- Title
- Child protection hypothetical case studies for a virtual archive : professional perspectives versus the lived experience and expertise of care leavers in Victoria, Australia
- Creator
- Mendes, Philip; Wilson, Jacqueline; Golding, Frank
- Date
- 2021
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/182184
- Identifier
- vital:16091
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaa018
- Identifier
- ISBN:0045-3102 (ISSN)
- Abstract
- For children in out-of-home care (OOHC) and adults who experienced OOHC as children, the records compiled by care workers, social workers and other relevant personnel present multiple ongoing problems. The records often embody deeply contested narratives that may include distortions and misinterpretations of facts, judgemental inferences, moralistic attitudes and other problematic aspects that can leave the care leaver at best ill-served and at worst profoundly distressed and traumatised. This article, an auto-ethnographic collaboration between a social work professional and two care leavers, aims to address these issues by constructing a 'virtual archive' consisting of several hypothetical records compiled in the style typically employed by caseworkers, which are then critiqued by the care leavers. In each case, the record is found to have significant shortcomings in terms of what is included or omitted, the tone, and implied judgements. The article concludes with a discussion that identifies a number of thematic issues and pitfalls intrinsic to the task of record-keeping in the OOHC context and makes recommendations aimed at achieving inclusive, rights-based processes and procedures in the creation and maintenance of records. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Relation
- British Journal of Social Work Vol. 51, no. 7 (2021), p. 2626-2644
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- Copyright @ The Author(s) 2020
- Subject
- 4409 Social Work; Care leavers; Care records; Out-of-home care; Social workers; Virtual archive
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