NSW Government Human Community Services

¶ … NSW Government Human Community Services is a comprehensive human services organization that provides an array of services that focuses on enhancing the physical and mental well-being of its community residence

The primary focus of these services is on children and adolescents that are disconnected from their nuclear and extended families. The following represent the core activities, as referenced from the website. Core Activities, according to NW Community Services, include the following:

Help protect and care for children and young people and support their families

Provide and fund accommodation and support services for children and young people who need to live away from their families (foster care)

Regulate child care by licensing and monitoring compliance

Fund and regulate adoption services

Fund support services to assist people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness

Help people separated from their families to trace their records

Coordinate services to meet the basic welfare and recovery needs of people affected by natural and other disasters

Source: http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/about_us/about_the_community_services.html

The program area chosen for this assessment review is the Children's Services Program (CSP). The performance measurement assessment determines the level of funding received for the CSP. After speaking to an organizational representative, who wishes to remain anonymous in name and title, over the phone, I was able to organize and assess the responses to questions and research the websites recommended for me to review.

The model used by the organization is a derivative of research that asserts the discernment of maltreatment or other forms of neglect of the youth, including minority and other at-risk youth that receive treatment. The theoretical background is explained by Mumpower (2010), "Theories about the root causes of disproportionality have been categorized into those that emphasize three types of factors (Chibnall et al., 2003; Hill, 2006): parent and family risk factors (giving rise to disproportionate needs), community risk factors (living in high-risk neighborhoods that lead to increased surveillance), and organizational and systemic factors (including biases in decision making, cultural insensitivity, and structural racism.)

According to Barth (2005), four dominant models have been proposed to explain racial disproportionality in the child welfare system: the risk, incidence, and benefit model; the child welfare services decision making model; the placement dynamics model; and the multiplicative model. A racial or ethnic group may enter the child welfare system at a rate that is disproportionate to its presence in the overall population; this is the "front end" (i.e., child maltreatment reporting, substantiation, etc.) of the problem. Similarly, a racial or ethnic group may exit the child welfare system at a slower rate than other groups; this is the "back end" (i.e., family reunification, adoption, etc.) of the problem." (Mumpower, 2010)

The underlying rationale for addressing these underlying issues when providing services is to understand the dynamic demographic nature of Australia and specifically the measurement and program guidelines of the NSW and the historic neglect of minority populations within the welfare system. A function of future funding, should the performance metrics show underperformance, the funding may be reduced or eliminated completely.

Assessment

The assessment, according to Cash & Berry (2002), "Assessment in child welfare comes in many forms: safety assessment, risk assessment, ongoing assessment, and assessment at case closure. These are all designed to determine if the risks that originally brought the trying to determine if the child can safely remain in the home. Risk assessment instruments are intended to predict the future occurrence of child maltreatment. Risk and safety assessments are usually completed by an investigative unit that may or may not be the child protective services agency (i.e., law enforcement personnel)." (Cash, Berry, 2002)

Another perspective is offered by Schene, Caffaro, & Luke (2004), "A basic principle of the assessment approach is fairness and equity in making decisions on child welfare cases. Standardization is necessary, but not sufficient to reach that goal. Having a clear framework and a set of guidelines for separate decisions contributes to more equitable judgments. Assessments are tied to the domains of safety, risk, and protective capacity. Elements refer to the specific characteristics of children and families observed and assessed within each domain. The decisions are the range of questions and responses related to children and families that fall within the mandate of the agency. Finally, a set of ideas, called constructs, holds together the domains and elements for each decision. Taken together, an approach is used to define the domains, constructs and elements for each decision. Taken together, an approach is used to define the domains, constructs and elements needed to support each decision. Taken together, an approach is used to define the domains, constructs, and elements needed to support each child welfare decision." (Schene, Caffaro, Fluke, 2004)

Baird, Wagner, Healy & Johnson (1999) offer the following, "Risk-assessment systems are simply "formalized methods that provide a uniform structure and criteria for determining risk" [Keller et al. 1988: 21. CPS risk-assessment systems have developed to help workers accurately estimate the future risk of abuse/neglect and thus make better service decisions for families. The expectation is that such systems will increase the reliability and accuracy of CPS worker decision making." (Baird, Wagner, Healy, Johnson, 1999)

According to English & Pecora (1994), "Risk assessment can be defined as the systematic collection of information to determine the degree to which a child is likely to be abused or neglected in the future. Risk assessment may also be said to refer to an estimation of the likelihood that there will be an occurrence of child maltreatment in a case where maltreatment has not occurred, though under most state statutes, an occurrence of maltreatment must already have been substantiated.

