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Child protection with Muslim communities: considerations for non-Muslim-based orthodoxies/paradigms in child welfare and social work

  • Patrick O’Leary
    ,
  • Mohamad Abdalla
    ,
  • Aisha Hutchinson
    ,
  • Jason Squire
    ,
  • Amy Young
Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

The care and protection of children are a concern that crosses ethnic, religious and national boundaries. How communities act on these concerns are informed by cultural and religious understandings of childhood and protection. Islam has specific teachings that relate to the care and guardianship of children and are interpreted in diverse ways across the Muslim world. Islamic teachings on child-care mostly overlap with Western understandings of child protection, but there can be some contested positions. This creates complexities for social workers intervening in Muslim communities where the basis of their intervention is primarily informed by a non-Muslim paradigm or occurs in secular legal contexts. The purpose of this article is to address at a broad level the issue of how overarching concepts of child protection and Islam influence social work practice with Muslim communities. It addresses a gap in practical applications of the synergy of Islamic thinking with core social work practice in the field of child protection. For effective practice, it is argued that social work practitioners need to consider common ground in Islamic thinking on child protection rather than rely on Western frameworks. This requires further research to build evidence-based practice with Muslim families.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 1201-1218

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

British Journal of Social Work (Volume 50, Issue 4)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 21/05/2019
  • Published - 20/07/2019

Publication status

Published - 20/07/2019

ISSN

0045-3102

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/623429
  • Scopus: 85093837914

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