Children, Young People and Family Service Providers
Newsletter - October 2015
Department of Health and Human Services
To: Children, Young People and Family Service Providers:
 Child FIRST and Family Services
 Early Childhood Development Coordinators
 Cradle to Kinder and Aboriginal Cradle to Kinder
 Early Parenting Centres
 Parenting Assessment and Skill Development Services (PASDs)
Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare
Children's Resource Program
Homeless Children's Support Services
Youth Support:
 Finding Solutions
 Youth Support Service
 Adolescent Family Violence Program
DHS:
 Local Connections Teams
 Child Protection, and
 Service Design and Development Branch
Introduction
Welcome to our Children, Young People and Family Service Providers Newsletter.
This newsletter has been prepared by the Early Pathways Unit of the Human Services Design and Development
Branch, Department of Health and Human Services, to provide updates in statewide policy and service
developments to our funded organisations and department programs that deliver services to vulnerable children,
young people and families. We hope that you find this informative and useful to the valuable work in your
organisations.
We encourage you to please distribute this to staff and managers across your services.
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 1
New Standards Keeping Victorian Children Safe ......................................................................................................... 2
Robin Clark Protecting Children Awards – announced in Child Protection Week 6-12 September ............................. 3
Supported Playgroups .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Patchwork ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Beyond 18: The Longitudinal Study on Leaving Care .................................................................................................. 4
Grants for National Youth Week 2016 now open ......................................................................................................... 4
CFCA: Workforce and sector development focus on: Early Intervention, Service Integration and Outcomes .......... 5
IRIS newsletter #47 ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
New Standards Keeping Victorian Children Safe
New mandatory Child Safe Standards that ensure all organisations dealing with children have appropriate
responses in place for allegations of child abuse and misconduct have been released online.
The Standards were developed in extensive consultation with around 160 government and community sector
stakeholders.
They equip organisations with the tools to prevent abuse and respond appropriately if the abuse of a child is
alleged to have occurred.
While many organisations already have policies in place, these guidelines will ensure that minimum standards
are implemented across the board.
The standards will come into force in two phases:
 From 1 January 2016 the Standards will apply to organisations that receive government funding and
regulation and provide services for children
 From 1 January 2017 other organisations that provide services or facilities for children but don’t receive
government funding such as sporting groups and child entertainment providers will need to meet the
standards.
Training, information sessions and tools to help organisations create and maintain child safe environments under
the standards will be provided.
Legislation to mandate the standards across all organisations dealing with children in Victoria will be introduced
later this year.
For more information visit www.dhs.vic.gov.au/about-the-department/documents-and-resources/policies,guidelines-and-legislation/child-safe-standards.
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Robin Clark Protecting Children Awards – announced in Child Protection
Week 6-12 September
The Minister for Families & Children officially launched Child Protection Week at the Robin Clark Protecting
Children Awards on Tuesday 8 September 2015.
This year the department’s award partners; CREATE Foundation, National Association for Prevention of Child
Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), the Commission for Aboriginal Children and Young People and the Commission for
Children and Young People came together with child protection staff from the Department of Health and Human
Services.
The Awards recognise the valuable contribution of foster and kinship carers, the broader community and staff
across the varied spectrum of child protection and family services, to achieve the protection and wellbeing of
children and young people, and their families in Victoria.
For a complete list of award winners visit the Robin Clark Protecting Children Awards page on this site.
Supported Playgroups
Supported Playgroups funded by the Department of Education and Training target families from disadvantaged
backgrounds with children from 0 up to 4 years of age. Families are eligible if a family member (i.e. member of the
household) holds a Health Care Card or equivalent (for refugee or migrant families). ATSI families and families
providing kinship care are also eligible.
Supported Playgroups are run by qualified facilitators and deliver the smalltalk program, which has a focus on
improving parent-child interaction and delivers outcomes related to early learning, including a more stimulating
home learning environment. The intervention is also designed to assist parents in developing the skills and
confidence they need to support their children’s learning and development.
In addition to their participation in a Supported Playgroup, or for purposes of initial engagement with the possibility
of attending a Supported Playgroup later, families may also be eligible for more intensive At-Home Support.
