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Internal displacement caused by armed conflict has a lasting impact on the lives of those affected. Re-establishing stability after the cessation of conflict is a difficult and complex task. To date, the contribution of social work values and knowledge to this task has received limited attention. This study uses the principles and values of social work as a framework for analysing an intervention that was undertaken to address the impact of displacement following armed conflict on an Indigenous community in Zamboanga, Philippines. A community development intervention model was developed by the Philippines-based Community and Family Services International (CFSI), an international not-for-profit organisation. Through analysis of the Zamboanga intervention, this study demonstrates the positive impact of applying social work values and principles to guiding postconflict recovery, encouraging empowerment and building more sustainable futures. The findings demonstrate the significance and value of CFSI's approach in supporting postconflict recovery. Displacement following armed conflict impacts negatively on all aspects of the lives of those displaced, and Indigenous people are at particularly high risk. The social work approach provides a framework to inform the development of humanitarian programs. Analysis of the implementation of the Community and Family Services International (CFSI) intervention indicates that addressing the impacts of internal displacement on Indigenous communities requires humanitarian programs to engage with culture and support self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the experience of IPV amongst married Saudi Arabian international students and their partners in Australia. The research explored the prevalence of IPV, the types of IPV, and gender differences in IPV experienced. A sample of 508 adult Saudi Arabian university students report of their own IPV experiences. The findings suggested gender differences in the context of IPV. The study can inform culturally appropriate interventions to support victims and increase perpetrator accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the findings of a study about the work of Aboriginal hospital liaison officers (AHLOs) and hospital social workers in Victoria. Guided by an Aboriginal Critical Reference Group, in-depth interviews were held with nine AHLOs, 10 social workers, and three Aboriginal health policy and program informants. Telephone focus groups held with study participants confirmed an analysis of the narratives of good practice and themes identified by participants. Focusing on the strengths of collaborative work, six key principles for good practice were defined. These principles relate to nonbiomedical knowledge and skills that non-Aboriginal social workers and AHLOs require to work well with Aboriginal patients. Implications for training and further research are discussed. IMPLICATIONS Similar elements of shared good practice between AHLOs and social workers were identified across a range of hospital types in Victoria suggesting that this is an important area of social work practice to understand and develop. The relationship and practice between AHLOs and social workers were previously underexplored, and the strengths and challenges of their working together practice have the potential to positively impact the hospital stay and health outcomes of Aboriginal patients. This study calls for opportunities to further strengthen and facilitate the ongoing, dynamic, and positive relationships between hospital social workers and AHLOs. Working together, they contribute to the creation of cultural safety and care for Aborignal patients and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "Forgotten Australians" refers to adults who as children were placed in out-of-home care in Australia between 1920 and 1989. Following the Australian Government's apology to Forgotten Australians in 2009, the Federal and State Governments funded specific services to address the lifelong consequences of abuse and neglect inflicted upon Forgotten Australians. The impacts include difficulty forming and maintaining relationships, poor educational outcomes, unemployment, and poverty. The ability of service providers to engage Forgotten Australians and provide appropriate counselling has been given little research attention. This article reports on a survey of providers delivering counselling to Forgotten Australians regarding their knowledge and experiences in delivering services. Effective practice with Forgotten Australians requires knowledge of the history of Forgotten Australians, the uniqueness of the experiences of individual Forgotten Australians, and working within respectful relationships. The study highlights that preparing counsellors to work with Forgotten Australians requires specific training. IMPLICATIONS Service providers who work with Forgotten Australians (care leavers) require an understanding of the historical context in which Forgotten Australians experienced abuse and neglect while in institutions and out-of-home care. The compounding long-term impacts of institutionalisation affect Forgotten Australians in numerous ways, pointing to a need for targeted service delivery for this group. Key professional disciplines need to include knowledge and skills to work with Forgotten Australians (care leavers) in their curricula to promote best practice in conjunction with training across a range of services that promote service providers' understanding of the experiences of Forgotten Australians. Service delivery should be empowering, non-hierarchical, and encompass understandings of trauma and attachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subjective experience of infants is seldom considered in research directly concerning them. Commonly, infants are not believed to possess self-agency or innate communicative abilities, obscuring space for researchers to consider the infant's subjectivity. Rather, measuring and coding behaviour or seeking the parent's perspective is privileged. Making meaning is not limited to the capacity to verbalise; as meaning encompasses feelings, behaviours, and contexts. In this paper, a novel "infant-led" qualitative research methodology is presented utilising infant observation techniques, drawing on theories of "intersubjectivity" and using a constructivist grounded theory method. Distinct to this methodology is how data collection begins with the infant before any other, as does the process of data analysis; providing the basis upon which all other data are interpreted. The application of such an approach is nonintrusive and has much to offer social workers working with infants in high risk situations in community, health, and mental health settings. IMPLICATIONS The experience of infants is entitled to be included in research that directly impacts them. Adopting an infant-led approach brings alive the experiences of infants and challenges assumptions that minimise the competencies and contributions infants make. