Transcript Public Talk: Cultural Competence for social services to

Presentation of the key findings
Thursday 29 November 2012
Jasper Hotel, 489 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
By Jatinder Kaur
Director of JK Diversity Consultants
ABS 2011 Census:
 Victoria’s total population is 5.3 million
 46.8% of Victorians were either born overseas or have at
least 1 parent overseas.
 23.1% spoke a Language other than English.
 Top 10 countries of birth were: England, Italy, New
Zealand, Vietnam, China, Greece, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia
& Scotland.
 In 2010-11, there were 3,488 Unaccompanied
Humanitarian Minors (UHM) young people aged between
12-24 years arrived in Australia, from 2006-11, the
highest settlement of UHM has been in Victoria (7311).
 DIAC 2012-13 Victorian Settlement Arrival set at 52,207:
 Family stream:31,114
 Refugee Humanitarian:20,485
 Skilled stream: 608
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Across Australia there 37,500 children and young
in OOHC, of which 12,358 are from Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander background [AIHW 2012].
In Victoria there are approximately 6,735 children
subject to a child protection order.
The number of children and young people from
CALD backgrounds coming to the attention of child
protection authorities is unknown.
Essentially, it is unknown, whether there is an
under-reporting or over-reporting of
CALD/Refugee families to child protection
authorities.
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Government (state & federal) have developed
multicultural policy frameworks which aim to
address the needs of migrants and refugees
who settle in Australia.
Knowledge from multicultural policies and
refugee sector has not necessarily been
incorporated into Child Protection Practice,
Policy frameworks and Legislation.
This has led to a significant gap in the
research and practice knowledge in meeting
the needs of CALD & Refugee families.
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In 2006, was employed as frontline child protection
worker (QLD) observed that high number of CALD
children coming to attention of CPS and staff struggling
to deal with complex cross cultural issues.
There had been No Australian research exploring
interface between CALD communities and child
protection system.
I Conducted research study which explored the:
Assessment issues faced by CPS workers when working
with CALD families
Level of knowledge, training & experience
Level of cultural competence
Use of Interpreters in CPS work
Barriers faced by CPS workers around cultural sensitive
practice.
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Developed the Cross Cultural Child Protection Survey (CCCPS)
(2007) is a tool which provides child protection agencies
information on the training, professional development needs of
practitioners when working with Migrant/refugee families.
CCCPS (2007) is a 22 item-survey containing mixture of
dichotomous questions, likert-type scales & open-ended
questions.
CCCPS broken down into 6 sections:
Background in child protection (6 items)
Agency perspective (2 items)
Practitioners service delivery (6 items)
Use of Interpreters (5 items)
Qualitative legislative questions (3 items)
Demographics (6 items)
A purposive sample comprised of (n=66) child protection
officers/team leaders who worked in the investigation and
assessment teams within Queensland Child protection System was
chosen to pilot the CCCPS in South East Qld.
Need for child protection workers to have the opportunity to
attend CALD specific training and also a need for the development
of cross cultural competence training specific to child protection
(Kaur 2007, p22).
Chi-square test revealed two statistically significant findings:
 There was a stronger probability of child protection officer’s
receiving ‘Child Safety Officer training’ once they had been
working in the Department for more than 12 months.
 Child protection officers who had been working in the Department
for more than 12months appeared to have more of an opportunity
to learn about CALD communities within their service area.
 Majority of respondents (52%) had contact with families from
CALD backgrounds between once a week and once a month.
 The study identified ‘key concerns in the provision of child welfare
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practice, policy and service delivery when working with families
from CALD background’ within the Australian context (Kaur 2007,
p23).
Two published papers:
Kaur, J. (2007) Children Australia, 32(4),p17-24
Kaur, J. (2009) Developing Practice, Autumn/Winter,No:23,p22-35.
Kaur (2009) published the qualitative responses
on ‘Developing culturally Sensitive Practice’.
