| Popis: |
Statutory child protection work is one of the most complex and challenging areas of human service delivery. This chapter argues that many in the academic community have failed to acknowledge and address challenges inherent in family preservation ideology. It focuses on three challenges that prevent family preservation from living up to its name. These challenges are either ignored, or glossed over in research. The chapter draws primarily on Australian examples, but the principles and issues presented are internationally relevant. Government-funded family support services provide parents with resources, support, education, counselling and other services in order to prevent child abuse and neglect, while keeping children in parental care. Decisions about whether children remain in the care of their parents, or are placed in alternative care, should be made in one of two ways: predicting whether parents are likely to change, or to test change. |
