Developing An Effective System Of Child Protection In China. Theis project will be of benefit Australia in the following aspects: (1) It will provide Australia greater knowledge of child protection practices in a major East Asian society, where kinship and family networks play an active role in protecting children within their own communities. (2) It offers a unique opportunity for Australia to demonstrate its commitment to utilising its own research to the benefit of a major developing country ....Developing An Effective System Of Child Protection In China. Theis project will be of benefit Australia in the following aspects: (1) It will provide Australia greater knowledge of child protection practices in a major East Asian society, where kinship and family networks play an active role in protecting children within their own communities. (2) It offers a unique opportunity for Australia to demonstrate its commitment to utilising its own research to the benefit of a major developing country with which it is establishing strong linkages across many activities. (3) It will strengthen the existing connections among Australia higher educational institutions, Chinese government and non-government organizations, and international NGO.Read moreRead less
Pathways to Permanency: A Study of Foster Care Reunification Outcomes. Internationally Child Welfare Services emphasise intensive work with biological families to prevent abuse, to shorten the length of placements when protective care is needed, and to increase rates of reunification with of children with parents. In a three year follow up study the research will undertake a systematic analysis of the process and circumstances in which family reunification is likely to lead to safety and posit ....Pathways to Permanency: A Study of Foster Care Reunification Outcomes. Internationally Child Welfare Services emphasise intensive work with biological families to prevent abuse, to shorten the length of placements when protective care is needed, and to increase rates of reunification with of children with parents. In a three year follow up study the research will undertake a systematic analysis of the process and circumstances in which family reunification is likely to lead to safety and positive outcomes for children and those in which success is less likely. It will generate evidence-based knowledge about reunification decision making and identify policy implications of responding effectively to children in need of short term foster care.Read moreRead less
Strengthening Relationships for Young People in Residential Care. Young people in residential care face major challenges in forming positive relationships, many having experienced adults as a source of threat rather than safety. This project aims to investigate practices within therapeutic residential care that enable or limit young people’s identity formation, positive social connections, safety and wellbeing. This research will generate nuanced knowledge informing interpersonal and institution ....Strengthening Relationships for Young People in Residential Care. Young people in residential care face major challenges in forming positive relationships, many having experienced adults as a source of threat rather than safety. This project aims to investigate practices within therapeutic residential care that enable or limit young people’s identity formation, positive social connections, safety and wellbeing. This research will generate nuanced knowledge informing interpersonal and institutional change. Expected outcomes include improved approaches to therapeutic care and to methods for enabling the participation of young people in care in matters that may change their life trajectory on exiting care. Expected benefits include more responsive policies and frameworks for practice.Read moreRead less
The Extent and Cost of Kinship Foster Care of Orphans in Rural China. This project will explore the extent of kinship foster care provided to orphaned children in rural China. It will also, for the first time, estimate the costs of kinship care, by modifying Australian budget standards research to suit conditions in rural China. The project will combine a strong research team with a leading international non-government agency working in China and will draw on support from government officials fr ....The Extent and Cost of Kinship Foster Care of Orphans in Rural China. This project will explore the extent of kinship foster care provided to orphaned children in rural China. It will also, for the first time, estimate the costs of kinship care, by modifying Australian budget standards research to suit conditions in rural China. The project will combine a strong research team with a leading international non-government agency working in China and will draw on support from government officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The results will be used to estimate child poverty among the target group and will provide a knowledge base for future research in the area.Read moreRead less
Young Carers: Social policy impacts of the caring responsibilities of children and young adults. This project is a unique collaboration between university researchers, eight government agencies in NSW and South Australia and two Carers Associations, using innovative methods to inform policy development. The project will focus on the costs to young carers (their education, training, employment, social activities, health and wellbeing); benefits of the care relationship to families and to governm ....Young Carers: Social policy impacts of the caring responsibilities of children and young adults. This project is a unique collaboration between university researchers, eight government agencies in NSW and South Australia and two Carers Associations, using innovative methods to inform policy development. The project will focus on the costs to young carers (their education, training, employment, social activities, health and wellbeing); benefits of the care relationship to families and to government through savings on formal services; and the social policy frameworks. It will provide a comprehensive audit of policies and services for young carers and care recipients, and identify gaps for future policy development.Read moreRead less
