CRC funded reports

Appendix 2 : Focus group proforma

published in:
Family violence : young people and youth sector workers, informing government about the implementation of mandatory reporting in Victoria
Danny Sandor and Julian Bondy
ISBN 07311 0575 3
Fitzroy, Vic. : Youth Affairs Council of Victoria, 1995
Criminology Research Council grant ; (15/93-4)
October 1995

Basic introduction

• Introduce ourselves
• Explanation about Peer Research?
• Explain why we are here/what our aim is?
  • let young people know about Mandatory Reporting
  • to find out what young people know about Mandatory Reporting and the Child Protection System
  • to inform young people about their rights around Mandatory Reporting and the Child Protection System
  • to gauge how accurate their knowledge of the Child Protection System is
  • to discuss their ideas and recommendations about how the system operates
  • to discuss what issues they have around the Child Protection System and Mandatory Reporting
  • to find out how young people feel about the Child Protection System and Mandatory Reporting
• Explain why the group will be recorded.
• Hand out consent forms.

Ice breakers

• Hand out name tags and ask young people to introduce themselves
• Fruit Salad
  • A quick simple game to help relax participants. Everyone sits in a chair in a circle, take one chair away so one person is left standing in the middle. The person standing asks the group questions (eg. who ate breakfast today ) everyone who did gets up and runs to anther chair. The person left standing then asks the next question. If the person in the middle says Fruit Salad everyone in the group swaps chairs.

Rules / guidelines

• We will allow the young people to make up their own rules, which will include whether they want a break etc.
• We will ask that the participants be considerate while others are talking

Knowledge / identification

This exercise will give us an understanding of what the participants knowledge of the child protection laws in Victoria are. There will be some broad questions designed to generate discussion.

• Have the participants heard of Health and Community Services?
• Do they know what role Health and Community Services has in the child protection system?
• Do they know what role the Police play in the child protection system?
• Do they understand their right to legal representation?
• What does Mandatory Reporting mean?
• Which professional groups does Mandatory Reporting include?

Information provision

• In this exercise we will provide the participants with some brief information on Mandatory Reporting and the child protection system. This will help them to understand our questions and answer them with more specific responses.

Informal responses

• For this exercise we will divide the group into halves and ask them questions. This will give them time to discuss the questions and think about their answers. We will then come back to the larger group and share each groups responses and views and discuss the reasoning behind their answers.

Semi structured responses

• We will present the group with a chart listing five different abusive situations. These scenarios will range from sexual abuse to neglect. The chart will list a range of options for the participants to choose from ( eg: Report to Health and Community Services...). They will be asked to decide which course of action they think would be most appropriate. Any further information that is required will be available to the participants.