Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T18:37:54.634Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Improving hospital systems for disadvantaged children and babies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Julie Hall
Julie Hall*
Affiliation:
Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In this paper, I will discuss the importance of early intervention with vulnerable families where children and babies may be at risk of neglect and disadvantaged by their social circumstances in accessing appropriate, preventative support services. I will describe the Strengthening Families Program located in the Social Work Department of the Royal Children's Hospital, which provides a model for interdisciplinary and intersectoral (welfare and health) collaboration. The Program offers care management to individual families and is working towards systemic changes in the hospital's response to these families. Finally, I will illustrate aspects of the work of the Royal Children's Hospital Strengthening Families Program with a case study wherein a recent history of domestic violence impacted on the family's capacity to access health and welfare services for both mother and children.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 27 , Issue 4: SPECIAL ISSUE The Second Kath Dawe Memorial Lecture and ‘Our children our future … domestic violence and its consequences’ Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria 15 May 2002 , 2002 , pp. 33 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

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

Blatt, S., Saletsky, R., Meguid, V., Church, C., O'Hara, M., Haller-Peck, S. & Anderson, J. (1997) ‘A Comprehensive, Multidisciplinary Approach to Providing Health Care for Children in Out-of-Home Care’, Child Welfare, 76(2), pp.331–347.Google Scholar
Contole, J. & O'Neill, C. (2000) Evaluation of the Royal Children's Hospital Strengthening Families Program, RCH, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Garbarino, J. & Collins, C. (1999) ‘Child Neglect: The Family With a Hole in the Middle’ in Dubowitz, H. (Ed.), Neglected Children … Research, Practice, and Policy, Sage, California.Google Scholar
Lawton, E., Leiter, K., Todd, J. & Smith, L. (1999) ‘Welfare Reform: Advocacy and Intervention in the Health Care Setting’, Public Health Reports, 114(6), pp.540–549.Google Scholar
Leventhal, J., Pew, C., Berg, A. & Garber, R. (1996) ‘Use of Health Services by Children Who Were Identified During the Postpartum Period as Being at High Risk of Child Abuse or Neglect’, Pediatrics, 97(3), pp.331–335.Google Scholar
Monaghan, S. & Buckfield, P. (1981) ‘Obstetrics and the Family: Identification of Mothers at Risk for Parenting Failure, and Methods of Support’, Child Abuse and Neglect, 5, pp.27–32.Google Scholar
O'Neill, C., Hall, J. & Miller, J. (2002) ‘Neglect: Opportunities for Collaboration Between Health and Welfare: The Strengthening Families Program at the Royal Children's Hospital’, Children Australia, Vol.27, No.1.Google Scholar
Perry, B. & Pollard, R. (1998) ‘Homeostasis, Stress, Trauma, and Adaptation … A Neurodevelopmental View of Childhood Trauma’, Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 7(1), pp.33–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simms, M., Dubowitz, H. & Szilagyi, M. (2000) ‘Health Care Needs of Children in the Foster Care System’, Pediatrics, 106(4), pp.909–918.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simms, M., Freundlich, M., Battistelli, E. & Kaufman, N. (1999) ‘Delivering Health and Mental Health Care Services to Children in Family Foster Care After Welfare and Health Care Reform’, Child Welfare, 78(1), pp. 166–183.Google Scholar
Stevenson, O. (1998) Neglected Children: issues and dilemmas, Blackwell Science, Oxford.Google Scholar