SAP103 Introduction to Welfare Law 3B Essay Sample

Sample SAP103 Introduction to Welfare Law 3B Essay

Assignment Brief

The second part (Part B) will be the full essay, based substantially on what you had outlined (in Part A) and may take into account any feedback received as part of assessment of Part A.

The essay topic

The assessment will require you to research and review the welfare law and its application in practice for one of the following vulnerable client groups -

a) mental health inpatients requiring protection of their human rights

b) children requiring protection from parental abuse

c) people with a disability requiring protection from discrimination in the workplace

d) elderly requiring protection from financial abuse

Your essay must include the following:

a) analysis of the reasons why legal protection is needed

b) overview of the relevant principles of welfare law that underpin the legal protection

c) critique of the current application of the law for legal protection of your chosen vulnerable group

Jurisdiction-specific context

Your response to the selected client group involves you undertaking research to identify and apply the framework of services and arrangements involving the departmental, legislative, court, tribunal and administrative structures that operate in and are applicable to a specific jurisdiction (ie State or Territory in which you reside.

Research literature

Your essay must be based on a review of the literature and should include at least eight primary academic references, ie peer-reviewed (scholarly) journal articles or book chapters.

Referencing

You must use APA 7 referencing.

Structure of essay

As the assignment conveniently provides a number of issues that need to be addressed, there is a lot of sense to follow them as they form the basis of assessment criteria and use them as major headings, in addition to an introduction and conclusion.

Solution

Introduction

Parental abuse entails serious harm to the children, some of which include Physical, emotional, and psychological violence. This is mainly because of children's vulnerability. This makes it necessary to have legal frameworks to protect these children. The principal Queensland legislation regulating child safety is the Child Protection Act 1999 (QLD), the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), and the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (QLD). To reach these objectives, this essay critically discusses the argument for legal protection, reviews the welfare laws, and assesses the capability of such laws in protecting children from abuse—Main cases and practical issues. It will also present some measures of prevention and conclude with suggestions for enhancing the system in the future.

1. Analysis of the Need for Legal Protection

A child is always helpless with minimal ability to meet their needs, being dependent on the caregivers for their protection and affection. It is essential for intervention when Caregivers themselves are a source of abuse. Legal protection makes the following statement that children are protected from further abuse and are helped to grow in a protected manner.

The abuse destroys the childhood of kids and leaves serious consequences for their mental health, including anxiety and depression, as well as for their physical state throughout their lives (Chen, Zhu & Chui, 2021). It also affects educational progress and results, as well as the ability to create a normal social model of behaviour. Drawing from this assertion, there is a need for legal protection mainly because children cannot protect themselves and, therefore, need other structures to protect them.

In Queensland, the Child Protection Act 1999 (QLD) accords with the legal obligation of the state to become involved when a child is at risk. The Act also requires an early intervention that is in the best interest of the child, physically and emotionally. The law knows that the assignment help timely filing of a legal case can counter these problems and cultivate healthy, sustainable conditions.

2. Overview of Relevant Welfare Law Principles

2.1 Child Protection Act 1999 (QLD)

The central legal framework when it comes to child protection in Queensland is provided by the Child Protection Act 1999 (QLD). The state’s responsibility to conduct an investigation on reports of abuse and neglect is explained in section 15. The Act lays down child-focused principles and states that the best interests of a child and the child’s safety are of utmost importance. That is why requirements for combined mandatory reporting provisions require professionals such as teachers, doctors, and social workers to report cases of abuse.

2.2 Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)

The Australian federal legislation also includes the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), which extends the rival base of child protection in the aspects of custody and parental responsibility. In cases where parents use physical aggression, the court can make parenting orders that would exclude the abusing parent from accessing a child. Measures under Part VII of the Act allow courts to make orders that will be in the best interests of the child, such as restricting or denying access to abusive parent(s).

2.3 Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (QLD)

This implies there is additional protection belonging to mechanisms like restraining orders developed to keep additional abuse at bay. It expands the definition of violence by including emotional and psychological violence, admitting that abuse is not only physical. Through the Act, the provision of protection orders, which will protect the children and non-abusive members of the family from the offending party, can be done quickly by courts to promote their safety.

2.4 Interplay Between Federal and State Legislation

A real difficulty in protecting children in Queensland is the relationship between federal and state legislation. The state law that also regulates child protection in Queensland is the Child Protection Act 1999 (QLD) and the federal legislation that covers parental and guardianship responsibility and custody across the country is the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). These two frameworks often cause jurisdictional overlap problems, especially when there is an interfacing of child protection and family law.

