Child Abuse and Neglect in Australia

This assignment delves into the pressing issue of child abuse and neglect in Australia. It analyzes case studies, highlighting the devastating impact on victims and families. The assignment further examines government policies and initiatives aimed at addressing this social ill, while proposing practical solutions to improve the lives of vulnerable children.

Running head: ISSUES OF PROTECTION
Issues of Protection
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Description.......................................................................................................................................3
What happened?...........................................................................................................................3
What social welfare skills I used.................................................................................................3
Personal experience.........................................................................................................................4
What was I thinking and feeling..................................................................................................4
How did I communicate with employees and service users........................................................4
Ways I practice without discriminating and with respect............................................................5
Evaluation........................................................................................................................................5
Positive and negative of the experience.......................................................................................5
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................5
Sense that I can make from the experience.................................................................................5
How it helped to develop practice wisdom..................................................................................6
Confrontation...................................................................................................................................6
Values, beliefs and assumptions did I carry................................................................................6
How do they differ from the values, assumptions and beliefs of others involved.......................8
How do they connect to wider social and political forces...........................................................8
Ethical implications.....................................................................................................................8
Reconstruction.................................................................................................................................9

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What ways I think differently......................................................................................................9
What could I have done differently.............................................................................................9
What will I do differently next time............................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Child abuse and negligence in raising them is becoming a social issue day by day in the
land of Australia. The purpose of this self-reflection report is to highlight the issues of child
abuse and how the situation can be improved by raising the awareness among the parents along
with the practitioners who will be guiding the victims to come out of their phase of agony and
pain. This report includes a description of the case study, an analysis of the situation, evaluation
of the situation and a detailed confrontation section along with a section of reconstruction.
Description
What happened?
From the secondary source, it was seen that there was a little 7 years old girl being raised
by a 23 years old single mother. The family does not have a stable source of income and to
support the family the mother has to do odd jobs and even had to choose the path of prostitution.
The ambience of the family is dreadful for a growing child. It is seen that uncontrolled use of
tobacco, alcohol and drugs are present in the family either by the mother or by known people of
the mother is affecting the development of the child. From the secondary source of information,
it was seen that the family currently resides at a small apartment in a poor living condition. The
main arguments of this report are to highlight the factors of child abuse that has been seen in the
provided short film.
What social welfare skills I used
To identify the issues of this assignment, I had to critically analyze the key stages of
interaction with the client as a practitioner. I had to draw a strengths approach to determine the

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needed skills for working with various types of clients. The practice skills regarding social
welfare allows a model of integrated practice that includes the chief components of the theories,
phases, skills and context. As per the case studies it can be stated which welfare services are to
be delivered.
Personal experience
What was I thinking and feeling
After going through the case study I was somewhat shocked to see the fate of the little
girl child. It is shocking that because of the negligence of the mother the child at the age of seven
had to bear with so much agony and pain. The demand of the child was a peaceful ambience in
the home and she wanted to get raised like other regular children. She was deprived from almost
everything that a child of her age gets from the parents or from the other family members. From
the case study what I perceived is that the issues regarding child abuse have become a social ill
in the land of Australia which can potentially harm the future of the future generations of
Australia. I strongly believe that the awareness regarding these issues should be raised among the
parents of Australia immediately.
How did I communicate with employees and service users
After studying the case studies I generally evaluate and try to get the idea of each
situation. After that according to the specific demands of the cases, I try to choose the ways of
communication with the victims and with the volunteers of social welfare society.
Ways I practice without discriminating and with respect
Each time I deal with the victims of child abuse, I have to keep this thing in mind that I
should not be judging them as with the child the parents are also getting victimized in these

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cases. I have to make sure that the identity of the individuals who got victimized should remain
anonymous to ensure that they do not have to go through any harassment in the society. I have to
particularly stress on a factor and that is throughout the process of counseling, I do not
discriminate anyone for anything and that is one of the most important criterion of my work as a
professional.
Evaluation
Positive and negative of the experience
There are no positive factors and of this particular experience and it can be said the
condition the child had to bear was unacceptable in the modern society. It is seen that children
who get victimized by various sorts within the domestic environment, in most cases and get
affected by the horrible memories of those incidents. There are various instances where these
children got victimized by the family members, they have to bear gruesome pain and in most
cases, they do not get justice.
Analysis
Sense that I can make from the experience
From the experienced gathered while practicing over the years, I have seen that in a
developed country like Australia, the situation is unacceptable, and it can be said that the future
of the children of Australia are at stake. The government of Australia immediately needs to focus
on these issues and act accordingly to ensure a brighter future for the future generations of the
nation. All I can say in this context is that these practices of child abuse should be eradicated
from the society as soon as possible.

