Making & Breaking Social Policy

Dr Carmela Bastian chats about her research on the factors the facilitate the centring children in social work practice in the child protection system. She talks about how children can be made invisible due to the competing priorities of the child protection system, but also how social workers draw on a range of resources, including practice wisdom, to recentre and prioritise children’s voices.

Find Carmela and her work on:

Twitter:  @carmela_bastian

Flinders: Carmela Bastian 

Carmela mentions a recent publication:

Bastian, C., Dunk‐West, P., & Wendt, S. (2021). Being child‐centred: Factors that facilitate professional judgement and decision‐making in child protection. Child & Family Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12855

Carmela also mentions a current research project:

Understanding professional development for practitioners working with children, young people and their families 

Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer

Edited by Ryan Manhire

Music by Anthem of Rain

Prof Sarah Wendt and Senior Lecturer Kate Seymour chat about the implication of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children for developing a Domestic Violence Workforce. They draw attention to the gendered nature of the problem of domestic violence and the similarly gendered nature of the workforce.

The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 

Sarah is on Twitter (@DrSarahWendt) and her Flinders profile.

Kate is on Twitter (@kateseymour7) and her Flinders profile.

Social Work Innovation Research Living Space at Flinders @swirlsflinders 

Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer

Edited by Ryan Manhire

Music by Anthem of Rain

Dr Joel McGregor and I have a chat about what change is really possible in young people’s lives through case management.

Joel is a Lecturer in Criminology at Swinburne University. His work focuses on the complex relational practices that make up a case manager’s day-to-day work. We chat about a paper we published recently together that examines case management ratios, reporting requirements and qualifications in Flexible Learning Options and Joint Support Program.

Follow Joel on Twitter @joelrmcgregor 

Read our paper here: Lohmeyer, B. A., & McGregor, J. R. (2021). A critical examination of Australian youth case management: compounding governing spaces and infantilising self-management. Journal of Youth Studies, 1-17.

Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer

Edited by Ryan Manhire

Music by Anthem of Rain

Associate Professor Lorna Hallanhan, Deputy Director of SWIRLS at Flinders Uni, talks to us about her experiences working as a social worker in Disability Advocacy and for the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

She describes herself as someone who likes to 'stir shit' and has a nasty habit of showing up. Lorna is funny and insightful offering us a challenge to consider how we can set people free. 

Follow Lorna on Twitter @lhallahan

Lorna mentions the following resources:

Hallahan, L. (2020) Avashai Margalit’s concept of decency: potential for the lived experience project in social work education? Chapter 20 in The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work Routledge, London pp. 233-244

Hallahan, L. (2010). Legitimising social work disability policy practice: Pain or praxis?. Australian Social Work, 63(1), 117-132. 

Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer

Edited by Ryan Manhire

Music by Anthem of Rain

In this episode, Luke Cantley, Research Associate with SWIRLS at Flinders Uni, talks us through the Model of Care for Aboriginal Prisoner Health and Wellbeing in South Australia. His experiences as a researcher and practitioner in the South Australian Prison systems demonstrate how social policy makes and breaks human service practice (and vice versa).

Follow Luke on Twitter: @luke_cantley

The Model of Care for Aboriginal Prisoner Health and Wellbeing in South Australia by the Wardliparingga Aboriginal Research Unit in the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) can be accessed here: https://www.sahmri.org/aboriginal-health-equity-theme/news-185/

Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer

Edited by Ryan Manhire

Music by Anthem of Rain

Welcome to a podcast about the making and breaking of social policy. Sounds boring? Yeah probably, but we'll try to not let it be. Here you will find interviews with academics, practitioners, activists and anyone else I can convince to have a chat. If you like the pod please share, subscribe and all the other things. Thanks!