Listening to Fragments, Ongoing Conversation: Reply to Aronson

Public inquiries in the child welfare field are employed as a mechanism to bring attention to policy and practice issues and soothe public concerns at failures in the care and protection of children. The paper addresses the question of whether the inquiry is a worthwhile arena for researchers who wish to see their findings used to inform policy. The paper draws on the Victorian Inquiry into Vulnerable Children and the Northern Territory inquiries into child abuse to inform the discussion. Our conclusions are that the inquiry mode, whilst unpredictable is too important a public policy tool for researchers to ignore.

Based on a wealth of research validating a strong connection between disorganized attachment and mental health issues for abused and neglected children, child welfare administrators have placed increased emphasis on the implementation of practices that promote positive parent–child attachments. However, the child welfare system has not systematically addressed the organizational challenges of implementing empirically based practices and the impact of disrupted parent–child attachments. This chapter explores the internal and external pressures on child welfare agencies that impede or encourage implementation of the theoretical and practice base underlying attachment. The authors place a particular emphasis on the influence that organizational policies and structures may have on meeting the attachment needs of the young child. They present five attachment-based treatment models considered both promising and appropriate for child welfare clients. Toward meeting the goal of implementing these models or similar interventions, the authors discuss organizational barriers and clinical implications for private and public child welfare practitioners and the children and families they serve. The chapter concludes with recommendations for agency leaders and practitioners.

Journal Article Uptake of Discourse Research in Interprofessional Settings: Reporting from Medical Consultancy Get access Celia Roberts, Celia Roberts Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Srikant Sarangi Srikant Sarangi Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Applied Linguistics, Volume 24, Issue 3, September 2003, Pages 338–359, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/24.3.338 Published: 01 September 2003