The discursive construction of ‘good parenting’ in Australia’s statutory child protection system
Impacts on First Nations families & ways to disrupt the discourse
Keywords:
First Nations peoples, Australia, child protection, discourse, parenting, social work, community controlAbstract
Indigenous children’s overrepresentation within Australia’s child protection system indicates the need for a critical and structurally-based understanding of the factors which contribute to disproportionate rates of child removal for First Nations families. A systematic literature review suggests Attachment Theory, the international human rights framework and neoliberal ‘risk’ management as contributing to the discursive reproduction of racist and colonial norms which have the impact of devaluing Indigenous childrearing practices and overlooking structural disadvantage. Subsequently, the article applies a discourse analysis to problematise how Australia’s child protection system exists as a symbolic panopticon reinforcing settler-colonial pedagogy, regulation, surveillance and legitimation over Indigenous peoples through Western discourses of ‘good parenting’. In turn, the supporting and funding of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, the reconstructing of child protection assessment and care plans, as well as decolonising individual practice are posited as potential strategies to disrupt racist and colonial discourses in favour of Indigenous parenting knowledges.
References
Ainsworth, F. (2023). Modifying Children’s Court Care Plans to acknowledge poverty and disadvantage. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 82(3), 394–399. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12568
Blackstock, C., Bamblett, M., & Black, C. (2020). Indigenous ontology, international law and the application of the Convention to the over-representation of Indigenous children in out of home care in Canada and Australia. Child abuse & neglect, 110(Pt 1), 104587-104587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104587
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. (2023). Community views on ‘Can perinatal services safely identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma?’ Child Abuse Review (Chichester, England : 1992), 32(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2760
Choate, P. W., CrazyBull, B., Lindstrom, D., & Lindstrom, G. (2020). Where do we go from here?: Ongoing colonialism from Attachment Theory. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 32(1), 32–44. https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol32iss1id702
Choate, P., & Lindstrom, G. E. (2022). The Ethical Space of Indigenous Parenting. In Parenting Across Cultures (pp. 65–83). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15359-4_5
Choate, P., & Tortorelli, C. (2022). Attachment Theory: A Barrier for Indigenous Children Involved with Child Protection. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(14), 8754-8774. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148754
Ciftci, S. K. (2022). Between ‘Two Worlds’: Examining the Aboriginal Care Circle Program as a Space of Indigenous Justice in Child Protection. PhD Thesis. The University of Sydney. F
Collings, S., Dew, A., Gordon, T., Spencer, M., & Dowse, L. (2018). Intersectional Disadvantage: Exploring Differences Between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Parents with Intellectual Disability in the New South Wales Child Protection System. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 12(2), 170–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2017.1379456
Cuevas-Parra, P. (2023). Multi-dimensional lens to article 12 of the UNCRC: a model to enhance children's participation. Children's geographies, 21(3), 363-377. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2022.2071598
Davis, M. (2019). Family is Culture: Independent review into Aboriginal Out-of-home Care in NSW. Department of Communities and Justice (NSW). https://www.familyisculture.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/726329/Family-Is-Culture Review-Report.pdf.
Funston, L., & Herring, S. (2016). When will the stolen generations end?: A qualitative critical exploration of contemporary ‘child protection’ practices in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Sexual abuse in Australia and New Zealand, 7(1), 51-58. https://doi.org/10.3316/informit.201569927296804
Haebich, A. (2015). Neoliberalism, settler colonialism and the history of indigenous child removal in Australia. Australian indigenous law review, 19(1), 20-31. https://doi.org/10.3316/agispt.20170821
Haskins, V. (2003). “Could you see to the return of my daughter”: Fathers and daughters under the New South Wales Aborigines protection board child removal policy. Australian Historical Studies, 34(121), 106–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/10314610308596239
Herring, S., Spangaro, J., Lauw, M., & McNamara, L. (2013). The Intersection of Trauma, Racism, and Cultural Competence in Effective Work with Aboriginal People: Waiting for Trust. Australian Social Work, 66(1), 104–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2012.697566
hook, d. (2001). Discourse, Knowledge, Materiality, History: Foucault and Discourse Analysis. Theory & Psychology, 11(4), 521–547. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354301114006
Kovach, M. (2009). Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts [Book]. University of Toronto Press.
