1. NSW Social Benefit Bonds

2. What is a Social Benefit Bond (SBB)?

3. Why out-of-home care?
Children and young people in OOHC risen from 9,273 as at 30 June 2002 to 20,022 at 30 June 2013
More than 50 per cent (over $1 billion) of FACS investment in services is done via NGOs

4. NSW has the highest rate of removals and highest rates of children in care
20,022 children and young people in care at 30 June 2015
Many children remain in care until 18 years of age
Research – poor outcomes for many children who grow up in care

5. Aims of NSW SBB

6. Economic & financial evaluation
Scope of the evaluation
Process evaluation
Outcomes evaluation
Outcomes comparison
Economic & financial evaluation
The scope of the evaluation includes:
process evaluation – focusing on the way the program has been implemented including any changes to the Newpin model, and the method and manner of the expansion of the service to new regions
outcomes evaluation – examining whether the key objectives of Newpin are being met and identifying the outcomes achieved by the service, the longevity of the outcomes and any unintended consequences
outcomes comparison – comparing the outcomes achieved to the proxy measures used to calculate payments under the SBB arrangement and advise whether the proxies are closely linked to the benefits
economic and financial evaluation – considering the cost-effectiveness of the service (to the extent possible) and conducting a financial analysis of the service.

7. Alignment with the future
The permanent placement principles set out the order of preference for the permanent placement of a child or young person as:
family preservation
family restoration
guardianship relative & kinship care
open adoption (for non-Aboriginal children)
parental responsibility to the Minister.
Permanent placement for Aboriginal children:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child placement principles continue to apply
where restoration is not considered possible and an Aboriginal child is unable to live with relatives or a kinship carer, a placement with a non-related person in the Aboriginal community or a suitable person may be considered in line with the child’s best interests and in consultation with the Aboriginal community
adoption is not usually considered suitable for Aboriginal children, however legislation allows for the adoption of Aboriginal children.

8. About Newpin evidence-based family restoration and preservation model
breaking intergenerational cycles of abuse and
key points of difference with other crisis interventions
funded by UnitingCare for 12 years
SBB enables expansion contingent on realisation of outcomes.
Newpin had a demonstrated capacity to deliver family restoration, preservation and wellbeing outcomes. Bought from the UK by UCB over 12 years ago. Significant adaptations and the development of a Newpin Fathers program that is unique internationally.
Unlike many of the current family restoration and preservation programs based on relatively brief crisis interventions with a focus on individualised casework, Newpin provides a longer duration intervention with an explicit therapeutic focus.
For families seeking restoration outcomes, Newpin continues to work with parents and children after a child has returned home to support the adjustment process and sustainability of outcomes.
UnitingCare could not afford to maintain its Newpin Centres through its investment fund. Now the SBB allows us to scale up contingent on outcomes.
Today I want to discuss how an explicit focus on outcomes under the SBB has supported better results for more complex families and what has gone on behind the scenes to make this happen. First the results:

9. Newpin SBB results In the first two years of the SBB Newpin has:
restored 66 children in OOHC to their families
prevented children from 35 families entering OOHC
restoration rate = 62% (vs 25% counterfactual)
return to investors = 8.9%
expansion of Newpin to the Central Coast
2 additional centres will open in the next 12 months (ahead of schedule).
We are hitting benchmark performance levels and this is supporting the roll out of Newpin so it can reach more families in communities where no restoration services are available.

