RESEARCH UNDERWAY
Human services and parents with a disability: working cooperatively in the best interest of the child
Project team
University of Sydney & NSW Department of Community Services (DoCS)
Dr David McConnell
Prof Gwynnyth Llewellyn
Anne Campbell (DoCS)
Margaret Andersen (DoCS)
Coralie Le Nevez (DoCS)
Overview
In this 3-year collaborative project (2001-2004), funded by the ARC Linkage scheme (APDI), the University of Sydney and the NSW Department of Community Services (DoCS) are addressing two key practice issues for child protection and disability service workers. These are (1) establishing and sustaining a cooperative working relationship with parents with a disability, and (2) negotiating with other government and non-government agencies to coordinate an effective response to the support needs of these parents and their children.
Two primary objectives are:
- To identify practices which promote and sustain cooperation between DoCS workers, parents with a disability and other service providers.
- To identify the explicit and implicit influences on the process of negotiating support for these parents and their children.
Approach
This collaborative project will take a Critical ethnographic approach grounded in the seminal work of Jurgen Habermas & the Theory of Communicative Action (1984/87). Communicative action is the process through which parties arrive at consensus or a common definition of the situation as a basis for coordinating action. From this theoretical perspective what passes for 'ordinary case-work' is understood to be a thickly layered texture of struggles concerning power and authority, negotiations over identity, and social constructions of 'the problem at hand'.
This project is looking in-depth and prospectively at the communicative process in which human service workers and parents with a disability engage to negotiate support for the family. We are now recruiting a sample of 20-30 DoCS cases involving parents with a disability, drawn from metropolitan and rural areas. Case files will be reviewed and regular (every 3-6 months for the life of the project) interviews will be conducted with the parents and their workers. Interviews will address (1) participants' accounts of what has in fact happened, (2) what they think should happen and why, (3) how they feel about the situation, and (4) what their understanding is of the views expressed by the other parties.
The qualitative data will be analysed using the Critical method proposed by Forester (1992). This method looks at how attention is framed and 'the problem at hand' constructed; how participants act strategically and legitimate their actions; how relations of power are reproduced, and how claims are made to shape obligation, consent and patterns of future action.
The analysis will result in:
- a rich description and critical analysis of the communicative process engaged in by DoCS workers, parents and other service providers.
- identification of practices that promote and sustain cooperative partnerships between the parties involved;
- identification of both the explicit and implicit influences on the process of negotiating a support plan, and;
- identification of effective ways of resolving conflict and misunderstanding between DoCS workers, parents and other service providers.
Anticipated outcomes
Our aim is to develop a communicative model of casework practice& #151;involving parents as partners in the process of determining what is in the child's best interests and what are the best supports for the family. A tangible product of this research will be a resource package and training module with immediate application to the induction and professional development of DoCS and other human service workers.
Related publications
McConnell, D., Llewellyn, G., & Ferronato, L. (2000) 
Parents with a Disability and the NSW Children's Court. Sydney: The Law Foundation of NSW and the University of Sydney.
Llewellyn, G., McConnell, D. & Ferronato, L. (2003)
Prevalence and Outcomes for Parents with Disabilities and their Children in an Australian Court Sample Child Abuse & Neglect, 27, 235 - 251.
Llewellyn, G., McConnell, D., Russo, D., Mayes, R., & Honey, A. (2002) Home-based Programs for Parents with Intellectual Disabilities: Lessons from Practice Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 15, 341-353.
Strike, R., & McConnell, D. (2002) Look At Me, Listen to Me, I Have Something Important to Say Sexuality and Disability, 20 (1), 53 - 63.
McConnell, D., Llewellyn, G., & Ferronato, L. (2002) Disability and Decision-Making in Australian Care Proceedings International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 16, 270 - 299.
Llewellyn, G. & McConnell, D. (2002) Mothers with Learning Difficulties and their Support Networks Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 46 (1), 17 - 34.
McConnell, D. & Llewellyn, G. (2000) Disability and Discrimination in Statutory Child Protection Proceedings Disability & Society, 15 (6), pp. 883 - 895.
Tymchuk, A.J., Llewellyn, G., & Feldman, M., (1999) Parenting by persons with intellectual disabilities: A timely international perspective. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 24(1), 3-6.
Tannous, C., Lehmann-Monck, V., Magoffin, R., Jackson, O., & Llewellyn, G. (1999). Beyond good practice: Issues in working with people with intellectual disability and high support needs. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 46, 24-35.
Llewellyn, G., McConnell, D. & Bye, R (1998) Perception of Service Needs by Parents with Intellectual Disability, Their Significant Others and their Service Workers Research in Developmental Disabilities, 19 (3), 245 - 260.
McConnell, D., Llewellyn, G., & Bye, R. (1997) Providing Services for Parents with Intellectual Disability: Parent Needs and Service Constraints Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 22 (1), 5 - 17.
Llewellyn, G., & Brigden, D. (1995). Factors affecting service provision to parents with intellectual disability: An exploratory study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 20, 97-112.
Llewellyn, G.M., (1995) Teachers and therapists as collaborators: A position paper. Special Education Perspectives, 3(2), 97101.
Llewellyn, G. (1994) Generic Family Support Services: Are Parents with Learning Disability Catered For? Mental Handicap Research 7(1), 64 - 77.
Llewellyn, G. (1990) People with Intellectual Disability as Parents: Perspectives from the Professional Literature Australia and New Zealand Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 16 (4), 369 - 380.
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