Social Work: Australian Family Challenges and Issues

This essay delves into the challenges encountered by families in Australia, considering the country's diverse political, cultural, and social landscape, with a specific focus on the impact on Aboriginal families. It examines how these issues influence social policy and social work practice, including the application of theoretical and ethical frameworks. The essay highlights the significance of cultural diversity, the effects of assimilation policies, and the importance of social workers understanding kinship structures and family dynamics within Aboriginal communities. It underscores the need for social workers to be culturally sensitive, aware of racial implications, and capable of facilitating communication and resolving conflicts within families, ultimately aiming to improve family relationships and address difficult situations. The essay emphasizes the historical context of colonization and its lasting impact on Aboriginal families, highlighting the importance of respecting cultural protocols and promoting trust to build effective relationships.

CHALLENGES ENCOUNETERED BY FAMILIES IN AUSTRALIA
Challenges Encountered by Families in Australia
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY FAMILIES IN AUSTRALIA
Australia is a country where the population is culturally and linguistically diverse, an
estimated 40% of the population consists of immigrants and the children they have
(www.dss.gov.au, 2019). More than 15% of the population’s native language is not English
(www.dss.gov.au, 2019). Australia is lauded for being one of the most harmonious culturally
diverse nations in the planet. The immigrants in Australia have played a major role in the
economic development in Australia. Despite the inclusive nature of Australian society, the
image that is portrayed to the world by the Australian media is that there is actually no social
harmony and the society promotes differentiation. This is completely false according to the
leaders of Australia. Apart from the immigrants, there are also the original Aboriginals of
Australia and the Torres Strait islander clans, these native communities have also formed a
major part of the Australian diversity (Le & Calvey, 2019). Although they live in harmony
with each other but these immigrants and native community face some difficulties while
living in Australia. There are minor as well major health issues that are faced by the
aboriginals in Australia. There are certain social expectations from the immigrants and the
aboriginals, the way they dress-up, the way they behave is not similar to that of the other
Australians and because of this they face a lot of negative criticism. This leads to a certain
amount of tension among them. Their cultural identity is also at question, especially the
immigrants; because they belong to some different country so their culture is automatically
different from others therefor the native Australians sometime question their cultural
identities. Apart from these problems the Australia has a quite well-balanced multicultural
community.
The aboriginals are the indigenous people of Australian mainland. Aboriginals are
mixed group of people and have been staying in Australia for the past 50,000 years
(etraining.communitydoor.org.au, 2019). The significance of the aboriginals lies in their
family and kinship structures. 3.1% of the current population of Australians is currently

2CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY FAMILIES IN AUSTRALIA
aboriginals (www.aasw.asn.au, 2019). The aboriginals of Australia speak, although they
spoke different languages previously but currently all of them speak the English language and
now their language is referred to as the ‘Australian aboriginal English’. The aboriginals are
known for their kinship and family lineages. The family structures of the aboriginal are
considerably cohesive and as a result of this cohesiveness, the aboriginals in all parts of
Australia are very tightly knit. Traditionally, the aboriginal family comprised of mothers,
uncles, fathers, aunties, cousin, brothers and others. It used to be an extended family. The
aboriginals believe that their families provide emotional and psychological support. Over the
years the family ties of the aboriginals have disintegrated to some extent. This erosion of
beliefs can be seen in South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria, in these areas the groups have
completely decimated and dislocated and also none of them speak their native language
anymore (Bourke & Bourke, 2019). The contemporary Aboriginal family beliefs and values
can be understood by referring to the social organization and beliefs which are guided by the
pre-colonial aboriginal communities and to the traumatizing impact that European invasion
and the subsequent policies that were formulated by the government. The major changes that
have come about in the structure of the aboriginal family are partly because of the presence of
the Europeans and partly because of the actions taken by the colonizers. The colonizers only
aim was to take control of the Australian land which in turn destroyed the family ties among
the aboriginals. Despite the ill-occurring of the colonization period, the cohesiveness of the
aboriginal family still remains strong. The non-aboriginals prefer the nuclear structure of the
family but the aboriginal even after the British invasion chose to live as an extended family as
this is in accordance with their cultural values involving the responsibilities of the kinship
which have to be met.
There are few differences between the aboriginal and the other Australian families.
Most of these differences are attributed to the social problem of poverty (Kingsley et al.,

3CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY FAMILIES IN AUSTRALIA
2013). One of the differences in the standard of living especially the kind of houses that the
aboriginals and the Australians live in. However, this is the only way by which it can be said
that the poverty levels of the aboriginals are more than that of the other aboriginals. The other
differences between the aboriginals and the other Australians are mostly because of the
difference in their values and opinions. The aboriginals tend to prefer a multi-person
household, because they believe that from the family they derive their psychological and
social support. Unlike this the other Australians tend to prefer a nuclear family, this is
because of the influence that the European people have on them. The indigenous Australians
live in impoverished homes or caravans and dilapidated camps. This is because of the fact
that they chose to live close together with their families or close to their families and not
because of the fact that they do not have money. The number of aboriginal people increased
twice their size in the year 1991. Compared to which the growth of the other Australian
population was not as much. This is again because of the socio-economic factors. Before the
arrival of the Europeans, the aboriginal lived together and they had a quite well-defined
network of interpersonal relationship and this allowed them to live harmoniously together.
In an aboriginal family that membership is determined by birth, which clan he
belongs to and how they will behave was all decided by birth. The aboriginal kinship is
complex and varied. The values that are followed by them are all related to marriage,
ancestry, personal relationships, generations and other categories which decide the place of
the individual in society (Lohoar, Butera, & Kennedy, 2014). The different aspects of a
person’s life are all dependent on the kinship relations, their societal behavior, obligations
and rights are all dependent on the kinship relations that they have among them. Kinship is
that social bond that defines the identity of the people in relation to one another. Although the
aboriginals have evolved over the course of time but they still discuss their existence
according to the values and beliefs that they hold to be the basis of all relation.

4CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY FAMILIES IN AUSTRALIA
The social workers that work with these Australians family have to be very clear
about the history of these families and the place from they belong (Gee et al., 2014). The
aboriginal who need the help of a social worker may face certain problems while dealing with
a social worker. The close knit family structure of the aboriginal might make the client feel
obligated to share all the details of the case to the other members of the family, in that case
the social worker has to intervene and explain it to the client that details of a case or the
problem that they are facing need not be shared by the rest of the group. Another problem
could be that the aboriginal might not feel comfortable speaking in a group if the group does
not have other aboriginals. This feeling will come because the aboriginal feel out of place and
feel that the members of a group might not understand their point of view. In such
circumstances, the social worker needs to be a little more sensitive (Gee et al., 2014). The
social worker should ideally only conduct only one on one session when it comes to an
aboriginal as this will make him/her feel a lot less lonely and a lot more acknowledged. The
government implemented assimilation policies, which were policies regarding the treatment
of the aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people. Under these policies the government
expanded their occupation. Few of the results of these increasing occupations were exclusion,
displacement, disease, violence and massacres. In the light of this massacre, the social
workers realized that they need to acknowledge the problems that these people faced. The
social workers gained some knowledge about the behavior and living patterns of the
aboriginals and Torres Strait islanders (Lowe, & Yunkaporta, 2013). This way of
understanding their problems did not mean understanding them from the point of view of an
outsider but get know them as a member of their clan. After knowing them, they need to
develop certain practices which would be aligned to their way of living. The Australian
Centre for Social Workers state that they need to understand the native Australians from the
elders of the clan and have to deliver the service that is appropriate for them (Lohoar, Butera,

5CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY FAMILIES IN AUSTRALIA
& Kennedy, 2014). The social worker needs to understand, respect the values of these native
people. There a lot of cultural differentiation among the aboriginal and the Torres Strait
islanders. It is difficult for the social worker to understand all of the values and beliefs of all
communities, however there are certain similar traits that exist in all the communities and the
social workers need to identify those traits and then their work would become comparatively
easier (Freeman et al., 2014). If the social were to approach the natives as person who would
work towards the development of the society and work collaboratively with indigenous
communities and families then a lot of trust would develop between them. Another important
thing to note while working with the aboriginal is that the social workers needs to be aware of
the protocols that the natives follow because breaking them would be like disrespecting them
(O'Connor, 2017). There are racial implication also, the social worker should realize their
white privilege, they should be racially aware while dealing with an aboriginal and Torres
Strait islander (Gair et al., 2015). The social workers in Australia are predominantly white so
this they should realize, they should be mindful of the fact that they are not imposing their
white privilege on them (Bennett, 2015). Working with the aboriginals and Torres Strait
islanders includes a lot of responsibility on the social worker.
While dealing with a family, the role of the social worker is to improve the
relationships between the members of the family, and help them cope with different difficult
situations (Briskman, 2019). The social workers guide the family during the counseling
process. The social worker helps the family identify their problems and find long term
solutions to them. In cases of abuse like drug and substance abuse, domestic violence, it is the
duty of the social worker to recommend any legal steps that has to be taken. The major role
of the social worker is in facilitating communications between the members of the family.
The social workers encourage the family members to talk about their problems; open
communication solves a major issue. They encourage sharing the fears and concerns that the

6CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY FAMILIES IN AUSTRALIA
members have for each other. This helps overcoming the issues that the social workers have.
Another major role that the social worker is to resolve the conflict among the members of the
family. A long term goal of the social worker is to resolve the issues of the family and teach
the family how to deal with their issues.
This essay concludes that the aboriginals have gone through a lot of changes
over the years. When the British colonizers invaded the country, their main aim was to invade
the land and this caused the aboriginals to dislocate and separate. Despite the efforts of the
British, the aboriginals stuck to their family norms and values and they stayed together. The
core of the aboriginals is their belief in the family and kinship. They think that family will
provide them psychological and emotional support, hence they stuck to their family and stay
together in camps and dilapidated houses. There are lot of differences between the other
Australians and the aboriginals, some of them are because of the financial conditions and the
others are because of the difference in their values and beliefs. When a social worker deals
with an aboriginal family that he/she needs to be clear of about the protocols of the natives,
their values and beliefs have to be prioritized and they should realize the privilege that they
have as whites and they should not impose anything on them. While dealing with a family the
social workers needs to be able to resolve the conflict that the members of the family have
among each other. The social worker needs to maintain the ethical codes of work while
working with any client.

7CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY FAMILIES IN AUSTRALIA
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