Can a Paradigm Shift from Risk Management to Critical Reflection Improve Child-Inclusive Practice?

Child protection systems within Anglophone countries have been increasingly dominated by neoliberal managerial, risk-dominant paradigms over the past three decades. Assumed to deliver a cost-effective strategy to increase the safety of children, there are many ways this paradigmatic combination syst...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Societies (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-02, Vol.12 (1), p.1
Main Authors: Morley, Christine, Clarke, Joanne, Leggatt-Cook, Chez, Shkalla, Donna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Anglophones
Case studies
child protection
Child welfare
child-inclusive practice
Children
Children & youth
critical practice
critical reflection
Decision making
Ethnolinguistic groups
Neoliberalism
Participation
Performance management
Protective factors
Research projects
Risk assessment
Risk management
Social work
Social workers
Technology
Well being
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Child protection systems within Anglophone countries have been increasingly dominated by neoliberal managerial, risk-dominant paradigms over the past three decades. Assumed to deliver a cost-effective strategy to increase the safety of children, there are many ways this paradigmatic combination systematically undermines child welfare, participation, and well-being. This paper specifically focuses on the ways that risk assessment, neoliberal, and managerial discourses have infiltrated practice and operate to silence and exclude children’s voices. It draws on two case studies to showcase key findings of a comprehensive, state-wide research project called Empowering Children’s Voices, which was initiated by UnitingCare, a non-government organisation within Queensland, Australia, and conducted in partnership with researchers from Queensland University of Technology. It will be argued that a paradigm shift towards a critically reflective reinterpretation of risk can be far more effective at promoting child-inclusive practice and establishing children’s empowered voices as a protective factor against harm.
ISSN:2075-4698
2075-4698
DOI:10.3390/soc12010001