Introduction: Orientation and focus of this text

This book examines the politics of child protection in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter, Aotearoa).1 The intent is to contribute to growing debate about the trajectory of the modern child protection project – to trouble the deceptive common sense of these neoliberal times and to envisage another future. The text aims to weave a nuanced historical account of child protection policy and practice within the unique context of Aotearoa. As such, the argument is not purely linear or descriptive. It is, however, informed by exploration of the conditions of possibility inherent to a particular liberal capitalist society. This introductory chapter outlines the conceptual building blocks that underpin the analysis developed and presented here. The intent is to provide a framework that will assist the reader to engage creatively with the unfolding narrative.

The concept of a specific ‘child protection project’ refers to the development, over time, of the role of the state in identifying risk of harm and responding to the care needs of children when caregivers are deemed to be a threat to their safety or well-being. It will be argued that this project has consistently turned a blind eye to the way in which such caregivers are drawn from a section of the population that poses a threat to the perceived safety and security of the liberal capitalist state. As a result of this conflation, the historical and contemporary practice of child protection social work has persistently generated raced and classed outcomes in Aotearoa and in comparable societies. To understand and address this systemic bias, it is necessary to examine the generative influence of economic and political structures.

Such an approach is largely counter-intuitive to the way in which child protection theory and practice is currently understood. The aim of this book, in this sense, is to invite the reader to critically interrogate the mainstream discourse of child protection social work. This reconsideration can be usefully informed by an understanding of child protection as a historical project of social care and control that has developed within the context of liberal capitalist economic and social relations.