Child abuse and neglect - Developing an Australian solution
Professor Marianne Berry
Tuesday 11 October, 6.00pm
Bradley Forum, Level 5, Hawke Building
North Terrace, UniSA City West campus
Lecture enquiries: 8302 2964 or knowledgeworks@unisa.edu.au
In Australia today, child abuse and neglect remain as serious problems. Abuse and neglect often cause long term, devastating impacts on children including developmental delay; relationship, physical health, behavioural and educational difficulties; and serious lifelong mental health problems. One response is to remove children from dangerous homes and place them into foster care, but this can also create lifelong difficulties in a person's self esteem, trust, and coping abilities.
Obviously, the prevention and reduction of maltreatment is not simple; solutions require a skilled workforce of service professionals. These individuals and organisations want to know what works, for whom, and under what circumstances.
In seeking to be optimally effective, the Australian child protection sector has often imported treatment strategies from the US and the UK, based on the effectiveness found in large, controlled evaluations there. Implementation of these models can fail however, if cultural and social factors in any given state or location are not recognised and incorporated into practice.
From a 30-year career of research on international programs to prevent and treat child maltreatment, Professor Marianne Berry will distil knowledge about the essential elements of effective programs in child protection. In wanting to keep and make the nation's children safe, it is imperative that our responses are appropriate to Australia.
Watch the Learn from Experience video featuring Professor Marianne Berry.
 |
Watch this vodcast (WMV) 89kb (or right click and select 'save target as' to download) |
Professor Marianne Berry, Chair in Child Protection and Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection in the Hawke Research Institute at the University of South Australia, is an international leader in child protection and child and family welfare. She has been the director of two Centres for Child Welfare, the first at the University of Texas and the second at the University of Kansas.
Professor Berry has graduate degrees in social work and social welfare. She is one of 24 Child Welfare Research Fellows named by the United States Government Children's Bureau, for her ability to translate research into practice for those working directly with children, their families and the fragile communities in which they live. She is also a founding member of the International Association of Outcome Based Evaluation and Research in Family and Children's Services.