Search

Since all policies address problems, they necessarily include implicit or explicit constructions of these problems. This paper explores how child maltreatment has been constructed in New Zealand's child protection policies. It questions the underlying assumptions of this problem construction and seeks to shed light on what has been omitted. Utilizing a qualitative content analysis of eight key policy documents, this study reveals the construction of child maltreatment has been dominated primarily by a child-centric, risk-focused approach. This approach assigns blame and shifts responsibilities onto parents and families. In addition, the vulnerability discourse and social investment approach underpinning this perspective have allowed important structural factors, such as poverty and inequality, to remain unaddressed. This paper also highlights the one-dimensional focus on the lower social class to control future liabilities. We suggest that the harm inflicted by corporations on children's well-being is another form of child exploitation currently omitted from the problem construction. We suggest that child abuse should be defined and understood in policy as harm to children's well-being and argue that the state should prevent and mitigate harm by addressing structural forces of the problem as well as protecting children against corporate harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the issue of teacher vulnerability at a time of "child panic". It does so by first elaborating risk-consciousness as a powerful social and cultural rationality for producing moral climates and organisational identities, and then investigating how this rationality works through the fraught issue of teacher touch. Empirical data is drawn from two studies of teacher work in Australian and New Zealand schools to demonstrate that the relatively recent historical phenomenon of heightened teacher vulnerability to allegations of abusive touch is an effect of a new regime of truth that constitutes child protection. It is a regime that produces new tyrannies for the teacher at the same time that it works to eliminate tyrannies for the child.

Introduction: Violence within families is a complex problem which significantly impacts health and wellbeing. Despite the ubiquitous call for integrated family violence service delivery, integrated approaches vary significantly and challenges to implementation remain. This scoping review explored how integrated approaches to family violence service delivery are conceptualised within international and Aotearoa New Zealand literature. Methods: Following a documented scoping review process identified from literature, dynamic interplay between system agents within integrated family violence service delivery were mapped with the assistance of a complexity theory lens. We analysed characteristics of included studies, agents involved, how they interacted and the methods and mechanisms of integration among them. Results: Seventy-two published reports were included. The most common interactions occurred between statutory agencies such as police and child protection. While health care service providers were included within 55 studies, their engagement was often peripheral. Qualitative analysis elucidated three broad pathways to service delivery impact underpinned by systems-centred, person-centred, or Indigenous-centred worldviews. Discussion and Conclusion: Integrated approaches to family violence service delivery are highly variable. Despite a strong assumption that integration leads to improved safety, health, and wellbeing for care-seekers, most studies did not include evidence of such impact. Consideration of how worldviews characterise service provision provides insight into why integration has proven challenging over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child passenger injury from road traffic crashes is a leading contributor to New Zealand's paediatric trauma-related mortality and morbidity. New Zealand has significantly higher rates of child passenger injury than internationally comparable countries. Correctly used child restraints can prevent death and severe injury of child passengers. Despite huge efforts by individuals and Non-Government Organisations to promote up-to-date height-based legislation and to distribute child restraints, the New Zealand Government has a tepid commitment to promoting child passenger safety. Further change is needed, in both our child restraint legislation and practice. This paper highlights the recommendations from a Paediatric Society of New Zealand Position Statement for the correct use of child restraints. This information should be used by all health professionals to advocate for and implement this important injury prevention initiative.

Aims: Although fuel poverty is becoming increasingly researched, there is very limited information currently available on the experiences of and effects on children living in fuel poverty. This paper examines the consequences of using prepayment metering, a payment method typically used by low-income households, on households with children., Methods: We present new results from two postal survey datasets, the Electricity Prepayment Meter Users' Survey undertaken in late 2010 and the follow-up survey undertaken in 2011, which explore the outcomes of prepayment metering and living on low-incomes for households with children., Results: Among prepayment consumers, households with children experience greater levels of hardship. Households with children were statistically significantly more likely to cut back on grocery spending, and indicated greater levels of financial difficulty than childless households. Although there were no differences between the groups for most indicators of poor thermal comfort levels, households with children were statistically significantly more likely to report seeing their breath condensing indoors on at least one occasion during the winter., Conclusions: Policies to address fuel poverty should include protections for prepayment meter consumers, and households with children using this payment method who are especially vulnerable.

