Introduction to Human Services and the Role of Child Protection Officers in Australia

This article discusses the role of human service professionals in the domain of social policy and the field of practice of child protection and juvenile justice in Australia. It also highlights the potential ethical dilemmas that a professional may encounter while working with culturally diverse clients.

Running Head: HUMAN SERVICES 1
Introduction to Human Services
Name
Institution

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Introduction to Human Services
Introduction
The field of human services has become an essential part of the modern society. Today,
this field is broadly defined. However, the main objective of organizations and professionals in
this sector is to meet society’s needs through an interdisciplinary knowledge base. In addition, it
focuses on deterrence and remediation of social issues while maintaining a dedication to enhance
the quality of human life. In this regard, a human service professional is an individual that holds
a paraprofessional or professional job with the purpose of assisting the members of the society to
live as effectively as possible in the key domains of life (NOHS, 2018). These domains of
practice include social policy, group work, community work, working with families and
partnerships, and working with individuals. On the other hand, the fields of practice in human
services includes health, the disability fields, mental health, working with the elderly, child
protection and juvenile justice, youth work, employment services and income security, substance
abuse, and environmental and disaster work (NOHS, 2018). Therefore, this paper will discuss the
role of human service professionals in the domain of social policy and the field of practice of
child protection and juvenile justice. It will also highlight the potential ethical dilemmas that a
professional may encounter while working with culturally diverse clients. In addition, it will
apply some of the professional code of ethics in practice. One major organization in the country
that offers this human service in Australia the Department for Child Protection Services. In this
regard, the paper discusses the role of a child protection service professional working at the
Department for Child Protection Services in Australia with some focus on the domain of social
policy.

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Domain of social policy
Just like the name suggests, social policy refers to the various areas of policy that deal
with the welfare state of the members of society. It pertains to the principles, guidelines and
legislations that have an effect on the wellness of society and quality of human life. According to
the London School of Economics (2015) social policy is a discipline that deals with the analysis
of people’s response to social needs as regards to healthcare, human services, education and
safety. In this regard, the government through the Department of Child Protection Services steps
into the shoe of effecting policies on ensuring and protecting the welfare of children within the
Australian society. In turn, this helps in enhancing and improving the quality of life of children
who lack proper care of parents and guardians (McCann and Gray, 1986). According to the
domain of social policy, the government has the critical duty of keeping all children in Australia
safe (Kouzes and Mico, 1979). As a result, it takes an active role in ensuring that this duty is
undertaken by creating a welfare system that ensure and guarantee that children all over the
country have a safe, a social and emotional support system, permanent family connection for
healthy development.
The Field of Practice of Child Protection and Juvenile Justice
In Australia, statutory child protection is the duty of the territory and state government.
Therefore, governments set up bodies that are in charge of child protection and offer assistance
to at-risk children who are suspected of being neglected, abused or harmed. The departments also
steps in cases where the parents are considered to be unable to offer protection and care to their
children (Child Welfare, n.d.). In Australia, the government has delegated this duty to the
Department for Children Protection Services. This service has become an essential part of the

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society due to the worrying trends. For instance, according to a recent study, 73 percent of
children who have received protection services in the country were repeat clients (Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). The study also indicates that at least in every 33 children
required protection services between 2015 and 2016 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,
2018). These services range from investigation, care and protection and even out-of-home care.
Further, the study revealed that about 94 percent of the children in out-of-home care were under
the care of a foster or a relative care (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). Also,
children from aboriginal backgrounds were 7 times more likely to have received child protection
services as compared to those from non-indigenous backgrounds (Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare, 2018). Out of all forms of abuse, emotional abuse was the most common type of
abuse that children suffered, and was estimated at 45 percent (Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare, 2018).
Overall, social work and human service departments and professional have a central role
within the local community to support, promote, and safeguard the welfare of children that need
their help within their area (Victoria State Government, 2018). Most importantly, meeting the
needs of children and ensuring their safety in the society is a collective responsibility. As such,
the family, the society, the government, and all adults have the responsibility of caring for
children (Victoria State Government, 2018). Therefore, if an adult charged with the duty of
caring for a child fails to meet this responsibility, neglect them, are abusive or take advantage of
their positions of power, then the child protection system should take over. The Australian has
set up a functioning child protection system that will offer protection to children who are feared
to be in danger of both physical and emotional abuse from their parents, guardians, or foster
families (Victoria State Government, 2018).

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Role of Child Protection Officer
It is imperative to note that social workers play an important role in the safety of children
across Australia. Today, those who specialize in child protective services are greatly valued and
sought for and are on high demand. Mainly, this is because child protective officers play a
vital .role in reducing the frequency of maltreatment, neglect, or abuse of children in Australia
(The Role of Social, n.d.). Thus, the primary role of these human service professionals is to help
ensure that suitable care arrangements are instigated to ensure the safety and wellness of children
in the country (Role and Remit, n.d.).
In addition, a child protection officer plays the role of receiving and acting upon any
reported concerns about the neglect, maltreatment or abuse of a child in their area of jurisdiction
and acting upon such news by taking the necessary steps to ensure the safety of the child
(Queensland Government, 2018). It is worth noting children seldom contact the police or social
workers directly about abuse. Such reports are mainly made through referrals from neighbors,
teachers, relatives and friends (Brody, 2010). Therefore, professionals are required to educate the
members of the public that they have a duty to inform and pass information about abuse to
agencies with statutory authority.
What is more, children protection officers are charged with the responsibility of
providing directly or facilitating access to range of services to help vulnerable children and
families. In addition, they help to enhance the competence and confidence of parents in offering
the best possible environment for their children (Lamparski, 2016). Furthermore, these
professionals have the duty to improve the day-to-day experiences of children by making