The process of risk assessment encompass examining the child and family situation in order to identify and analyze various risk factors, family strengths, family resources, and available agency services. This assessment information can then be used to determine whether a child is safe, what agency resources are necessary to keep a child safe, and under what circumstances a child should be removed from or returned to his or her family. Once risk has been assessed, and a child is determined to be at risk, the process becomes one of case planning. Case planning includes, among other considerations, determining what kinds of interventions are necessary to reduce the likelihood of a new incident or likely future harm." (English, Pecora, 1994)

Understanding the youth at-risk is critical to enabling their treatment. According to Igelman, Robyn, Taylor, Gilbert, Ryan, & Steinberg (2007), "Gaining an adequate understanding of the client is important for making appropriate clinical decisions about treatment. It is also important to monitor ways that the client's symptoms and functioning change over the course fo treatment." (Igelman, Robyn, Taylor, Gilbert, Ryan, & Steinberg, 2007)

Additionally, according to Manthorpe (2007), "In her review, Monica Barry observes that social workers' opinions of and experiences of risk assessment feature briefly in the literature, despite the centrality of risk to their work. She portrays their role as largely that of strategists, because they work in building up knowledge on risk. While there are many risk assessment tools, there is limited confidence in them. She concludes that social workers use the language of risk to focus on their work and to legitimize their interventions." (Manthorpe, 2007)

Specific to the assessment for the NSW Human Services, a higher degree of funding is rewarded based on the attendance records of children from targeted groups (NSW Community Services, 2011). "The aim of this funding is to assist these children to access quality preschool programs by reducing barriers to participation. The target groups are: all indigenous children, children from low-income families (ie non-Indigenous, Health Care Card holders), all children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (ie. Where a language other than English is the main language spoken at home)." (Human Services, 2010) the time frames are within the annual school year.

Ethical issues

The ethical issues certainly arise when budgetary issues prevent the social worker from assisting the target population either effectively or at all. The information obtained from the organizational member substantiated the ethical dilemma of deciding as to whom receives what services when there is less resources available than what is required. The program is funded by ensuring that targeted recipients receive program coverage and therefore are a function of the funding for the program.

The ethical dilemma that arises is the ostensible neglect or reduction of services to non-target at-risk youth populations. Program funding forces the hand of social workers to segregate the market and provide a better level of services to one group over another group. This may become a much larger issues if the funding policy encourages services to non-Caucasian females at the expense of Caucasian females, within a demographic area where Caucasian females outnumber non-Caucasian females. The sensible argument is the minority group is also represented with less numbers in population, and not just historically labeled based on ethnicity.

According to Clark, Buchanan, & Legters (2008), "Large, bureaucratic systems are slow to change, especially without adequate funding, leadership, and support. The Stuart Foundation and Casey Family Programs provided funding for the Coalition's formation and research. Additional funding has been provided by Casey Family Programs for participation in the Breakthrough Series, and by the Casey/CCSP Alliance for work going forward. Funding is still being sought for the implementation and replication of successful interventions and the critical data analysis to measure outcomes." (Clark, Buchanan, Legters, 2008)

Critical Perspective

The NSW Human Services organization operates for a noble cause and is subject to the ethical issues inherent to its operation such that any existing organization is subject to ethical issues inherent to its industry and operating environment. How an organization addresses these ethical dilemmas in a sense of either rectification, mitigation, or remediation, will determine the overall effect of how ethics plays as a role in the organizational dynamic.

According to Paulsen (2011), "One of the most influential care ethicists, Joan Tronto, distinguishes between four different phases of care

. Caring about, she says, focuses on the attentiveness of caregivers, so that they become aware of the needs of the other (or even themselves). Being able to perceive needs with as little distortion as possible is a moral quality." (Paulsen, 2011)

A Canadian example is provided by Burge & Jamieson (2004), "Following the ethical approval of the Research Ethics Board of Queen's University, one of us (Burge) approached the Executive Directors (EDs) at the 17 child welfare agencies operating in south-central and southeastern Ontario to recruit adoption applicants. Of the nine EDs who expressed interest in allowing their agency to assist us, six were asked to participate." (Burge, Jamieson, 2004)

These issues exist and are often not addressed by committees designed to correct operational efficiencies within government funded programs. Adoption services are critical throughout the developed and undeveloped world as the system links and enables children to be cared for by parents with reasonable financial and educational means. Foster services are a similar service to adoption services in so far as they are a temporary version of the permanent solution.