It takes a village to protect a child

This article presents a case for taking a concerted community approach to protecting children. It does this through acknowledging that: child protection is indeed ‘everyone’s business’ (Landgren, 2005) and extending this into promoting a collective response rather than relying solely on child protection authorities to work with individual families; revisiting the ‘best interests’ criterion of child rights in protecting children; reiterating the argument (Young, McKenzie, Omre, Schjelderup, & Walker, 2014) for a much more nuanced understanding of, and response to, keeping children safe; and presenting some descriptions and analyses of community approaches to protecting children

Teaching and practicing group-work for social justice: A critical reflection on power and process

In this paper, we argue that groups and group-work practice are potential sites for working towards social justice. This demands a robust understanding and critique of power, reflexively applied into group-work practice. The attainment of social justice presupposes group-work practice that is emancipatory, action orientated, and imbued with individual and collective accountabilities towards understanding privilege and inequalities in power. By way of example, we illustrate our argument by critically examining group-work practice in relation to power and social justice considerations, particularly focusing on clinical, educative, and peer facilitated lived experience groups. Our aim is to teach group-work and apply group-work in our practices in a manner that is transformative, emancipatory, self-empowering and aligned with social justice agendas. Here we explore key themes and principles of group-work theory and practice, through practice reflections to illustrate the potential for groups as a vehicle for social justice praxis

Directions for research practice in decolonising methodologies: Contending with paradox

The complex nature of colonisation presents with the potential for paradoxes in decolonising approaches, hence, fixed conventions and methods are discouraged. In this way, decolonising methodologies concerns interrogating dominant conventions in research that have typically excluded alternative ways of knowing from academia. This raises concern about the issue of breaking conventions, when it is potentially difficult to realise that one is depending upon them. An incremental approach to the research process and subsequent knowledge generated provides opportunity to challenge the conventions that typically dictate research praxis. In addition, fostering epistemological transformation and pluralism presents a solution to problems derived from dominant cultural assumptions and practices. My aim for this article is to extend upon the literature pertaining to decolonising methodologies, with this contribution of focusing on the research process as a means to avoid paradox in the decolonial intention. Accordingly, a process imperative that focuses on how researchers do research, over the tendency to focus on outcomes, emerges as a strategy to identify and contend with paradoxes within decolonial work. A questioning convention is posited as a means for mining the assumptions and biases of the dominant culture that would otherwise ensnare ones thinking. Consequently, research may be better liberated from oppressive colonising practices that are tacit within research and academic conventions. Narratives are provided throughout for illustrative example, and to better explore the concepts named

Place Management: Social Policy, Government Authority, Community Responsibility

This thesis examines: What is Place Management theory and practice, and how does Place Management inform social policy decisions in Australia? Based in a ‘community of disadvantage’, around ‘childhood development’, and through ‘joined-up governance’, Place Management is based on principles of community development, capacity building, and social capital. A case study of the implementation of the Australian Communities for Children (C4C) programme examines how these principles play out in practice

Reaching Across the Divide (RAD): Aboriginal Elders and Academics working together to improve student and staff cultural capability outcomes

Abstract This article, written by Aboriginal Nyoongar Elders, Louise and Percy Hansen and Joanna Corbett in collaboration with two Wadjella (white) academics, details the design and delivery of The Reaching Across the Divide: Aboriginal Elders and Academics working together project (RAD) which aimed to develop student cultural capabilities. It is encouraging that many Australian universities aim at embedding Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing yet there remains little information on how to do this. RAD, guided by a Nyoongar framework for engagement, the Minditj Kaart-Moorditj Kaart Framework, provides one example. RAD developed student and staff capabilities, through building trusting, committed relationships, and promoting systems change. The results highlight how co-creating to embed Indigenous pedagogy through yarning and oral storying (Hansen & Corbett, 2017; Hansen, 2017) produces transformative learning outcomes which also meet key national, local and professional directives

Social Network Analysis and Social Work Inquiry

Understanding and positively impacting social networks is core to social work practice and research. As a research method, social network analysis provides an important mechanism for mapping various types of networks as well as the relationships and exchanges between network actors. This has relevance to Australian human and health services given the social policy context that currently emphasises and requires improvements in the integration of services. This paper describes the application of social network analysis to a consortium of mental health and related services to examine indicators of service integration such as the frequency, type, and direction of information exchanges including referral pathways. When combined with other research methods and information, social network analysis is shown to be a useful tool providing both visual and sociometric evidence of relational activities, thus creating a strong basis for advocacy and social change

Eco-social Work in Action: A Place for Community Gardens

© 2017 Australian Association of Social Workers. In this paper, the authors theorise on eco-social work, an emerging descriptor for practices located at the intersection of social work and eco-justice. It presents a collaborative auto-ethnographic study undertaken by three social work academics that addressed the question: In what ways can community gardens be sites for eco-social work practice? The question was premised on the idea that community gardens are often recognised as sites for practising sustainability. An action learning research framework guided a process in and with three different community gardens. Specifically, this paper highlights practices that suggest community gardens are spaces for social work practice including: resistance to the dominant discourses of hyper-capitalism and consumerism; the building of trust and cooperation in relationships; and the development of egalitarian relationships between people and, ultimately, all elements of the natural realm. The findings suggest that community gardens can be spaces for practising eco-social work. IMPLICATIONS Community gardens are spaces where eco-social workers can develop their understanding of eco-justice and challenge unsustainability. Social workers, working across a range of practice fields can engage professionally with community gardens. Community gardens provide a context where egalitarian, cooperative, and trusting social work practice can take place