Mallee Child and Youth Area Partnership Forum 9th September 2015

Introduction On the 9th of September 2015, over 30 representatives from the Mallee Youth and Child Area Partnership, the Education sector and the Northern Mallee Community Partnership came together at the Mildura Gold Resort to discuss priorities for working with vulnerable young people, children and their families. The session was facilitated by experienced consultant ,Regina Hill We sought to explore what could be done at a service system level to better support children, young people and families in our community.

Our Approach Our starting point for the workshop was the focus identified at our last community planning workshop of supporting children, young people and families in the community. We acknowledged that the focus of the Child and Youth Area Partnership (CYAP) (which was hosting the session) was narrower than that of the NMCP, as it is focused specifically on vulnerable children and their families. We agreed that we would keep a broader focus in line with the focus of the NMCP on the basis that the CYAP could then look for the points of alignment with their program. We also acknowledged that we came together as a group of service providers and so needed to be conscious that any conclusions we drew would need to be tested with the community to take into account their perspectives. We brainstormed what we thought could be done to improve how our local service system engages with community members, identifies and assesses need, how well services are coordinated and consumers supported to navigate the system and whether there were things that could be done to improve service delivery. We identified some areas for potential focus and thought about the factors that contributed to them. We then workshopped things that we could do to try and better understand and respond to the issues / opportunities that we had identified, particularly in relation to improving data sharing and service coordination and supporting life course transitions from early childhood, through education and into post-school study / work.

Workshop Summary

Tools and Frameworks The Framework we used to think though the service system : Quantitative & Qualitative Data NMCP CYAP Service System Community Members Engagement Needs Id. & Assessment Service Coord’n & Referral Service Delivery Highly Vulnerable Vulnerable At risk Not at risk ? NMCP focus: Children, Young People & Families How can we better support community members? Community Perspectives Service System Perspectives

Post-it Note Exercise

Service Coord’n & Referral What do we as service providers need to focus on to better support children, young people and families to take advantage of our services? Engagement Needs Id. & Assessment Service Coord’n & Referral Service Delivery Are we connecting with (particularly vulnerable) community members effectively? Focus on who is not engaging with the system and how best to connect with them (particularly more vulnerable children & families) Be more consumer (rather than service provision) focused (requires a shift in how think about things and the language use); consider how to strengthen consumer voice Are we delivering services in a timely and appropriate way? Build the capacity of service providers to connect with, understand and respond to community member needs (including resourcing and skills) Increase outreach based activity and tailor services to meet community members “where they are at” Identify and remove barriers to access (based on community feedback on what those barriers are) Are we making it as simple as possible for community members to take advantage of the support that is available? Improve understanding of what risk factors service providers use to identify and prioritise risk to support earlier identification of needs and provision of support Better track data across the service system and check that community members are supported to make key life / service system transitions Are we sharing information and coordinating activities effectively to help community members navigate the system? Strengthen information sharing Improve service provider understanding of who is working with whom / on what things Improve coordination off activity / aggregate planning activity / work to ‘simplify’ the system for consumers ; minimise duplication / complexity Better link service system entry points; overcome service system silos Make better use of case management / care teams Are we helping community members to navigate key transition points in the service system? Provide clear referral / coordinated case management systems to support children / families with complex needs Better support key service system / life transitions (including transitions into and through education and into work) Are we supporting (particularly vulnerable) children and young people to transition into and through education and into work? Address key gaps is in the service system (e.g. limited access to flexible education pathways and education / transition supports)

Authorising environment What are the “constraining factors” that stop those things from happening? What are our levers for change? Key Questions: Accountability Privacy Process & systems Resourcing What factors do we need to work on in order to be able to make those changes? Frame of work based on narrow funding/ program models Siloed (rather than shared) accountability for community outcomes Understanding and managing privacy requirements Different tools and processes used by different agencies Systems not in place to share data Case management teams not fully leveraged Data (transitions) not tracked across the age continuum No clear view of what data shows about how community members connect with and track through the service system No clear process to manage key service transition points / handovers (e.g. between ECD and school) Resourcing constraints Staff capability / skill gaps Lack of staff induction / training / supervision Staff turnover /burn out Authorising environment Lack authorising environment to drive change (need changes in attitudes, day to day practice and supporting systems to change the above dynamics)

Areas for Further Investigation

Identified Areas for Focus 1. Work through how best to engage community members to test conclusions, discuss priorities and develop a shared agenda 2. Advocate for a shift in authorising environment to increase preparedness of service system to share data and coordinate activity at: Government level – to build greater flexibility into funding and program structures and support / facilitate data sharing and coordination activity Organisational level – to drive data sharing and coordination Community members – to build bottom up support for change and encourage take up of available services 3A. Explore tools that could be used to collate and share data (e.g. School Mapping Tool) 3B. Explore different methods to share / discuss available data (e.g. ‘speed dating’ data sharing model) 3C. Identify local examples of collaborative case management / referral systems and explore potential to broaden use / learn from practice (e.g. Connecting Care System, Sunraysia Community Health, Patchwork System) 4A. Extend data analysis work to explore how community members engage with and track through the service system (e.g. analysis ChildFirst and Child Protection data) 4B. Look for means of identifying community members that are not engaging / taking up available service supports (e.g. Homelessness data) as a precursor to exploring how to better engage and work with those groups 4C. Undertake focused analysis on a particular cohort to better understand common trajectories (e.g. 0 – 6 year olds) and provide a basis through which to look for ways to identify and respond to the needs of vulnerable children and their families earlier: Collate and analyse data to understand different trajectories / pathways that children / families take Map service system (what supports are available) and identify any gaps Map how data is (or is not shared) across the system and look for opportunities to strengthen data exchange / improve service coordination Note: Families with children aged 0 – 6 were identified as a potential starting point for this activity only. It was noted and agreed that while this is a useful starting point the community will need to confirm how this work / cohort might fit within the NMCP agenda. It was agreed that it was import to avoid defining an agenda without the involvement of the broader NMCP group.

Thank-you all for coming!