Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T12:44:25.732Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Child Protection, Child Deaths, Politics and Policy Making: Numbers as Rhetoric

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2018

Celine Harrison ,
Maria Harries  and
Mark Liddiard
Celine Harrison*
Affiliation:
Social Work and Social Policy, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Maria Harries
Affiliation:
Social Work and Social Policy, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Mark Liddiard
Affiliation:
School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Celine Harrison, Doctoral Candidate, Social Work and Social Policy, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. E-mail: lesandcel@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Child welfare policy making is a highly contested area in public policy. Child abuse scandals prompt critical appraisals of parents, professionals and the child protection system creating a tipping point for reform. One hundred and six transcripts of debates in the West Australian Parliament from August until December 2006 relating to child welfare and child deaths were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis found that statistics about child deaths were conflated with other levels of childhood vulnerability promoting blame, fear, risk and an individual responsibility theme. The key rhetorical strategy was the use of numbers to generate emotion, credibility and authority to frame child maltreatment narrowly as a moral crime. Rhetoric and emotions is about telling causal stories and will remain ubiquitous in social policy making. So, in order to guide policy debate and creation, ground their claims and manage ambiguity and uncertainty, policy makers, researchers and practitioners working with complex social issues will do well to step into this public and political discourse and be strategic in shaping more nuanced alternative frames.

