‘The whole system is designed to create more trauma than it solves’: Australian foster and kinship carers navigating child protection systems

Abstract

In Australia, two thirds of children who are removed into care due to abuse or neglect are placed in long-term care with foster or kinship carers. While such carers undertake the day-to-day role of parenting children placed in their care, they must do so in the context of statutory child protection systems that are highly regulatory. The present paper explores how a sample of Australian foster and kinship carers perceive statutory child protection systems and staff. Interviews with 28 Australian foster or kinship carers were undertaken in early 2024, and included a focus on participant views about child protection systems. Thematic analysis of the interview data resulted in the development of five themes: 1) Barriers to trusting relationships with statutory staff, 2) Systems that are premised on trauma, 3) Grappling with inconsistency in rules, 4) Navigating punitive, risk-oriented systems that require compliance, and 5) Triangulation and parenting alongside the state. The paper concludes by considering how the negative aspects of systematisation may be addressed in the context of statutory child protection.