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Legal responses to child sexual abuse cases in the Children’s Court of Victoria: study findings on a case-management approach
- Author:
- SHEEHAN Rosemary
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 38(3), 2016, pp.287-301.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Child sexual abuse cases present Children’s Courts with distinctive challenges. The highly conflictual nature of child sexual abuse cases means they do not lend themselves to the usual adversarial court processes that characterise the conduct of Magistrate Court matters in Australia. With this in mind, the Children’s Court in Victoria established for 12 months in 2013 a pilot specialised judicial list (known as the ‘D’ List) which offered an intensive Magistrate-led case management approach to child sexual abuse cases in the Family (child protection) Division of the Court. The operation of the List was evaluated to assess the suitability and effectiveness of this approach, and to investigate the challenges associated with managing and deciding this class of cases. The findings confirmed that the List provided better management of cases and reduced delay. Given this, the Court is continuing the judicially proactive intensive case management approach and dedicated list for child sexual abuse matters and extending it to regional courts; believing it to be a more effective approach to managing and deciding this complex class of cases. (Publisher abstract)
Child sexual abuse cases: implementing a specialist judicial list
- Author:
- SHEEHAN Rosemary
- Journal article citation:
- Australian Social Work, 69(4), 2016, pp.403-416.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The damage done to children who are subjected to sexual abuse and the often lengthy delays in the resolution of these matters by the child welfare and legal systems is well documented. With this in mind, the Children's Court in Victoria established for 12 months in 2013 a pilot specialised judicial list (the “D” List) as an intensive case-management approach to more effectively respond to child sexual abuse concerns. The evaluation of the pilot aimed both to review the effectiveness of the list in terms of court functioning, and to provide information about the nature of such cases coming to court, the ages and family circumstances of subject children, decisions made and factors associated with these decisions, and the challenges related to management of and decision-making about such cases. The success of the specialist list has seen it extended to regional courts, because it is a more effective approach to managing and deciding this complex class of cases. (Publisher abstract)
Responding to child deaths: the work of Australia's Victorian Child Death Review Committee
- Author:
- SHEEHAN Rosemary
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 19(2), 2016, pp.236-246.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The Victorian Child Death Review Committee (VCDRC) in Australia is a multidisciplinary Ministerial Advisory Committee established to review the deaths of children either currently child protection clients or known to the statutory child protection system. The Committee provides advice about each child death as well as insights into what are the surrounding patterns and issues. Key to this role is examining the contribution of the service sectors to the protection of children and the routine practices that are in place to respond to children and vulnerability. This paper provides a snapshot of the cases referred to the VCDRC and the key messages for practice drawn from them. What emerges is that often the threshold for when statutory child protection services must be involved in child and family matters can be ambiguous and that agreement about intervention, the level and nature of need or risk, and when cumulative harm and neglect require statutory responses are not always shared between agencies. It is clear that the lack of common frameworks about what constitutes child protection intervention challenges services. It is recommended that there be and used agreed definitions and frameworks to ensure shared understandings and collaborative responses across the service and legal systems. (Publisher abstract)
Australia's Children's Courts: an assessment of the status of and challenges facing the child welfare jurisdiction in Victoria
- Authors:
- SHEEHAN Rosemary, BOROWSKI Allan
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 36(2), 2014, pp.95-110.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This article reports the findings of a study of the views of Victoria's Children's Court magistrates on the current status and challenges faced by the Children's Court as well as proposals for reform that have recently been canvassed in Australia and overseas. This study was part of a larger “national assessment” of Australia's Children's Courts. The Children's Court is a key social institution whose legal decision-making has major social consequences for children and families. This paper reports on the findings of a study which examined the court's contemporary status and challenges from the perspective of judicial officers and other stakeholders; it sought also their views about their degree of support for a range of possible reforms. The focus of this article is on the Court's child welfare jurisdiction which hears child protection matters brought before the Court by the statutory child protection service. This study was part of a larger national assessment of Australia's eight state and territory Children's Courts. The findings point to support for change in the approach to, and management of, child protection matters, within a more problem-solving court. Findings also point to the need for research on the understanding of court processes and decisions by parents and families. (Publisher abstract)
Forensic social work: a distinctive framework for intervention
- Author:
- SHEEHAN Rosemary
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Mental Health, 10(5), 2012, pp.409-425.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, known as Forensicare, provides treatment and care services to mentally ill offenders in prison, to inpatients in the secure psychiatric hospital and after their release into the community, and provides assessments and psychiatric reports for court. This article reports on a study that explored the extent to which social workers employed by Forensicare identify their practice as specialist, with distinct and distinctive skills and knowledge, and the implications of this for the social work profession. All 15 social workers employed by Forensicare participated in the study. The social workers were interviewed either as small groups of 2 or 3, or as a larger focus group, with 1 individual interview. The social workers reported that the complex needs and great vulnerability of forensic clients meant they needed not only knowledge of individual functioning but also how to deal with a range of other systems to negotiate with legal and other services and advocate for clients. They believed social work education needed to provide a distinctive graduate pathway for this practice domain that acknowledges its unique and specialist identity.
