“Will They Take my Child?”: Perceptions and Experiences of Child Protection Among Families of Refugee and Asylum Seeker Backgrounds Living in South Australia

This paper reports on interviews with 30 individuals from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, or South Sudan, all of whom had resettled in South Australia. Participants were interviewed about their experiences with and perceptions of child protective services. Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in the development of themes focused on fears of removal, child protection as a threat to families, child protection staff as uncaring, as well as themes focused on both negative and positive experiences with the removal of children. In applying Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological approach, the paper concludes by exploring opportunities for change in child protection systems.