ABSTRACT

Contact between children in care and family members is complex and often emotionally difficult for all concerned. In the context of a wider Australian cross-jurisdictional intervention trial, focusing on contact between children in long-term care and their parents, a snapshot survey of 901 children in Victorian foster care and kinship care placements was undertaken. The aim was to determine which children had seen parents, siblings or extended family members within a 12-month period, and how practitioners explained lack of contact between children and their parents. The study found that most children had had contact with parents or other family members, though children in long-term care were less likely to have seen their parents than those where reunification was still a possibility. Practitioners’ views on why parental contact had not occurred for 18% of the sample illustrate the complexity of the issues involved in contact.

IMPLICATIONS

• To support children’s best interests, professionals should be clear about the purpose of family contact and provide support appropriate to that purpose.

• With children in long-term care less likely to see their parents, professionals have a role in helping these parents adjust to a new role.

• Developing strategies to maintain meaningful connections between children in long-term care and their parents may be more effective for children’s best interests than the current emphasis on actual visits.

摘要

受照管的儿童与家庭成员之间的接触很复杂，而且对所有相关人员来说往往在情感上都很困难。在更广泛的澳大利亚跨辖区干预试验的背景下，重点关注长期照料儿童与其父母之间的联系，对维多利亚州寄养和亲属照料安置的 901 名儿童进行了快照调查。目的是确定哪些孩子在 12 个月内见过父母、兄弟姐妹或大家庭成员，以及从业者如何解释孩子与父母之间缺乏联系。研究发现，大多数孩子都与父母或其他家庭成员有过接触，尽管与那些仍然有可能团聚的孩子相比，长期照料的孩子不太可能见到父母。

影响

• 为了支持儿童的最大利益，专业人士应该清楚家庭联系的目的，并提供适合该目的的支持。

• 由于接受长期护理的儿童不太可能见到父母，专业人士可以帮助这些父母适应新的角色。

• 制定策略以在长期照料的儿童与其父母之间保持有意义的联系，对于儿童的最大利益而言，可能比目前对实际探视的强调更有效。