinking about thinking - Concepts about children and childhood

marja
Download Presentation

Thinking about how we think about children : social policy and related child welfare practices

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Thinking about how we think about children: social policy and related child welfare practices Dr Wendy Foote Deputy CEO ACWA Adjunct Lecturer: Social Work Practice UNSW

  2. Thinking about how we think about children • 1. Thinking about thinking - Concepts about children and childhood • 2. Tools for critical reflection in a ‘critical’ social work frame • 3. Challenges

  3. Reflective practice • Thinking about how we think and practice

  4. The impact of concepts Three examples of cohorts of children - • Child migrants • Stolen generation • Forgotten Australians

  5. Notions of childhood • ‘Harmism’ – focus on potential harm created from parental split ‘helpless dependents’ who need their parents to stay together (Smart) • Children’s needs and identify subsumed by family (Mason) • Individual children invisible in parental disputes about them within family law legal systems (Foote)

  6. Thinking about children as citizens • The tension between the need to care and protect children and increasing children’s rights around participation • UNCRC • Human rights – new emphasis that allow for children to be treated as individuals & lifted out of obfuscation of the family context (Jans 2004)

  7. Thinking about children as citizens • Significant upheaval and change in the social institutions lead to some significant revisions about childhood – family, class, science, work, state and democracy Eg Childhood as a period of learning can no longer be defined as: ‘children are the ones who need to be qualified by adults who are qualified’ (Hengst 2001). • Children have knowledge about their present condition: adults are now seen as life-long learners.

  8. Critical reflection: what’s the link? • Provides a robust method of reflecting on issues and practices that are key to child and family welfare • Critical reflection, a specific application of ‘reflective learning’, offers a framework for practitioners to use as they work • First exposure in undergraduate studies - refined and continually used as a career long practice (Cleak & Wilson 2007) • Protective of practitioners – espec in child protection work and useful

  9. What is CR? • Thinking deeply about experiences and situations in order to bring about change (Fook 2010). • It is holistic in its application: the ‘whole self’, + the context, + social and cultural background and personal history, personally held assumptions   • Gender, diversity, power, and prevailing discourses (Fook 1999)

  10. CR Framework • 1. Identify the describe the incident or situation • 2. Re-creation • 3. Deconstruction (tacit knowledge/ power/gender/diversity/discourses/structures) • 4. Challenge • 5. Reconstruction and application of new knowledge (Jan Fook)

  11. Tricky to teach • Golden standard in Social work training and in practice – but not so easy to teach…. • Why? • Level of engagement required is high; new process transformative learning translates theory through analysis to application and change. • Can’t indulge in denial or be a bystander – like we may have done in the face of overwhelming narratives eg the remnants of the White Australia policy.

  12. The challenge • Educators have a job of teaching undergraduate students to ‘think within their discipline’ • In the sector we must establish powerful discourses, such as meaningful participation of children • Take this to the broader community • Use the human rights framework as a base

  13. A cautionary tale • "The ... Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident was the result of collusion between the government, the regulators and Tepco, and the lack of governance by said parties," … • Plant operators could not bring themselves to expose the problem …. The powerful work culture resulted in all of them keeping silent.

  14. ‘Three Generations of Imbeciles Are Enough’ • Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes's infamous opinion in the 1927 case of Buck v. Bell. • Overriding individual rights on the basis of a socially constructed notion of the greater good.

  15. Ensuring child centered practice • Create room for questioning and critical reflection – think about our thinking • Human Rights framework is key – violations are a red flag • Current challenge – continue to develop, practice and maintain ways of managing the complexity of the need for protection and active citizenship and to engage children and young people in meaningful ways

More Related