Understanding the Role of Women in the Care and Protection of Children: A Feminist and Autobiographical analysis. Jill M. Worrall 2016 School of Social Sciences and Public Policy Faculty of Culture and Society A thesis submitted to the Auckland University of Technology in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) i Abstract The critical contribution of women in upholding the State’s responsibility for children in need of care and protection in New Zealand has not been sufficiently recognised. This thesis traces the development of child protection legislation from the Destitute Persons Relief Ordinance 1846 to the current Children, Young Persons and their Families Act 1989. It examines the socio-political influences that contributed to changes over time, and the various roles women have played as social workers, foster mothers, and kin carers. The circular journey from family responsibility in 1846, to state control, then to the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act 1989 and again, back to family responsibility, has been drawn. Re-interrogating my own research phenomenologically and drawing on my social work experience, the thesis gives evidence of the effects of the current legislation, the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act (1989), on families/whānau, and children. The thesis methodology is feminist autobiography and tells a second journey of care and protection. My experiences of being raised by kin, my work as a foster mother, a social worker, a university lecturer and researcher tell this story. These two journeys are braided together where paths cross or run parallel. The use of critical feminist theory as an analytical tool and feminist phenomenology as a methodology has revealed the reality of experience of women in varying roles, who throughout time have cared for children in need of care and protection. Social workers, foster parents, the children’s biological parents and kin/whānau carers of these children, and the children themselves have been part of my journey. The thesis, firstly, makes a contribution to social work literature as it offers an understanding of the effect of child welfare legislation and the incumbent power therein on the lives of families, children and social workers. It also argues that the influence of early life experiences on professional choice demands ethical reflective self-examination. Secondly, the thesis contributes to academic autobiographical research methodology, arguing for its ability to honestly locate the researcher in the field of enquiry and enhance the richness of the study. i Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. i Attestation of Authorship .............................................................................................. viii Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. x Ethics Approval ................................................................................................................. xi Prologue ............................................................................................................................ 1 A New Family – A New Life ........................................................................................... 8 Chapter One: Introduction .............................................................................................. 18 Setting the International Context ............................................................................... 18 And in New Zealand .................................................................................................... 19 Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................................ 23 Chapter Two: The Methodological Framework .............................................................. 28 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 28 Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................... 28 Research Design .......................................................................................................... 29 Epistemology, Methodology and Method .................................................................. 29 The Emergence and Development of Feminist Analyses ............................................ 33 Feminist Phenomenology ........................................................................................... 37 The Essence of Power ................................................................................................. 42 The Place of Feminist Autobiography as a Methodology ........................................... 45 Reliability, Validity, Generalisability and Triangulation .............................................. 52 Ethical Issues ............................................................................................................... 53 In Summary ................................................................................................................. 56 Chapter Three: Feminist Journeys .................................................................................. 59 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 59 Early New Zealand Feminists ...................................................................................... 59 ii Immigrant Feminists ................................................................................................... 59 Early Māori Feminists .................................................................................................. 62 Women from the Pacific ............................................................................................. 63 The Re-Awakening of Feminism .................................................................................. 64 My Own Awakening .................................................................................................... 65 The Threads of Cancer ................................................................................................ 71 In Summary ................................................................................................................. 76 Chapter Four: Child Care and Protection in Early New Zealand ..................................... 78 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 78 Pre-Colonisation .......................................................................................................... 79 The Early History: 1846-1925 ...................................................................................... 81 The Early Colonial Period and the Role of Women: 1846-1925 ................................. 81 Early Foster Mothers ................................................................................................... 88 “Taken” into Care ........................................................................................................ 90 In Summary ................................................................................................................. 92 Chapter Five: Moving Towards Child Focused Legislation 1925-1974 ........................... 95 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 95 The Child Welfare Act 1925 ........................................................................................ 95 Unreasonable Expectations of a Woman’s Labour ..................................................... 97 The Essence of Attachment ........................................................................................ 98 Attachment, Maternal Separation, Ownership and Identity .................................... 102 Towards the 1974 Children and Young Persons Act ................................................. 107 Motivation to Care and Role Expectations ............................................................... 109 Inclusivity and Parental Contact ............................................................................... 111 Collective Voices ....................................................................................................... 115 In Summary ............................................................................................................... 116 Chapter Six: Journey into Foster Care 1974-1989 ........................................................ 119 iii Introduction .............................................................................................................. 119 The Best Interests of the Child .................................................................................. 119 Moving On ................................................................................................................. 120 The Personal is Political ............................................................................................. 123 A Concerning Picture ................................................................................................. 124 A Woman’s Role ........................................................................................................ 125 Dual Identity