New Zealand continues to grapple with poor and inequitable child health and wellbeing outcomes. The associated high economic costs, the long-term impact on adult health and New Zealand's international children's rights obligations provide further grounds for action. Although there have been many different reports offering solutions and some key areas of progress, gains have been limited and there has not been sufficient clarity and agreement on wider actions. The environment is complex and solutions cross agency and disciplinary boundaries. This paper reviews the current situation and proposes a set of actions to improve child health and equity. These include a group of recommendations on high-level leadership and coordination, actions to address social conditions, and a range of specific health and wellbeing actions. Progress will require the will, commitment and courage of many to acknowledge the issues and find a way forward. Preventing suffering and ensuring the wellbeing of our youngest citizens during their formative years is an ethical issue for our nation, an issue of what we value as a society, and the best investment for a highly productive, innovative and resilient nation for the future.

This paper uses a unique survey designed by the authors to compare migrant children who enter New Zealand through a random ballot with children in the home country of Tonga whose families were unsuccessful participants in the same ballots. We find that migration increases height and reduces stunting of infants and toddlers, but also increases BMI and obesity among 3- to 5-yr-olds. These impacts are quite large even though the average migrant household has been in New Zealand for less than 1 yr. Additional results suggest that these impacts occur because of dietary change rather than direct income effects.

This paper investigates the reasoning processes of social workers in child protection social work as they make decisions. Within this interpretive process, they assign meaning to clients' behaviours in a context containing a multitude of competing discourses relating to the nature and cause of clients' problems. The study used a qualitative approach, specifically a critical incident framework. It asked workers to describe cases they felt ‘pleased with’ and explain the reasoning processes they used in those cases. It also asked clients their views of decisions made about them. This article draws on social constructionist theorising to describe and analyse the discourses used to frame the aims of practice and the causes of clients' problems. It found that workers valued family maintenance and sought to bolster this while managing potential risk. In the cases selected by workers, they constructed the causes of clients' problems in non-blaming but individualised ways, viewed clients as being capable of change and honest in their dealings with workers. It is proposed that these ways of viewing contributed to maintaining relationships with clients despite the challenges of balancing risk, care, control and power. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Access to protection orders for women experiencing domestic violence has recently been identified as a problem in New Zealand, and ways of addressing this problem are now being developed. Police-initiated protection orders, called safety orders, have been proposed to provide immediate protection to women who experience domestic violence and to overcome some of the evidential difficulties that can arise through representation in the Family Court. This discussion paper was commissioned to provide a review of the literature relating to safety orders. The paper uses a conceptual framework to identify the implicit assumptions associated with safety orders initiated by the police, and then compares these assumptions with the relevant research findings relating to police interventions, the actions women take to protect themselves and the court's responses to breaches of protection orders. Finally, conclusions are drawn about the ongoing need for education of the police and court personnel, and the need for compassionate involvement of women and their advocates in new initiatives. Research is encouraged when new initiatives are under development in this area to detect unintended consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the development of a practice framework for child welfare in New Zealand. A practice framework is defined as a conceptual map that brings together, in an accessible design, an agency's approach to social work practice with children and families. Designed as a tool for practitioners, the New Zealand practice framework integrates three perspectives: child-centred; family-led and culturally responsive; and strengths and evidence-based. The practice framework establishes a vision for New Zealand child welfare work that is grounded in the realities of practice, supported by research and embedded in a set of principles and values that are essential to the work. As a concept, it provides a clear understanding of what underpins the work, and how this informs our interventions with children and families. As a tool for practitioners, it provides a theoretically informed intervention logic and a set of triggers to support best practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now firmly established that the overrepresentation of tamariki Māori within the Aotearoa New Zealand child protection system is largely a consequence of colonisation. However, at least as far as the Crown is concerned, the contention that decolonisation is a necessary step in reversing those trends remains a more controversial issue. Drawing on my doctoral research into this topic, this article argues that the child protection system must be decolonised, and that efforts towards reform which do not prioritise decolonisation are likely to perpetuate long-standing harms. The article has four goals. First, I examine why decolonisation provides the best framework through which to enact child protection system reform. Secondly, I identify three overarching themes within the current legal framework, but argue that the presence of these themes does not mean they are all given equal weight. Thirdly, I outline a theory of reform I have termed "kaupapa Māori legal theory", which seeks to enable legislative change based on tikanga Māori in a way which pays heed to the risks of doing so from a Māori perspective. Finally, I apply that theory to child protection law, identifying six tikanga principles which could provide the basis of a decolonised system: mana, rangatiratanga, wānanga, whānau, whakapapa and whanaungatanga. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a paper which discusses, issues related to relocation disputes in New Zealand and England that were presented during the Law Faculty Seminar at Otago University in Dunedin, New Zealand. It notes the deviation of New Zealand courts from the English approach on the basis that it proceeded on a flawed interpretation of the welfare of children. It depicts the development of relocation law in New Zealand and in England, citing the similarities and differences at various periods.

