SAANZ Conference 2024

Chair: Emily Keddell

Szu-Hsien Lu
Retaining custody as a practice of social justice: What community child protection social workers can do to support parents with intellectual disabilities in Taiwan

Each year, around 80 to 100 parents with intellectual disabilities (PID) are involved with child protection services in Taiwan, and roughly 20 to 25 percent of them face child removal. Several determinants shape these separations, for example, parents’ insufficient parenting ability and cognition, low levels of social support, poverty, and inadequate and inaccessible parenting support. To help PID retain custody or have their children returned from foster care, social workers could explore working more collaboratively with parents and addressing these challenges to improve parenting capacity. In Taiwan, community child protection social workers (CSW) are essential in assisting PID to fulfill this aim because of their long-term and frequent involvement, as the preexisting research suggests that these parents require sustainable and intensive support. This presentation is based on a preliminary analysis of my doctoral research data from twenty-three semi-structured interviews with Taiwanese child protection social workers, three of whom are CSW. I will focus on one CSW's work to demonstrate what supports a parent to retain custody. The presentation will illustrate how CSW can contribute to social justice for PID by reconciling parenting rights and the children's best interests in their practice, as these rights are usually considered contradictory.


Tian Tian
An Exploration of Social Work Intervention in cases of Child Sexual Abuse in a Multidisciplinary Context in New Zealand

The multidisciplinary approach is key to child protection systems globally, with social workers playing a central role in supporting victims and their families. Puawaitahi, established in 2002, was created to strengthen collaboration and streamline child protection investigations and treatment. However, research on multidisciplinary collaboration in New Zealand’s child protection system, particularly from a social work perspective, is limited. This study examines the practical and conceptual challenges of such collaboration at Puawaitahi and explores how collaboration shapes the role of social workers in child sexual abuse interventions. The research included in-depth interviews and focus groups with social workers, police, health, and other professionals at Puawaitahi, alongside observation of 31 multidisciplinary team meetings. Data was analysed using thematic analysis to explore key themes like collaboration processes, communication, working relationships, disciplinary differences, and power dynamics.

This study found that Puawaitahi demonstrated strong multidisciplinary collaboration, featuring an efficient management structure, transparent case-handling procedures, and good information sharing. However, the collaboration was influenced by hierarchical dynamics, with medical professionals leading the process and police and Oranga Tamariki (OT) holding statutory authority at the policy level. Differences in how professionals viewed collaboration, particularly regarding whether the child or the whānau should be prioritized, created tensions. Both statutory and health social workers faced challenges due to their perceived weak professional capital in these collaborations, often adopting passive roles, highlighting disputes over professional knowledge claims. These power imbalances ultimately hindered the effectiveness of the collaboration. This study highlights the structural tensions in New Zealand’s multidisciplinary child protection system, focusing on how power dynamics, professional knowledge, and procedural challenges affect social workers' roles in collaboration. The findings have significant implications for practice, education, policy, and research, with recommendations to align collaborative ideals with real-world practices.