Synopsis:Children who are vulnerable or are risk of harm present in a variety of different ways and are seen by multiple professionals.Situations of neglect and emotional abuse can be difficult to identify and even more difficult to confirm. These ‘grey areas’ of child protection practice are particularly challenging. Failure to identify vulnerability can have disastrous consequences for the child.The importance of multidisciplinary and interagency collaboration is well documented in the literature and is highlighted again and again in child death inquiries.
Today’s Grand Round will use a case scenario to highlight these complexities. An expert panel involving senior medical, nursing, child protection and social work representatives will highlight the different perspectives, training, and roles of key stakeholders in the area of child protection.To ensure a lively and balanced debate, the panel will be chaired by Assoc. Prof. Lynn Gillam.
Speakers:
Robyn Miller is a social worker and family therapist with over 30 years experience as a practitioner. She has worked in the Community Sector, Local Government, Child Protection, and for 14 years at the Bouverie Family Therapy, La Trobe University Centre as a senior clinician and teacher.Robyn has worked in the public and private sectors as a therapist, clinical supervisor, consultant, lecturer, and trainer for a range of organisations, and academic institutions. She has been a member of the Victorian Child Death Review Committee for the past 9 years and for the past seven years she has provided practice leadership as the Chief Practitioner in Child Protection and Youth Justice Division of the Dept. of Human Services, which has embraced many positive reforms. Her practice and research interest has been in the area of trauma and family work, and she has a particular expertise in working with families where there has been sexual abuse and family violence. Robyn has responsibility to provide leadership and to develop innovative practice developments, however her role in direct practice with children and families in the most complex cases has continued.
Dr. Anne Smith trained as a general and community paediatrician and she also has a Master of Forensic Medicine. She is the Director of the Victorian Forensic Paediatric Medical Service, a team of medical professionals who provide forensic care for abused and vulnerable under 18 year old Victorians.Her work with abused children spans 20 years and includes clinical leadership, service development, teaching (including students, doctors, police, child protection workers and others) , research, publications, work to further the specialty of forensic paediatric medicine and membership of multidisciplinary committees focusing on the needs of abused children.
Assoc. Prof. Lionel Lubitz is a consultant paediatrician with a long standing involvement in managing patients with physical and psychosocial conditions. He is a parent, a grandparent and plays in a rock band.
Assoc. Prof. Lyn Gillam is a clinical ethicist. She is the Academic Director of the Children’s Bioethics Centre, an initiative of the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, in partnership with MCRI and the University of Melbourne. Lynn is also Associate Professor in Health Ethics at the Centre for Health and Society, School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne, and chair of the University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee.
Mary McAlorum has a background in social work and criminology. She is the Manager of the Inquiries and Review Unit at the Commission for Children and Young People established on 1 March 2013 as an agency independent of government to promote the safety and wellbeing of children and young people aged 0-18 years of age. Her work regarding highly vulnerable children spans 25 years and includes working in DHS Child Protection as a regional protective worker and team leader, central office policy and program development roles, convening family group conferences and 7 years working in the Office of the Child Safety Commissioner on inquiries into services provided to children who died who were known to the service system and delivering associated training/presentations.
Judith Sloan is the Chief Social Worker at RCH. Judith brings over 30 years experience in working within health services to ensure children presenting as abused or at risk of physical and sexual abuse received the care and coordinated system response they need. During this time, Judith has contributed to the development of policy documents and educational packages both at governmental and hospital level.
Sarah Connolly is a senior social worker with portfolio responsibility for Vulnerable Children. Sarah has worked with vulnerable children and their families in various roles for the past ten years. Prior to joining RCH, Sarah worked in the Dept. of Human Services child protection branch. Sarah currently provides clinical leadership, secondary consultation and education/ training in various aspects of working with children who are vulnerable or at risk. Sarah also works closely with Wadja Aboriginal Family Place to ensure culturally appropriate care for vulnerable Aboriginal children.
Danielle Smith is Nurse Unit Manager of the SugarGlider Unit which provides care for the Medical, Respiratory, and Development Medicine Units. Dani is a Registered Nurse with over 11 years experience at the Royal Children Hospital. Dani previously worked as Nurse Unit Manger of RCH@Home, as well as in a number of other nursing roles in the hospital after completing the Post Graduate in Child and Adolescent health. Dani has considerable experience overseeing patients with complex child protection issues. Her passion is delivery of high quality nursing care to patients and their families.