Broad international comparisons of paid parental leave often leave New Zealand's policies looking less than adequate. This paper compares current policies in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The extent to which either country has been able to implement maternity and parental leave policies has been comparatively limited, but the UK's relationship with the European Union has led to more comprehensive policies than those found in New Zealand. New Zealand will not be forced to comply with a regional or international standard, and it is unclear if there is sufficient momentum for change without such compulsion. However, the UK experience has demonstrated that these types of policies are certainly feasible within the context of the "liberal" welfare state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preventing child abuse is a unifying goal. Making decisions that affect the lives of children is an unenviable task assigned to social services in countries around the world. The consequences of incorrectly labelling children as being at risk of abuse or missing signs that children are unsafe are well-documented. Evidence-based decision-making tools are increasingly common in social services provision but few, if any, have used social network data. We analyse a child protection services dataset that includes a network of approximately 5 million social relationships collected by social workers between 1996 and 2016 in New Zealand. We test the potential of information about family networks to improve accuracy of models used to predict the risk of child maltreatment. We simulate integration of the dataset with birth records to construct more complete family network information by including information that would be available earlier if these databases were integrated. Including family network data can improve the performance of models relative to using individual demographic data alone. The best models are those that contain the integrated birth records rather than just the recorded data. Having access to this information at the time a child's case is first notified to child protection services leads to a particularly marked improvement. Our results quantify the importance of a child's family network and show that a better understanding of risk can be achieved by linking other commonly available datasets with child protection records to provide the most up-to-date information possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the current legal regulation of posthumous reproduction in New Zealand is deficient. Posthumous reproduction raises issues in relation to consent, the welfare and status of the child, and even such practical issues as succession rights and estate administration. Drawing on Australian and English case law and legislation, this article proposes reform of the current legal regulation to clarify the consent requirements for collection and use of gametes after the death of the gamete provider, and to address the legal status and associated rights of posthumously conceived children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Psychosocial Intervention is the property of Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

New Zealand is unusual amongst comparable jurisdictions in lacking a statutory scheme to vet and possibly disqualify 'risky' individuals from working or volunteering with children. The current vetting process in New Zealand is ad hoc and not transparent. The Government has signalled its intention to place vetting on a statutory footing through the Vulnerable Children Bill. This article considers the appropriate parameters of a vetting scheme, considering the experiences of jurisdictions with established schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family Group Conferencing (FGC) as a solution-focused strategy in child welfare has now been a mandated practice in Aotearoa New Zealand since 1989. This qualitative study examines the experiences of Care and Protection Coordinators who have been convening FGC since the early years of the legislation. The study explores early perceptions of the legislation, what first attracted them to the role and what keeps them in the job. In particular, the study explores the practice tensions that rest within family-centred child protection models, and the ways in which FGC practice has developed in response to modern imperatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although child sexual abuse affects all social classes, there is evidence to show that the risk of abuse is higher in lower socio-economic status (SES) groups. Data from a research project to evaluate the school-based child protection programme taught in New Zealand show that, prior to exposure to the programme, children from the lower SES group were potentially at greater risk of sexual abuse due to their lower knowledge and skill base. After the programme, the low SES children were found to have gained less than their middle class peers and these differences persisted when children were retested 12 months later. The observed SES differences in benefits obtained from the child protection programme can be at least partially attributed to differences in the degree of parental involvement across social class. Children from low income families were the ones least likely to have parent representatives at meetings relating to the programme. Their parents were the least likely to reinforce safety concepts at home and low SES children were the ones least likely to trust their parents to provide protection. The low level of parental involvement was associated with lower levels of teacher commitment to child protection in low SES areas. The effectiveness of child protection programmes is likely to be enhanced if parents can be enticed to attendinformation sessions where the benefits of their involvement can be emphasized. The particular challenges remaining are how to interest the lower SES parents in education for child protection, ensure their cooperation with school-based teachings and raise the interest and commitment levels of child protection educators in low SES environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]