Welcome to the Safe Home for Life eNewsletter
Welcome to the first edition of the Safe Home for Life eNewsletter.
We’ll be using this eNewsletter to let you know
about the latest program updates and how you
can be involved. I encourage you to forward this
newsletter on and share it with your colleagues.
It’s been a busy start to the year and, along with
our colleagues across the districts and our
service partners, we’re making real progress.
Practice First, our model for child protection in
NSW, has been successfully rolled-out to an additional 14 sites, and 28 of the
73 funded casework support workers have joined FACS and are making great
contributions across the state.
In our Information and Communication Technology (ICT) space, the
requirements gathering work for ChildStory has concluded. Following the IT
Showcase Event in February 2015, two of the district prototypes have now
progressed into proof of concept stage – SingleView and Resource
Management. The roll-out of Patchwork across four key districts is also gaining
momentum, with Murrumbidgee District coming on board this month and
Sydney and South Western Sydney preparing for their launch in the coming
weeks.
Get in touch
We’re continuing to engage with our partners across the sector with briefings,
meetings, and forums. If you’d like to have to the team come and meet with you
or present on Safe Home for Life, please contact us via the details below.
With so much happening in this space, I encourage you to get in touch. For our
staff, we’re on Yammer. For our government and non-government partners, get
in touch via email on SafeHomeForLifeReform@facs.nsw.gov.au, by phone on
9716 2836, or subscribe to the ChildStory Blog for regular updates.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your energy
and openness in the implementation of Safe Home for Life reforms to date. As
our work continues to evolve, I ask that you remain curious and hopeful, and
use the relationships that you have with families and other agencies to help
achieve positive outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.
Kind regards,
Maree Walk
Deputy Secretary, Programs and Service Design
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Alternative dispute resolution
Alternative dispute resolution has been given increased prominence within the
NSW child protection system through the changes to the Children and Young
Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 that came into effect on 29 October
2014. Chapter 15A of the Act establishes a legal framework for using
alternative dispute resolution in the child protection system.
Alternative dispute resolution is a process where an impartial person helps
other people reach an agreement. It covers mediation, reconciliation, family
group conferencing, and dispute resolution conferences. It is aimed at
improving outcomes for children and young people by engaging families in the
development and implementation of strategies to address care and protection
concerns for their child.
Under the Safe Home for Life reforms, Legal Aid has received funding to
provide mediation for contact disputes that arise after final orders have been
made for children and young people on care orders. This will benefit children
and young people through more timely decision making without the need for
court involvement, unless it is necessary. Ideally, all contact disputes should be
referred to Legal Aid to be considered for mediation. Referrals for mediation
must be made using the Legal Aid request for mediation form and returned by
email to ADR@legalaid.nsw.gov.au.
Family group conferencing
Family group conferencing is a family focused form of alternative dispute
resolution that strengthens partnerships between families and encourages
greater parental decision making and responsibility. The department has
developed a model for family group conferencing (see PDF attached), based
on the New Zealand model. It should be noted, however, that participation of
parents and families is voluntary.
Corena Sloper, Project Lead, Alternative Dispute Resolution said “We are
excited to commence a staged implementation of family group conferencing
across four districts. This will allow us to be flexible when implementing the
model to take account of district needs and characteristics.”
The initial four districts are Northern NSW, Illawarra/Shoalhaven, Western
NSW, and Murrumbidgee.
For more information, email SafeHomeForLifeReform@facs.nsw.gov.au.
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Casework support workers lighten the load
As part of the Safe Home for Life reforms, $26 million was provided to fund
73 new casework support worker positions.
To date, 28 positions have been recruited to, with an additional 45 positions
currently being recruited to fill vacancies across the state.
The new casework support workers have a variety of backgrounds and
experiences and have undertaken a blended learning program to help them
support the day-to-day work of child protection caseworkers. Their training
included online modules, workplace-based activities, and face-to-face
workshops.
The creation of the new positions will lighten the day-to-day administrative
duties of caseworkers so they can spend less time on administrative duties
and more time working with children and young people at risk of harm, and
their families.
More face-to-face assessments by caseworkers will result in positive
outcomes for vulnerable families, fewer children reported at risk of
significant harm, and fewer children re-reported.
Casework support workers will undertake tasks to assist with case planning
and documentation, such as maintaining client records and supervising low
risk families. They will also support case visits by coordinating logistical
arrangements for meetings and will work with caseworkers to meet day-today team priorities.
To find out more about the vacancies, visit the FACS website.
