Department of Human Services 7 th INTERNATIONAL LAC CONFERENCE, SYDNEY 2006 Looking After Children In Victoria, Australia

Looking After Children Symposium Presentation “Giving every child in out of home care every chance- How the Looking After Children framework is being used in Victoria” Presenter: Ruth Champion Senior Policy and Program Adviser, Office for Children, Department of Human Services.

Looking After Children in Victoria, Australia

Context Child welfare responsibilities shared between government and community based sector: –Department of Human Services (DHS) responsible for child protection –Community service organisations (CSOs) provide foster care & residential care –DHS authorises, funds, and monitors placement agencies

Looking After Children in Victoria, Australia

Context cont Victorian population 5 million (Australia 20 million) 7,586 children /young people in care (total annual unique throughput) 4,556 of these are in CSO supported placements (others in kinship care or permanent care)

Implementation features Whole of sector partnership DHS and CSOs Whole of state – best practice framework Ongoing long term practice change Care team - Sharing the parenting Whole information, planning, review and assessment system (not just A&ARs)

Adapting LAC to Victorian context Records used as placement agency client records (complementing Child Protection client information system) Revision of basic LAC records (except A&ARs)

Revised records Essential Information Record (replaces EIR1& 2) Care and Placement Plan (replaces Care Plan & PP1& PP2) Review of Care & Placement Plan (replaces RoA) Also new placement referral record ( used by DHS when arranging placement with CSO) Note: paper based A&ARs (Barnardos LAC Project original version for Victoria) not further revised at this stage

Implementation monitoring What is being monitored? Use of LAC records Participation in LAC processes Exchange of information How ? Voluntary manual six monthly throughput data summary collated by CSOs Regional and statewide collation, analysis and feedback to inform implementation effort

Three data sets 1. First six months data (July-Dec 2003) 2.January – June October 2005 to March 2006 Ongoing six monthly April-Sept and Oct to March collections (planned until electronic monitoring capacity fully operational)

Implementation progress: Use of LAC LAC record used July-Dec 2003 Jan-June 2005 Oct March2006 Essential Information Record 42%63.2%67.9% Care & Placement Plan 34%58%64.7% Review of C&PP 9%34.3%44.8% Assessment & Action Record 13%23.8%24.7%

Implementation progress- C&PP use in home based care by region

Implementation progress- C&PP use in residential care by region

Implementation progress: Participation in C&PP – Jan-June 05 and Oct05-March 06 Service type Child/ypParent/ Other signif adult Foster carer/ resi worker Child Protect’n worker Home based care 51.7% 48.4% 57.7% 51.1% 88.1% 82.8% 65.3% 63.6% Resi care 71.5% 69.7% 50% 49.2% 87% 87.8% 69.1% 66.9%

Implementation progress: Exchange of C&PP Jan-June 05 and Oct05-March06 Service type Child/ypParent/ other signif adult Carer/ Resi worker Child Protect’ n worker Home based care 22.3% 19.9% 28.7% 29.1% 40.5% 46.2% 33.5% 36.8% Resi care 37.7% 41.7% 28.1% 33.7% 50.3% 53.6% 43.7% 49.8%

Implementation progress to date (cont) Variable but steady improvement Still a way to go… Eg set ourselves initial take up targets for 6 monthly throughput: EIRs  90% (started within 1st few weeks) C&PP  90% (1 st plan due within 1 st few weeks ) Review  66% (1 st review due after 6weeks) A&AR  30% (due after 6months – only approx 33% of throughput in placement >6months)

Using LAC to effect change Link to Quality Assurance approach Practice based record keeping – LAC Review records collect key client information  KPIs Link to client outcomes focus – giving every child in out of home care every chance of a good life However not yet harnessing client outcomes information potential of A&ARs (not collated) Incorporating LAC within new comprehensive IT based client information system being implemented for both DHS and CSOs

Impact of new legislation Child, Youth and Families Act 2005 Registration of community services  external audit compliance with standards  benefit of LAC as best practice approach Best interests of child principles: –Safety –Positive Development (based directly on LAC domains) –Stability –Age & stage and culture which extend and build on LAC foundation

Conclusion So.. has LAC helped us give every child in out of home care in Victoria every chance of a good life? LAC involves a long term commitment to improving the outcomes for children and young people in out of home care Ambitious whole of sector practice based change management process Proud of our achievements so far But … we know we still have long way to go- before we can say we are fully implementing LAC and before our way of using LAC can provide us with all the client outcomes information we know we need to know.

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