'No Voice, No Opinion, Nothing': Parent Experiences When Children Are
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‘No voice, no opinion, nothing’: Parent experiences when children are removed and placed in care A RESEARCH PROJECT Dr Nicola Ross Jessica Cocks Lou Johnston Lynette Stoker FEBRUARY 2017 Publication date: February 2017 Front cover: Title: Part of a quote from one parent in the research project; many thanks from the research team. Images: Stock photographs. Suggested citation: Ross, N., Cocks, J., Johnston, L., & Stoker, L. (2017). ‘No voice, no opinion, nothing’: Parent experiences when children are removed and placed in care. Research report. Newcastle, NSW: University of Newcastle. Contents Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................................1 Executive summary ...........................................................................................................2 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................5 1.1. Research Team ............................................................................................................... 7 1.2. Parent consultants .......................................................................................................... 8 2. Background ..................................................................................................................8 3. Research design and process .....................................................................................12 3.1. Research aim and questions ......................................................................................... 13 3.2. Methods ....................................................................................................................... 13 3.3. Recruitment ................................................................................................................. 14 3.4. Participation ................................................................................................................. 15 3.5. Demographic data ........................................................................................................ 15 3.6. Limitations .................................................................................................................... 19 4. Analysis and overview of themes ..............................................................................20 5. Power and inclusion ...................................................................................................23 5.1. Assessment, expectations and information ................................................................... 23 5.2. Legal proceedings and court ......................................................................................... 26 5.3. Catch-22s ..................................................................................................................... 31 6. Professional relationships and relating ......................................................................33 7. Parent-child relationships and attachments ..............................................................40 8. Grief and Loss.............................................................................................................43 9. Identity ......................................................................................................................45 10. Opportunities for change: Building a family inclusive approach ................................50 10.1. Tips and advice from parents ........................................................................................ 50 10.2. More inclusive and supportive approach to removal and legal processes ...................... 52 10.3. Re-focusing on family relationships – not just family contact ........................................ 53 10.4. Mitigating power imbalances between parents, carers and other stakeholders ............ 53 10.5. Building skills and capacity in relationship-based practice – connecting policy to the lived experience of parents ........................................................................................... 54 10.6. Helping parents to be better parents – no matter the legal outcome ............................ 55 Glossary ...........................................................................................................................57 References .......................................................................................................................59 ‘No voice, no opinion, nothing’: Parent experiences when children are removed and placed in care List of tables Table 1: Themes and subthemes ..................................................................................................... 22 Table 2: Parents’ tips and advice for workers and other professionals ............................................. 50 Table 3: Parents’ tips and advice for lawyers and legal representation............................................. 51 Table 4: Parents’ tips and advice for carers ...................................................................................... 51 List of graphs Graph 1: Parent participants (a) Gender (b) Age .............................................................................. 16 Graph 2: Parents’ living arrangements ............................................................................................. 16 Graph 3: Number of children in parents’ families ............................................................................. 17 Graph 4: Number of children of parents (a) Gender (b) Removal history .......................................... 17 Graph 5: Current status of children who were removed .................................................................. 17 Graph 6: Child’s age at removal ....................................................................................................... 18 Graph 7: Time in care ...................................................................................................................... 18 Graph 8: Current contact with parents for each child in care ........................................................... 19 List of appendices Appendix A: Participant Information Statement Appendix B: Demographic survey questions Appendix C: Interview questions Appendix D: Focus group questions ‘No voice, no opinion, nothing’: Parent experiences when children are removed and placed in care Acknowledgements This research project has relied on the support and collaboration from many individuals and groups in the Hunter Valley and Central Coast regions of New South Wales. The Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Newcastle provided funding for the research. This provided resources to assist participants, conduct literature reviews and engage peer parent consultants. The Newcastle Law School also provided considerable in-kind contributions of staff time and administrative support. The Family Action Centre and the Social Work Program at the University of Newcastle also provided substantial in-kind support for the project. Life Without Barriers, was the project’s industry partner and provided significant staff time, regular use of its office space and access to administrative resources. The project also relied on a number of out of home care and family support services in the community to approach and recruit participants. The team acknowledges the valuable time this required from very busy practitioners and is grateful for their contributions. The practitioners in those agencies worked hard to enable parent participants to have a voice in the research and provided valuable follow up support with many parents, both individually and in group programs. The parent consultants who worked on the project require particular acknowledgement. Teegan Bain and Felicity Kime, both leaders in Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter Inc, contributed substantially to the project. They provided valuable help in the development of data collection instruments, focus groups and data analysis. The involvement of peer consultants is an innovative approach to conducting child protection research in Australia. The research team learned a lot from these parent leaders and consultants and encourage other child protection researchers to consider including the voices of lived experience in their projects to consolidate knowledge development. Finally, and most importantly, the research team acknowledges the bravery and generosity of the parents who took part in this research. It is not easy to share stories such as these in a society that can be quick to judge and blame. The parents showed fortitude, insight and an extraordinary capacity to resist and keep struggling within a system that was often overwhelming for them and their children. The research team was continually amazed by parents’ capacity to fight for their children and for an ongoing role in their children’s lives – often against great odds. Without exception, parent participants in this research were motivated by a desire to make things better for other children and families. This research is dedicated to those parents and their children. “Kids needs their parents in their lives… one way or the other”1 1 Parent quote from practice forum, see J Cocks Building better relationships: Outcomes of the Family Inclusion Practice Forum held on 18 July 2014. (Family Action Centre, 2014). ‘No voice, no opinion, nothing’: Parent experiences when children are removed and placed in care 1 Executive summary In 2014 and early