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recommendations to parents, guardians and foster care homes on how to care for the children.
Most importantly, they help children who have undergone through rough experiences such as
abuse and neglect to recover from the effects of the awful experiences (The Role of Social, n.d.).
Knowledge, values and skills that support working culturally diverse clientele
In their line of work, social workers interact with people from all backgrounds.
Therefore, the professional must have some degree of cultural awareness to enable them
communicate and interact well with clients who are culturally diverse. Specifically, they must
possess cultural competence in terms of knowledge, values, and skills. In this respect, the
children protection officer should understand culture of the client and its purpose in human the
society. As such, the professional must possess a rich knowledge base of their client’s culture in
order to exercise competence in the delivery of services that are sensitive to the client’s cultures
and harmonize the differences that may exist. In doing so, he or she would be able to recognize
the strengths that exist in their culture and therefore be able to interact with them without
creating conflict.
Another important value that the child protection should have is self-awareness and
cultural humility. Specifically, the individual should be self aware of factors such as stereotypes,
judgment, prejudices and bias that may arise when interacting with individuals from a different
culturally. This was, he or she will be able to move past and beyond biases in judgment while
making assessments and evaluations about a suspected violation of the rights of children. In turn,
this value would go a long way in preventing all possible kinds of problems and conflicts that
may arise from misunderstanding and disparities in the values and opinions of the social
protection officer.

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The other important skill an individual in the child protection service should possess is
cultural humility. Notably, this value is at the heart of being tolerant to the cultural disparities
that may exist between one’s culture and that of the client. Mainly, it pertains to being
collaborative and other-oriented in order to understand why the client does the things they do.
Having cultural humility therefore will go a long way in creating positive relationships between
the social agent, the client and the community as a whole (National Association of Social
Workers, 2017). This way, they would be able to make the correct assessment and make the right
decision as regards to the child safety and protection.
Ethical Dilemmas
While performing their roles and duties, child protection officers come across various
ethical dilemmas. Mainly, this arises from the fact that the profession is characterized by the task
of seeking a balance between the need to protect the child and the desire to help the parents.
Therefore, in the event that the child has to be taken away from their parents or guardians in
order to ensure that they are safe and protected, the parents’ needs to stay with their children may
have to be neglected (Roper, 2015). In such a case, the social worker is faced with the ethical
dilemma of either separating the child from their parents in order to be safe, or leave the parent
with the child and run the risk of suffering further neglect, abuse or mistreatment (Barsky, 2011).
Notably, such situations often do not have an obvious answer as to what is the ‘right way’ to act
(Bertotti, 2010). Therefore, the professional is forced to make a decision based on what he or she
thinks is the best for the child at the moment.
The professional code of ethics in this kind of social service clearly outlines a set of core
values and principles that a child protection officer should possess. These professional standards

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should be strictly adhered to in relationships between the professionals and the clients. By and
large, they include integrity, propriety, competence, non-discrimination, among others. Firstly,
the code requires that professionals in the field carry out their duties with integrity, and treat
those who they interact with in a respectful, dignified, honest and fairness (Illinois Institute of
Technology, 2011). Additionally, they are required to maintain high standards of personal and
moral conduct when interacting with the clients. The code also requires that child protection
officers should provide services that are within the confines of their competence as regards to
education, authorizations and professional experience.
Conclusion
All in all, all factors taken into consideration, child protection officers play an important role in
today’s society. Their primary function is to ensure and safeguard the safety of children across
Australia. The profession is guided by a series of professional codes of conduct among them
integrity, competence, propriety, among others. Despite the clear set of values highlighted in the
codes of conduct, these professionals encounter ethical dilemmas. Therefore, they are required to
use their skill set, knowledge base and values to discern what is right or wrong when faced with
an ethical dilemma.

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References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2018). Child protection. Retrieved 21 May 2018,
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-statistics/health-welfare-services/child-protection/
overview
Barsky, A. (2011). To Report or Not To Report: That Is the Ethical Dilemma. The New Social
Worker. Retrieved 21 May 2018, http://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/ethics-
articles/To_Report_or_Not_To_Report%3A_That_Is_the_Ethical_Dilemma/
Bertotti, T. (2010 Decision-Making and Ethical Dilemmas of Child and Family Social Workers.
Social Work and Society, 8(1), 357
Brody, S. (2010). What is the role of social workers?. Community Care. Retrieved 21 May 2018,
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2010/09/20/what-is-the-role-of-social-workers/
Child Welfare. Center for the study if social policy. Retrieved 21 May 2018,
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Illinois Institute of Technology. (2011). Code of Ethics for Child Welfare Professionals (1996).
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Kouzes, M. J., and Mico, P. R. (1979). Domain Theory: An Introduction to Oganizational
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