For instance, if social services want to take away a child for his or her safety from the home, the family court at the same time may be deterred whether to grant custody of the child to the parent or not. This may lead to confusion and delay because while deciding the case, the family court has to take into account the parent's rights as well as the rights of the child. Cooperation between state and federal systems must be improved in order to avoid situations when children stay in dangerous environments due to legal intricacies. That would improve the cooperation between both jurisdictions and improve the overall security provided for endangered children.

3. Critical Evaluation of the Application of Welfare Laws

3.1 Implementation Challenges

Although there are extensive legal frameworks in these countries, they fail to be implemented in practice. The needs of children who need protection do not receive the attention they should because protection initiatives can be delayed, poorly funded, and hampered by red tape. This can be explained by the case of the Hv Queensland Department of Communities (2017), which described several systemic shortcomings which led to a lack of timely intervention and, thus, a prolonged dangerous situation for the child in question.

Also, the issue of working under the human services delivery system, where many agencies require the coordination of other agencies, such as child protective services, police and judiciary, makes it hard to fully address the gaps in service delivery. Research points out that communication between agencies is vital but could be either timely or asynchronous, therefore timorous for integrating early help (Mathews, Bromfield & Walsh, 2020).

3.2 Judicial Precedents and Case Studies

The case Re: M (2018) illustrates the application of the Child Protection Act 1999 (QLD), which was well demonstrated whereby a child was taken from home owing to neglect. The finding of the court was to emphasise the concern over the safety of the child rather than the family reunification. But such cases also show the extent of trauma that children feel when they are taken away from their families and the necessity of available services for those children after they are removed.

3.3 Resource Limitations

Financing is always a concern when it comes to the protection of children. These agencies are underfunded most of the time and overloaded with reports of abuse, resulting in many cases per social worker and a long time to handle reports. These limitations cause the Gel Hoppen Institutions to be less able to investigate fully, or be able to give full support and care to the children and families that the institutions serve.

4. Jurisdiction-Specific Context in Queensland

The Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women of Queensland is the major governmental agency that is charged with the responsi¬bility of enforcing child protection laws. It works under the Child Protection Act 1999 (QLD) of Australia and also collaborates with the court and police. Nevertheless, the department concerned has certain problems meeting its responsibilities as the number of staff is insufficient, and its services are in great demand.

4.1 Administrative Structures Supporting Child Protection

This paper presents the necessity of administrative frameworks in child protection laws’ enforcement. The Department of Child Safety Youth and Women’s Commission is responsible for the delivery of child protection services, including apprehension, investigation, support, and family preservation in Queensland. Thus, this department collaborates with other agencies, for instance, police, hospitals, and schools, in an effort to combat child abuse.

Some of these challenges include high caseloads, shortage of staff, and poor resource endowment negatively affect the efficiency of response by the department. High staff turnover rates within child protection services necessitate disordered support arrangements having far-reaching effects on children’s stability in their homes. To respond to these challenges, there is a need for funding in terms of child protection worker training and related retention programmes to enhance and prepare human resources to operate in this capacity. Building the development of the administrative capability will assist in providing timely and efficient protection to the children at risk.

5. Welfare Law: Explanation and Depth of Research

The Queensland principles of welfare law in relation to the protection of children reflects the three legal principles of best interest of a child, prevention and right to be safe. Welfare law in this respect goes further than legal provisions for policies and other international commitments including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which is ratified in Australia.
Herrenkohl et al. (2021) stress the need to use legal measures in child protection in combination with social support measures. It helps to protect not only the child’s life in the near future but also to provide necessary and sufficiently stable conditions for his or her life. However, the practical application of these principles is elusive most of the time due to structural and resource constraints. This will discuss possible changes which could enhance the safeguarding of children.

Conclusion

The legislation on child protection from parental abuse in Queensland is far-reaching and has key legislation such as the Child Protection Act 1999 (QLD), Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), and Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (QLD). Yet these laws fail to realise their desired impact due to being notably inadequate in implementation, lack of resources and systematic problems, including slow investigations and poor follow-up of reported incidents. To this end, there is a need to fill these gaps through additional funding, better inter-agency collaboration, more staff development, technological innovation and continuous legal changes. Therefore, there is a need for the practice to continually assess the effectiveness of the system in ensuring that all children have the opportunity to grow and develop in protective environments.

References

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Sample SAP103 Introduction to Welfare Law 3B Essay

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