Keywords

child protectionchild abusesocial policynumbersstatisticspolitics
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 198 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017). Australia's health-mortality. Retrieved from http://www.aihw.gov.au/child-health/health/.Google Scholar
Ayre, P. (2013). Understanding professional decisions: Invited comment on the impact of media reporting of high profile cases on child protection Medical assessments. Child Abuse Review, 22(1), 25–28.Google Scholar
Bacchi, C. (2009). Analysing policy: What's the problem represented to be? New South Wales: Pearson Australia.Google Scholar
Baird, B. (2008). Child politics, feminist analyses. Australian Feminist Studies, 23(57), 291–305. doi: 10.1080/08164640802263440.Google Scholar
Bessant, J., & Broadley, K. (2016). Transparency and ‘uncomfortable knowledge’ in child protection. Policy Studies, 37(2), 93–112.Google Scholar
Bickford, S. (2011). Emotion talk and political judgement. The Journal of Politics, 73(4), 1025–1037.Google Scholar
Bilson, A., Cant, R., Harries, M., & Thorpe, D. (2015). A longitudinal study of children reported to the child protection department in Western Australia. British Journal of Social Work, 45(3), 771–791. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bct164.Google Scholar
Birkland, T. (2016). An introduction to the policy process: Theories, concepts and models of public policy. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Broadhurst, K., & Mason, C. (2017). Birth parents and the collateral consequences of court-ordered child removal: Towards a comprehensive framework. International Journal of Law, Policy and The Family, 31(1), 41–59. doi: 10.1093/lawfam/ebw013.Google Scholar
Butler, I., & Drakeford, M. (2012). Social work on trial. The colwell inquiry and the state of welfare. Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Callaghan, K., & Schnell, F. (2001). Assessing the democratic debate: How the news media frame elite policy discourse. Political Communication, 18(2), 183–212.Google Scholar
Child Death Review Committee. (2007). Annual report 2006–2007. Western Australia. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/tabledpapers.nsf/displaypaper/3713641a1af3d2f684cf6975c82573fd000f000f/$file/child+death+review+comm+ar+2006-7.pdf.Google Scholar
Clapton, G., Cree, V. E., & Smith, M. (2013). Moral panics and social work: Towards a sceptical view of UK child protection. Critical Social Policy, 33(2), 197–217. doi: 10.11.1177/0261018312457860.Google Scholar
Connor, S. (2013). What's your problem?: Making sense of social problems and the policy process. Northwich: Critical Publishing.Google Scholar
Elsley, S. (2010). Media Coverage of Child Deaths in the UK: The impact of Baby P: A Case for Influence?: University of Edinburgh/NSPCC Centre for UK-wide learning in Child Protection.Google Scholar
Entman, R. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58.Google Scholar
Featherstone, B., Gupta, A., Morris, K., & Warner, J. (2016). Let's stop feeding the risk monster: Towards a social model of ‘child protection’. Families, Relationships and Societies. doi: https://doi.org/10.1332/204674316X14552878034622.Google Scholar
Featherstone, B., Morris, K., & White, S. (2014). A marriage made in hell: Early intervention meets child protection. British Journal of Social Work, 44(7), 1735–1749.Google Scholar
Firkins, A., & Candlin, C. (2006). Framing the child at risk. Health, Risk & Society, 8(3), 273–291. doi: 10.1080/13698570600871778.Google Scholar
Gormley, W. T. (2012). Voices for children: Rhetoric and public policy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Gottweiss, H. (2006). Rhetoric in policy making: Between logos, ethos and pathos. In Fisher, F. & Miller, G. (Eds.), Handbook of public policy analysis: Theory, politics and methods (pp. 237–250). Baton Rouge: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Hansen, P., & Ainsworth, F. (2013). Australian child protection services: A game without end. International Journal of Social Welfare, 22(1), 104–110. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2011.0859.x.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D. (2003). A perspective on judgement and choice. Mapping bounded rationaility. American Psychologist, 58(9), 697–720.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Kearney, J. (2013). Perceptions of non-accidental child deaths as preventable events: The impact of probability heuristics and biases on child protection work. Health, Risk & Society, 15(1), 51–66. doi: 10.1080/13698575.2012.749451.Google Scholar
Keddel, E. (2014). Current debates on variability in child welfare decision-making: A selected literature review. Social Sciences, 3, 914–940. doi: 10.3390/socsci3040916.Google Scholar
Keller, C., Siegrist, M., & Gutscher, H. (2006). The role of the affect and availability heuristic in risk communication. Risk Analysis, 26(3), 631–639. doi: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2006.00773.x.Google Scholar
Leach, J. (2016). Think you know your rhetorical structures? I can't even. The Conversation 03/02/2016. Melbourne. https://theconversation.com/think-you-know-your-rhetorical-structures-i-cant-even-43056.Google Scholar
Lens, V. (2002). Public voices and public policy. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 29(1), 137–154.Google Scholar
Lens, V. (2005). Advocacy and argumentation in the public arena: A guide for social workers. Social Work, 50(3), 231–239.Google Scholar
Lonne, B. (2013). Reshaping our protective systems: Issues and options. Communities, Children and Families Australia, 7(1), 9–20.Google Scholar
Lonne, B., & Parton, N. (2014). Portrayals of child abuse in the media in Australia and England: Impacts on practice, policy and systems. Child Abuse and Neglect, 38(5), 822–836. doi: 10.1016/j.Google Scholar
Lonne, B., Featherstone, B., & Gray, M. (2015). Working ethically in child protection. Florence: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Mansell, J., Ota, R., Erasmus, R., & Marks, K. (2011). Reframing child protection: A response to a constant crisis of confidence in child protection. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(11), 2076–2086.Google Scholar
Mendes, P. (2008). Blaming the messenger: The media, social workers and child abuse. Australian Social Work, 54(2), 27–36. doi: 10.1080/0312407108414321.Google Scholar
Mendes, P. (2014). Conservative zealotry and the child protection debate. Religion and Ethics Report. Australian Broadcasting Commission. http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2014/11/24/4134922.htm.Google Scholar
Meyer, A. (2007). The moral rhetoric of childhood. Childhood, 14(1), 85–104.Google Scholar
Office of the Ombudsman. (2012). Child death reviews. Ombudsman Western Australia Annual Report 2011–12. Western Australia: Office of the Ombudsman.Google Scholar
Parliament, W. A. (12th September 2006, p5695-5707). Record of proceedings. Hansard Retrieved from http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/hansard.nsf/NewAdvancedSearch.Google Scholar
Parton, N. (2007). A look at contemporary child welfare and child protection policy and practice. Australian Social Work, 60(3), 275–277.Google Scholar
Parton, N. (2014). Social work, child protection and politics: Some critical and constructive reflections. British Journal of Social Work, 44(7), 2042–2056. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcu091.Google Scholar
Pollack, S. (2010). Labelling clients ‘risky’: Social work and the neo-liberal welfare state. British Journal of Social Work, 40(4), 1263–1278.Google Scholar
Saldana, J. (2013). The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. London: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Slovic, P., & Peters, E. (2006). Risk perception and affect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(6), 322–325.Google Scholar
Slovic, P., Peters, E., Finucane, M., & McGregor, D. (2005). Affect, risk and decision making. Health Psychology, 74(4), 535–540.Google Scholar
Stone, D. (2012). Policy paradox: The art of political decision making. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Tilbury, C. (2007). Shaping child welfare policy via performance measurement. Child Welfare, 86(6), 115–135.Google Scholar
Tuominen, K., & Turja, T. (2007). Use of social scientific information in parliamentary discussion. Advances in Library Administration and Organisation, 25, 133–154.Google Scholar
Van Djik, T. (2003). Knowledge in parliamentary debates. Journal of Language and Politics, 2(1), 93–129.Google Scholar
Vliegenthart, R., & van Zoonen, L. (2011). Power to the frame: Bringing sociology back to frame analysis. European Journal of Communication, 26(2), 101–115. doi: 10.1177/0267323111404838.Google Scholar
Warner, J. (2015). The emotional politics of social work and child protection. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Webb, S. (2006). Social work in a risk society: Social and political persepctives. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.Google Scholar
Wesley, J. (2014). The qualitative analysis of political documents. In Wesley, J., Kaal, B., Maks, I., & van Elfrinkhof, A. (Eds.), From text to political positions (pp. 135–159). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.Google Scholar
West Australian Parliament. (12th September 2006, p5663b–5665a). Record of proceedings. Hansard Retrieved from http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/hansard.nsf/NewAdvancedSearch.Google Scholar
West Australian Parliament. (19th September 2006, p6152b–6153a). Record of proceedings. Hansard Retrieved from http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/hansard.nsf/NewAdvancedSearch.Google Scholar
West Australian Parliament. (1st November 2006, p8049–8050). Record of proceedings. Hansard Retrieved from http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/hansard.nsf/NewAdvancedSearch.Google Scholar
West Australian Parliament. (22nd August 2006, p4872–4873). Record of proceedings. Hansard Retrieved from http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/hansard.nsf/NewAdvancedSearch.Google Scholar
West Australian Parliament. (23rd August 2006, p5095b–5095b). Record of proceedings. Hansard Retrieved from http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/hansard.nsf/NewAdvancedSearch.Google Scholar
Wilczynski, A., & Sinclair, K. (1999). Moral tales: Representation of child abuse in the quality and tabloid media. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 32(3), 262–283.Google Scholar