Infant vulnerability to court decision-making processes regarding OOHC: perspectives of frontline workers

This empirical study in the jurisdiction of New South Wales, Australia, explores the complex and unenviable processes legal actors undertake when making decisions about removing infants from their birth parents. Professionals from legal, statutory child protection and health contexts were interviewed regarding their experiences and perspectives about legal decision-making practices when placing infants in out-of-home care (OOHC). Informed by vulnerability theory, analysis of the interview data found that government apparatuses designed to protect vulnerable infants can sometimes have the paradoxical effect of increasing overall infant vulnerability. Findings suggest a need for wider-ranging research regarding how international and domestic law might be improved to better recognize the unique developmental status and vulnerabilities of infants in the child protection system.