The local governments listed, in the attachment, all deliver Supported Playgroups. Depending on their past
association with smalltalk, they will be in various stages of implementing the new model of Supported Playgroups,
which was introduced in June 2015. They will all be setting up and/or reinforcing their referral pathways into and
out of Supported Playgroups.
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Patchwork
Patchwork is a simple web application that allows professionals across government and community sectors to
understand who else is working with families and individuals. It gives workers essential contact details so they can
work together. Patchwork promotes shared responsibility by agencies in working with families / clients who are in
complex and / or challenging situations, and assists in coordination between agencies. As Patchwork is web based
it has the advantage of easily coordinating practitioners across programs and geographic areas. (Note that
Patchwork is a complementary tool to support practice and does not replace the more detailed client record)
The Municipal Association of Victoria has recently trained all Enhanced Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Nurses
from across the state in the use of Patchwork and will be training School Nurses in September. You may be
interested in finding out more about Patchwork. See attached more detailed paper on Patchwork in Victoria and
how agencies and workers can join.
http://www.mav.asn.au/policy-services/social-community/children-families/Pages/patchwork.aspx
Beyond 18: The Longitudinal Study on Leaving Care
Young Victorians aged 16-19 with a care experience are invited to complete Australian Institute of Family Studies
(AIFS) online survey.
AIFS need your help to get young people involved in the study. If you work with or know anyone who has spent
time in foster care, kinship care, lead tenant, residential care or permanent care, and is aged 16-19 in 2015, please
ask them to take part.
The Beyond 18 study aims to find better ways to support young people both while they’re in care and after they
leave care. Access the survey.
Grants for National Youth Week 2016 now open
In 2016, National Youth Week will run from 8 to 17 April and grants
for youth-led events and activities are now open.
The one-off grants can be used to develop and hold events like art
shows, music concerts and other activities that celebrate young
people’s achievements and get them involved with their community.
The grants of up to $2000 are jointly funded by the Victorian and Commonwealth Governments. Organisations like
local government, community organisations and schools can apply for grants to support events and activities that
are planned and staged by young people, for young people.
Applications for funding close on Friday 13 November 2015.
To download the National Youth Week 2016 Grant Guidelines and the Application form, please visit the Youth
Central website: www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/nyw
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CFCA: Workforce and sector development focus on: Early Intervention,
Service Integration and Outcomes
Report - Better Systems, Better Chances: A Review of Research and Practice for Prevention and Early
Intervention
This report from Australian Research Alliance for children and Youth (ARACY) reviews the evidence on prevention
and early intervention programs for better outcomes for children and youth. Report-better-systems-better-chancesreview-research-and-practice-prevention-and-early
Report - Integrated Services Delivery: Finding the “Right Doors” for Your Clients
This report from KPMG explores the opportunities for program and service integration to improve the delivery of
health and human services. Report-integrated-services-delivery-finding-right-doors-your-clients
Resource - Implementing routine outcome measurement in community managed organisations
This guidebook provides advice on how to collect routine outcome measurement information in community
managed mental health services. Resource - Implementing routine outcome measurement in community managed
organisations
Conference - Think Outcomes 2016 12-13 April 2016, Melbourne VIC
The conference will explore best practices in the field of outcomes measurement and the challenges and
opportunities in the sector, and will provide participants with an understanding of what change can emerge from the
outcomes we measure. Conference - Think Outcomes 2016 12-13 April 2016, Melbourne VIC
IRIS newsletter #47
The latest IRIS newsletter includes: details of latest upgrade 1.11.0 which relates to Client Statistics report, Project
statistics report, Family Services, Kindergarten details, SASS, Financial Counselling new Referral source
Moneyhelp.
Family Services - ChildFIRST agencies in same catchment must run the same versions, and 1-10-0 referrals and
track-backs not yet imported must be imported before doing the upgrade to 1.11.0, and all agencies in catchment
to upgrade before resuming the referral process.
The newsletter also has regular details for training, Data export due dates.
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Please feel free to send this newsletter onto all staff within your organisation.
Regards
Early Pathways Team,
Human Services Design Branch
Department Health and Human Services Victoria
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