My teaching responsibilities predominantly focus in working with children and families in contexts of complexity.

Carmela is a Lecturer in Social Work. She was an Inaugural postdoctoral research fellow funded by SA Government’s Early Intervention Research Directorate (EIRD), which was established in response to the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission. The fellowship program will undertake research that will inform the development of more effective early intervention strategies that promote the health, safety and wellbeing of children in South Australia.

More specifically, the research agenda for the postdoctoral program will focus on:

• Understanding the intersections of domestic and family violence and child protection work.
• Understanding the complex lived experiences of families seeking help for domestic and family violence.
• Exploring, documenting and evaluating practice interventions that respond to domestic and family violence and child protection concerns.
• Identifying workforce capacity and development, (including understanding complexity and being trauma informed).

The focus of the postdoctoral program is to engage with services including the Department for Child Protection and the Women’s Safety Services South Australia and have an impact on practice to improve outcomes for children and their families and strengthen the professional judgement and decision-making of practitioners.

In addition to the EIRD research agenda Carmela is also involved in projects centring on:

• Understanding the meaning of safety and wellbeing for Aboriginal children as defined and articulated by Aboriginal people and communities
• Building practice frameworks from the knowledge and practice wisdom of child and family practitioners
• Child centred practice
• Identifying key elements in integrated service responses that promote the visibility and accountability of perpetrators of domestic and family violence and contribute to improved safety outcomes for children and women.