Grandparents as primary carers of their grandchildren: A national, State,Territory analysis of grandparent-headed families - policy and practice implications. This unique collaboration between researchers, four government Departments in the Commonwealth, NSW, South Australia and the Northern Territory concerned with child and family welfare, and Mission Australia, uses innovative methods to analyse non-Indigenous and Indigenous grandparents as primary carers of their grandchildren. The project w ....Grandparents as primary carers of their grandchildren: A national, State,Territory analysis of grandparent-headed families - policy and practice implications. This unique collaboration between researchers, four government Departments in the Commonwealth, NSW, South Australia and the Northern Territory concerned with child and family welfare, and Mission Australia, uses innovative methods to analyse non-Indigenous and Indigenous grandparents as primary carers of their grandchildren. The project will analyse the circumstances and needs of grandparents and grandchildren in different formal and informal arrangements. It will provide a comprehensive audit of national, state and territory policies and identify gaps for the development of policies and services to promote the health and wellbeing of grandparents and children.Read moreRead less
Transition to adulthood of young people with disabilities from state care in China. The project has implications for the national priority of safeguarding Australia through supporting the government strategy of engaging in our region. Disability is an AusAid priority in the Asia Pacific. The project demonstrates Australia's commitment to using our research and policy to improve social inclusion in China and to generalise to other developing countries. It contributes to developing Australian soci ....Transition to adulthood of young people with disabilities from state care in China. The project has implications for the national priority of safeguarding Australia through supporting the government strategy of engaging in our region. Disability is an AusAid priority in the Asia Pacific. The project demonstrates Australia's commitment to using our research and policy to improve social inclusion in China and to generalise to other developing countries. It contributes to developing Australian social policy, research and training in a way that is relevant to child and disability state care practices in Australia and China. The project facilitates future connections between researchers and policy officials in Australia and China, the Chinese Social Welfare Centre and the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs.Read moreRead less
An examination of issues around the support and supervision of Kinship Carers, with a particular focus on NSW. This project will be the first in-depth exploration of issues around provisions of support for and supervision of, kinship carers. The exploration will include an analysis of paradigms influencing child welfare provisions. It will also include a study of characteristics and experiences of formal kinship carers, informal kinship carers and foster carers in NSW. The findings of this stu ....An examination of issues around the support and supervision of Kinship Carers, with a particular focus on NSW. This project will be the first in-depth exploration of issues around provisions of support for and supervision of, kinship carers. The exploration will include an analysis of paradigms influencing child welfare provisions. It will also include a study of characteristics and experiences of formal kinship carers, informal kinship carers and foster carers in NSW. The findings of this study will be examined in the context of the paradigm analysis. The findings will contribute to knowledge for policy development on kinship care generally, and in particular, enable ACWA to contribute to the development of kinship care policy in NSW.Read moreRead less
Linking to learn and learning to link: building integrated school-based support systems for children and families in a disadvantaged community. The project will implement in a disadvantaged community changed institutional practices within primary schools and a partner welfare agency to increase family-school connectedness to improve children's behaviour and school performance. We build on the Pathways Project, which improved these outcomes for vulnerable preschool children, but highlighted the c ....Linking to learn and learning to link: building integrated school-based support systems for children and families in a disadvantaged community. The project will implement in a disadvantaged community changed institutional practices within primary schools and a partner welfare agency to increase family-school connectedness to improve children's behaviour and school performance. We build on the Pathways Project, which improved these outcomes for vulnerable preschool children, but highlighted the critical importance of family involvement with schools to effect enduring change and the difficulties of achieving this within current structures. We address this challenge by nurturing whole-school culture change, providing teacher professional development, and locating family support resources within schools to promote home-school partnerships, family functioning, and child well-being. Read moreRead less
Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside' ....Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside's experience in and commitment to delivery of high quality services with the CIs' interdisciplinary expertise in evaluation of caring work. Anticipated outcomes include development of a conceptual framework for performance assessment which will be used by the industry partner in managing and delivering services.Read moreRead less