Browsing by Author "Gray P."
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Item Attachment and the (mis)apprehension of Aboriginal children: epistemic violence in child welfare interventions.Wright A.; Gray P.; Selkirk B.; Hunt C.; Wright R.Child protection systems in Australia continue to disproportionately investigate Aboriginal families and intervene to remove Aboriginal children, applying non-Indigenous constructs and understandings of child development that contribute to these enduring inequities. Attachment theory is one such prevalent framework with significant applications in child protection. While constructions of attachment have attempted to grapple with diversity, its application in Australian child protection policy and practice reflects dominant socio-cultural perceptions as a foundation for decision making that misrepresents Aboriginal families and their children's developmental needs. We position this socio-legal application of attachment specifically, and developmental sciences more broadly, within a long history of settler-colonial intervention, providing a facade of scientific authority that perpetrates further harms on Aboriginal children, families and communities. We offer insights about a new frame for attachment that respects Aboriginal worldviews as part of structural transformations to address those harms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)Item Community views on 'can perinatal services safely identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma?'Chamberlain C.; Gray P.; Herrman H.; Mensah F.; Andrews S.; Krakouer J.; McCalman P.; Elliott A.; Atkinson J.; O'Dea B.; Bhathal A.; Gee G.Family and extended kinship systems which nurture healthy, happy children are central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Since colonisation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been impacted by intergenerational cycles of trauma, stemming from colonial violence, genocidal policies and discrimination, including the forced removal of children from their families. Becoming a parent offers a unique life-course opportunity for trauma recovery and preventing intergenerational trauma. However, identifying or 'recognising' complex trauma carries significant risk of harm for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents due to reactive prenatal child protection involvement potentially compounding experiences of trauma, and limited benefits due to lack of culturally appropriate support. The Aboriginal-led participatory Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future project aims to co-design safe, accessible and feasible perinatal awareness, recognition, assessment and support strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma. This paper presents views of 38 workshop participants to determine prerequisites for ensuring benefits outweigh risks of assessment to safely recognise parents experiencing complex trauma, consistent with screening criteria. Six essential elements were identified from thematic analysis: high-quality holistic care; cultural, social and emotional safety; empowerment, choice and control; flexible person-centred approaches; trusting relationships; and sensitive, skilled communication. Key Practitioner Messages The impacts of colonisation and rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait children in out-of-home care mean that there can be a myriad of issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents with regard to perinatal child protection involvement. The benefits must outweigh the risks of identifying parents experiencing complex trauma. Assessment must be offered within foundations of supportive relationships and holistic care in culturally-safe, empowering settings, where choices are respected and skilled communication approaches are used. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)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 Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to stay together from the start (Safest Start): urgent call to action to address crisis in infant removals.Chamberlain C.; Gray P.; Bennet D.; Elliott A.; Jackomos M.; Krakouer J.; Marriott R.; O'Dea B.; Andrews J.; Andrews S.; Atkinson C.; Atkinson J.; Bhathal A.; Bundle G.; Davies S.; Herrman H.; Hunter SA.; Jones-Terare G.; Leane C.; Mares S.; McConachy J.; Mensah F.; Mills C.; Mohammed J.; Hetti Mudiyanselage L.; O'Donnell M.; Orr E.; Priest N.; Roe Y.; Smith K.; Waldby C.; Milroy H.; Langton MReducing the rate of over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care (OOHC) is a key Closing the Gap target committed to by all Australian governments. Current strategies are failing. The "gap" is widening, with the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in OOHC at 30 June 2020 being 11 times that of non-Indigenous children. Approximately, one in five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children entering OOHC each year are younger than one year. These figures represent compounding intergenerational trauma and institutional harm to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities. This article outlines systemic failures to address the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents during pregnancy and following birth, causing cumulative harm and trauma to families, communities and cultures. Major reform to child and family notification and service systems, and significant investment to address this crisis, is urgently needed. The Family Matters Building Blocks and five elements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (Prevention, Participation, Partnership, Placement and Connection) provide a transformative foundation to address historical, institutional, well-being and socioeconomic drivers of current catastrophic trajectories. The time for action is now. Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Australian Journal of Social Issues published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Social Policy Association.