ISTANBUL, Turkey—Australian Sikh researcher Mrs. Jatinder Kaur presented her research at the prestigious International Society Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN) International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect Conference that was held from September 9 – 12, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.
In 2006, Mrs. Kaur conducted the first research of its kind in Australia which explored the interface between culturally diverse families (migrants and refugees) and the child protection system. At that time she was employed as a frontline child protection worker in the Queensland Department of Child Safety, and was able to observe a high number of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) children coming to the attention of the CP system and frontline staff, who struggled to deal with the complex cross-cultural issues.
At that time there was NO published research in Australia that explored this topic. She designed and developed the Cross Cultural Child Protection Survey instrument (CCCPS) which explored cross cultural competence within the child protection setting. The research highlighted the need for child protection officers to have the opportunity to attend CALD-specific training and also a need for the development of cross cultural competence training specific to child protection. She has published two papers in Academic peer reviewed journals: Children Australia (32:4, 2007) and Developing Practice (Issue 23, 2009). She was filmed in the DVD on ‘Cross Cultural Practice in Social Work and Human Services’ developed by Griffith University.
Mrs. Kaur was able to present the key findings of her Australian research to eminent international researchers, academics, and practitioners from both developed and developing countries in the child welfare system.
In Australia, Mrs. Kaur has played a significant role in building capacity and knowledge for the child welfare system in dealing with migrant and refugee families. She launched a research report titled “Cultural Diversity and Child Protection: A Research Review,” on the needs of CALD and refugee children and families. This report is the first publication of its kind to review the available research literature on this topic in the Australian child protection system (CPS). This review revealed a number of gaps in service delivery, data collection, policy and practice guidelines in this area. It found a lack of data or evidence about prevalence of child abuse and neglect amongst CALD and refugee communities, placement needs in out-of-home care (OOHC), and effective early intervention and prevention strategies in these communities.
The report is available online:
http://www.jkdiversityconsultants.com.au/Cultural_Diversity_&_Child_Protection_Kaur2012_A4.pdf
See report launch online:
