A Qualitative Study to Establish the Role of NGOs in Child Protection in Australias Northern Territory - Research Paper Example

A Qualitative Study to Establish the Role of NGOs in Child Protection in Australia’s Northern Territory (Darwin) Insert Names Institutional Affiliation Introduction Families living in the Northern Territory of Australia experience distinctive challenges. The area is quite remote. Family separation is common as people move to search employment opportunities. Those left behind often lack support and are engulfed in poverty and deprivation from basic needs. Domestic violence is also common in the area especially for indigenous women (Jayaraj, et al., 2012). Child abuse is a crucial issue in the area, noted to have increased to 29.7% between 2012 and 2014. This abuse especially for indigenous Northern Territory (NT) children, has been attributed to high poverty levels and other social detriments that lead to child neglect. For this reason, NGOs have focused on the area to aid in child protection matters by executing projects that promote not only the welfare of the children, but also that of the larger community they are working with (Lonne, et al., 2012). NGOs are achieving this through addressing various concerns prevalent in the region. This research seeks to establish the roles of NGOs in the sector of child protection. The study is qualitative and shall be limited to the Darwin of Northern Territory, Australia. In research design and methodology, the researcher shall use simple random sampling method to identify key informants who shall be interviewed and engaged in Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and data shall be analysed using the General Inductive Approach. Rationale of the study Child protection encompasses the protection of children from abuse, neglect, violence and exploitation. The coming into force of the Convention on the Rights of the Child for United Nations has been instrumental in the promotion of children’s welfare. State departments have been mandated to work towards this course (Proudfoot & Habibis, 2015). NGOs have also heavily been involved in issues of child protection. In Darwin; NT for instance, prevalent child abuse cases include child neglect, family violence exposure, bodily and sexual abuse, diseases, children out of school, and alcohol and drug abuse (Jayaraj, et al., 2012). Poverty is the social issue attributed to child abuse in the aboriginal region. Family separation and breakdown as spouses move to other areas to earn a livelihood, are eminent. Additionally, the area’s population is relatively high, hindering them from sufficient access to social services; there is a lot of criminal activity as well. Literature has it that family violence in Darwin is high with 60% of assault cases being attributed to domestic violence (Campo, 2015). Domestic violence at the family level pre-disposes children to emotional abuse. Studies show that child abuse cases have been on the rise, with the most affected children being those from aboriginal communities (Guthridge, et al., 2012). Past studies have established that NGOs have been helpful in promoting the welfare of children through strategic interventions. For instance, NGOs are actively involved in family support and strengthening for reduction of social inclusion, as well as reduction of separation risks, exploitation and violence (Snijder, et al., (2015). They additionally offer legal aid to children who have been abused via reporting and legal representation of the victimised child. In Darwin, Australian Childhood Foundation is an organization that intervenes to save children from suffering trauma associated with family violence, neglect and abuse (Walkley & Cox, 2013). The foundation, in its Tasmnian Centre for Child Trauma, takes affected children through counselling, after they have been rescued from distressful situations. Professionals are similarly trained to better handle children who have gone through abuse. NGOs are also helpful in reminding the government to fulfil its obligation and evaluate national practices by approaching its ministries. For instance, Caritas Australia is an organization that works with aboriginal community to end poverty, and uphold dignity. Other than aiding the government in securing these services, the organization provides opportunity to families to acquire skills to work and earn a livelihood, boosting their ability to better care for their children (Holder, et al,. 2015). Programs they implement include Red Dust Healing, Managing your income and life, and an Aboriginal Corporation for Kinchela Boys Home which helps survivors to reconnect and establish brotherhood to end violence. In these programs, communities are sensitized, counselled and referred to relevant line ministries for further support. The caseload on child abuse cases reported in Darwin NT remains high. Policies for improved child protection are present, however, implementation is lacking. Child abuse cases drag in time and are eventually dropped (Day, et al., 2013). The government should channel funds to NGOs working with children and collaboratively join efforts to end the menace of child abuse in the aboriginal NT. Gaps for research More research needs to be done to establish the precise reasons for the continued child abuse despite government’s intervention to secure a safe environment for children through the removal of permit system, suspension of the Act for Racial Discrimination and mandatory subjection of aboriginal children for health checks among others. Further, a research needs to be conducted to establish the difference between government’s and NGOs’ interventions and how they may well be merged for the best interest of the Aboriginal child in NT. Significance of the study Findings of this study will inform stakeholders of child protection on the best practices for addressing and promoting children’s welfare in Darwin, NT. Aim of the study To find out the importance of NGOs in the sector of child protection in Darwin of Australia’s Northern Territory Specific Objectives of the study i. To seek best practices by NGOs in issues of child protection ii. To find out the working relationship between NGOs and the state iii. To establish any related risks with NGO’s involvement in child protection and how they may be addressed Research Design and Methodology This section includes sampling techniques, procedures and tools for data collection, and the proposed approach to data analysis. The study generally, shall be qualitative. In this regard, the study shall increase the researcher’s understanding of fundamental enthusiasms, views and reasons. Further, the researcher shall be able to get acumens into the problem under study (Walter, 2013). Besides making it easy for the researcher to achieve a clearer understanding in regard to the targeted population, this study will enable them to reach out to more people. The researcher shall incur little cost as qualitative research only requires small scales. Further, the study shall employ simple random sampling. According to Walter (2013), simple random sampling method allows every member of the targeted population an equal chance of being chosen. The