Beyond the Risk Paradigm in Child Protection

Marie Connolly is Chair and Head of Social Work at the University of Melbourne. Previously, she was Chief Social Worker in in New Zealand. Her child welfare practice, academic and consulting careers span over 30 years in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. She has held honorary professorships at the University of Auckland and the Skondal Institute in Stockholm. She has published extensively, including Understanding Child and Family Welfare: Statutory responses to children at risk (Palgrave) and Social Work: Contexts and Practice 3rd edition (Oxford University Press).

• PrefaceChapter 1: Concerns about Risk as a Major Driver of Professional Practice (Nigel Parton)Chapter 2: The risk paradigm and the media in child protection (Liz Beddoe and Viviene Cree)Chapter 3: Anticipating risk: Predictive risk modeling as a signal of adversity (Irene de Haan and Marie Connolly)Chapter 4: New knowledge in child protection: Neuroscience and its impacts (Clare Huntingdon)Chapter 5: Disproportionality and risk decision-making in child protection (Ilan Katz and Marie Connolly)Chapter 6: Service users as receivers of risk-dominated practice (Helen Buckley)Chapter 7: Engaging Families and Managing Risk in Practice (Kate Morris and Gale Burford)Chapter 8: Assessment and Decision Making to Improve Outcomes in Child Protection (Aron Shlonsky and Robyn Mildon)Chapter 9: Signs of Safety as Promising Comprehensive Approach for Reorienting CPS Organizations' Work with Children, Families and Their Community Supports (Andrew Turnell, Peter J. Pecora, Yvonne H. Roberts, Mike Caslor, Dan Koziolek)Chapter 10: Shifting the focus: working differently with domestic violence (Cathy Humphreys and Nicky Stanley)Chapter 11: Family risk and responsive regulation (Joan Pennell)Chapter 12: Responding Differently to Neglect – an ecological approach to prevention, assessment and treatment (Justine Harris and Robyn Mildon)Chapter 13: Positive leadership in child protection (Robyn Miller)Chapter 14: Concluding Thoughts: Informal and formal support for vulnerable children and families (Marie Connolly).