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the experiences of child welfare professionals who participated in a graduate level Trauma-informed Care program in Ireland. Through three focus groups, thematic analysis revealed four overarching themes: 1. Program Acceptability; 2. Learning to Weave the Old with the New; 3. Integration into Practice and 4. Sustaining New Ground. Findings suggest participants experienced a process of change that led to knowledge integration which in turn led to concrete practice changes. Sustaining changes requires ongoing supports, a national strategy for trauma-informed practice integration in the Irish child welfare agency and across child serving systems of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child and family practice and child protection are extraordinarily complex. They require in-depth understanding of intra- and inter-personal skills and intricate service systems, and capacity to operate in a constantly changing policy environment. One way of meeting the needs of such practitioners is facilitating their access to experts working across direct practice, management and leadership and policy-making contexts. This article discusses the rationale for collaboratively delivered post-qualifying courses for child and family practitioners, and discusses a highly successful example of such courses delivered through La Trobe University. It outlines the unique developmental process and model of delivery adopted by the consortium responsible for the postgraduate programme. It concludes with reference to early evaluative findings indicating it as a promising pedagogical model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

School, family, and community partnerships are among the suite of strategies advocated for improved school outcomes in which social workers can play a valuable role. Such partnerships are complex to implement in practice and there is little systematic research to guide the practitioner. This study evaluated an early intervention partnership program involving school, family, community, and philanthropic partners implemented in two primary schools in rural Victoria, Australia. The findings highlighted challenges in the process of evaluation and program implementation and in the opportunities this provided to identify key enabling factors. These involved having: a shared vision and aims; democratic governance; a supportive policy and organisational environment including external funding; workers with skills and clear roles; activities for project momentum; and ongoing review and evaluation. These factors can be used by social workers and others working with schools as a valuable conceptual framework to facilitate school, family, and community partnership processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child and family practice is recognised as a field of social work that has become increasingly complex. While evidence is growing in relation to effective supervision, there has been little research about the attributes of an effective supervisor, or the components of effective supervision. This paper reports on research undertaken in Victoria, Australia, which explored practitioners' and supervisors' experiences of effective supervision in this field. Data collection involved in-depth interviews with experienced supervisors and supervisees in order to explore the concept of effective supervision from participants' perspectives. The data were systematically interrogated using a thematic inductive process, designed to enhance the voice of participants in the research. The study findings confirmed the complexity and centrality of the supervisory relationship, with the experience of a safe supervisory relationship proving essential. The importance of contemporary knowledge, leadership skills, and an enabling organisational and community context were also highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until recently there has been insufficient attention to the impact of child abuse and neglect on children's development and wellbeing. This paper explores children's experiences of maltreatment and the range of consequences on many areas of their lives. This study is located within the Take Two program, a Victorian statewide developmental therapeutic service for child protection clients aged between 0 to 18 years of age who have suffered serious abuse and neglect. The Take Two program commenced in 2004 and by the end of 2007, 1194 referrals had been accepted. The Harm Consequences Assessment (HCA) was developed by Take Two to describe the experience and impact of abuse prior to referral. Analysis of the first two years of data derived from 560 HCAs is reported in this paper and includes a case vignette by way of example. This study found that the majority of Take Two clients had experienced multiple forms of abuse and neglect and had complex presentations including emotional, behavioural and developmental concerns. This complexity of experience and presentation has implications for both the importance of and the challenges involved in designing and providing an effective therapeutic service for these children. There are additional complexities to take into consideration for providing a therapeutic service for Aboriginal children. This study also has implications for how the broader system including protection and care services and schools can better understand and respond to meet their needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the use of an organisational culture perspective to understand human service organisations is explored. A case study is presented to illustrate the organisational culture perspective in the human service organisation. The case presented demonstrates problems which can occur when organisational culture is not managed effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A substantial prescriptive literature on welfare practice in rural areas has been written over the years. This literature suggests rural practitioners are generalists, as they must utilise a number of roles in practice, that they must use and nurture informal helping networks, and that clientele of rural agencies exhibit numerous social problems. An empirical survey compares differences between urban and rural welfare workers on these dimensions. Data analysis compares differences between rural and urban welfare workers and between rural and urban qualified social workers. A number of statistically significant differences between rural and urban welfare workers were found. However, very few significant differences between rural and urban qualified social workers were uncovered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A neglected area of research in the social work profession is the functioning of the welfare labour market. An important feature of this welfare labour market is casual or locum employment. This paper presents findings from a survey of Melbourne social service agencies on the incidence of locum employment. Information on the characteristics of locums, sources of the locum labour-force, and reasons for employing locums are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]