In this activity, practitioners work directly with parents to address key maltreatment risk factors. Parental risk factors may include substance misuse, unplanned pregnancy, poor mental health etc.
Addressing parental risk factors can ensure parents are in the best place possible to care for their children and keep them safe. It can also ensure parents have the capacity to develop their parenting skills and meaningful engage with supports that are provided.
This activity is typically implemented through existing home visits. Case managers work directly with families to identify and address risk factors (or potential risk factors). This can be achieved a number of different ways, including:
The frequency and length of home visits should be based on the needs of clients. The approach taken to address parental risk factors may inform all the work that is undertaken with a family. Alternatively, a practitioner may have specific sessions on ‘managing substance misuse’, for example.
You should use your professional judgement to determine what is most appropriate for your client/s.
Home visits can also be supplemented with online content.
Connection to community and culture is a protective factor for the wellbeing of Aboriginal people and so should be foundational to all service provision (Kiraly et al, 2014).
See the Cultural Safety and Wellbeing Evidence Review for further guidance on how to deliver culturally safe services and improve outcomes for Aboriginal people.
Activities that seeks to address key parental risk factors have been implemented with a number of different target groups. Key characteristics include:
Parental risk factors are commonly associated with child abuse and neglect. However, they may not be the reason that neglect has (or could) occur. Practitioners must determine whether risk factors are directly contributing to neglect or whether the risk factor is related to other problems that are directly contributing to the neglect. For example, parents may turn to drugs and/or alcohol to deal with stress or an underlying mental health issue.
When considering all risk factors, practitioners must also consider the protective factors that exist for the family and how they interact with the risks.
25 Nov 2022
We acknowledge Aboriginal people as the First Nations Peoples of NSW and pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future.
Informed by lessons of the past, Department of Communities and Justice is improving how we work with Aboriginal people and communities. We listen and learn from the knowledge, strength and resilience of Stolen Generations Survivors, Aboriginal Elders and Aboriginal communities.
You can access our apology to the Stolen Generations.