method allows for easy use and representation of the larger population accurately. Additionally, the researcher shall only need little information about the target population prior to the study. It is a method that has been classified as devoid of prejudice, fault, and bias. The justification for choosing this sampling procedure is to get information from NGO workers in Darwin, NT. The data collection procedures that shall be applied are interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). The target population is 500 workers, working with NGOs in Darwin for child protection. Communication of the intention to engage them in a study shall be made through their Project Coordinators by way of email. A sample of 100 respondents shall be drawn from the population. Prior to data collection via interviews and 30-45 minutes-FGDs, the target population shall communicate intent participate in the study and thereof, sign a precise consent form issued by the researcher. There will be semi-structured questions both for FGDs and interviews. Similar questions shall be applied in both data collection techniques. Semi structured questions allow for an interviewer to ask similar open ended questions in a probing manner to the respondents, enabling them to air their opinions (Stuckey, 2013). This way, the researcher will get more refined and clear information. FGDs on the other hand, shall follow a structured discussion in order for the researcher to obtain in-depth information from the group of project officers (Sagoe, 2012). FGDs help in identifying reactions of respondents to the issue under discussion (Walter, 2013). To inspect, clean, transform and model data for purposes of discovering significant information, the researcher shall apply General Inductive Approach for data analysis. This is a method of data analysis that enables the researcher to move to general from specific. The researcher not only analyses data but also examines practical problems in their contexts instead of from a pre-set theoretical basis (Thomas, 2006). The researcher shall read and re-read the interview scripts to capture thematic areas, while grouping areas that have similar emphasis. The researcher will thereafter take the grouped sections through an imaginative variation process. From this process, essential meanings discovered shall be elaborated on the researcher’s findings. The researcher shall then revisit their raw data for justifications of interpretations. Verification shall also be done to ascertain that real, thorough descriptions were gotten from the respondents, throughout the analysis that phenomenological reduction has been applied, there has been discovery of essential meanings, structure was articulated and that the results have been verified by the raw data. Sample questions i. What are the prevalent child protection concerns in the scope of your organizational coverage? ii. What child protection intervention strategies do you employ in solving child abuse cases and in promoting children’s welfare? iii. Do you partner with the Department of Children and Families in your work for children? If, yes, explain the areas where you collaboratively work. iv. Other than the state, what other institutions working for the promotion of children’s welfare do you work with? v. What are some of the challenges you face while implementing child protection interventions? vi. What strategic interventions would you suggest to curb the above mentioned challenges? vii. Document any emerging good practices you have observed since you started working with NGOs that promote child protection. Ethical considerations The research shall be conducted in line with the Ethical Conduct for Human Research guidelines as stated in 2007’s National Statement. The researcher shall make an application, to the NGOs to be covered in the study, for ethics clearance. Further, names of participants shall not be used and information they provide be kept confidentially. In the reporting of the research findings, participants shall never be identified. Strengths of the project i. The sample shall be very representative ii. The researcher shall probe and obtain unique and refined information from the respondents due to the data collection tools and techniques to be used. iii. Transparency shall be observed as respondents will be informed of the study n advance iv. Ethics shall be observed as ethics clearance application will be submitted to the NGOs involved. Further, the researcher shall work within the research ethical code of AASW. v. The study is less costly as qualitative research only requires small scales. Limitation of the project i. Interpretation of data and its analysis may take considerably longer time due to the voluminous and bulky nature of qualitative data Proposed timetable Time (2017) Activity May June July August September October November Research proposal; Submission Application of ethics submission Collection of data Data presentation cleaning, and analysis Compilation of final report References Campo, M. (2015). Children’s exposure to domestic and family violence. Melbourne: Child Family Community Australia (CFCA), Australian Institute of Family Studies. Day, A., Francisco, A., & Jones, R. (2013). Closing the gap. Guthridge, S. L., Ryan, P., Condon, J. R., Bromfield, L. M., Moss, J. R., & Lynch, J. W. (2012). Trends in reports of child maltreatment in the Northern Territory, 1999–2010. Med J Aust, 197(11), 637-641. Holder, R. L., Putt, J., & O'Leary, C. (2015). Advocacy for Safety and Empowerment: A Critical Review of the Literature. Jayaraj, R., Thomas, M., Thomson, V., Griffin, C., Mayo, L., Whitty, M., ... & Nagel, T. (2012). High risk alcohol-related trauma among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the Northern Territory. Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 7(1), 33. Lonne, B., Harries, M., & Lantz, S. (2012). Workforce development: A pathway to reforming child protection systems in Australia. British Journal of Social Work, bcs064. Proudfoot, F., & Habibis, D. (2015). Separate worlds: A discourse analysis of mainstream and Aboriginal populist media accounts of the Northern Territory Emergency Response in 2007. Journal of Sociology, 51(2), 170-188. Sagoe, Dominic. (2012). Precincts and prospects in the use of focus groups in social and behavioral science research. The Qualitative Report, The Qualitative Report, April 9, 2012. Snijder, M., Shakeshaft, A., Wagemakers, A., Stephens, A., & Calabria, B. (2015). A systematic review of studies evaluating Australian indigenous community development projects: the extent of community participation, their methodological quality and their outcomes. BMC public health, 15(1), 1154. Thomas, D. (2006). A General Inductive Approach for Analyzing Qualitative Evaluation Data. American Journal of Evaluation, 27(2), 237-246. Walkley, M., & Cox, T. L. (2013). Building trauma-informed schools and communities. Children & Schools, cdt007. Walter, Maggie. (2013). Social Research Methods. South Melbourne: Victoria Oxford University Press. Stuckey, Heather. (2013). Three types of interviews: Qualitative research methods in social health. Journal of Social Health and Diabetes, 1(2), 56. Read More

