Child Protection in Australia: Legislation, Frameworks, and Casework

This assignment addresses key aspects of child protection, beginning with short answer questions that explore relevant legislation, practice frameworks (national, state/territory, and international), and the role of clinical supervision. The assignment then delves into Kolb's learning cycle and reflective practice, emphasizing the importance of ethical conduct and professional boundaries. The assignment also includes a case study involving a separating family, where the student is required to mediate custody arrangements and ensure a child-focused approach. The student must analyze the values, beliefs, and biases that may influence casework, and provide examples of potential conflicts. The assignment emphasizes the importance of seeking advice from supervisors in challenging situations and maintaining professional standards in child protection practice. The assignment is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the legal, ethical, and practical considerations involved in child protection work.

Assessment Task One: Short Answer Questions
1. When working in a child protection environment, list and describe three keys pieces of
legislation which may impact on your role.
Mandatory reporting. As per the Care and Protection Act, 1998 of the Children and Young
Persons, all community and health workers are required by this law to report to their
community services department on the issues relating to the safety and wellbeing of the
children in the facility (Feng, Chen, Fetzer, Feng & Lin, 2012). Therefore, my role in
responding to children's needs and their welfare has to incorporate the submission of a report
to the community services department within the stipulated time.
The confidentiality and privacy legislation which ensures the protection of the children's
confidential information such as the commonwealth privacy Act 1988 (Adams & Lee-Jones,
2017). A social worker is bound by this legislation from sharing any private data such as
family history to other parties without the consent of the clients. In attending to the children
welfare, the social worker must observe privacy which limits him or her on the type and
content of information to share.
Ethical conduct within a specific organisation or institution (Reamer, 2013). Every
institution has got its generally accepted behaviours that guide their employees. In addition to
professionalism, ethical conduct offers some guidelines on what to do and what to avoid.
Such factors affect how a social worker will execute his or her roles within the institution.

1. Identify a child protection practice framework that:
a) Has national application (across Australia)
The national framework for protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020 advocates for
the safety and welfare of the Australian children through making it everyone’s
business (Saunders & McArthur, 2017). The Commonwealth, all state and territory
governments as well as the non-governmental organisations hold the responsibility of
ensuring the Australian children are safe.
b) Is used in your State/Territory
The Children and Young Person (Care and Protection) Act 1998 of New south wales
which guides the provision of care and protection as well as the provision of social services to
children and young persons (Fernandez & Atwool, 2013).
c) Has international application (specifically within or including the United
Kingdom)
The National framework for protecting Australia’s children Act has a similar
orientation with the child protection policies in the United Kingdom whereby both
underpin the importance of early intervention and prevention of child abuse and neglect
(Price-Robertson, Bromfield & Lamont, 2014).
d) Has international application (excluding the United Kingdom)
In Australia, the National framework for protecting Australia's children integrates both
the child protection and family service approach while that of the United Kingdom adopts the

child protection only (Kojan & Lonne, 2012). The welfare system of Australia has
similarities internationally with European countries for example Belgium.
2. Briefly outline the role and purpose of clinical supervision for casework professionals.
The supervisor ensures that the caseworker engages the client. The caseworkers must be
courteous and respectful to clients to avoid any confrontations that may hinder the effective
service dissemination. In this case, the clinical supervisor encourages the caseworker to
concisely state the reasons for the contact.
Clinical supervision aids the creation and sustenance of a good relationship between the
caseworker and the client. The supervisors encourage the child welfare professionals to
employ functional listening skills such as maintaining eye contact and being non-judgemental
which triggers a good rapport with their clients.
The clinical supervisors assist with risk and safety assessments that aid in decision
making. Using the risk assessment tool, the supervisors with the caseworkers identify the
possible risks to the children’s safety based on the information collected during
investigations. The identification of risks helps to reduce and prevent risks to the children.
Such discussions enhance professionalism and evidence-based decision making.
Casework-decision making. The clinical supervisors and the children welfare
professionals make decisions on children support services based on the information collected
from the investigations. The information gathered is mostly from the children and family
perspectives. To avoid making wrong judgements, the supervisors can create opportunities to

be involved in the client and caseworker investigations to have a wider perspective of the
case.
3. List the four principles of reflective practice as depicted in Kolb’s learning cycle.
Experience. Kolb argues that life is full of experiences gathered from the environments
we exist in. These experiences provide many opportunities to initiate the learning process.
The reflective observation which entails contemplating about the experiences one has
had.
Abstract conceptualization, a stage after contemplation of the experiences which involves
drawing hypothesis on the meaning of such experiences.
Active experimentation is the principle of testing the hypothesis adopted. The other new
experiences gained will either support the hypothesis or challenge them.
4. Referring to your job description is one way that you can clarify your work role
responsibilities and expectations.
a) List three other ways you can make sure you are working appropriately.
By adhering to the facility rules and regulations
Through observing professional conduct
Making decisions based on evidence
Suggest two different examples of occasions when you might need to seek advice
from your supervisor in relation to your job role.
When faced with ethical dilemmas

When faced with complex situations and critical situations that demand professional
experience.
5. Laura is a caseworker currently working with a young Aboriginal family. The case is
proving to be very emotionally challenging for her, mainly because she disagrees with
how the two children are being raised. Laura decides to speak with her supervisor at
the agency she works for.
a) Give three examples of when the values and/or beliefs of individuals could
differ and create potential issues
Instances where the child undergoes some treatments which conflict with the social
worker’s culture as well as that of the supervisor. For example, the belief that male children
should not perform house chores.
A difference in morals based on culture and religion. Morals differ from one culture
to another which to some extent can be dictated by religion. For example, some cultures
advocate for female children to dress in dresses or skirts perceiving the dressing in trousers
for females as a lack of morals.
Individual values such as attitude also may bring issues for they differ among people.
For example, someone might have a bad attitude towards horror movies while the other
individual likes such movies.

b) Using Laura’s situation as an example, explain the importance of reflecting on
your own values and biases
Reflection on individual aids the social worker to understand his or her biases
enhancing effective professional service (Ratts et al., 2015). Emotional differences in regard
to cases can impair judgement. In the case of Laura, her individual beliefs which are as a
result of various factors such as cultural beliefs make her perceive the treatment the child is
receiving is not right even though it might be right in the real sense. To avoid such
distractions Laura needs to reflect on her values as well as biases to ensure she handles the
case professionally while upholding the standards required.

References
Feng, J. Y., Chen, Y. W., Fetzer, S., Feng, M. C., & Lin, C. L. (2012). Ethical and legal
challenges of mandated child abuse reporters. Children and Youth Services
Review, 34(1), 276-280.
Fernandez, E., & Atwool, N. (2013). Child protection and out of home care: Policy, practice,
and research connections in Australia and New Zealand. Psychosocial
Intervention, 22(3), 175-184.
Kojan, B. H., & Lonne, B. (2012). A comparison of systems and outcomes for safeguarding
children in Australia and Norway. Child & Family Social Work, 17(1), 96-107.
Price-Robertson, R., Bromfield, L., & Lamont, A. (2014). International approaches to child
protection. CFCA Paper, 23, 1-11.
Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., Nassar-McMillan, S., Butler, S. K., McCullough, J. R., & Hipolito-
Delgado, C. (2015). Multicultural and social justice counselling competencies.
Reamer, F. G. (2013). Social work in a digital age: Ethical and risk management
challenges. Social work, 58(2), 163-172.
Saunders, V., & Mcarthur, M. (2017). Help-seeking needs and gaps for preventing child
sexual abuse: a report for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child
Sexual Abuse. doi:10.24268/fhs.8339