Ms Emma Wood1,2
1Child And Adolescent Health Service, Perth, Australia, 2University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Biography:
Emma Wood is a PhD Candidate at the University of Western Australia and a Team Leader (Social Work) at Perth Children's Hospital's Child Protection Unit. Her work experience in statutory Child Protection practice includes time in Australia and the UK. Her research interests relate to out of home care in the context of children from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Abstract:
The out of home care system in Australia is stretched to breaking point, with increases in children entering care alongside a reduction in foster carers. In the Health field, shortages of placements impact on discharge planning and can result in delays in children leaving hospital, where child protection involvement co-occurs with admission.
For children from cultural and/or ethnic minority backgrounds, the availability of culturally appropriate care arrangements is often sparse. Additional trauma is caused by these children’s enforced separation from culture, language, and religious links. The available literature on out of home care points to the importance of children growing up within their own cultural community in order to support their development, and to reduce the impact of trauma inherent to the out of home care system. Whilst the importance of this for Aboriginal children in Australia is frequently a topic of discussion in policy and research, less attention to date has been paid to children from ethnic minority backgrounds.
This research has developed from my professional background in frontline child protection, and as part of ongoing PhD studies. I have explored what we know (and what we don’t) about out of home care provision for children from ethnic minority backgrounds – both in statutory and informal settings. This presentation will point to some of the knowledge, and many of the gaps, which need to be addressed in order for provision of best practice, trauma-informed care to children from diverse cultural backgrounds.