What is Take Two?

Take Two is a developmental therapeutic service for Child Protection clients who have suffered trauma and disrupted attachment due to their experience of abuse and neglect. T2 provides a statewide, intensive therapeutic service to those clients who have been severely abused or neglected and are at risk of developing or already demonstrate emotional and/or behavioural disturbance. Take Two

Clients of Child Protection who exhibit, or are at risk of developing, severe emotional or behavioural disturbance caused by abuse and/or neglect. Clients of Child Protection who are subjects of substantiated significant and/or very severe harm. Aged 0-18 years. May be living at home, with relatives, or in out of home care. Who is referred to Take Two?

What does Take Two aim to do? The T2 program aims to respond to the child’s needs for: 1.Safety 2.Attachment and connectedness 3.Recovery from trauma 4.Promotion of development, health and wellbeing

Box Hill Bendigo Wangaratta Mildura Ballarat Geelong Secure Welfare Flemington Campbellfield Dandenong Morwell Seymour Take Two Locations Horsham

Partnership Previous research highlighted that placing these children in out of home care was not enough to keep them safe or to enable them to work towards recovery. It was agreed that neither Child Protection, out of home care, nor therapeutic services were enough on their own to achieve the desired outcomes for these children

Partnership T2 is a partnership of the service systems of mental health and child welfare and the academic fields of psychology, psychiatry and social work. Each of these bring different areas and approaches to research, therapy and focus.

What are the experiences of children and young people referred to Take Two?

Number 9% 12% 6% 5% 15% 5% 15% 9% 20% Type of Maltreatment Experienced by T2 Clients AbandonmentPhysical abuseSexual abuseEmotional Abuse Developmental abuse Type of Child Maltreatment Percent

Type of Placement at Time of Referral to Take Two

Parental factors relating to abuse/ neglect Exposure to parental substance abuse 43% Exposure to physical harm from family violence 45% Exposure to family violence59% Forcing child to witness violence12% Exposure to parental psychiatric illness 26%

Other parental /family factors relating to abuse/ neglect 82% had mothers with known trauma histories: examples included 52% with history of child abuse; 40% with experience of rape (other than intrafamilial); 22% experienced significant loss through death of others. 49% had fathers with known trauma histories: examples included 31% with history of child abuse; 9% with experience of rape (other than intrafamilial); 13% experienced significant loss through death of others.

Child experiences of loss/ separation - 36 children (16%) had a parent figure who had died. 16 children (8%) had another significant person in their life die (eg sibling) 36 children (16%) had experienced major loss of contact with parent figure 47 children (20%) had at least one parent figure in gaol during T2 involvement in children (25%) had parent’s relationships change during T2 involvement in children (76%) were living in out of home care at time of referral to T children (89%) had experienced at least one previous placement away from their parents prior to T2 involvement. 100 children (44%) had experienced six or more previous placements prior to T2 involvement.

Other trauma experienced by T2 regional clients not including intrafamilial maltreatment Percent of Cases Trauma related to parent’s difficulties or lifestyle81.4 Trauma related to child protection and care involvement77.0 Parents' separation/divorce14.7 Sexual abuse - not by parent figure8.3 Confirmed / query sexual assault (not clear by whom)4.4 Physically assaulted - not by parent figure or unclear5.9 Trauma related to siblings9.8 Bullied/ rejected by other children5.4 Exposed to general violence6.9 Medical interventions)/serious illness4.9 Fear of injury/accident/life threatening incident3.4 Witnessing of death or overwhelming horrible incident7.4

What are the experiences of those who receive service from Take Two?

Stakeholder feedback Stakeholder surveys were sent to clients, parents, carers and workers of T2 teams regarding their perception of outcomes and of their level of satisfaction with service. Total of 272 surveys have been returned (including

Percentage of feedback surveys received by whom? (n=270)

Stakeholder feedback about Take Two “taking time” There is a clear relationship between the length of time the client had been in the service and percentage of respondents who believed that T2 had helped the child with their life. 60% of respondents who were completing the survey in relation to a client who had been referred to T2 less than 6 months ago agreed T2 had helped the child with their life. This increased to 68% for participants who completed the survey in relation to a child who had been in the service for 6-12 months. There is a further increase to 83% for participants completing the survey in relation to children who have been with the service for a year or more

Percentage of length of time T2 involved (n=270)

Did T2 help the child/young person with their life? (n=265)

Comments in feedback There was no difference between clients, parents and carers in terms of overall rating of T2, with 81, 80 and 80 percent respectively reporting that the service was excellent or good. Workers provided an even higher positive rating, with 92 percent or workers describing the service as excellent or good. Eighty-nine percent of both clients and parents agreed (this refers to both those who responded ‘agree’ and ‘strongly agree’) with the statement “I liked the help Take Two gave me”. An even higher percentage of carers (94%) and workers (92%) agreed with the slightly differently worded statement, “I liked the service received from Take Two”.

Ok, we know you like it; but does it help? Whether T2 helped the child with their life was the area that showed the most variation. 83% of workers agreed with this statement. The results among clients and carers were similar with 76 percent of clients and 73 percent of carers agreeing that T2 had helped. However, among parents this figure was 55%. Importantly though, this lower figure was due to a much larger percentage of parents responding that they were undecided (35%) compared with other respondents rather than a larger percentage who disagreed. Only 10%of parents disagreed, indicating that they found the service had not ‘helped’.