The way that professionals perceive of, and engage with individuals and families is critical. It establishes the context for trusting relationships to develop and opportunities for positive change to occur. In this chapter, we consider the ingredients of helpful and responsive practice with individuals and families experiencing vulnerabilities. In so doing, we privilege knowledge gained from the perspective of lived experience experts. Essentially, our work together is concerned with redressing the imbalance in our current systems of education and academia that privilege the voices of professionals and academics. Our approach includes sharing stories about our multiple and complex experiences as clients and/or practitioners to illuminate key foundational concepts. It is our belief that building the necessary knowledge base, skill set, and ethical stance required to become a helpful professional, pivots on understanding the lived experiences of people who access services at vulnerable times in their lives. This chapter continues our collective aspiration to continue producing knowledge for practice that privileges voices that are often marginalised.

Kinship care is the fastest growing type of out-of-home care and is the preferred placement option for children who are unable to live with their parents. Kinship carers, particularly grandparents, may experience more vulnerability than foster carers and be exposed to specific stressors related to being kinship carers. This chapter will explore the challenges, needs and resources for kinship carers and the children in their care. Kinship care is among the fastest growing forms of formal and informal out-of-home care in Australia and is the preferred option for formal out-of-home care in Australia. Kinship care is defined as ‘family-based care within the child’s extended family or with close friends of the family known to the child, whether formal or informal in nature’ (United Nations General Assembly, 2010). There is common agreement that formal kinship care occurs in the instance where children have been placed with kin following some form of statutory (e.g., child protection services) intervention or court-ordered placement.

People who experience their sexual orientation as different from heterosexual (or straight) and/or their gender identity as different from cisgender (i.e. matching their biological assigned sex), and their families, continue to face significant challenges in many societies. Rainbow people and families are likely to need various forms of assistance from social and health services, for issues including those discussed in this chapter. Different terms have been used to identify this population. Over several years the abbreviation LGB (lesbian, gay and bisexual) has been successively expanded to LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual, plus), as more diverse groups have demanded recognition. Nevertheless, even recent literature utilises various combinations of these initials. Moreover, it seems that rainbow people are increasingly using non-traditional and diverse ways of describing their gender and sexual identities. The rainbow has been recognised as a symbol of LGBTQIA+ pride for decades, and can represent support and safety for sexual and gender diverse young people.

Irrespective of where you end up working in the field of human services, most of the people you work with will be living in relative poverty and experiencing a combination of problems that create a vicious cycle of disadvantage for children and families. In this chapter, we draw upon social work as a case study of a profession working to prevent and address poverty, while actively engaging with, and supporting, affected individuals, families, and communities. An understanding of the complexity and inter-relatedness of issues associated with living in poverty is vital to ensure, at a minimum, that practitioners do no (further) harm and do not perpetuate or replicate dominant or oppressive notions of the deserving and undeserving poor, or individual versus structural explanations of poverty. Social workers and human service professionals therefore need to develop their capacities in relation to poverty-aware practice and the multiple actions that are required to address this complex issue.

Outcomes for children living in families with parental substance misuse and mental health issues can include poor school outcomes, early substance use, early involvement with the justice system and mental health problems. This chapter will discuss how families require acknowledgement and support for these and related problems such as ongoing stressors, including parenting difficulties, financial adversity and limited social connectedness. We know that outcomes for children raised in families with parental substance misuse or mental illness can be poor, with compromised outcomes from early infancy to adulthood well documented. These include impaired cognitive development and educational attainment, adolescent substance misuse and antisocial behavior, and mental health issues (Kuppens et al., 2020). In order to improve outcomes for children, families need to be provided with a therapeutic support plan that takes into a consideration the interplay between substance misuse and mental illness and other risk factors, such as intergenerational trauma, domestic violence, and socioeconomic disadvantage.

The third edition of this book continues to focus on practice with families experiencing vulnerabilities in order to promote wellbeing and prevent violence abuse and neglect. Since the publication of the last edition of this book, global events have highlighted our collective vulnerabilities. Indeed, the word ‘unprecedented’ seems to be the word of our times - being used to describe the COVID19 global pandemic, catastrophic bushfires, floods and other disasters, mass migrations of people fleeing conflict zones and uninhabitable lands, and the global financial crisis. These events have not only increased our collective vulnerability, they have also shone a light on the disproportionate burden carried by some families and children, frequently due to structural and social inequality, and other vulnerabilities. Society’s soul and its commitment to creating a just and equitable society where children and their families can thrive has been laid bare. Global social justice movements have also gained momentum – exemplifying part of humanity’s eternal stance towards resisting oppression and inequality.

