Key questions in considering guided practice for vulnerable Australian children

Abstract

Anna Yeatman and Joanna Penglase (August 2004) provide a useful review of the literature on ‘Looking After Children’ (LAC), a guided practice system for children living in out‐of‐home care. In summarising the polarised debate, the authors point to an unresolved situation in which advocates have uncritically adopted individualised care planning, as a way of improving outcomes in child welfare while critics have not offered alternatives for systemic reform. This is an area of troubled social policy and the debate cannot rest here. This paper suggests a number of pressing research questions to be addressed. The urgency of the issues and the characteristics of local service systems mean LAC needs to be evaluated in the Australian context, taking into account the local experience and participation of children, families and their social workers.

‘Putting the Heart Back into the Record’: Personal Records to Support Young People in Care

“…There is now much more information available for people accessing their records than in the past (Murray et al, 2009). The state of Victoria's LAC records are a case in point, being designed to bring together, and continually update, information about the child in a range of domains, including health, education and cultural identity (Tregeagle and Treleaven, 2006). Their original design was to provide both inclusive practice, in which children were involved with the development of their records, and administrative and outcome data for policy workers and managers (Jackson and Kilroe, 1996).…”