Ethnic Minority Families in Child Protection Systems

Australia is a multicultural country with 24% of its population originating from non-English speaking (and culturally diverse) countries. Yet research on how to implement child protection policies in culturally appropriate ways, so as best to protect children from these various cultures from harm is noticeably lacking. In response to the gap in national knowledge the New South Wales Department of Human Services funded a large three year study into the needs and experiences of minority ethnic groups in the child protection system under a Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme. This book reports the findings of this study. There were three stages to this project - a review of the (mostly) international literature, a review of 120 case files and semi structured interviews with caseworkers and minority ethnic families involved in the child protection system. The mixed methodology is useful for triangulating the quantitative and qualitative data and in turn making policy recommendations for good practice with this client group. The findings of this study will be useful to child protection institutions and workers in multicultural countries like Australia.