List of Titles

Being a parent, but not : a grounded theory of home-based care

- Cooper, Kimberlea, Sadowski, Christina, Townsend, Rob

Authors: Cooper, Kimberlea , Sadowski, Christina , Townsend, Rob
Date: 2024
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Family Relations Vol. 73, no. 3 (2024), p. 1880-1898
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Description: Objective: This constructivist-grounded-theory study explored how foster and kinship carers conceptualize and experience their role. Background: Internationally, amid growing emphasis on home-based care for children and young people living outside parental care, issues such as carer shortages, dissatisfied carers, and placement instability present significant challenges. Method: Sixteen carers (seven foster carers and nine kinship carers) from a regional area in Victoria, Australia, participated in in-depth interviews following constructivist-grounded-theory protocols. Results: Six categories reveal the central ways carers go about caring for children and young people and the main challenges they face in doing so. The core category of “being a parent, but not” demonstrates tensions that carers experience in trying to establish a sense of belonging and connectedness with a child, within the limits of the Victorian home-based care system. Conclusion: Home-based carers view their role through a parental lens, but with various limitations that restrict their sense of being a parent. Implications: The current research acknowledges the role tensions inherent within the Victorian home-based care system and emphasizes the importance of raising the status of foster and kinship carers to provide more recognition of the expertise they hold in the care of children and young people within this complex context. © 2023 The Authors. Family Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family Relations.

Sport event leveraging and violence against women : the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and one million stars to end violence

- Thomson, Alana, Kennelly, Millicent, Cooper, Kimberlea, Macagno, Salvador

Authors: Thomson, Alana , Kennelly, Millicent , Cooper, Kimberlea , Macagno, Salvador
Date: 2024
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Event Management Vol. 28, no. 8 (2024), p. 1167-1184
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Description: The connections between sport events and violence against women are an emerging area of research and align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5—Gender equality. This article explores the connection between sport event leverage initiatives and raising awareness about violence against women, through a case study of an arts and cultural initiative that ran in conjunction with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games: One Million Stars to End Violence (OMSTEV). Event leverage literature and a gendered lens informed our study. We focused on the official messaging of the initiative, as a key aspect in social event leverage. We conducted a document analysis of 30 documents including event reports, government media releases, and public media articles to explore how official messaging and media coverage reported the initiative to the broader public. We found official messaging and media coverage portrayed OMSTEV as a successful community engagement initiative that produced a beautiful artistic installation. However, the official reporting and media coverage failed to communicate in a way to raise the broader public’s awareness regarding violence against women. We provide suggestions for practice and research to better contribute to the value of sport events for targeted social causes. Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2024 Cognizant, LLC.

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‘You say one thing wrong, and your children are gone’ : exploring trauma-informed practices in foster and kinship care

- Cooper, Kimberlea, Sadowski, Christina, Townsend, Rob

Authors: Cooper, Kimberlea , Sadowski, Christina , Townsend, Rob
Date: 2023
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: British Journal of Social Work Vol. 53, no. 6 (2023), p. 3055-3072
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Description: Trauma-informed care is a growing practice approach in child and family social work. Current policy directions in out-of-home care (OOHC) in Victoria, Australia show an interest in further implementation of trauma-informed care, particularly through training for foster and kinship carers. Drawing upon findings from grounded theory research with sixteen foster and kinship carers, this article considers the application of trauma-informed practices in home-based care in the Central Highlands region of Victoria, Australia. The research reveals that whilst carers utilise principles of trauma-informed care to support children and young people, they do not always experience trauma-informed support from the wider OOHC system. This discrepancy suggests that the implementation of trauma-informed care has the potential to increase pressure on home-based carers if it is only encouraged at the interpersonal level between carers and children, without incorporating associated systems-level change. These findings propose that whilst micro-level support and training for carers are necessary and useful, it is crucial for OOHC systems to move beyond such initiatives to plan and enact macro-level reforms. © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers.

