Conditional openness : young people define practices for successful child protection interventions Jackie Sanders, Robyn Munford, Ruth Ballantyne, Mark Henaghan, Racheal Allison and Rupert Jackson
By: Sanders, Jackie
.
Contributor(s): Munford, Robyn | Ballantyne, Ruth | Henaghan, Mark | Allison, Racheal | Jackson, Rupert.
Material type: 
ArticleSeries: Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law.Publisher: Taylor & Francis, 2017Subject(s): CHILD ABUSE | CHILD PROTECTION | CHILD WELFARE | CHILDREN'S RIGHTS | VOICES OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE | INTERVENTION | SOCIAL SERVICES | SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE | NEW ZEALANDOnline resources: Read abstract
In:
Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 2017, 39(3): 261-278Summary: Taking the reforms of child protection legislation that have occurred since the 1980s as a backdrop, this paper considers young people’s perspectives on the factors that facilitated their engagement with child protection services and the barriers they perceived to effective service delivery. Drawing on findings from a New Zealand study [Pathways to Resilience Research Project] of young people’s experience of multiple service use (child protection, mental health, youth justice and remedial education), the paper identifies that that rather than being ‘resistant’ or ‘hostile’ to statutory child protection intervention, young people reported a ‘conditional openness’. This conditional openness was characterised by three themes: communication; continuity and consistency; and contextual and cultural responsiveness. Interventions with these characteristics activated this conditional openness allowing effective interventions to occur. Using a series of case studies, comprising interviews and agency case file records; the paper considers the experiences of 109 young people (12–17 years) as well as those of the ‘person most knowledgeable;’ an adult nominated by young people because they knew the young person’s situation well. (Authors' abstract). Record #5958
Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 2017, 39(3): 261-278
Taking the reforms of child protection legislation that have occurred since the 1980s as a backdrop, this paper considers young people’s perspectives on the factors that facilitated their engagement with child protection services and the barriers they perceived to effective service delivery. Drawing on findings from a New Zealand study [Pathways to Resilience Research Project] of young people’s experience of multiple service use (child protection, mental health, youth justice and remedial education), the paper identifies that that rather than being ‘resistant’ or ‘hostile’ to statutory child protection intervention, young people reported a ‘conditional openness’. This conditional openness was characterised by three themes: communication; continuity and consistency; and contextual and cultural responsiveness. Interventions with these characteristics activated this conditional openness allowing effective interventions to occur. Using a series of case studies, comprising interviews and agency case file records; the paper considers the experiences of 109 young people (12–17 years) as well as those of the ‘person most knowledgeable;’ an adult nominated by young people because they knew the young person’s situation well. (Authors' abstract). Record #5958