 CP workers highlighted the need for CP workers
to engage, to be respectful and build responsive
relationships when working with CALD families.
These Cross-cultural skills included:
 Respectful engagement with CALD families
 Use of Interpreter
 Ascertaining cultural supports within community
 Linking with Cultural Liaison officers
 Referral for appropriate support services
 Kinship or Culturally matched placements
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This was first Australian research to explore cultural
competency of caseworkers employed in the child
protection system.
Key Findings:
 Frontline child protection workers did not receive
adequate training, resources to work with CALD families
 CP workers lacked CALD specific knowledge on how to
deal with cross-cultural issues when working with CALD
families.
 Identified Key concerns in the provision of child
protection practice, policy & service delivery when
working with CALD families in Australian Child
Protection System.
 Highlighted need for further research into cross cultural
competence in child protection practice across
Australia, role & use of interpreters
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Since 2007 to 2012, have raised issues facing
CALD/Refugee families in various forums:
Research conferences & Publications
In 2009, wrote to Minister Jenny Macklin
regarding the omission of CALD communities in
National Framework for Protecting Australia’s
Children (2009-2020) Plan.
Met with State and Federal Ministers responsible
for Child Protection.
In 2011, I presented a ‘Multicultural Child
Protection Policy Strategy’ to PVVCI, which
outlined the research evidence, current Victorian
Multicultural and Child Protection Policy
Frameworks, identified the gaps within policy,
practice and service provision.
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On 28 February 2012, the Final Report for the PVVCI was
tabled in the Victorian Parliament and included a dedicated
chapter 13 on ‘Meeting the needs of CALD communities’.
The PVVCI Report (2012) outlined 3 recommendations:
Recommendation 37 (p317): To improve knowledge and
data on vulnerable children of CALD backgrounds so that
appropriateness of current service provision can be
considered:
Recommendation 38 (p320): The Victorian Government,
through the Council of Australian Government, should
seek inclusion of the needs of recently arrived children and
families of CALD backgrounds in the National Framework
for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020;
Recommendation 68 (p423, Ch16): The Department of
Human Services should improve the cultural competence
of integrated family services and statutory child protection
services.
Cultural Demographics of Victorian Children/Young
people in OOHC
Series1
Series2
1515
258
Anglo Australian
250
ATSI
30
CALD
Refugee
See page 18 of the Report
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On 12 July 2012, the ‘Cultural Diversity and Child Protection’
Research Report was launched. This report is the first
publication of its kind to review the available research
literature on the CALD and refugee families in the Australian
Child Protection System (CPS).
The Research reviewed all the available Australian research
evidence to establish ‘baseline knowledge’ for policymakers,
practitioners and researchers.
This review identifies the emerging research on CALD and
refugee communities coming to the attention of Australian
Child Protection System. The Report proposed 7
recommendations to practitioners and policy makers to
address the current gaps in service delivery data collection,
policy and practice guidelines.
The report has been launched in: Brisbane, Sydney,
Melbourne and Adelaide, Perth and Hobart in 2013.
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collect data on CALD and refugee communities
develop culturally responsive service delivery
specific to CALD and refugee communities
develop community education and awareness
campaigns targeting CALD and refugee
communities
develop cultural competence training for frontline
caseworkers,
develop culturally responsive placement options
for CALD and refugee (unaccompanied
humanitarian minors (UHM) children and young
people who require OOHC .
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While risk factors common to all families are
prevalent, (e.g. domestic and family violence,
substance abuse and mental illness) CALD and
refugee families face a number of unique risk factors
and challenges which may lead to their involvement
with the Australian CPS.
Both CALD and refugee communities would benefit
from early intervention and prevention strategies
focusing on: ‘accepted parenting practices in
Australia’, specifically targeting physical discipline
and neglect.
Parents from CALD or refugee backgrounds were not
aware of the statutory role of the child protection
system and would benefit from a community
education on the role of statutory child protection
authorities (in their language).
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The need for culturally tailored community
awareness program for both CALD and
refugee communities on Australian laws
relating to domestic and family violence.
