Transnational Social Workers’ Understanding of Australian First Nations Perspectives in Statutory Child Protection

ABSTRACT

Chronic staff shortages and high rates of turnover in child protection programs create opportunities for social work mobility across the world. Australian child protection departments actively recruit social workers from the United Kingdom and Ireland. This strategy may cause tension relating to the application of known Western social work practice and theory and limited understanding of Australian First Nations worldviews. Australia continues to struggle with the ongoing impact of colonisation; First Nations children are overrepresented in child protection service delivery. The research explored the understanding held by overseas-born and -educated social workers from the UK and Ireland (transnational social workers or TNSWs) of Australian First Nations peoples, when they migrate to practice in frontline child protection. Interviews with 13 practitioners across two time points explored social work practice in the transnational context. The study found that the majority of TNSWs had limited understanding of social work in a colonised country. The results provide a foundation to rethink how TNSW practice is influenced by place-related change. This research identified a need to raise transnational social workers’ awareness of Australian First Nations child rearing practices that may lie outside their experiential understanding.

IMPLICATIONS

• Transnational social workers may advance their understanding of First Nations peoples and their perspectives through increasing their awareness of differences in their personal lived experiences from that of Australian First Nations peoples.

• The practice of cultural humility may reduce harm in transnational child protection practice.

• Critical reflection may enable the emergence of counter-colonial thinking in child protection practice with Australian First Nations peoples.

儿童保护项目人员上的长期匮乏及来去不定，为社会工作的全球流动创造了机会。澳大利亚儿童保护部门从英国及爱尔兰积极招募社会工作者。这一做法可能在应用已知西方社工实践及理论和对澳大利亚初始民族世界观所知有限这二者间形成紧张。澳大利亚仍在殖民化的持续影响中纠结，初始民族的子弟在儿童保护服务的发放中被过度代表了。本文考察了来自英国和爱尔兰那些出生和教育都在海外的社会工作者，当其移民来到澳大利亚从事一线的儿童保护工作时，他们对澳大利亚初始民族的理解。在两个时间点对十二位实践者的访谈，让我们了解到跨国语境中的社工实践。研究发现多数跨国社会工作者对于一个殖民国家的社会工作知之不多。这些发现有助于重新思考地点的变更对跨国社会工作者有何影响。笔者认为，跨国社会工作者应该更多意识到，澳大利亚初始民族的儿童养育实践可能和他们的经验认识相去甚远。

KEYWORDS:

• Transnational Social Work
• First Nations Peoples
• Child Protection
• Cultural Humility

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge Auntie Maureen Ervine, descendant of the Gomeroi people, for her invaluable contributions to this paper. Thank you for sharing your more than thirty years of experience relating to children and their families involved with statutory child protection.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).