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Practice First expands to an additional 14 sites
Under the Safe Home for Life reforms, funding was provided to expand
Practice First, the Department of Family and Community Services’ model for
child protection service delivery, to an additional 14 sites, including 13
Community Services Centres and one Child and
Family District Unit.
Approximately 300 staff have been briefed through
three days of induction and motivational
interviewing training. With the expansion to the
additional sites, Practice First is now operating in
38 of the 82 Community Services Centres across
the state.
Practice First is aimed at achieving safety for children through skilful practice,
shared management of risk and genuine relationships with families and
communities. The focus of Practice First is on changing the practice culture
across the spectrum of work with families including assessment, intervention
and collaboration with partner agencies.
Practice First Community Services Centres continue to report a sense of better
outcomes for children and families.
Managers' Client Services from a number of Practice First Community Services
Centres report seeing improved working relationships with families and say
they have successfully kept children at home when previously they may have
been removed. The families we work with have also said they feel more
respected and supported and that our practitioners give them hope for their
future.
Elaine Thomson, Acting Director Practice Quality, said that group supervision is
proving to be a great bridge to working with partner agencies in a more
collaborative way that results in more creative and responsive outcomes for
families.
“Many Community Services Centres are regularly sharing their supervision
sessions with colleagues from partner agencies and our colleagues across the
sector are embracing this joint work and value the benefits of collaboration,”
she said.
To find out more about Practice First, email
officeofseniorpractitioner@facs.nsw.gov.au or contact the Safe Home for Life
reform team at SafeHomeForLifeReform@facs.nsw.gov.au.
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ChildStory
ChildStory is our $100 million program to
replace the IT systems our caseworkers use,
allowing them to spend more time with
children, young people and families – and
less time at their desks.
Rather than simply collecting data, our new IT systems will allow FACS,
families, and our government and non-government partners to tell a child’s
story.
ChildStory has three key projects:
1. Building new systems and replacing the old ones
ChildStory is an ‘ecosystem’ of technology solutions that will help our
frontline staff to see more families and spend less time in the office.
2. District-led technology solutions
We are working with our district partners to rapidly design, prototype and
test new technology solutions that meet local community needs.
3. Maintaining current technology
New technology takes time to build and we must make sure our current
systems are the best they can be. We are putting significant time and
resources into making sure our staff and partners can rely on our current
systems while we build new solutions.
Get involved!
We have created a blog where you can stay up-to-date with all the latest
information on the ChildStory program: www.childstory.net.au.
Our blog is a place to see what is happening in the program – what tools are
being developed, who is testing them, what they think about them and what you
can expect into the future.
It has been developed for our staff, our government and non-government
partners; people who work with children and families to keep children safe;
vendors who want to know what we are up to; and others who are interested in
the way IT systems can be designed, prototyped and built to make real
differences in supporting children, young people, and their families.
You can also subscribe to receive email updates on the ChildStory program on
the blog.
The ChildStory blog is all about bringing you into the process of development –
we hope you will take the opportunity to get involved!
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District IT solutions
Following the IT Event in October last year, the ChildStory team has partnered
closely with our districts and vendors to quickly prototype and test a number of
ideas to help improve outcomes for children, young people and their families.
The projects focused on the following conceptual prototypes:
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Single View of a Child
Patchwork
My eBook
productivity and field
assessment tools
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interactive knowledge capture
resource management and
case planning
contact care
a "digital suitcase" to improve
the leaving care process.
The districts worked closely with prototype vendors between November 2014 and
February 2015 in a highly collaborative process with strong involvement from
caseworkers, NGOs and other agencies involving a range of meetings, workshops,
and feedback sessions to gather detailed knowledge of their needs and to test the
prototype concepts in the field.
This great collaborative work culminated with a ChildStory District Showcase on 5
February 2015, where FACS staff from across the state got a first hand look at the
new ideas.
From prototype to 'proof of concept'
Two solutions have been selected to move into a proof of concept stage.
1. Single View of a Child enables quick access to a narrative about a child and
the work we are doing with them, and can be a platform for leaving care planning
and a child's "digital suitcase."
2. Resource Management gives better visibility of key dates, allocation levels,
tasks and actions across teams and will provide information for managers when
allocating. It helps keep our focus on seeing more children and families.
These solutions not only have the potential to make an immediate impact, but are
critical in designing the range of broader technical solutions the ChildStory program
will deliver. You can find out more about the two solutions and the ChildStory
program on the ChildStory blog.
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Links and key resources
Click on the links below to access key links and resources relating to Safe
Home for Life.
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ChildStory Blog
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Safe Home for Life website
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What is guardianship?
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Becoming a guardian - what is the process?
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Guardianship orders - information for parents
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