Family/Whanau Caregiver Assessment and Approval

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Family/Whanau Caregiver Assessment and Approval
Engaging with families to achieve
better outcomes for children and young people
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What the workshop looks like

• Todays workshop gives us an opportunity for
• Further discussion and questions about the new
  family/whanau caregiver assessment and approval
  process
• Deciding how well undertake family/whanau
  searching
• How to undertake a family/whanau caregiver
  assessment
• Using the Three Houses and Core Needs of Children
  to inform/guide discussions during the
  family/whanau caregiver assessment hui
• Development of a site action plan where to from
  here for staff?

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When children and young people cant stay with
their parents

• As a companion to the new family/whanau caregiver
  assessment process, a key information has been
  developed to guide social workers in situations
  when it is not safe for the child to remain with
  their parents but where a safe placement can be
  located for them without Child, Youth and Family
  needing to secure custody through the Family
  Court
• Even when a child is not in the Chief Executives
  custody Child, Youth and Family still has a
  responsibility to ensure the people taking on the
  care of the child or young person are the people
  who will best met their needs and keep them safe
• This key information outlines the minimum
  requirements for assuring safety as well as ideas
  on how to manage concerns and support the
  placement
• This key information will be discussed in more
  detail later in this workshop

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The new family/whanau caregiver assessment process

• These parts will be familiar to you as we already
  do them
• Safety checks Police, CYRAS, TRIM, ID,
  referees, medical, home visit
• Assessment report
• Approval delegations for convictions
• These parts of the process are new
• Family/whanau caregiver assessment hui
• Stronger focus on supporting the placement
• Roles of the childs social worker and caregiver
  social worker
• Self-assessment for prospective caregivers
• Provisional approval

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Which assessment process?

• From March 2012 Child, Youth and Family will have
  distinct caregiver
• assessment pathways for non-family/whanau (Ways
  to care) and family/whanau
• It will usually seem really clear which
  assessment process best fits a particular
• situation, but in others it may be more
  difficult. When unsure consider the following
• Do the child or young persons parents think of
  the prospective caregiver as family/whanau?
• Does the child or young person think of the
  prospective caregiver as family/whanau?
• Use your professional judgement, consult with
  your supervisor and record the rationale for your
  decision
• Key Information Which caregiver assessment
  process do I use?
• provides more guidance.

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Family/whanau assessment hui

• Brings together the prospective family/whanau
  caregivers, other family members (including the
  child or young person and their parents) and the
  child or young persons social worker to discuss
  the suitability and capability of the prospective
  caregivers to provide safe care
• Is held as a stand-alone meeting or following
  another family gathering (e.g. family group
  conference)
• Largely replaces the existing interview process
  (although additional interviews are completed
  outside of the hui when concerns or sensitive
  issues arise)
• Information for medical and referee checks is
  gathered during the assessment hui
• The Three Houses can be used to guide discussions
  and help everyone to stay focussed on safe care
  for the child or young person

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THE THREE HOUSES
Adapted by OCSW for use with prospective
family/whanau caregivers (April 2010, Child,
Youth and Family)
VULNERABILITIES
STRENGTHS
NEXT STEPS
Support needs, agencies
Community including work
Friends/Peers
Community including work
How will the care arrangement be
supported (e.g. any training, material needs,
special needs of the child or young person,
contact with other family/whanau members)
Extended family/whanau support (paternal and
maternal) Knowledge of childs
needs (understanding of the child) Previous
experiences (prospective caregivers own
background and of providing care)
Extended family/whanau support (paternal and
maternal) Knowledge of childs
needs (understanding of the child) Previous
experiences (prospective caregivers own
background and of providing care)
Family/Extended Family
Family/Extended Family
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Supporting the placement

• A support package for the placement is developed
  during the assessment hui which will identify
  what will help the prospective caregivers best
  support and care for the child or young person
• This support package is written up and included
  in the caregiver assessment report
• The support package is reviewed as part of the
  review of the childs case plan (see the Caring
  for Children and Young People policy) i.e. every
  three months
• Caregiver reviews continue as per the Caregiver
  Support and Review policy

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Roles and responsibilities

• Family/whanau caregiver assessments are led by
  the child or young persons social worker
• Someone other than the childs social worker
  facilitates the family/whanau assessment hui
• The child or young persons social worker writes
  up the assessment report
• The caregiver social worker provides ongoing
  support to the caregiver from the point of
  approval
• Depending on their availability, the caregiver
  social worker can become involved in the
  assessment process at an earlier stage (i.e. to
  attend the assessment hui and/or assist with
  completion of assessment tasks)
• Roles around who completes which tasks in an
  out-of-area caregiver assessment situation are
  clearly defined

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Self-assessment for prospective caregivers

• As part of the assessment process, the
  prospective family/whanau caregiver completes a
  self-assessment which helps identify their
  strengths and needs as well as their expectations
  and responsibilities as caregivers for Child,
  Youth and Family
• The prospective caregiver is provided with a copy
  of the Caregiver Handbook at the beginning of the
  caregiver assessment process and given whatever
  assistance they require in order to complete
  their self-assessment
• The family/whanau member will not be considered
  for approval until they have returned their
  completed self-assessment

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Provisional approval

• Replaces emergency approval
• Only occurs in exceptional situations where a
  family/whanau member has been identified as the
  best placement for a child and there is a need
  for this placement to occur with some urgency
• Requires completion of safety checks Police,
  CYRAS, ID and home visit and supervisor
  approval
• Provisional approval is not granted if the
  family/whanau members criminal history or CYRAS
  record suggests the placement may not keep the
  child safe
• The family/whanau assessment hui is held within 5
  working days of provisional approval
• Full approval will be granted within 20 working
  days following the assessment hui

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After today

• This policy comes into effect from March 2012
• This workshop will help you become more familiar
  with the policy, key information documents and
  resources and also determine who will do what on
  site.

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Lets take a closer look
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Swim lanes diagram
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The family/whanau documents

• The family/whanau caregiver assessment and
  approval policy
• Key Information
• Identifying safe care solutions for children and
  young people when they cant stay at home
• Which caregiver assessment process should I use?
• Undertaking the family/whanau caregiver
  assessment
• Incorporating the core needs of children and
  young people into the caregiver assessment
  process
• Resources
• Self-assessment for caregivers
• Family/whanau caregiver assessment report
• Family/whanau caregiver assessment flowchart

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Needs of children and young people in care

• What do children and young people coming into
  care need?
• What are we looking for from family/whanau
  caregivers
• Specifically think about knowledge and qualities
  you would want to see
• How will we evidence this?

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Completing the assessment hui

• Understanding the difference between the
  assessment hui and other meetings
• Who will we invite to the assessment hui and how
  will we find them
• How we will use the Three Houses in the
  assessment hui

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Practice Session

• The Core Needs of Children case study

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Working collaboratively

• The assessment process is led by the child or
  young persons social worker,
• irrespective of whether they are a care and
  protection or youth justice client.
• Its important that we work collaboratively on
  this site to support each other and
• complete safe caregiver assessments for children
  and young people.
• How will we do this on site?
• Who on site can/will facilitate the assessment
  hui?
• How will sites utilise the expertise of caregiver
  social workers when completing family/whanau
  caregiver assessments?
• What skills might staff members need to further
  develop in order to complete this work?
• Develop an action plan to ensure there is a
  shared understanding on site
• about how the process will take effect from March
  2012