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Restoration Initiatives

ACWA Reunification Forum 6 December 2007 By Linda Mallett Executive Director Child and Family Welfare. Restoration Initiatives. DoCS commitment. DoCS is committed to improving the range and quality of services for children and young people in OOHC with a focus on Permanency planning

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Restoration Initiatives

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  1. ACWA Reunification Forum 6 December 2007 By Linda Mallett Executive Director Child and Family Welfare Restoration Initiatives

  2. DoCS commitment • DoCS is committed to improving the range and quality of services for children and young people in OOHC with a focus on • Permanency planning • Improvements in foster, relative and kinship care • Building a robust service system

  3. DoCS Corporate plan 2004/5- 2008/9 • Objectives and results for OOHC • Children and young people in permanent placements • Children and young people restored to their family • Supporting children and young people with high needs • Improving the OOHC System

  4. OOHC Major Project • Established in June 2006 • Involves cross departmental projects involving: • Research and analysis • Planning and evaluation • Funding and Performance Monitoring • Policy and service model development • Implementation in Regions

  5. Funding and Performance Monitoring • $617 million in OOHC funding • EOI to be concluded early 2008 • Capacity in Aboriginal organisations is being enhanced • Costing manual produced • Service provision guidelines being developed • Performance Monitoring Framework developed • OOHC Program Guidelines published

  6. Research Agenda • Provides the evidence base to inform policy, practice and program development and improvement • Guided by DoCS Research Advisory Council • Overarching focus: • “ what interventions and practice approaches lead to the desired results for clients of DoCS and in what context or circumstances?”

  7. Research Initiatives • Research to Practice Seminars eg Life pathways and decision making for very young children in care : Professor Harriet Ward • Literature Reviews eg Contact between children in OOHC and their birth families • Research to Practice Updates • Benefit Estimation Database launched • www.community.nsw.gov.au

  8. Policy Initiatives • Permanency Planning Policy • Contact Policy • Restoration Decision-Making Guidelines • Parenting Capacity Assessment • Our Carers for Our Kids: updated training and assessment package for Aboriginal carers

  9. Practice changes: Permanency Planning Project • Project goals: • Increase capacity of practitioners to make earlier and better decisions about a child’s future • Decisions about restoration made within 6 months for children under 2 years, within 12 months for older children • Link to evidence about attachment and placement stability • Range of permanency options considered, including restoration & adoption • Four stage rollout of the Project is underway with a focus on children 0-2 years • Expansion to include older children and Aboriginal children being planned

  10. Family Preservation Model: service elements • Intensive support to family member/s • Assistance managing challenging behaviours • Coordination of specialist assessments • Development of practical skills (e.g. budgeting) • Access to targeted brokerage funds • Provide or coordinate access to group work and other activities promoting personal development • Referral to less intensive intervention services

  11. Family Preservation Model: service elements for 12 – 15 year olds • Assist in developing living skills • Assist with developing interpersonal skills • Assist with access to suitable educational, training and/or pre-employment opportunities • Provide information, referrals and advocacy • Assist in developing a family reconnection plan to support positive re-integration over time

  12. Evaluation • Ernst and Young have been engaged to conduct the OOHC program evaluation • A performance measure that will be tracked is • ‘%of children in OOHC with a case plan goal of restoration who: • are restored to their parents within 12 months of entering care • do not return to OOHC during the subsequent 12 months’

  13. Other initiatives • Recruitment of additional 300 DoCS OOHC caseworkers to fill new positions • Participation in Children’s Guardian Accreditation and Quality improvement program • Centralised foster carer recruitment and marketing campaign: 2,000 expressions of interest received

  14. Restoration is an important strategy in the achievement of OOHC policy goals: • To help parents regain care of their children • To provide care in a family-like environment for children who cannot live at home • To maintain the existing ties that children and young people have with their families and communities.

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