10. Evaluation and evolution
Explicit focus on outcomes and evaluation required significant program evolution with respect to:
program culture
the UnitingCare organisation
practice.
There is value in reflecting on:
the context for change and how change was realised and supported.
My focus today is on the way that an explicit focus on outcomes and evaluation under the SBB has enabled us to improve the quality and effectiveness of a program for highly vulnerable families and children. It is the part of the journey that we find most exciting.
The outcomes focus has required us to make significant organisational, cultural and practice shifts. The SBB required Newpin to shift from being our least accountable to most accountable program from a cultural starting point of practitioners being ‘anti’ data and measurement.
Our evidence and results show that by making these shifts intentionally and thoughtfully , the Newpin program is now delivering improved outcomes for families with more complex needs.
Complexity was not simply about a decision to build the share of Newpin families with at least one child in care from just over a third (historically) to nearly 60% at commencement of the bond to 75% today. It was also the product of important policy changes in New South Wales to prevent children entering care. These are changes that we support. However they do mean that the probability of successful and sustained restoration outcomes for children place in OOHC is lower. Our practice needed to be reconfigured.
The change process has not been easy and it is ongoing.

11. Supporting change
began discussions around the rationale for change and piloted change early
introduced new reporting mechanisms within a realistic timescale
provided training and ongoing support for assessment and data collection
established good clinical supervision
advanced support for trauma-informed practice.
From the perspective of the economist/researcher on the team, the 12 month development phase with the NSW Government was a critical opportunity to build understanding and to start testing practice approaches that were compatible with the relational foundations of Newpin but built the program’s capacity to work with families with more diverse and complex needs.
It was imperative to communicate with staff, to stagger changes and to introduce external clinical supervision to create reflective space.
Practitioners were supported by their leaders and our management accountants and research team sought continual feedback on he most ‘useful’ and ‘accessible’ way to present data and reports. Data is less intimidating when it is viewed as easy to read and interpret and when you identify both progress/strengths and areas requiring change.
When we report on monthly restoration and preservation outcomes there are calls and s from our Executive group to the Newpin community highlighting what the results mean for children and families. We stay true to our language and social justice ethos. We celebrate success!

12. The joy of innovation
The Urbis evaluation of the Newpin bond has documented practice innovation and adaptation:
working with both partners
working with school-aged siblings
home visiting post-restoration
father’s outreach workers
improved information sharing and more regular case conferences with FACS.
One of the objectives of the SBB – where as a provider we are accountable for outcomes and not constrained by service specifications is that you can experiment, adapt and innovate. Changes introduced in the first two years of the SBB include:
Where parents have a partner, the partner is involved in the initial visit and assessment process and contact visits with both parents (where restoration is the outcome) are supported by Newpin. Improves insights into how the family functions as a whole, better identification of family violence (particularly emotional abuse) and reinforce messages about good parenting.
Work with school-aged siblings so that all family members are ready for restoration and post restoration visits to observe changes in family dynamics and how all members are coping (while the Newpin member continues to attend the program with the child who has been restored)
After a slow start (low referrals for Newpin Dads) results are now staggering and we have worked closely with FACS child protection workers so that they can recognise the desire and capacity for men to change (Year 2 restoration rate for Dads = 71%). When we were opening our Newpin Mothers Centre in Wyong the request to run a Father’s outreach program came from FACS.
I want to pay tribute to FACS and the incredible and genuine partnership that has evolved under the SBB. We solve problems together and when we have new ideas or issues of concern we have an exceptional working group with FACS leaders willing to listen and respond.

13. Agenda setting!
The Newpin SBB suggests important ways that government and NGOs can collaborate to improve program results:
data exchange
program evaluation data shared with providers at site level
build sector capacity to interpret data and expect continuous improvement
explore outcomes-based funding (requires outcomes data)
Given the presence of so many evaluation of leaders from government and that I have ‘advocacy’ as part of my job title I would like to close with some observations on what we might do differently:
Data can’t be a one way street and needs to be relevant. Don’t collect stuff that is of no use to anyone
When programs are evaluated to guide public policy decisions consider the minimal costs involved in giving providers their ‘provider’ and site level data. Then when we re-tender you have every right to ask what we have done to improve the state of play.
There is a need to build capacity in the sector to ‘read’ and ‘respond’ to data
If you are serious about outcomes we need to move more quickly on outcomes data. There is value in considering outcomes-based funding rather than grants funding and to test whether this leads to program and practice improvement and innovation.