Browsing by Author "Frith F."
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Item Restoring children from out-of-home care: insights from an Aboriginal-led community forum.Newton B.J; Gray P.; Cripps K.; Falster K.; Katz I.; Chiswell K.; Wellington L.; Ardler R.; Frith F.; Jones T.; Kent M.; Tong N.Restoring children from out-of-home care (OOHC) to their families is the preferred outcome for all children removed by child protection services, yet little is known about how restoration processes are experienced by families and services supporting them. This paper provides important insights about Aboriginal child restoration from 40 practitioners and stakeholders at a community forum led by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. This is one component of larger Aboriginal-led research, which investigates child protection experiences and pathways to successful restoration in NSW and the data source for this paper. The community forum explored the issues for families navigating family preservation, OOHC and restoration within child protection and legal systems. Findings include the need for a continuum of support for families throughout their engagement with child protection systems and crucially following the removal of their children. Barriers to effective restoration practice included a lack of access to meaningful and ongoing preservation services, insufficient cultural care planning and family finding efforts that are often too late, the pressure on services to support families without adequate capabilities or enough resourcing, the lack of transparency and the complexities in navigating the restoration process, and the lack of culturally informed support for children and their families while children are in care. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. This paper contributes to understanding practice, processes and barriers for restoration, particularly focused on the perspectives of Aboriginal families and communities, with potential insights for practice within Australia and internationally. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)Item The social and emotional wellbeing needs of Aboriginal staff in out of home care: walking in two worlds.(2023-05-29) Lukey S.; Keevers L.; Trueman S.; Frith F.; Chandler P.; Rawari R.; Henry W.; Townsend M.L.; DharawalBackground: There is a disproportionate representation of Aboriginal children in the Australian Out of Home Care system. An important strategy to ensure Aboriginal children experience trauma informed care that is culturally situated is to have access to Aboriginal practitioners. The experiences of Aboriginal practitioners working in Aboriginal Out of Home Care have not been explored thoroughly. Participants and setting: This community led research was undertaken on Dharawal Country on the South Coast of the Illawarra region, Australia with an Out of Home Care program managed by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation. The study included Aboriginal (n = 50) and non-Aboriginal (n = 3) participants connected through employment or community membership to the organisation. Objective(s): We aimed to explore the wellbeing needs of Aboriginal practitioners working with Aboriginal children in Aboriginal Out of Home Care. Method(s): This co-designed qualitative research project used yarning sessions (individual and group), co-analysis with co-researchers, document analysis and reflexive writing. Finding(s): Aboriginal practitioners are required to bring their cultural expertise to their work and with this, there is an expectation of cultural leadership and the fulfilling of cultural responsibilities. These elements bring with them emotional labour that must be acknowledged and accounted for in working in the Out of Home Care sector. Conclusion(s): The findings point to the importance of establishing an organisational social and emotional wellbeing framework in recognition of Aboriginal practitioner's specific needs, centring cultural participation as a key wellbeing and trauma informed strategy.Copyright © 2023 The Authors