Care for Kids — Do We? A Psychological Study of State Wards in New South Wales

Abstract

An investigation of children entering State wardship revealed a common background of poverty, mobility of domicile, neglect and deprivation together with physical abuse. There were high levels of parental loss and parental psychiatric illness and criminality. While of average intelligence, the children were educationally retarded and emotionally disturbed with depression and hostility the main symptoms. They perceived their environment as violent and aggressive and themselves as deprived or experiencing loss. Most clung to idealized parental figures and denied the reality of their present situation. On discharge from the receiving centre only four children were fostered and the rest continued in care.

The Inner World of Children Separated from Their Parents

“…In an extension of a previous study (Harper and Hardy, 1985), it was decided to investigate the possibility of exploring the inner world of children admitted to care through interviews using the Lowenfeld World Technique (Lowenfeld, 1979). The assumption was made that, given the right tools, the children would communicate their inner feelings and so provide an insight into how they viewed the circumstances of their past.…”