Title 1: Harm, care and babies: An inequalities and policy discourse perspective on recent child protection trends in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: Examining basic trends in child protection statistics give some insight into the functioning of the system overall.

METHODS: This article uses Official Information Act and publicly available data to examine recent trends of children in contact with the Aotearoa New Zealand child protection system.
It discusses these trends with reference to child protection policy reforms, and an inequalities perspective.

FINDINGS: There has been an increase of children in care despite steady reductions in hospitalisations for physical abuse and possibly child deaths, accepted reports of concern, abuse substantiations and entries to care. The increase is caused by fewer children exiting care, particularly for children under 10 years old. There is a 33% increase in babies removed; this is regionalised and with more use of legal orders on unborn, as opposed to older babies. Disproportionality for Māori is increasing, while other groups remain stable or reduce. The use of kinship care has increased.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE OR POLICY: Changes in rates of contact with the child protection system reflect complex interactions between demand and supply of services, social inequalities, the policy context and practice logics. Changing decision-making at intake reflects tightening criteria to focus on only the highest risk families. However, “supply” policies that focus on early removal to permanency and early-intervention discourses may result in an increase in younger children entering care, and staying longer once they get there. “Demand” policies affecting preventive service provision, social protections and institutionalised bias may also be contributors. More research is needed to fully understand these patterns.

Citation: Keddell, E. (2019). Harm, care and babies: An inequalities and policy discourse perspective on recent child protection trends in Aotearoa New Zealand. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work 31(4), 17. doi: 10.11157/anzswj-vol31iss4id668

Title 2: The perspectives of community-based practitioners on preventing baby removals: addressing legitimate and illegitimate factors

Abstract: 

The removal of babies at or near birth is a significant health, ethical, personal and social justice issue affecting many families globally. While sometimes required, it can carry a risk of harm for babies, their families and communities, as well as refracting social inequities relating to class, gender, ethnicity, location and disability.

This article reports the qualitative perceptions of community-based social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand about how to prevent baby removals. Preventing removal requires attention to the factors impacting on parenting capacity as well as factors relating to the decision-making ecology environment of child protection systems. Practitioner attributes of a whānau centred practice orientation, a focus on capability and advocacy, values of respect, and recognition of commitment to children, contributed to reducing the escalation of child protection intervention. An ability to mediate between the world of the child protection agency and the family, and recognising emotional responses were practitioner skills that also contributed to prevention. Organisational factors that helped prevent removal were the provision of flexible, intensive, holistic and accessible services; strategic service coordination between statutory and community-based services; and support offered early in the pregnancy by parenting-experienced practitioners. Family issues of poverty, drug use and intimate partner violence were exacerbated in families who were socially isolated, requiring community and social network development. In addition to these preventive factors, there were also also decision ecology factors that increased the risk of removal. These included organisational factors such as poor relationships between the statutory agency and community agencies, lack of the right types of service provision, and the tendency for reliance on recorded family histories in assessment leading to superficial and risk -averse judgements. Unrealistic expectations and changing expectations further estranged families from services and reduced the chances of avoiding removal. These perverse system factors were especially pernicious for those populations with heightened chances of system contact, particularly Māori and people living in poverty, exacerbating institutionalised racism. Implications are critically analysed with reference to the concept of legitimacy.

Citation: Keddell, E., Cleaver, K., & Fitzmaurice, L. (2021). The perspectives of community-based practitioners on preventing baby removals : Addressing legitimate and illegitimate factors. Children and Youth Services Review, 127, 106126. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106126 

 Please email: emily.keddell@otago if you would like a copy of this article

Title 3: Experiences of baby removal prevention: A collective case study of mothers and community-based workers

Abstract: 

The removal of a baby at birth is a significant intervention in family life. Avoiding removal requires attention to all levels of the family social ecology. Utilising a collective case study approach, and a critical realist epistemology, this project explores the experiences of three women who have avoided removal, and their community-based workers.

Key themes are the necessity of intensive, ecological and relational service provision; and the mediation role of the community-based worker between women and the statutory child protection service. Services that were by Māori for Māori were reported as most likely to maintain these fragile relationships. Effective services were holistic and intensive, drew on parent’s own motivation of care for children, and focussed on stress reduction and creating ‘friend-like’ relationships. The mediation role of community workers reflected their instrumental position, and included mediating risk perceptions between the statutory agency and whānau. In the instance of disability, mediation included direct, collective advocacy to challenge risk perceptions utilising children’s rights concepts and a social model of disability. The implications for policy and practice are to improve equitable access to intensive services based on an ecological theory of change and with an emphasis on relational practice, improve provision of by Māori, for Māori services, and require services to take a rights-based approach to both mothers with disabilities and their children. It also highlights the important role of community-based workers to advocate, support change and improve coordination between families and the statutory child protection system.

Keywords: Babies, prevention, fostercare, Indigenous, Māori, Aotearoa New Zealand, child protection

Citation: Keddell, E., Cleaver, K. & Fitzmaurice, L. (2022). Experiences of baby removal prevention: A collective case study of mothers and community-based workers. Qualitative Social Work.doi:10.1177/14733250211058178

Open Access here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14733250211058178

Title 4: A fight for legitimacy: reflections on child protection reform, the reduction of baby removals, and child protection decision-making in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract:

The rate of legal orders used to remove babies into the care of Oranga Tamariki reduced by more than half in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2019 – 2020 as a result of rapid reform, prompted by a high profile media case known as the ‘Hawkes Bay case’. This case provoked social outrage, leading to media and public approbation, inquiries by state and Māori bodies, and advocacy from multiple organisations. Combined, these challenged the legitimacy of the child protection system, and led to ‘legitimacy work’, that is, attempts by Oranga Tamariki to regain legitimacy with multiple publics. Access to the legal orders used to remove babies was immediately constricted. A sharp decline in baby removals followed, both overall, and in the disparities between Māori and non-Māori. The focus on disparity indicators alone, skewed by a focus on public legitimacy, had several unintended consequences. These included a lag between the constrictions on orders and other reforms aimed at addressing the inequities causing disparities, the diminishment of social worker discretion, and a lack of focus on other forms of system accountability. In the absence of other outcome indicators, particularly those defined by Māori and system-involved families, it is difficult to draw conclusions as to the efficacy of these changes.

Keywords: child protection, legitimacy, decision-making, disparities, Indigenous, media

Citation: Keddell, E., Fitzmaurice, L., Cleaver, K. & Exeter, D. (2022). A fight for legitimacy: reflections on child protection reform, the reduction of baby removals, and child protection decision-making in Aotearoa New Zealand, Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1080/1177083X.2021.2012490

Open access here:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1177083X.2021.2012490