Dr Ella Kuskoff discusses how providing housing and support to low-income mothers reduces the need for child protection interventions.
Previous episodes of this podcast have explored some of the reasons why social workers are involved with children and families. Poverty, domestic violence and inequality have featured prominently in these discussions. This episode focuses on homelessness, as a lack of housing stability frequently means that social workers are involved with children and families.
Providing housing and support to low-income mothers in a programme in Brisbane, Australia, appears to be well-received and reduces the need for child protection interventions. “It’s about giving them the agency to be the parents they aspire to be,” says Dr Ella Kuskoff, my guest in this episode. This episode highlights how removing structural barriers to parenting keeps families together and reduces the need for child protection.
Dr Ella Kuskoff is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, Australia. Her research focuses on the intersections between experiences of homelessness, domestic violence, and engagement with statutory child protection systems, as well as how these experiences are impacted by broader social structures.
The full paper can be accessed here:
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