“I’ve seen a lot in my thirty plus years as a social worker, and have some scars to show for it,” writes Dr Lorraine Harrison in this guest post for 2020socialjustice.
Lorraine refers to the “cold indifference” of funding-driven organisations in community services in which “the number of clients who pass through the service seems more important than whether they are helped” and workers are treated as “dispensable human resources”.

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“I have a voice, and I intend to use it,” writes Keith Thomas Davis, Survivor of childhood sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
“My initial experience with my claim drove me to the edge. They will not do that to me again. I have recently found out I have a new avenue of appeal and I will not be silent. That would be a disservice to myself, to other Survivors, and to those who could no longer bear the pain, and are no longer with us…My heart and resolve beats strongly for them.”
(Many thanks, Keith, for this guest post for 2020socialjustice. May your voice resound in all the corners it needs to reach…Joan Beckwith.)

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“Eat the same rations as a Syrian refugee”, the advertisement invited.
“I did,” writes Nicole Soorkia, guest blogger for 2020socialjustice, “for a week. It was hard, but not nearly as hard as it would be if it was every week. I’m humbled and grateful for this glimpse into part of a refugee’s life, and here are my notes from each day.”

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What would it be like to have a parent in prison? How would it change everyday life? How would you go about dealing with courts, police and jails? What supports would be useful along the way? These important questions are largely ignored in existing research, and who is left standing to pursue them in current sociopolitical times? (Joint post with guest blogger, Natasha Graham.)

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We met – to talk about power – on a beautiful summer afternoon when many others would have been at the beach. We did not previously know each other, but Penny Fowler is the 2015 winner of the 2020socialjustice student award, and this post is a Q&A with her in four areas of Indigenous families, mental health, fathers in family work, and the challenge of balancing support and monitoring dimensions of social work roles. We would greatly value your comments and feedback.

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Guest post by Cheryl McDonnell, who writes: “I have been living with disabilities for 27 years – my own and those of my daughter. We were in an accident when my daughter was 6 months old. Our first encounter with exclusion was the day we left hospital; a doctor suggested my daughter should go to a home. I followed his advice and took her to my home.”

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Guest post by Miranda Tooth (student award 2014-15)
My cousin has an intellectual disability. This is not how I think of her though. Instead, it’s her bubbly, enthusiastic and loving nature that first comes to my mind. Some of the things I have learnt from her, and also (more recently) from my combined degree course in psychology and social work are about the importance of social inclusion, the need to challenge assumptions, and that identity is more than (dis-)ability. These are the issues I discuss in my essay….Miranda Tooth.

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Guest post by Brett Allen, winner of inaugural 2020socialjustice student award 2013-14.
Children raised by gay and lesbian parents develop in much the same way as children raised by a mother and a father. So, why does the law discriminate? Same-sex parents and their children would be better placed if they did not have to deal with prejudice and stigma and could choose to marry, argues Brett Allen.
(NOTE: Essay on same topic by Talia Meltzer, award winner 2016-17, added subsequently.)

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Guest post by Katie Webster, highly commended student award.
Those “who’ve come across the seas” over the last couple of decades, as asylum seekers, have not been given the “fair go” the country prides itself on. We need to be social justice advocates, Katie Webster argues, and “stay strong in working to restore compassion across Australia.”

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Guest post by Michael John Dennis
Bullying has diminished my life, and for a very long time I turned sharply inward. I was going to use a pseudonym in writing this guest post, but silencing and self-silencing are part of the problem, and so I decided to use my own name instead…Michael John Dennis.

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