Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Contact between, and Placement of Siblings in Out-of-Home Care Dr Joseph J. McDowall Executive Director (Research) CREATE Foundation Visiting Fellow School of Public Health and Social Work Queensland University of Technology

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 How did project develop?  Sibling Placement: Grew out of findings relating to Family Contact in CREATE’s 2013 Report Card

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Mean frequency of Contact ratings with family members Weekly Not at all

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 National Average % CYP having designated level of contact with family members

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Sibling Placements  Together: All siblings in care located in the same placement  Splintered: Child or young person placed with at least one sibling  Split: Child or young person separated from siblings who are located in other placements (Hegar & Rosenthal, 2011)  Alone: Child or young person has siblings but is the only family member in care

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 National Average % CYP in Split placements

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 National Average % CYP in Split placements National Average

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Department of Social Services State and Territory Governments & NGOs  1160 children and young people in OOHC surveyed  Concentrated on Sibling Placement  Stratified by Age, Sex, Culture, and Care Type as well as Jurisdictions* * (WA Department for Child Protection and Family Support subsequently requested that the data from children and young people in that state not be presented in this report) Through Collaboration with:

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Preferred outcomes: Where possible and appropriate, keep siblings Together or in Splintered placements; If not possible, ensure that contact between siblings is facilitated if desired by child or young person. Extensive literature review

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Children and Young Persons’ Questions Demographics Care history Do you live with any of your brothers or sisters from your birth family? Are any of your brothers or sisters from your birth family living in care but not with you? Family contact

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Children and Young Persons’ Survey Governments assisted in locating interested participants About half were randomly selected from care population Others were randomly selected from members of clubCREATE Data were collected through online survey or through structured interviews conducted face-to-face or by telephone

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Distribution of Participants by Age within the Australian Jurisdictions

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Distribution of Participants by Sex, Culture, and Care Type

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Caseworker Survey Online survey Respondents given the opportunity to record information about a maximum of 20 cases: o Time in care o Time as caseworker o Amount of contact per year o Number of siblings o Number of siblings in care o Number of siblings in same placement

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Caseworker Questions Awareness of sibling placement policy? What personal principles followed? How successful in placing siblings together? What has made the placing of siblings together difficult? How important is it to help siblings maintain contact? How involved in maintaining contact? How difficult has it been to arrange contact?

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Caseworker Survey Number of cases sampled: 1022 Govt: 47%; NGO: 53%

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Mean frequency of contact ratings with family members % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Jurisdictions (Children and Young People)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Jurisdictions (Caseworkers)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Mean frequency of contact ratings with family members % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Jurisdictions (Children and Young People and Caseworkers [coloured])

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Age Groups (Children and Young People)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Age Groups (Caseworkers)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Age Groups (Children and Young People and Caseworkers [coloured])

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Cultural Groups (Children and Young People)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Cultural Groups (Caseworkers)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Cultural Groups (Children and Young People and Caseworkers [coloured])

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Care Type (Children and Young People)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Care Type (Caseworkers)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Care Type (Children and Young People and Caseworkers [coloured])

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, and Split sibling placements over Disability (Children and Young People)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Together, Splintered, Split, and Alone placement and Family Contact (Children and Young People) Weekly Not at all

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 % Together, Splintered, Split, and Alone placements having NO Contact with Family Member (not living with)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Carers’ and Caseworkers’ support for maintaining family contact in Together, Splintered, Split, and Alone placements

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Comments from Children and Young People regarding support for maintaining contact “Phoning my mum, taking me to see her, picking her up so we can have time together. Phoning my sister and her carer so I can see her.” (Male, 13 years) “Like they tell me reasons why I should keep in touch with my family, like my family is important sort of thing.” (Female, 12 years) “Not very much support because my caseworkers are always changing and I have hardly any contact with them.” (Female, 16 years)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Overall findings % Quite or Very connected33 Somewhat or Reasonably connected36 Little or No connection31 Cultural Support Plan12 Sibling Placement with Indigenous Children and Young People (n = 329) No significant differences in level of connectedness with culture based on sibling placement condition (Together, Splintered, or Split)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 How successful have you been in ensuring that children and young people in your care are placed together with siblings? Caseworker Survey Outcome % Quite or Very Successful17 Little or No Success30

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 What have you been able to do, if anything, to help place siblings from one family together? (105 comments) Caseworker Survey Action % Support Recruit, assess, and encourage suitable carers 24 Advocate to decision makers for Together/Splintered placements 24 Provide resources to support carers who place large groups 21 Use kinship care for larger groups 9 Place close geographically if not together 3

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Factor % Support Carer capacity to handle the family unit both emotionally and physically 35 Behavioural problems (e.g., sibling conflict; externalizing behaviour) 22 Size of family unit 18 Special needs (e.g., disabilities) 16 Parental issues (e.g., siblings with different fathers) 5 Bureaucracy (e.g., siblings placed in different jurisdictions) 5 Caseworker Survey What factors, if any, have made it difficult to place all siblings from one family together? (128 comments)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Concept % Caseworkers giving ratings High (Quite or Very) Low (Little or None) Importance970 Involvement707 Difficulty2027 Caseworker Survey Ratings of Importance, Involvement, and Difficulty of organizing Sibling Contact

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Caseworker Survey “When removing children from family it is an extremely traumatising time for young people and if we are able to reduce any additional trauma by placing them with familiar people who are siblings then I will advocate for this strongly.” (NT Caseworker) “Advocate for improved support for foster carers, to enable more potential carers to be recruited who could possible care for sibling group.” (VIC Caseworker)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Caseworker Survey “Sibling contact is not prioritised enough. Siblings are the longest relationship most CYP will have and we have a duty to assist in maintaining and sustaining those relationships. Siblings may be the most crucial support to each other post 18.” (NSW Caseworker)

Joseph J. McDowall © 2014 ACWA 2014: Children in a Changing World, Sydney, August 18 – 20, 2014 Questions?