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Challenges posed by kinship care: A study focussing on New South Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Leonie Gibbons  and
Jan Mason
Leonie Gibbons
Affiliation:
School of Applied Social and Human Sciences, College of Social and Health Sciences, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797 Penrith South DC, NSW 1797. Email: l.gibbons@uws.edu.au
Jan Mason
Affiliation:
Director School of Applied Social and Human Sciences Director, Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797 Penrith South DC, NSW 1797. Email: jan.mason@uws.edu.au
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Abstract

Kinship care as a formal placement option has been steadily increasing over recent years, particularly in New South Wales. This paper draws on a report of research on kinship care in New South Wales, in which the two authors participated (Mason et al, 2002). In conducting the research, qualitative and quantitative methods were used to explore both ‘top down’ perspectives (from policy documents and statistics) and ‘bottom up’ perspectives (from child protection practitioners and those who experience policy as service recipients – kinship carers, young people in kinship care and parents of children in kinship care).

In this paper we briefly outline the research and discuss findings relating to definitions of kinship care, the extent of kinship care in NSW, decision making around the placement of children in kinship care, reasons given by participants for kinship care, and support for carers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , 2003 , pp. 12 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

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References

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