Supporting families during disaster recovery will be a growing focus for practitioners as the impacts of anthropogenic climate change intensify in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. This chapter outlines the key considerations in working with communities affected by disasters, and highlights best practice examples for building connectedness and psychological resilience. The effects of anthropogenic climate change (i.e., changes caused or influenced by people, either directly or indirectly) are widespread and rapidly intensifying. A lack of political and corporate action in addressing increasing greenhouse gases, land degradation and loss of biodiversity has exacerbated conditions for disasters and pandemics. Within Australia, changing climate conditions have resulted in longer and more severe bushfire seasons, shifting patterns and intensity of tropical cyclones, increased flooding, and periods of drought. This chapter will focus on the individual and community impacts of geological (e.g. earthquakes, landslides, and volcanoes) and climatic disasters (e.g. cylcones, bushfires, and drought), and the ways that practitioners can work with families to support their recovery.

Attachment theory is relevant in decision-making in out-of-home care as children’s early life experiences and relationships affect their wellbeing, sense of security, and future relationships (Bowlby, 1969). This chapter describes the development of attachment theory and key concepts, cultural considerations, use of attachment theory in child protection practice and practice examples of how attachment theory may be misunderstood and misapplied in out-of-home care. Attachment is a theory of how humans develop the capacity to form and maintain emotional relationships, and how these relationships influence our development and sense of self and others. In early life, attachment figures are typically parents, but over the course of development attachments can also form in other significant relationships. Children learn to regulate their emotions and behaviour through the attachment relationship. An attachment figure provides a ‘secure base’ and ‘safe haven’ from which to explore. In response to patterns of interaction, the child forms an attachment type, which is an adaptation to caregiver behaviour.

Staff genuinely seeking to improve their cultural competency can make a lasting positive impact on intergenerational migrant and refugee families seeking or coming into contact with their services. Collectivism, intensified patriarchy, white privilege, and neoliberalism are all critical lenses for understanding how to work well with them as they parent in a new land. These issues are discussed by drawing on the authors’ lived experiences and recent research. Australia and New Zealand (Aotearoa) are multicultural societies. In Australia approximately 21% of people speak a non-English language at home and in New Zealand 25.9% have an ethnicity that is not European or Māori (Stats NZ, 2019). Naming this group is challenging. In Australia, for example, ‘culturally and linguistically diverse’ (CALD) superseded ‘non-English speaking background (NESB) as the official term used in social policy in 1996 because it was seen as better for drawing attention to culture and not just language, and for not homogenising the people and generations it intends to encompass.

Social workers and other professionals often become involved in the lives of families due to concerns about the safety and wellbeing of children. Interventions that address such concerns by harnessing the protective and nurturing capacity of parents, and other carers, are a vital focus for work with families. However, children are rights-bearing citizens deserving of services and supports in their own right. This chapter therefore argues for a rights-based, relational approach to practice that is inclusive of children. The chapter draws on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as a framework for supporting children as rights-bearing citizens with their own agency and decision-making capacity, and argues for relationship-based practice with children and families. The chapter explores how the guiding principles of the UNCRC can inform practice at the level of the individual child, the family, and the community, to increase engagement with, and to improve outcomes for, children. The UNCRC defines a child as any person from birth up to 18 years of age.

Fathers can have a significant impact on family functioning and children’s well-being and trajectory as an adult. There are contested perspectives on how to understand fathering and its influence on children’s development and wellbeing. Across these often contrasting perspectives, there has been a growing acknowledgement that the impact, positive or negative, of fathering is inseparable from the context in which the father and child are embedded. Knowledge on fathering has become more nuanced moving beyond the narrow focus on the impact on children due to the presence or absence of fathers within families. The emerging evidence base tells us that fathers who remain present but are harsh, neglectful or abusive actually have a more detrimental impact on child outcomes then an absent father. There often remains a tension where fathers who have problematic and unsafe parenting often assert positive intentions to be a caring and safe parent. Indeed, there may be a large gap between their behavioural self and their aspirational self when it comes to parenting and partnering.

There is a growing realisation that many varied and complex problems, from global warming to crime, infectious diseases, and child abuse and neglect, cannot be solved by one service sector or ‘silo’. This realisation has led to greater efforts to create ‘joined up’ approaches. This chapter explores how service providers can offer more holistic responses, and how different sectors such as health, education, housing, employment and social services can work together effectively. The first part of this chapter explores how practitioner and organisational roles can develop to respond more holistically to families with multiple and complex needs. The second part of this chapter explores how practitioners need to understand and manage the potential for conflict when working across such boundaries if this goal is to be achieved. As the close relationship between problems such as poverty, mental illness, homelessness, substance misuse, unemployment, crime, antisocial behaviour, poor health, low literacy and child abuse and neglect is increasingly understood, new ways of thinking and responding to this challenge are emerging.

