What would the proposed Out of Home Care Strategy 2015-2020 mean for agencies?

What isthe Out of Home Care Strategy?

Out of home care services in the ACT and around Australia are currently facing many challenges including how to respond to rising demand for out of home care places and difficulties in attracting and retaining foster carers given the changing demographics and lifestyles of Australians.

Over the course of 2013, the Community Services Directorate has been conducting research and talking with stakeholders and staff about future directions for the ACT’s out of home care services. An Issues Paper was released for consultation in August 2013 and a Discussion Paper in November 2013 and written submissions received from a range of organizations and individuals. Many people also participated in consultation forums or other events such as a co-design project. We are now entering a final stage of consultation prior to preparing the Out of Home Care Strategy 2015-20 for government consideration.

A range of consultation sessions have been organized for stakeholders and staff over the course of May 2014. Written submissions are also welcome and feedback needs to be provided by 2 June 2014. Feedback should be provided through the following channels:

Sarah Kirk, Project Officer, Out of Home Care Strategy

Email:

Post: Sarah Kirk

Care and Protection Services

Community Services Directorate

GPO Box 158

Canberra ACT 2601.

You can also email Sarah with any other enquiries about the Strategy or consultation process.

What changes are proposed under the Out of Home Care Strategy 2015-2020 that will affect agencies?

The Out of Home Strategy proposes for non government services to take a greater share of the out of home care business in the ACT.

Non government services will be contracted to provide a continuum of care from kinship care through foster care to proposed professional foster care and residential care placements. This means the ACT Government will be looking for a service or a consortium of services that can provide the full range of placements that children or young people might need enabling a child focused step up/step down placement service.

A major departure from current practice will be the outsourcing of case management for all children and young people in kinship, foster and residential care placements when they are on a long term order (an order until the child or young person turns 18 years) to non government providers. In order to provide greater autonomy for agencies in decision making for children and young people in their care, it is proposed to amend the Children and Young People Act 2008 to enable transfer of parental responsibility to out of home care agencies.

Stakeholder consultations to support the development of the Out of Home Care Strategy reveal that the single most consistent complaint from all participants is that the three way relationship between carers, Care and Protection Services and the out of home care agenciesresults in delays in decision making and communication difficulties and conflict. Transferring parental responsibility to the agencies will enable the agencies to take full responsibility for the majority of children and young person in their care. The exceptions will be those children on short term or interim orders who may be accommodated in a foster or residential care placement with an agency where case responsibility will remain with Care and Protection Services until their future is resolved.

The proposed new arrangements involve a significant transfer of responsibility for statutory functions to the non government sector with associated risk. It will be important for government to be assured that non government providers are providing a quality service which meets the National Out of Home Care Standards. Contract management and quality assurance functions of the Community Services Directorate will be strengthened and it is also proposed to develop a Performance Framework for out of home care and to introduce performance based contracting.

What will performance based contracting mean for out of home care agencies?

A Performance Framework for out of home care will be developed over the coming months in consultation with current providers and Care and Protection Services. It will be reflected in new service contracts and agencies will report regularly on performance against key indicators. Agencies will be positively financially incentivised for achievement of performance targets and will be eligible to receive financial incentives for best practice performance. Agencies can choose to spend their achievement payments on bonuses for staff, system development, service innovation or other relevant service-related activities.

Only one ACT out of home care provider currently provides both foster care and residential care. What will contracting a continuum of care mean for other agencies?

The Government’s desire to contract a continuum of care means that agencies will either need to expand their operations or enter into a consortium with another provider in order to offer the range of services sought. Two additional forms of care will form part of the continuum. Kinship placements for children on long term orders will be outsourced and a new service type, professional foster care, established. Salaried professional foster carers will be employed for a small group of highly troubled children and young people with complex needs.

How will the therapeutic intent of the new system manifest for agencies?

The proposed Strategy is designed to deliver an out of home care system governed by the understanding that all children and young people who enter care have suffered trauma as a consequence of both the circumstances that led them to enter care and the loss of familiar relationships and environments.

The Strategy places the child or young person at the centre and recasts all system activity as supporting a child-focused therapeutic intent. The Strategy aims to achieve a service system based upon positive, safe, healing relationships and practices that are informed by a sound understanding of trauma, attachment and child development. All placements are intended to provide a therapeutic and healing environment for the child, rather than simply a place to live. There will be additional training made available to all participants in the system including carers about trauma informed care.

All children entering care will receive a comprehensive therapeutic assessment conducted by a new role of specialist assessor. A therapeutic plan will be prepared by the assessor in conjunction with the caseworker, carers and/or parents and child or young person and services and funding provided in line with the therapeutic plan. These supports then follow the child from placement to placement.

New therapeutic services will be developed including the Trauma Recovery Service funded in the 2013 Budget and a Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Program.

Will out of home care agencies also be the providers of placement prevention, reunification and contact services?

There will be an increased focus under the Strategy on keeping children and young people at home with their birth families. Additional services will be provided through the Strategy to maintain this focus. They include:

  • A placement prevention service for children and young people in high risk situations to stay at home. The placement prevention service will include an intensive family support program, a new parent and baby unit and resourcing into the Parent Child Interaction Program (PCIP);
  • A reunification service providing dedicated support to birth families so children and young people can return home as quickly and safely as possible; and
  • A contact service that will coach and mentor birth families to ensure contact has a therapeutic purpose.

These new services will be put to tender and out of home care providers may seek to provide the new services. It is likely that other organizations will also bid.

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