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Exploring lived experiences of participants in the Intercultural Employment Pathways (IEP) program from 2019 to 2022

- Cooper, Kimberlea, Patil, Tejaswini, Ottmann, Goetz, Williams, Dominic, Mummery, Jane

Authors: Cooper, Kimberlea , Patil, Tejaswini , Ottmann, Goetz , Williams, Dominic , Mummery, Jane
Date: 2022
Type: Text , Report
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Description: This report documents research conducted by Federation University in relation to the City of Ballarat Intercultural Employment Pathways (IEP) program from 2019 - 2022. The IEP program aims to enhance social inclusion, employment, and education pathways for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) migrants in the Ballarat region. The purpose of the research was to explore the lived experiences of migrants who participated in the IEP program to better understand the strengths of the program and propose recommendations for its future. The research was a qualitative study that used a survey, interviews, and a focus group to explore the perspectives of IEP participants and encourage them to share deep and rich accounts of their lived experiences. Overall, 39 migrants involved with the IEP program participated in the research. The findings are grouped into four themes: Connection: The communal nature of the IEP program enabled participants to establish social and professional connections which increased their networking capacity to find gainful employment. Participants valued the networking opportunities created by the IEP program as many felt as though they were ‘starting again’ after migrating to Australia. Culture: The IEP program assisted participants to adapt to Australian norms of job-hunting and workplace culture and to learn practical strategies to utilise in their job application and interview techniques. The IEP program created a broader platform for cultural exchange within the community and can contribute to wider changes in representation and appreciation of diversity. Confidence: The IEP program assisted participants to improve their levels of confidence and feelings of self-worth. The tailored support that is available to each participant enabled them to develop confidence in their abilities and focus upon their strengths. Context: Participants shared experiences of the many challenges and barriers they have faced when looking for meaningful and secure employment in Australia. Understanding these wider experiences provide the context in which the IEP program operates and emphasises its importance in providing valuable assistance to migrants settling in the City of Ballarat.

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Being a parent, but not : the role of foster and kinship carers in supporting children and young people

- Cooper, Kimberlea

Authors: Cooper, Kimberlea
Date: 2020
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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Description: Home-based carers play an important role in the lives of children and young people. In Victoria, Australia, home-based care is now the most common form of alternative care, reflecting national and international trends. However, home-based care does currently face some challenges, such as shortages of carers. Therefore, strengthening this form of care through the training and support of foster and kinship carers is a key priority of Victoria’s reforms of child and family services. In the context of a university-industry collaboration, the current research drew upon the expertise of sixteen foster and kinship carers in the Central Highlands region of Victoria. Using constructivist grounded theory, the research sought to understand how carers support children and young people and how they see their role. In addition, the research sought carers’ perspectives on their interactions with the Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) system, including what they find supportive and challenging. The research revealed that home-based carers see some elements of their role as parenting, and others as going beyond parenting. The carers utilise principles of trauma-informed care to support children and young people, but do not experience trauma-informed support from the OOHC system. This discrepancy suggests that the implementation of trauma-informed care has the potential to increase pressure on home-based carers if it is only encouraged at the interpersonal level between carers and children and does not incorporate associated systems-level change. Therefore, this research proposes that whilst micro-level support and training for carers is necessary and useful, it is crucial to move beyond such initiatives to make macro-level reform. This research also raises doubts regarding the capacity of home-based care to become fully trauma-informed due to potential incompatibilities with the current risk-averse and deficit-oriented paradigm of the child protection system.
Description: Doctor of Philosophy

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Developing a case-based experiential learning model at a program level in a regional university : reflections on the developmental process

- Patil, Tejaswini, Hunt, Michelle, Cooper, Kimberlea, Townsend, Rob

Authors: Patil, Tejaswini , Hunt, Michelle , Cooper, Kimberlea , Townsend, Rob
Date: 2020
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 60, no. 2 (2020), p. 225-244
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Description: This article reflects on the developmental process of a case-based experiential learning model: the Federation University model, in an undergraduate community and human services program at a regional university. There is abundant literature that addresses the use and need for introducing experiential learning at the subject/unit level in community and human services/social work content. However, despite the expansion of research on experiential learning, there is limited literature that bridges the gap between course/program level teaching philosophy and using experiential learning activities in individual subjects. The article will demonstrate how Kolb’s four stage cycle (Kolb, 1984) and case-based experiential learning were integrated to develop curriculum at a program level. It will also demonstrate how a move to experiential learning facilitated better alignment with face-to-face and online learning. As a way of argument, we suggest that case-based experiential learning is very relevant and useful to human services/ social work education because of its emphasis on bridging the theory and praxis nexus and providing graduates with an opportunity to work effectively in a complex, fluid and ever-changing sector. © 2020, Adult Learning Australia. All rights reserved.

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