The need for frontline child protection
caseworkers to develop cultural competency
when working with both CALD and refugee
communities in CPS; and
Children from inter-racial backgrounds who
were in OOHC displayed cultural identity
confusion and self esteem issues.
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What the prevalence of child abuse and
neglect is amongst both CALD and refugee
communities in Australia.
The placement needs of CALD and refugee
and Unaccompanied Humanitarian Minors
(UHM) children and young people in OOHC.
What early intervention and prevention
strategies are effective in working with both
CALD and refugee communities in addressing
child maltreatment?
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The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s
Children 2009-2020 to include strategies and
provisions for meeting the needs of CALD and
refugee children and families into the second action
plan (2012-2015).
Through COAG, each state and territory child
protection departments to commence collecting
data capturing: ethnicity, language spoken and
religion of children and families of CALD and
refugee backgrounds, who are both coming to the
attention (notification) and entering the OOHC
system.
Departments to incorporate provisions for CALD
and refugee communities in their child protection
policy, legislation and practice guidelines.
4. Departments to develop communication
strategies for CALD and refugee families on:
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Australian Child Protection System and its
statutory role;
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Early intervention and prevention awareness
information on:
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‘What is child abuse?’ and accepted
Australian parenting practices;
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Culturally tailored information on the harms
of physical discipline and domestic and
family violence.
5. Departments to develop ‘culturally responsive’
service models for children and families from
CALD and refugee backgrounds, these strategies
to include:
Recruitment and retention of culturally diverse child
protection workforce and bi-cultural staff.
Development of Interpreter guidelines and training on
the use of interpreters for frontline child protection
practitioners.
Recruitment strategies of foster and kinship carers from
CALD and refugee backgrounds.
Development of practice guidelines for ‘working with
CALD and refugee families’.
Development of cultural support plans for CALD and
refugee children and young people who are placed in
OOHC.
6. Departments to include provision of
‘culturally sensitive’ considerations (e.g.
diverse child rearing practices, cultural norms
and traditions) into assessment frameworks
and standard risk assessment tools (e.g.
structured decision making tools).
Recommendation – Practitioner level:
7. Governments and NGOs to incorporate
‘cultural competency’ training for frontline
practitioners working in Child and Family
welfare context.
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This report was sent to each child protection Minister
across all states/territories and Children
Commissioner’s to ensure that National Framework
for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020 second
3 year Action Plan (2012-2015) included strategies to
meet the needs of CALD communities.
The Minister’s met on 17 August 2012 to finalise the
Second Action Plan, which included the following
Actions in relation to CALD/Refugee communities:
Improving Support for Carers: Supporting Outcome
4—Children who have been abused or neglected
receive the support and care they need for their
safety and wellbeing:
Action: Expand training and support for grandparent
and kinship carers, including Indigenous and
culturally and linguistically diverse kinship carers.
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Section 6: Exploring new opportunities:
Data collection: commissioned improvements
in the Child Protection National Minimum
Data Set (CP-NMDS) that collects data on
children and family demographics to include
information on culturally and linguistically
diverse status, where possible.
Community: Engage community leaders,
including leaders from culturally and
linguistically diverse communities, to build
support for protecting children and young
people.
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Established in 2011 to bridge the gap between
multicultural issues and mainstream government
agencies and departments
Developed 1 day training workshop on ‘Working
with CALD and refugee in Child & Family Welfare
Setting’ endorsed by AASW, which has been
delivered in Qld, NSW, Victoria, Western Australia,
with more states in 2013 (There is no other
equivalent Training workshop in Australia).
Delivered training to Legal Practitioners to build
their capacity in dealing with CALD/refugee
families in child protection court proceedings
Contact info:
Jatinder Kaur B.A. (Psy), M. Soc. Admin
Director of JK Diversity Consultants
M: 0422887579
E:[email protected]
PO Box 729 Cleveland Q 4163
www.jkdiversityconsultants.com.au