1. CAFWAA PRACTICE SYMPOSIUM
WHEN CARE IS NOT ENOUGH
Rydges Eagle Hawk Resort 2003
Canberra September 2003
AGENCY SHOWCASE:
BARNARDOS AUSTRALIA
Achieving stability in foster care through a specialist approach: Barnardos Temporary Family Care and Find A Family programs
Deirdre
Deirdre Cheers, Senior Manager South East Sydney
Tina Smith, Senior Manager Adoption and Permanent Care
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2. Barnardos -
Is a major Child Welfare Agency. Most of our programs are in NSW and ACT with small services in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.
Services are provided to 7,000 children per year; approximately 1,000 entries per year to Out-of-Home Care.
Is involved in major advocacy work, for example the promotion and provision of LAC, LACES and SCARF.
Is involved in a high level of research with Universities internationally, in the areas of Child Protection, Preventive Services and Out-of-Home Care. Find a Family (FaF) have a 10 year longitudinal study in progress.
Deirdre
interstate services
no’s in s/t and l/t services
LAC etc
research as important and we can only do with grants, industry partnerships etc
student units etc-FAF, TFC recent
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3. History of Permanency Planning within Barnardos Australia
Current CEO appointed.
Permanency Planning: review of all Children in Foster Care and Research undertaken.
Find-a-Family set up based on UK Family Finders Programs.
Temporary Family Care auspiced.
Adoption Agency for primary aged children; extended to 2 years+ at DoCS request.
Permanency Planning incorporated by all programs, part of Board Strategic Plan.
Tina
LV taking over and clear focus on specialist programs
planning for children in care (generic service prior to LV)
some kids were committal to care
need to move to permanency planning for children in care long time
integrated the service
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4. Permanency Planning
“Permanency Planning is generally defined as time-limited, goal directed work, which aims to help children live with nurturing adults who offer continuity and an opportunity for life time relationships.”
Maluccio
Tina
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5. Barnardos and Permanency for Children
Our view of Permanency Planning has been formed by
Evidence of research world-wide
Experience in providing family support and temporary family care
Experience of our Specialist Permanent Care Program (1984) and the outcomes for children
Feedback from adults who have grown up in Barnardos’ care
Tina
why do we do what we do
research material
success rate etc
Jackson and Thomas book
Thoburn
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6. Children’s well-being depends on both a “Sense of Permanency” and also
a sense of their own “Identity”.
Tina
for children these 2 issues really important
children at home-get from part of family environment
children in care-need to understand where they come from, identity etc
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7. Permanency and Identity
PERMANENCY means
IDENTITY means
SELF - ESTEEM
(The capacity to grow and make new and satisfying relationships as an adult)
Belonging
Family Life
Being Loved
Loving
Knowing about Past Relationships
Fitting the Present with
the Past
Appropriate Contact with
Important People from the Past
Being Valued as the Person you ARE
Knowing about Birth Family
Security
Thoburn
Tina
l/t out of home care needs to give security- belonging , identity, permanency
Thoburn gives model of understanding
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8. Permanency with Family is First Choice
Support families to rear their children
Children’s Family Centres
Youth Services
Counselling Services
Community Development
Accommodation Services
Child Care
Temporary Family Care
Deirdre
SCARF
assessment tools and models
care versus support
who is the client-child or family
range of services, one stop shop etc, Children’s Family Centres
to get permanency you need to provide a menu of services (if not direct, then provide for brokerage etc etc
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9. Temporary Family Care is more than short term foster care
therapeutic approach
family support
parenting enhancement
Deirdre
meaning of therapeutic
role of “professionals”
does therapeutic mean clinical vis a vis service delivery, setting/s in which services are delivered, etc etc
what was there before Temporary Family Care? Generic versus specialist services, residential care etc
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10. Permanency for children in Temporary Family Care means:
Carers recruited for their specific family support work skills.
Direct contact between parents and carers in the home of the carer.
Casework presumption of intensive restoration work, unless court order indicates otherwise.
Attention to children’s needs for STABILITY and CONTINUITY of care.
Enhanced carer payment.
24 hour carer support.
Deirdre
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11. TFC Service Components
immediate care (crisis care)
planned periodic care (weekend care)
24/7 intake service response
Deirdre
beeper
frequency of weekend care
role of shared care
catchment area
contact in home of carers, modelling etc etc
average lengths of stay in s/t care
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12. How does Temporary Family Care make permanency work?
Care Planning
partnership with parents
retaining high level contact with parents until legal orders indicate otherwise
maintaining continuity (school, friends, extended family)
Deirdre
frequency of contact as related to age of the child, eg infants need contact every day
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13. Permanency for Children in Out-of-Home Care until 18 years
Find-a-Family specialises in services to children under 12 years on referral.
