Family Support Innovation Projects

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New news
Old news

• The importance of mother-child relationships is
  old news.
• The importance of other family relationships
  (with fathers, siblings, and grandparents) is
  semi-old news.

• The impact of these relationships on the
  development of the brain is new news
• We knew relationships were important and that
  they impacted on behaviour, but
• We now know that nurturing and responsive
  relationships build healthy brain architecture
  that provides a strong foundation for learning,
  behavior, and health
• We also know that when protective relationships
  are not provided, elevated levels of stress
  hormones affect how the brain develops

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Paradigm shifts and outcomes in Victorian child
welfare
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Where we are now

• Demand under control
• Substantiations of Child Abuse (2001-2 to
  2005-6)
• NSW92 (2004-5 to 2005-06)
• QLD 31.4
• VIC -1.6
• Similar pattern for notifications, but continued
  steady growth in children in out of home care

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Todays presentation Part 2
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Family Support Innovation Project

• Typical project 2/3 LGAs
• 175,000 Population
• 3-4M
• 2-3 CSOs
• Target vulnerable children and families
• Single intake point Child FIRST
• Community Based Child Protection Worker(s)
• Client profile v. similar to Child Protection
• Strengths based - but with an eye to safety and
  development

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Family Support Innovation Projects

• Commenced as six LGA based projects will be
  mainstreamed across Victoria by 2007-08
• 100 increase in funding
• Targeted at families that had traditionally
  cycled in and out of child protection
• Loose service design but tight performance
  targets around reducing child protection demand
• Outposted community based child protection worker
• Service approach planned and implemented locally
  based on local analysis of case files

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Family Support Innovation Projects

• Work on a voluntary basis with vulnerable
  families often with a long history of CP
  involvement
• Focus on addressing practical needs
• Can work with some families on a long term basis
• Work with families in their own home strong
  focus on active engagement
• 12 Indigenous projects
• Child centred family focused
• Strengths based but with an eye to
  developmental and safety needs

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Positive Evaluation Findings

• Thus, having examined all of the relevant data,
  we have no reservations in concluding that the
  Family Support Innovation Project program has
  been an outstanding success in achieving its
  objectives of long term and sustainable changes
  in Child Protection system activity in the
  Victorian system.
• The Victorian Family Support Innovation Projects
  Final Evaluation Overview Report, February 2007,
  Monash University

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Child FIRST

• The next stage in a policy driven reform effort
  that aims to
• Ensure that all vulnerable children and their
  families receive priority access to relevant
  services
• Promote earlier and more appropriate referral
  pathways within and between services working with
  vulnerable children and families
• Strengthen service coordination and linkages
  between all services working with vulnerable
  children and their families

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• CHILD FIRST location
• Child and Family Information, Referral and
  Support Team

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When to call Child FIRST

• A referral to Child FIRST may be the best way of
  connecting children, young people and their
  families to the services they need, where there
  are concerns for a childs wellbeing due to
• Significant parenting problems that may affect
  the childs development
• Serious family conflict, including family
  breakdown
• Families are under pressure
• Young, isolated and/or unsupported families
• Significant social or economic disadvantage that
  may impact on a childs care or development

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Child FIRST Service Model

• 25 sub-regional or LGA Child FIRST teams
  (predominantly based on existing primary care
  catchments)
• Providing a consolidated intake capacity on
  behalf of all family services in the local area
• Getting the right support to vulnerable families
  earlier before more serious problems arise
• Build on learning from existing centralised
  family services intakes

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Child FIRST Service Model

• Provide a more accessible and visible intake
  point for vulnerable children and and their
  families
• Supported by onsite community based child
  protection workers
• Larger scale and capacity of new intake teams
  should support development of much stronger
  linkages and pathways with
• Aboriginal services and community
• maternal and child health services
• early childhood education and care
• schools
• adult mental health services
• family violence
• drug and alcohol services.

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Child FIRST Service Model

• Core Functions
• Information and advice
• Initial screening and assessment
• Prioritisation
• Consultation with community child protection
  worker where appropriate
• Holding work (when allocation within Family
  Services not possible)
• Short term interventions/single session work when
  indicated
• Onward referral (to family services or other
  services)

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• After the despair of recent decades, it is
  heartening to report progress in Victoria. The
  incidence of confirmed abuse has begun to
  decline, albeit marginally, as the state
  increases its practical capacity to intervene
  earlier when children are at risk
• The Age, Melbourne, 23 January 2006, Lead
  Editorial, Early intervention and the tide of
  child abuse

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Information sharing and privacy

• Privacy legislation authorises people to share
  information in certain circumstances, e.g.
  Information Privacy Principle 1.2 includes
• With consent
• For the primary or related secondary purpose for
  which is was collected
• To prevent a serious and imminent threat to an
  individuals life, health, safety or welfare
• As required or authorised by or under law
• The Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 is such
  a law containing information sharing
  authorisations and requirements.

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Information sharing authorisations under the CYFA
service agencies

• A Victorian Government Department
• A relevant health service (Health Services Act
  s141)
• A relevant psychiatric service (Mental Health Act
  s120A)
• A body funded to provide a disability service to
  a person eligible under disability legislation
• A body funded to provide a drug or alcohol
  service
• A body funded to provide a family violence
  service
• A sexual assault service
• A local government provided child and family
  service
• A parenting assessment and skills development
  service
• A treatment service for children in care

• Service agencies are authorised to
• make reports and referrals
• respond to consultations from Family Services and
  Child Protection about referrals/reports

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Information sharing authorisations under the CYFA
information holders

• Police
• Government department employees
• School teachers and principals
• Medical Practitioners, Nurses
• Psychologists
• A person in charge of a
• relevant health service
• relevant mental health service
• children's service
• disability service
• drug or alcohol treatment service
• family violence service (R)
• sexual assault service (R)
• parenting assessment skills development
  service(R)
• local government family service (R)
• treatment service for child in care (R)
• A person in charge is the person in charge at
  the location on the day.

• Information holders are authorised to
• Make reports and referrals
• respond to consultations from Family Services
  and Child Protection about referrals/reports
• disclose information voluntarily during post
  CP investigation
• They can be required by Secretary DHS to provide
  information regarding children on protection
  orders

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Information sharing past challenges

• collecting information
• understanding what it means
• Effective communication between professionals

More common than a failure to share information
is the failure to assess the shared information
accurately (Munro 1998)
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Effective information sharing

• Information collection
• Importance of engaging children in conversation
• Looking at past history for details that can
  inform the assessment of current functioning
• Interpreting information
• Being open to changing initial views not
  interpreting information in a way that supports a
  pre-existing opinion of a family
• Communication between professionals
• Communication involves a complex interplay
  between information processing, interpersonal
  relating and interagency collaboration. The need
  to communicate purposefully and with meaning to
  relevant others must be borne by all
  practitioners at all times. (Reder and Duncan
  2003)

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• Further information
• office-for-children.vic.gov.au/ecec
• EMAIL families_at_dhs.vic.gov.au