Best Interests Children's Law Podcast

In Conversation with James Harding, Founder of Hard Cuddles

"In Conversation" is a parallel series where we invite lived experience speakers to come share our stories with us.  In this episode, James Harding, a lived experience advocate, shares his journey developing Hard Cuddles, a lived experience service based in Melbourne, Australia, aimed at providing support and resources to those dealing with mental health challenges. The service emphasises the importance of community and shared experiences, where children and adults form any background can connect with others who have similar journeys. Best Interests thanks all lived experience advocates who talk openly and courageously about their experiences for the benefit of others.  Show Notes: https://www.hardcuddles.com/meet-the-team [https://www.hardcuddles.com/meet-the-team] Best Interests Children’s Law Podcast is sponsored by Ex Curia: Coaching & Consulting Pty Ltd, Meliora Psychology [https://www.meliora.com.au/] and Claudia Grimberg Lawyers [https://claudiagrimberg.com.au/]. Got questions, comments, compliments or something to add to the discussion? We'd love to hear from you on our website [https://bestinterestspodcast.com.au/get-in-touch/].

Breaking Barriers Against Support for Children with Disabilities and their Carers

Children with disabilities experience increased vulnerability than most children and the intersectionality of risk factors present for these children may have an overlay of issues with how carers and systems are set up to help them. Instead of being seen as a young person who needs support, children with disabilities are more likely to be subject to child protection claims and out of home care as their behavior is viewed as the problem. This may result in carers feeling as though they have no other option but to keep the child in out-of-home care or not know how to properly care for the child.   It is unclear whether the behaviors from a group of children are stemming from trauma of services or from disabilities as many are undiagnosed. The overlap between disability and trauma needs to be further explored to improve out of home care and child protection systems for children with disabilities. There is an overreliance on out of home care that leads to a cycle of intervention and trauma over adequate support for children and carers. There is an intersection of risk factors in children with disabilities depending on the establishment of their care systems. However, many of these children are being referred around to different services without a holistic approach to help, a diagnosis or an early intervention and support including their carers. Instead, we should be working with families and carers to see how to better address the needs of the child with the disability. Show Notes: Commonwealth Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (AUS) (2021-22) Care Criminalisation of Young People with Disability in Child Protection Systems Baidawi, S & Sheehan, R. (2019).  'Crossover' Children in the Youth Justice and Child Protection Systems, (Routledge). [https://www.routledge.com/Crossover-Children-in-the-Youth-Justice-and-Child-Protection-Systems/author/p/book/9780367261108] Baidawi, S. & Ball, R. (2022). Multi-system factors impacting youth justice involvement of children in residential care. Child & Family Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12940 [https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12940] Susan Baidawi: https://www.monash.edu/medicine/spahc/socialwork/about/our-people/susan-baidawi [https://www.monash.edu/medicine/spahc/socialwork/about/our-people/susan-baidawi] Evelyn Bugel: https://www.evelynbugelpsychology.com/about.html [https://www.evelynbugelpsychology.com/about.html] Declan Kavanagh-Bugel: https://declankbart.bigcartel.com/category/prints [https://declankbart.bigcartel.com/category/prints] https://www.instagram.com/deckies_artworks/ [https://www.instagram.com/deckies_artworks/] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuSfs0nGHos [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuSfs0nGHos] Best Interests Children’s Law Podcast is sponsored by Ex Curia: Coaching & Consulting Pty Ltd, Meliora Psychology [https://www.meliora.com.au/] and Claudia Grimberg Lawyers [https://claudiagrimberg.com.au/]. Got questions, comments, compliments or something to add to the discussion? We'd love to hear from you on our website [https://bestinterestspodcast.com.au/get-in-touch/].

Early intervention for mothers and infants who have experienced family violence: the ANROWS project

