AASW’s Policy Position on Child protection and Wellbeing

Social workers, in a variety of practice contexts, need to be able to promote child wellbeing and to assess and respond to the needs of children and families through direct practice and through working for structural changes. The AASW acknowledges the need to consider child wellbeing and protection within the broader social and political context. Responding and working in partnership with children, young people and families requires an understanding of the inter-related nature of child wellbeing, abuse and neglect with issues such as poverty, domestic violence, drug and alcohol misuse, disability, colonisation and the intergenerational impacts of the Stolen Generation, homelessness, education, health and mental health. The social work platform outlines how the social work profession generally and the AASW specifically works to address the complexity and diversity of the issues facing Australian children and families (Australian Association of Social Workers National Social Policy Committee, 2013). Our work is based on the core values outlined in the Code of Ethics, of Respect for Persons, Social Justice and Professional Integrity, and is informed by the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The AASW is a significant voice in public policy on child protection and children’s well-being. The AASW has advocated extensively in the following areas:

• Intercountry and Australian adoption
• Child Protection
• Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and Redress Scheme
• Family and Domestic Violence
• School Social Work
• Out of Home Care
• Kinship Care
• Indigenous cultural rights
• Youth detention and justice
• Surrogacy

Position Statements

Policy Submissions

Media Releases

Other relevant documents