Māori people are known as tangata whenua, the indigenous people of the land of Aotearoa New Zealand who traditionally existed in tribal collectives on customary lands with distinctive cultural identities. This chapter explores the evolutionary journey Māori whānau have undergone; from their inception and arrival in Aotearoa, to the effects of colonisation with the arrival of settlers, and the subsequent cultural revitalisation that led to their transformation. Whānau are the primary social unit of traditional Māori society which was multilevel, interconnected, collectivist and protective. In the Māori language, the word whānau means to be born, denoting a kinship affiliation by birth. Whānau groups were traditionally located in villages which formed sub-tribes known as hapū. Numbers of hapū situated in defined geographical territories formed tribal collectives known as iwi, and each iwi governed by a Chief (rangatira). Māori and non-Māori anthropologists described that whānau typically consisted of up to three generations living collectively and harmoniously on their traditional lands with an agreed language, belief system and values that guided their lifestyles.

Connections to family and culture are integral to the well-being of Aboriginal children. Australia’s colonial policies of child removal sought to fracture Indigenous Kinship systems and continue to have deep and intergenerational impacts on Indigenous communities. Family-led decision-making approaches are discussed as processes that can encourage participation of Aboriginal families but that are often implemented in systems that continue to fail to recognise Indigenous people’s right to collective self-determination. This chapter focuses on family-led decision-making approaches as a family-inclusive practice in the child protection context. Understanding the context of this practice as it relates to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities is crucial to developing an understanding of the merits and limitations of approaches taken to family-led decision-making.

To work effectively with children, young people, and families experiencing vulnerabilities, practitioners need to understand risk and protective factors that influence children’s safety and development. They also require familiarity with policy and practice frameworks that underpin responsive and critically reflective practice. Increasingly, workers are required to engage in trauma-informed, ethical practice, as discussed in this chapter. Risk and protective factors that contribute to, or shield children from, child abuse and/or neglect are present in all families, to a greater or lesser extent, and at different points in the family life cycle. Fortunately, most children thrive within their families and communities. An understanding of risk factors in child maltreatment, and the factors that protect children from maltreatment helps us to identify children and young people likely to experience poorer outcomes and to provide them with support.

Pregnancy and childbirth are critical transitions for women and their families, but also bring new risks and stressors. For many young women, antenatal care is their first major encounter with the health system. As such, opportunities exist to identify and receive support For issues such as intimate partner abuse, mental illness or ongoing impacts of childhood abuse. Pregnancy and childbirth also afford opportunities to engage men as fathers and explore women’s access to the supports to assist meet the challenges of parenting. For some women, pregnancy brings grief/loss or difficult decisions. Pregnancy is a major transition for young women affecting a large proportion of the population. Over 300 000 babies are born in Australia each year. Although this is a natural part of the human life cycle, it is not without risks. Pregnancy and childbirth are periods of major transition for women, with a range of factors that can contribute to negative outcomes and new roles to navigate.

Being a young person can be hard. It is the developmental period of someone’s life where you start to question who you are, and where you fit in. For many, it is a rite of passage into becoming an adult with shared responsibilities and a sense of belonging and purpose. For others, it can be a difficult transition based on your perceived support and access to resources. This chapter will further explore the terrain of being a teenager alongside support we can provide as professional practitioners. According to developmental psychologists and researchers, the adolescent period of life is complex and varied. According to the World Health Organization, adolescence may generally occur between the ages of 10 and 19. It is also suggested that it can be up to the age of 24 and 25. Globally, the definition of youth can also vary in socio-political contexts, with some prescribing the upper age of 35. Our local legislation within Australia provides further definition, with many western countries signposting the age of 18 as when you become an adult, with the rights and responsibilities to exercise your democratic right to vote, and legally consume alcohol.

A growing number of adults with intellectual disability aspire to be parents. The research is conclusive; intellectual disability per se is not a barrier to parenting. Parents with intellectual disability do as well as their non-disabled peers when they are appropriately supported. However like other families in vulnerable contexts when left under-resourced and reliant on discriminatory and/or unsafe support they are highly susceptible to factors that place children at risk. Drawing on international research, this chapter will provide an overview of current knowledge about parents with intellectual disability and their children. The chapter uses a broad definition of intellectual disability which captures two groups of parents. The first is those that were assessed as having intellectual disability as a child and report being in a special class or having classroom support while at school. The other group are those who do not identify as having intellectual disability. This may be because they have never had a formal diagnosis or were not told about it as a child.

For children, domestic and family violence (DFV) involves exposure to violence between important adults in their lives, as well as directly or indirectly experiencing abuse. While DFV adversely affects children, policy and service responses have traditionally rendered children invisible, focusing instead on adult victim/survivors and perpetrators of DFV. Working effectively with families requires recognising children as victim/survivors in their own right, with needs and experiences separate to those of their caregivers. In Australia, and internationally, terms such as ‘intimate partner violence’, ‘domestic abuse’, ‘domestic violence’ and ‘family violence’ are used to explain violence and abuse in intimate, family and ‘family-like’ relationships (e.g. carers, kinship relationships). Throughout this chapter, we use the term domestic and family violence, which brings together ‘domestic violence’ and ‘family violence’ to recognise the range of relationships in which these forms of violence may occur.