Improving the Cashless Debit Card Policy for Children's Welfare and Well-being

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Case study.
In this particular case study, the facts asserted about Jessica is that she is a secondary school
student aged seven years with a single parent. Jessica’s school is situated in a rural area with
an approximate population of 12,000 students and is subject to the indue card program.
Jessica faces several challenges both in school and at home. She has been severally sent to
the office due to her dirty cloths. She has the head lice and usually goes to school dirty,
hungry and in need of feminine products. Jessica is also withdrawn from the rest of the
students. She sits by herself at lunch and during school activities. Other students do not want
to befriend since they claim that she smells bad. Jessica has had on several occasions, some
engagements with the school nurse to deal with matters relating to her personal hygiene. On
one occasion with the nurse, Jessica asks the nurse if she can stay back in school. She did not
want to go home because her sister would have been mad to her. On that day, she had asked
for a pad from the sister but there was none. She did not want to tell her mother about this
because on that day, her mother had “come home happy.”
Jessica is the youngest in her family. She has only three people to look after her; her two
elder sisters and her mother. Their brother is no longer with them. Jessica sometimes stays
home alone with her five nieces and nephews. Her mother is usually busy. She does not
answer the phone or show up to the school meetings. The sisters show up for her claiming
that she is either sick or working. Jessica’s family has resided in this town for a long time and
it is therefore well known to the school community. Besides all of Jessica’s siblings have
attended the same school in the past. Jessica’s sisters were pregnanted by adult males when
they were as young as 15 years and no response or action has been since undertaken on the
criminals
The cashless Debit card policy

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The indue card programme was mainly introduced to address the welfare and economic
issues facing the goldfields region in Australia. There were frequently mentioned problems
on alcohol and drug misuse and the related crimes and violence which negatively impacted
on children’s health and their well-being (Klein & Razi, 2018). Prior to the introduction of
the cashless debit card policy, there were two main ways in which the above social problems
were dealt with in the Goldfield region. One was through support services and interventions
such as the alcohol accord and increased policing (Marston, Cowling, & Bielefeld, 2016).
However, this strategy was found to be ineffective in addressing the social evils that were
operating in the region. As a consequence, there was a concern of finding a means that can
address the social, welfare and economic issues in the Goldfields region. The Cashless Debit
Card programmed was voted the best option to address the above issues (Hunt, 2018). The
current programme was mainly expected to address issues on child welfare and well-being,
alcohol and drug misuse, money management and crime and family violence.
The community around had several expectations on this new programme. They hoped that it
would have positive impacts on alcohol and drug use and misuse, child welfare and well
being money management and crime and family violence (Mendes, 2017). They also hoped
that it would have positive impacts on the health and wellbeing of the residents by offering
training and employment opportunities (Bielefeld, 2018). Gambling had also become
problematic in the region and therefore the community enrolled in this programme with a
view to reducing the effects of gambling.
The cashless Debit programme, upon its implementation, was found to be working in some
aspects due a number of reasons. First reason is that before its introduction, there was a wide
consultation of the community around (Akinola, 2012). The consultation was said to be
extensive and inclusive. It involved not only the easy to reach groups but also paid sensitivity
to the indigenous community groups. The engagement of all these groups saw to it that

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proper knowledge and preparations were developed before the implementations. The
Cashless Debit Card Shopfronts also played a vital role in the success of the implementation
of this programme. They provided a space where the participants could gain information and
get assistance with the programme when needed (Klein, Tennant, Wighton & Bielefeld,
2018). This was a great advantage to the population in the region since most of them were
illiterate. Due to the above reasons several groups of people become positively affected with
this programme. These included the drug and alcohol addicts who were seen reducing their
consumption of the drugs and instead spending more money on food, clothes and other
essential needs (Nehme, 2019). The programme was also found to be effective to those who
had income management problems.
There are however some aspects of the Cashless Debit Card Programme that were found not
to be working well due to several reasons. The failure was attributed to lack of proper
consultation and the insufficient information given to the participants and some stakeholders
(Bielefeld & Beaupert, 2019). There was a lot of circulation of misinformation about this
programme. Besides, the activation of this card needed one to have an email account and an
access to the internet, something that the residents of the goldfields did not have. Several
cases of technological difficulties on the use of the case were also reported. Some said that
they faced some challenges in using the card in various places such as in roadhouse, shops,
and schools and in motels. The shopfronts also had two issues relating to building and
staffing that negatively impacted on the engagements of the participants (Bielefeld, 2012). It
was observed that there was one shopfront that was located in a new building, which was
somehow intimidating and unfamiliar to the people especially the indigenes ones who feared
to enter such buildings. Another concern was that there was no local person employed in the
shopfronts. This therefore reduced the engagement of the participants with the staff. Beside
the above challenges, the Cashless Debit card was also blamed for not catering for the needs