Find A Family works to find adoptive and permanent foster care families for hard to place children who have been removed by the Courts from their birth families.
Children are maintained in sibling groups and are placed with culturally appropriate carers.
Tina
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14. What does Permanency mean to Children in Find-a-Family?
Belonging, as well as security in a loving relationship.
Family membership until adult life.
Tina
why until adult life?
Issues of short versus long stays for children, differences between them etc,
why matching and commitment is important
unconditional care
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15. Being loved and loving
The critical nature of a secure attachment to primary Carers in infancy and early childhood, for normal development of an adult, is now fully accepted.
Find-a-Family’s experience is that resilience in children who have had a very poor early attachment can be enhanced by providing secure, loving, accepting relationships in the middle childhood years.
Trust in the placement arrangements increases the capacity for Carers to build loving relationships not disrupted by the fear of loss.
Tina
issues around under 5’s and attachment
resilience
carer’s issues about commitment and need for stability and security
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16. Find-a-Family - The program has been operating since 1985.
Adoption and Permanent Family Care
The program has been operating since 1985.
Over 320 children have found permanent families.
One third of these children have been adopted [106 children as at April 2003]. (As against Australian average of 0.7 [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare ]).
The average age at adoption is 10 years.
Tina
something re adoption and it’s bad PR
dispensation of consent
differences between children’s attitudes and adult’s attitudes to adoption
focus on children or focus on adult’s rights?
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17. Characteristics of the Children likely to be referred to Find-a-Family
Likely to have had a disrupted care history, and have experienced many moves and be hard to place.
Under the parental responsibility of the Minister.
Likely to have been physically, emotionally and/or sexually abused and neglected.
Aged years but older/younger in special cases.
Likely to be part of a sibling group.
Likely to have emotional and testing behavioural problems, and educational difficulties.
May have learning difficulties and attend a special school.
Tina
Deirdre maybe put in comment re these are similar to the children who will have been in TFCs (some TFC children will end up referred to FAF)
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18. Characteristics of the Parents
All are highly vulnerable.
Many have been in welfare care themselves.
Many have mental health, D & A and disability issues.
Most are economically disadvantaged and socially isolated.
All have a long history within the Welfare and Court Systems.
Most feel angry at the system.
Many are abusive and hostile to social welfare workers.
Tina
ditto TFC parents
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19. Qualities we are looking for-FAF Carers
Able to make a long-term commitment.
Able to make an attachment to a “difficult to love” child.
Able to redirect children from aggressive or self destructive behaviour.
Flexible, with patience and energy.
Can recognise the importance of identity to a child.
Tina
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20. How does Find-a-Family make Permanency work ?
Specialist Service - Specialist Staff
Case Management responsibility
Matched placements
Re-sourcing Carers
Direct work with children
Work with birth families
Using the LAC case management system
Arranging Adoptions
After Care and Post Adoption Casework
Tina
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21. Contact
Contact involves a range of activities, from information exchange to face to face visiting.
Contact is important for:
Understanding of identity.
Continuing pre-existing relationships.
Reality testing.
Tina
Issues between older and younger children at time of coming into care
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22. HOW SUCCESSFUL IS BARNARDOS AUSTRALIA IN PROVIDING PERMANENCY FOR CHILDREN VIA TEMPORARY FAMILY CARE AND FIND-A-FAMILY PROGRAMS?
Deirdre
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23. TEMPORARY FAMILY CARE PROGRAMS
During the 5 year period 1/7/ /6/2003, Barnardos provided TFC placements for 1,945 individual children, and a total of 12,897 episodes of care. Two thirds of all care episodes were for weekend care-children supported in permanency placements with their own family. Of the remaining one third of placements (short term care, Court placements etc), 85% resulted in children returning home.
Deirdre
court placements taking so long
of the 15% who don’t go home from s/t care not all go to FAF
problem re s/t court orders
new legislation-meant to make a difference but has it really?
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24. Find-a-Family - 80% of children are still in their first placement.
106 have been adopted of which:
51 made with full consent of parents and/or young people who have been in the program for a number of years.
47 have involved some dispensation action.
7 contested (5 only to full hearing).
15 applications involved children over 12 years who had been with their Carers for more than 5 years.
Only their consent was required.
Tina
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25. CAFWAA PRACTICE SYMPOSIUM
WHEN CARE IS NOT ENOUGH
Rydges Eagle Hawk Resort 2003
Canberra September 2003
AGENCY SHOWCASE:
BARNARDOS AUSTRALIA
Achieving stability in foster care through a specialist approach: Barnardos Temporary Family Care and Find A Family programs
Deirdre
Deirdre Cheers, Senior Manager South East Sydney
Tina Smith, Senior Manager Adoption and Permanent Care
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