Children Australia–A 40 Year Retrospective of Australian Out-of-Home Care: Reflections of the Past and Future Directions

Abstract

For 40 years, Children Australia (and previous incarnations) has provided an enormously valuable space for research, practice and policy to delineate challenges, successes and innovation on issues pertaining to the wellbeing and welfare of children and their families. Articles published in the Journal during this period have been incredibly influential and have added to our collective knowledge of children, young people and their families. Nowhere has this been more evident than the area of out-of-home care (OOHC). This paper will explore and reflect on some of the issues that have been articulated in papers published in the journal over the last 40 years – with a specific focus on Australian Kinship, Foster, Residential and Therapeutic Residential Care. Past issues that are still presenting current challenges will be described and opportunities for change and future improvement identified.

Conversations of Care: A Narrative Review of Collaborative Care Systems for Foster and Kinship Care

“…The focus of this paper is on the New South Wales (NSW) OOHC system. Children in care in NSW are known to be one of the most vulnerable groups within the broader community due to the types of severe abuse and neglect they have experienced prior to entering care, combined with the known prevalence of poor outcomes once they have entered the OOHC system (such as abuse in care, placement breakdowns, relationship instability, and poor physical, mental health, and educational outcomes) (Lehmann & Vicary, ; Peel & Beckley, ; Sullivan & van Zyl, ; Tarren‐Sweeney, ; Vicary, ).…”

“…A 'universalist' model of care as in Scotland, which decreases the emphasis on professional specialisation and makes safety and compassionate care everyone's business, has been shown to help address these systemic issues. However, achieving this requires care systems to privilege relational processes that address the sustained support needed for staff and caregivers while ensuring practice can be effectively evaluated (Eddy et al, 1998;Lown, Rosen, & Marttila, 2011;Manley et al, 2014;McConachie & Logan, 2003;Raghavendra et al, 2007;Vicary, 2015).…”

“…experienced prior to entering care, combined with the known prevalence of poor outcomes once they have entered the OOHC system (such as abuse in care, placement breakdowns, relationship instability, and poor physical, mental health, and educational outcomes) (Lehmann & Vicary, 2015;Peel & Beckley, 2015;Sullivan & van Zyl, 2008;Tarren-Sweeney, 2008;Vicary, 2015).…”

“…While the need for foster and kinship carers has been rising, we also know that the number of people coming forward to become carers has been decreasing (Council of Australian Governments, 2009). Children who enter the OOHC system are well known to be at greater risk than their peers of poor mental health, and develop mental health problems such as emotional dysregulation, anxiety, mood disorders, and attention deficit issues related to disrupted attachment relationships (Fergeus, Humphries, Harvey, & Herrman, 2017;Lehmann & Vicary, 2015;Peel & Beckley, 2015;Sullivan & van Zyl, 2008;Tarren-Sweeney, 2008;Vicary, 2015). A greater understanding of the importance of the carer-child relationship for promoting better mental health and wellbeing for children in OOHC is crucial to addressing this significant issue (Fergeus et al, 2017).…”

Literature review: Foster carer attraction, recruitment, support and retention

“…As the prolific UK researcher, Clive Sellick, noted back in 2006, the availability of literature and research on out-of-home care has developed from 'famine' to 'feast' (Sellick, 2006), and many papers have been published in Australia over the past 40 years (Vicary, 2015). Quite appropriately, most research has focused on identifying and measuring needs and outcomes for children and young people, and analysis of larger administrative data sets from the USA has helped with this (Fernandez & Barth, 2010).…”