NGOs are also helpful in reminding the government to fulfil its obligation and evaluate national practices by approaching its ministries. For instance, Caritas Australia is an organization that works with aboriginal community to end poverty, and uphold dignity. Other than aiding the government in securing these services, the organization provides opportunity to families to acquire skills to work and earn a livelihood, boosting their ability to better care for their children (Holder, et al,. 2015).

Programs they implement include Red Dust Healing, Managing your income and life, and an Aboriginal Corporation for Kinchela Boys Home which helps survivors to reconnect and establish brotherhood to end violence. In these programs, communities are sensitized, counselled and referred to relevant line ministries for further support. The caseload on child abuse cases reported in Darwin NT remains high. Policies for improved child protection are present, however, implementation is lacking. Child abuse cases drag in time and are eventually dropped (Day, et al., 2013). The government should channel funds to NGOs working with children and collaboratively join efforts to end the menace of child abuse in the aboriginal NT.

Gaps for research More research needs to be done to establish the precise reasons for the continued child abuse despite government’s intervention to secure a safe environment for children through the removal of permit system, suspension of the Act for Racial Discrimination and mandatory subjection of aboriginal children for health checks among others. Further, a research needs to be conducted to establish the difference between government’s and NGOs’ interventions and how they may well be merged for the best interest of the Aboriginal child in NT.

Significance of the study Findings of this study will inform stakeholders of child protection on the best practices for addressing and promoting children’s welfare in Darwin, NT. Aim of the study To find out the importance of NGOs in the sector of child protection in Darwin of Australia’s Northern Territory Specific Objectives of the study i. To seek best practices by NGOs in issues of child protection ii. To find out the working relationship between NGOs and the state iii. To establish any related risks with NGO’s involvement in child protection and how they may be addressed Research Design and Methodology This section includes sampling techniques, procedures and tools for data collection, and the proposed approach to data analysis.

The study generally, shall be qualitative. In this regard, the study shall increase the researcher’s understanding of fundamental enthusiasms, views and reasons. Further, the researcher shall be able to get acumens into the problem under study (Walter, 2013). Besides making it easy for the researcher to achieve a clearer understanding in regard to the targeted population, this study will enable them to reach out to more people. The researcher shall incur little cost as qualitative research only requires small scales.

Further, the study shall employ simple random sampling. According to Walter (2013), simple random sampling method allows every member of the targeted population an equal chance of being chosen. The method allows for easy use and representation of the larger population accurately. Additionally, the researcher shall only need little information about the target population prior to the study. It is a method that has been classified as devoid of prejudice, fault, and bias. The justification for choosing this sampling procedure is to get information from NGO workers in Darwin, NT.

The data collection procedures that shall be applied are interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). The target population is 500 workers, working with NGOs in Darwin for child protection. Communication of the intention to engage them in a study shall be made through their Project Coordinators by way of email. A sample of 100 respondents shall be drawn from the population.

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