Krakouer, J., Wise, S., & Connolly, M. (2018). "We Live and Breathe Through Culture": Conceptualising Cultural Connection for Indigenous Australian Children in Out-of-home Care. Australian social work, 71(3), 265-276. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2018.1454485
Leckey, R., Schmieder-Gropen, R., Nnebe, C., & Clouthier, M. (2022). Indigenous parents and child welfare: Mistrust, epistemic injustice, and training. Social & Legal Studies, 31(4), 559–579. https://doi.org/10.1177/09646639211041476
Long, M., & Sephton, R. (2011). Rethinking the “Best Interests” of the Child: Voices from Aboriginal Child and Family Welfare Practitioners. Australian Social Work, 64(1), 96–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2010.535544
Maxwell, K. (2014). Historicizing historical trauma theory: Troubling the trans-generational transmission paradigm. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51(3), 407–435. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461514531317
Mendes, P., Standfield, R., Saunders, B., McCurdy, S., Walsh, J., & Turnbull, L. (2021). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) young people leaving out-of-home care in Australia: A national scoping study. Children and youth services review, 121, 105848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105848
Newton, B. (2020). Aboriginal parents’ experiences of having their children removed by statutory child protection services. Child & Family Social Work, 25(4), 814–822. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12759
NSW Department of Communities and Justice [DCJ]. (2019). Aboriginal Child and Young Person Placement Principles. https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/families/children-and- families-policies-and-legislation/policies-and-law/aboriginal-placement-principles
Payne, A. M. (2018). Motherhood and human rights violations: untold suffering? Australian Journal of Human Rights, 24(2), 145–161. https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2018.1463963
Prehn, J., Baltra-Ulloa, J., Canty, J., & Williamson, M. (2022). What Is the Best Thing About Being an Indigenous Father in Australia? Australian Social Work, 75(3), 358–371. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2021.2004180
Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak. (2018). QATSICPP Record of Advice: Aboriginal Kinship Care. https://www.qatsicpp.com.au/wp- content/uploads/2020/05/QATSICPP_Record_of_Advi ce_-_Aboriginal_Kinship_Care.pdf
Robinson, S. (2013). Regulating the race: Aboriginal children in private European homes in colonial Australia. Journal of Australian studies, 37(3), 302-315. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2013.814581
Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care [SNAICC]. (2013). The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child placement principle: Aims and core elements. https://www.snaicc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/03167.pdf
Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care [SNAICC]. (2018). The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child placement principle: A guide to support implementation. Developing practice: the child youth and family work journal(52), 98-99. https://doi.org/10.3316/informit.852389607528542
Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care [SNAICC]. (2022). The Family Matters Report 2022: Measuring trends to turn the tide on the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children in out-of-home- care in Australia. https://www.familymatters.org.au/wp- content/uploads/2022/11/20221123-Family-Matters-Report-2022-1.pdf
Stevens, I. (2008). The Impact of the National Care Standards in Scotland: Putting Article 20 into Practice? The International journal of children's rights, 16(2), 263-279. https://doi.org/10.1163/157181808X301836
Taylor, D. (2014). Michel Foucault: Key Concepts (1st ed.). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315711478
Weaver, H., & Congress, E. (2009). Indigenous People in a Landscape of Risk: Teaching Social Work Students About Socially Just Social Work Responses. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 18(1–2), 166–179. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313200902905435
Wise, S., & Corrales, T. (2023). Discussion of the Knowns and Unknowns of Child Protection During Pregnancy in Australia. Australian Social Work, 76(2), 173–185. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2021.2001835
