TY - JOUR
T1 - Child Protection Hypothetical Case Studies for a Virtual Archive
T2 - Professional Perspectives Versus the Lived Experience and Expertise of Care Leavers in Victoria, Australia
AU - Mendes, Philip
AU - Wilson, Jacqueline Z.
AU - Golding, Frank
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/10/1
Y1 - 2021/10/1
N2 - For children in out-of-home care (OOHC) and adults who experienced OOHC as children, the records compiled by care workers, social workers and other relevant personnel present multiple ongoing problems. The records often embody deeply contested narratives that may include distortions and misinterpretations of facts, judgemental inferences, moralistic attitudes and other problematic aspects that can leave the care leaver at best ill-served and at worst profoundly distressed and traumatised. This article, an auto-ethnographic collaboration between a social work professional and two care leavers, aims to address these issues by constructing a 'virtual archive' consisting of several hypothetical records compiled in the style typically employed by caseworkers, which are then critiqued by the care leavers. In each case, the record is found to have significant shortcomings in terms of what is included or omitted, the tone, and implied judgements. The article concludes with a discussion that identifies a number of thematic issues and pitfalls intrinsic to the task of record-keeping in the OOHC context and makes recommendations aimed at achieving inclusive, rights-based processes and procedures in the creation and maintenance of records.
AB - For children in out-of-home care (OOHC) and adults who experienced OOHC as children, the records compiled by care workers, social workers and other relevant personnel present multiple ongoing problems. The records often embody deeply contested narratives that may include distortions and misinterpretations of facts, judgemental inferences, moralistic attitudes and other problematic aspects that can leave the care leaver at best ill-served and at worst profoundly distressed and traumatised. This article, an auto-ethnographic collaboration between a social work professional and two care leavers, aims to address these issues by constructing a 'virtual archive' consisting of several hypothetical records compiled in the style typically employed by caseworkers, which are then critiqued by the care leavers. In each case, the record is found to have significant shortcomings in terms of what is included or omitted, the tone, and implied judgements. The article concludes with a discussion that identifies a number of thematic issues and pitfalls intrinsic to the task of record-keeping in the OOHC context and makes recommendations aimed at achieving inclusive, rights-based processes and procedures in the creation and maintenance of records.
KW - Care leavers
KW - Care records
KW - Out-of-home care
KW - Social workers
KW - Virtual archive
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121340279&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/bjsw/bcaa018
DO - 10.1093/bjsw/bcaa018
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85121340279
SN - 0045-3102
VL - 51
SP - 2626
EP - 2644
JO - The British Journal of Social Work
JF - The British Journal of Social Work
IS - 7
ER -