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How it helped to develop practice wisdom
We the practitioners tend to draw heavily on the knowledge acquired from experience,
but practice wisdom is often neglected in social research works. Practice wisdom can be seen as
a method of incipient induction. In this particular case, it can be said that the case studies are the
major source of developing practice wisdom. While going through the case study, I got to know
various aspects of child abuse and along with that I realized that there are many spaces for
improvements in this field. In Australia, the government have a statutory responsibility regarding
protecting the children from sorts of child abuse and negligence.
Confrontation
Values, beliefs and assumptions did I carry
Negligence and abusing are the common forms of maltreatment and these activities
encompass various complex issues and presents scopes for various research topics.
Beliefs:
By going through the case studies, I have developed a set of beliefs and those are:
 In most cases children get neglected and abused in the poor families, but there are several
instances where the children had to go through these issues despite hailing from affluent
family.
 Negligence is often projected as the fault of the mother, but for negligence of a child, all
the family members should be responsible.

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 In many cases, if the neglected and abused children get the access to the resources and
education, it can potentially reduce the rate of negligence and abuses experienced by the
children.
Values:
While going through this particular case study I realized that the practitioners like me
should have a set of values in their minds before getting engaged to counsel the victims, and
those are:
 I have to communicate in a manner that can sustain the hope and respect.
 I should look at the symptoms like adaptations.
 I should teach the victims to monitor their responses and the complex thoughts.
 I should give the clients a feeling of assertiveness.
 I should make sure client empowerment and collaboration.
 I should keep the secrets of the clients safe.
Assumptions:
After going through various case studies, I have made some assumptions regarding the
issues of child abuse and neglect; those are mentioned in this section. All the families should
present both protective factors and risk factors to some extent. It can be said that the families
who show various risk factors and minimal protective factors, it is much likely that the children
hailing from those families are prone to experience sorts of child abuse or negligence.

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How do they differ from the values, assumptions and beliefs of others involved
It is a possibility that the values, beliefs and assumptions I carry may differ from the
other individuals involved with these issues of negligence of children and sorts of child abuse. In
this context, it is worth mentioning that it is important that how an individual perceive a matter
and that can potentially determine the values, assumptions and the beliefs of those individuals.
The case studies are also important factors to build up a set of values and beliefs in the minds of
the practitioners. Thus, it can be said that the experiences of the practitioners heavily influence
the beliefs, values and assumptions of the practitioners.
How do they connect to wider social and political forces
It is seen that others who are involved with similar experiences (my colleagues), it is their
responsibility to connect to the wider political and social forces. Recently, the government of
Australia has taken a few initiatives regarding child protection issues and the practitioners should
know those regulations. In my opinion, the other practitioners should get updated with the latest
news and the social reforms regarding child protection issues, in order to help the clients.
Ethical implications
To be able to ease the pain of the victims of the child abuse and negligence, the
practitioners should make good use of some ethical considerations. I strongly believe that the
identity of the victims should not be disclosed without getting the consent from them. They
should be treated with proper care and respect. The data collected from the primary sources by
the practitioners from the victims should not be used in any other works apart from the academic
purposes. The collected data should not be manipulated by the practitioners.

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Reconstruction
What ways I think differently
While going through the case study, I felt that I should not look at the case like just other
professionals in this field and I intended to get to the bottom of the situation. What I saw is that
in most of the cases poverty is the main driving factor that is bringing in social ills like child
abuse and negligence regarding raising the children. I would rather talk to the parents of those
children with sympathy and try to cure their mentality with more focus, as, if their mentality is
not changed, the child might get abused or get neglected later also. I believe that with proper
counseling it is my duty to give relief to the child victim, but along with that it is my duty to
counsel the parents in order to save the children from future harassments.
What could I have done differently
I believe that I should have counseled the mother of the child and put in more effort in
rectifying the ways of her living the life in order to safeguard the future of the seven years old
girl child. I strongly believe that if her mother gets a decent job and starts living a healthy life,
the future of the child should get better eventually.
What will I do differently next time
I believe that next time I should stress on judging the capability of the parents in raising
the child. I think that if I see that the parents are not capable of raising a child in a proper way, I
will take a few counseling sessions with the child and the parents and then call social welfare
organizations to arrange a foster family for the child victim. In this way I will be able to secure a
bright future for the child.

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Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be said that child abuse and negligence in raising the children
has become a social ill in Australia. Thus in recent years the federal government of Australia is
stressing on improving the situation. These initiatives should have taken years ago in order to
allow the victimized children to live a healthy life. In the age of rapid development physically
and mentally if a child gets victimized by these heinous ills, it can potentially ruin the mental
development of the child making him or her incapable to adapt to the changing situations. These
experiences can potentially harm the development of a child. Thus in my opinion these kinds of
social ills should be eradicated from the society as soon as possible.

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Bibliography
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