Transparency and ‘uncomfortable knowledge’ in child protection

ABSTRACT

Australia's child protection systems and the provision of out-of-home care, in particular, have been subject to sustained criticism for decades from dozens of official inquiries and reviews. It is now well established that many children in state care are treated significantly less well than required by relevant legal frameworks and community standards. Much attention and significant resources have been directed toward trying to ameliorate this ‘wicked problem’ and yet it continues. This article focuses on one reason the problems persists, namely the secrecy and closed cultures that characterize relevant organizations which reinforce strategies of denial that avoid acknowledging or dealing with ‘uncomfortable knowledge’. It is a situation many people in child protection systems confront. It is, for example, when we know abuse is taking place, or when they see or are ourselves party to corrupt or negligent practices. It is knowing that important ethical principles are being abrogated. We draw on recent official reports and inquiries noting the repeated calls for greater transparency and independent oversight. An argument is made for a default position of total transparency subject to caveats that protect privacy and any investigation underway. An account of what this can look like is offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Transparency
• uncomfortable knowledge
• good practice
• child protection
• government
• policy
• community and public sectors

Notes on contributors

Judith Bessant is a Professor at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Her areas of research include politics, sociology, new media, justice studies, youth studies, education and social policy. Her most recent book is: Democracy Bytes: New Media and New Politics and Generational Change (2014) Palgrave Macmillan. She is currently writing a two books: The Great Transformation, Politics, Labour and Learning in the Digital Age, Routledge, and The Precarious Generation: How Policy Makers Generate Disadvantage Among Young People and What Can Be Done About it, Routledge with Rys Farthing and Rob Watts.

Karen Broadley has more than 20 years’ experience working in the field of child and family welfare. This has included a number of roles within the Victorian Statutory Child Protection program including management and leadership positions. Karen has worked part-time at Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia, Monash Injury Research Institute, Monash University. Her areas of research have included child protection services and the need for data, child protection decision making, and protecting children from cumulative harm. Karen is a current PhD student at Monash University.

Notes

1. In January 2015 DHS amalgamated with Department of Health and became DHHS Department of Health and Human Services.