The effectiveness of support and rehabilitation services for women offenders
- Authors:
- TROTTER Chris, McIVOR Gill, SHEEHAN Rosemary
- Journal article citation:
- Australian Social Work, 65(1), March 2012, pp.6-20.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Previous research suggests that while support, rehabilitation, and supervision programmes can help offenders reduce recidivism, the effectiveness of these services is dependent upon the extent to which the workers who deliver them comply with “what works” principles. However, the majority of research to date has been conducted with men. This study investigated the extent to which these principles and practices apply to women. In particular, the study examined services offered to a group of women in prison in Victoria, Australia, and following their release to the community; and the relationship between these women's views about the services, recidivism, and the characteristics of the services. Participants included 58 women who were interviewed in prison and within 3 months of their release. Findings were consistent with earlier research. The women favoured services that were delivered by workers who were reliable, holistic, collaborative, who understand the women's perspective, and that focus on strengths. They did not support services that challenged the women, focused on their offences, or on the things they did badly. Implications for practice are discussed.
Parental imprisonment and child protection: a study of children presented to the Melbourne Children's Court
- Author:
- SHEEHAN Rosemary
- Journal article citation:
- Australian Social Work, 63(2), June 2010, pp.164-178.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This study set out investigate the intersection between the child protection and criminal justice systems and the extent to which children before the Children's Court on child protection matters had a parent currently in prison, awaiting sentencing, or previously in prison. The study was undertaken in the Family Division of the Melbourne Children’s Court. The magistrates identified 156 children who had a parent currently or previously in prison or awaiting sentencing from the cases that came before them in the court. Data for the study was gathered from the court record for each case, and comprised the magistrate’s decision sheet and the child protection service court report prepared for the hearing. Analysis of court records gathered quantitative and qualitative data about parents' offending, why the children had been brought to the attention of the court, and the health, welfare, and behavioural concerns the child protection service expressed about the children. There was no coordinated response by the child protection and justice systems to managing these children's situations. The article concludes that early intervention and the development of child protection service protocols with the corrections system for children whose parents enter prison is essential, to better address the instability and disruption in care these children experience.
Research articles in Australian Social Work from 1998 – 2007: a content analysis
- Authors:
- RYAN Martin, SHEEHAN Rosemary
- Journal article citation:
- Australian Social Work, 62(4), December 2009, pp.525-542.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
To assess trends in Australian social work research the authors conducted a content analysis of all articles published in Australian Social Work during the period 1998 to 2007. Among the 313 articles published during that period 138 (45%) reported on research findings. While there were differences in publications of types of articles from year to year, there were no statistically significant trends over the 10-year period. Only 6 articles involved practice evaluation or testing of an instrument, but there were positive signs of a developing empirical research culture primarily utilising a qualitative approach or mixed methods studies. The authors conclude that there is a need for more research, of all varieties, on social work interventions to be done by both social worker academics and practitioners. There is a need for a more conscious decision by the profession about its attitude to evidence-based practice, specific directions for research education, and greater rigour in reporting all types of research studies, but particularly qualitative studies.
Alternative dispute resolution in child protection matters: the Victorian experience
- Author:
- SHEEHAN Rosemary
- Journal article citation:
- Australian Social Work, 59(2), June 2006, pp.157-171.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Pre-hearing conferences were introduced in 1992 into the Family Division of the Children's Court, Victoria. Pre-hearing conferences take place when there is a dispute between the Child Protection Service and the child's family about the need for statutory intervention in their family's life. The conference is held prior to any formal hearing so that the family, their legal representatives and the welfare authority can see whether they can negotiate an agreement about a child protection order. The present paper sets out the findings of a study of 208 pre-hearing conferences held in the Melbourne Children's Court from February to July 2002. The study found that the quality of legal advice provided to parents significantly affected the outcome of pre-hearing conferences. Legal representatives varied in their willingness to step aside from the adversarial approach and give priority to discussion about child welfare concerns. It was apparent that professionals coming to the pre-hearings, both legal and welfare, had different expectations of these forums. It is imperative that if pre-hearings are to succeed, then their role and place in the child protection legal process is clearly explicated and professionals receive training in alternative dispute resolution.
Parents with mental illness: decision-making in Australian children's court cases involving parents with mental health problems
- Authors:
- SHEEHAN Rosemary, LEVINE Greg
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 27(1), March 2005, pp.17-30.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This article reports on a study undertaken in 2002, in the Mellbourne Children's Court, to examine (a) the extent to which the children of parents with mental health problems are involved in child protection matters, (b) the contribution by mental health professionals to resolving these child welfare concerns, and (c) the difficulties which confront the Court in deciding these matters. Information was gathered from 114 child protection cases referred by Magistrates in the Melbourne Children's Court to a pre-hearing conference during the months of February, March and the first half of April, 2002. The results found that, although parents with mental health problems are a significant group coming to Court, there is negligible involvement by mental health professionals in the child protection system. and little co-operation between adult mental health and child protection services in this field. The Court was, therefore, given little appreciation of a parent's mental health functioning and its contribution to, and impact upon, the child, and thus may not have all necessary information about the needs of, and likely outcomes for, these children and their parents.