A number of women and children are adversely affected by family violence across their lifetime that has immediate and long-lasting effects on their psychosocial, developmental, cognitive and social-emotional health. The Safe Nest Group (SNG) program is designed as a weekly, 6 session intervention for women and their infants who are under 3 years old, to engage in a group session underpinned by trauma-informed, psychodynamic and infant mental health principles. The project aimed to prioritise infants' needs, and intervene to assist mothers and infants in their recovery from the impacts of family violence. The study found that the program had been beneficial, noting meaningful reductions in mothers’ symptoms of depression and trauma and a better understanding by mothers of the impacts of family violence on their children.  Show notes: The ANROWS report by the Safe Nest Group: Pilot Project https://www.anrows.org.au/publication/violence-prevention-and-early-intervention-for-mothers-and-children-with-disability-building-promising-practice/ [https://www.anrows.org.au/publication/violence-prevention-and-early-intervention-for-mothers-and-children-with-disability-building-promising-practice/]  Dr Katie Wood: https://experts.swinburne.edu.au/494-katie-wood [https://experts.swinburne.edu.au/494-katie-wood] Dr Emma van Daal:  https://theplaystudio.com.au/team/ [https://theplaystudio.com.au/team/] Research for this episode was conducted by Latrobe Law School student, Melissa Mazzeo. Best Interests Children’s Law Podcast is sponsored by Ex Curia: Coaching & Consulting Pty Ltd, Meliora Psychology [https://www.meliora.com.au/] and Claudia Grimberg Lawyers [https://claudiagrimberg.com.au/]. Got questions, comments, compliments or something to add to the discussion? We'd love to hear from you on our website [https://bestinterestspodcast.com.au/get-in-touch/].

Safe Spaces: Reconnecting Children and Parents

The role of Supervised Children contact centres (SCCC) are necessary in forming a space where children feel safe and supported to reconnect with non-residential parents. These centres assist in strengthening the child's relationship with the estranged parent and facilitate a healthier relationship despite the challenging circumstances that give rise to the necessity of supervised contact. These centres may be effective depending on the attitudes and age of the child and the behaviours of the parent engaging in the service. SCCC are unlikely to meet the best interests of the child in every scenario. The role of SCCC’s is to ‘bridge the gap’ and aid the transition of the non-residential parent back into the child’s life in a safe and supervised way. However, SCCC’s may sometimes be viewed as a way to gain more evidence against a parent in court and can be a means to coerce children or other parents.Courts frequently request reports from SCC’s regarding observations of a parents behaviour and relationship with the child which can cause tension and are highly influential. SCCCs can therefore be an artificial environment where parents can display certain positive behaviours to look good to the staff in order for reports in their favour to be used in court. This may be unrealistic, and children may not want to engage in SCCC’s. Show Notes: https://www.betterplaceaustralia.com.au/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwiOy1BhDCARIsADGvQnBCCyjg_Hz4bJxE4Ivr2CHpwPgB6Nh--o9TQ9_NlpyaQ_cSgMl0hQaAgcFEALw_wcB  https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/childrens-contact-services#:~:text=Children's%20Contact%20Services%20(CCSs)%20are,their%20own%20parenting%20time%20arrangements.  https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/cfca35-childrens-contact-services_0.pdf Sheehan, G., Carson, R., Fehlberg, B., Hunter, R., Tomison, A., Ip, R., & Dewar, J. (2005). Children's contact services: Expectations and experience. Final report. Canberra: Attorney-General's Department. Fitzgerald, R., & Graham, A. (2011). "Something amazing I guess": Children's views on having a say about supervised contact. Australian Social Work, 64(4), 487-501. Best Interests Children’s Law Podcast is sponsored by Ex Curia: Coaching & Consulting Pty Ltd, Meliora Psychology [https://www.meliora.com.au/] and Claudia Grimberg Lawyers [https://claudiagrimberg.com.au/]. Got questions, comments, compliments or something to add to the discussion? We'd love to hear from you on our website [https://bestinterestspodcast.com.au/get-in-touch/].

“On the Importance of Being Well at Work” - Wellbeing for Child Protection Workers

In “The Importance of Being Well at Work” series we explore what it takes to maintain health and wellbeing when working in trauma saturated environments – in this case, where the work involves working for or on behalf of children. In this final episode of the series, we focus on the health and wellbeing of child protection workers. We speak to Sahra Mogorovich to discuss the importance of wellbeing when working in this regularly challenging but equally vital area of child protection. Sahra draws on her own experiences of working with young people and families and provides us with insight in how to navigate this important but complex area of work. Best Interests Children’s Law Podcast is sponsored by Ex Curia: Coaching & Consulting Pty Ltd, Meliora Psychology [https://www.meliora.com.au/] and Claudia Grimberg Lawyers [https://claudiagrimberg.com.au/]. Got questions, comments, compliments or something to add to the discussion? We'd love to hear from you on our website [https://bestinterestspodcast.com.au/get-in-touch/].