Social Contexts

Understanding the Context

Social contexts refer to the relational and community contexts around a child, such as geographic isolation, parental separation and divorce, and involvement in OOHC. Geographic distance, lack of transport, and reduced extended family and community networks are factors creating social isolation in Australia and impacting on parenting. For many Australian children, family separation and divorce alter the family structure, family activities and, in some cases, family living arrangements. Out-of-home care is one of the most challenging settings that a young child can experience - nationally, there were approximately 44,900 children in out-of-home care as at 30 June 2024, or 7.7 per 1,000 children (AIHW, 2024). The rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care is significantly higher than that of non-Indigenous children, at an estimated eleven times (AIHW, 2024). The current sociological understanding of ‘family’ as not confined to a single nuclear model impacts on the way services need to define and understand family diversity.

Impact on Children and Families

The concept of social disruption and Bowlby's (1969) attachment theory is a key element in understanding separation from the primary attachment figure, be it divorce, moving away, or going into care, to the child's internal working model of safety and trust. Erikson's (1963) psychosocial stages indicate that disrupted infant and toddler experiences with care can negatively affect the resolution of trust versus mistrust. According to Bronfenbrenner (1979), divorce and OOHC are chronosystem events that affect the microsystems (home) and possibly the exosystems (parental income and housing, workplace). Stress is exacerbated by lack of informal mesosystem supports, extended family, and neighbours that buffer stress in socially isolated families, leading to increased reliance on formal supports. In services, these children can demonstrate separation anxiety, behavioural dysregulation, and/or struggle to develop trusting relationships with educators. National Australian research, including the national Australian Child Maltreatment Study, in which approximately 40% of Australians reported experiencing childhood family and domestic dysfunction, and placement instability research in Australia by Malvaso et al., (2017), has confirmed that adverse family and domestic experiences and developmental and behavioural risk can build up over time.

Social Policy and Australian Responses

The National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children 2021-2031 (CFCA) provides a national agenda with priority areas that guide the child protection and OOHC systems, to help minimise the number of children and young people in out-of-home care and improve family preservation (AIHW, 2024). A policy focus on early intervention before a child is removed, and before the point at which an intensive family support service is commenced, is reflected in the 2023-24 numbers of 33,300 children who started an intensive family support service (87% of which were below 15 years of age) (AIHW, 2024). The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (AIHW, 2024) states that First Nations children in care are connected to family, community and culture. The Family Law reforms affirm the principle that the "best interests of the child" shall guide decisions regarding separation and custody matters, and the National Quality Standard emphasizes the need to develop collaborative, respectful partnerships with families across all family configurations, including separated, kinship, and foster families.

Strategies for Practice

  • Consistent key person attachment: ensure that one teacher is consistent to develop a secure, predictable relationship, especially for children in care and those separated from their peers.

  • Two-home communication systems: Have two-way communication (photos, portfolios, updates) with separated families to ensure that both families remain connected to learning.

  • Transitions are trauma-informed, incorporating visual routines and transitional objects, as well as a calm goodbye ritual to reduce separation anxiety associated with attachment disruption (Bowlby, 1969).

  • Active involvement in case planning: work collaboratively with caseworkers and kinship/foster carers of children in OOHC, respecting the Child Placement Principle as appropriate.

  • Community-building for families: establish parent networks, playgroups or peer catch-ups, within the service to address geographic or social isolation.

Community and Professional Partnerships

  • Berry Street- Therapeutic support for children impacted by trauma, separation and OOHC (Take Two program).

  • CREATE Foundation is the national consumer voice for children and young people in out-of-home care.

  • Life Without Barriers -provides foster care and kinship care in Australia.

  • Relationships Australia- family dispute resolution, mediation and Circle of Security attachment program.

  • Playgroup Australia- playgroups and toy libraries in the local community that help overcome isolation for geographically or socially remote families.

Resources for Educators and Children

Projects, Programs and Websites

  • CREATE Foundation (create.org.au)
  • Circle of Security parenting program (circleofsecurityinternational.com)
  • Raising Children Network - separation and divorce hub
  • Playgroup Australia (playgroupaustralia.org.au) 

Children's Storybooks (Birth-5 Years)

  • Two Homes -Claire Masurel
  • Dinosaurs Divorce -Laurene Krasny Brown & Marc Brown
  • The Invisible String - Patrice Karst
  • Was It the Chocolate Pudding? -Sandra Levins

Videos, Shows and Podcasts 

 

Critical Reflection

The eleven-fold higher out-of-home care rates for First Nations children are not a coincidence, but a legacy (AIHW, 2024). Policies and practices such as the Child Placement Principle are helpful, but trust must be gained and not taken.

References List (APA 7th Edition)

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Child protection Australia 2023–24. AIHW, Australian Government.

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. Hogarth Press.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.

CREATE Foundation. (n.d.). CREATE Foundation. https://create.org.au/

Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.). Norton.

Malvaso, C. G., Delfabbro, P. H., & Day, A. (2017). The maltreatment-offending association: A systematic review of the methodological features of prospective longitudinal studies. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 18(3), 251–264.

Raising Children Network. (n.d.). Separation and divorce: Helping children adjust.
https://raisingchildren.net.au/grown-ups/family-diversity/parenting-after-separation-divorce/helping-children-adjust-separation