Department for Child Protection and Family Support …...4 District Structures and Service Delivery Functions Discussion Paper 1 Background 1.1 Introduction The Department for Child

Government of Western AustraliaDepartment for Child Protection and Family Support

District Structures and Service Delivery Functions

Discussion Paper

Department for Child Protection and Family Support

February 2016

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District Structures and Service Delivery Functions Discussion Paper

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Contents

1 Background ................................................................................................................................. 4

1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4

1.2 Initial District Reviews ............................................................................................................. 4

1.3 Current District Structures ....................................................................................................... 5

2 Opportunities for your consideration ........................................................................................... 6

2.1 Standard District Structures ..................................................................................................... 6

2.2 Placement teams and care team model .................................................................................... 7

2.3 Central Intake (CI) .................................................................................................................. 7

2.4 Specialist staff in Districts ........................................................................................................ 8

2.5 Earlier Intervention teams and functions .................................................................................... 9

2.5.1 Responsible Parenting Services (RPS) ......................................................................... 9

2.5.2 Parent Support ...................................................................................................... 10

2.5.3 Best Beginnings ..................................................................................................... 10

2.5.4 Revised RPS structure and operating model .............................................................. 10

2.6 Strong Families Coordinator .................................................................................................. 11

2.7 District staff who deliver support roles i.e. Family Resource Employees,

ParentVisitors,CaseSupportOfficersandYFEWs .................................................................... 12

3 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................. 13

Notes ................................................................................................................................................ 14

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1 Background

1.1 IntroductionThe Department for Child Protection and Family Support (the Department) is engaged in a period of review and refocus to achieve its strategic priorities. This is an opportunity to review our organisation, to look at innovative ways of delivering our services and continue to build practice depth across all of our areas of our work.

The Departments strategic priorities are to:

• reduce the overrepresentation of Aboriginal Children in care;

• deliver an out of home care system that is responsive, nurturing and provides permanent homes that effectively meet the needs of children requiring out of home care; and

• reduce demand for child protection services by providing targeted support services designed to divert appropriate cases from entering the child protection system

Areas of focus which will help the Department achieve these priorities over the coming months are:

• reforming the way the Department provides and invests in out of home care services;

• addressing the complex needs of Aboriginal families, children and communities to improve their life outcomes;

• theefficientandeffectivealignmentofcommunitysectorservicestomeettheDepartment’sstrategicpriorities and areas of focus;

• Signs of Safety framework that will help support practice development;

• enhancing the understandings of our partners, both internal and external, to help support organisational development

The way we deliver our services within Districts and align our district structures and practices to support the delivery of these priorities is critical. Having standard district structures will contribute to improving consistency of practices state-wide and assist to improve our responses to the children and families we work with.

To respond to the changing environment in which we are delivering our services we also need to target our focus on existing and emerging demand.

1.2 Initial District ReviewsTo understand how districts are delivering their services and identify the similarities and differences across the range of operating models, Directors from the Service Delivery Practice Unit visited all 17 Districts (9 country districts and 8 metro districts). Particular areas which were considered in the information gathered through the District visits were:

• improving outcomes for Aboriginal children and families;

• developing consistent intake thresholds across the state;

• embedding family and domestic violence practice guidance;

• developing rigour in decision making in early interventions and assessments;

• the use of our frameworks in practice, particularly Signs of Safety;

• Permanency planning implementation.

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In each district the following process was undertaken:

1 Adesktopreviewoffivecasesfromeachdistrictwhichfollowedacasefromreferraltointerventionand considered the use of the Signs of Safety, Family and Domestic Violence, foster care partnership and Aboriginal services frameworks, consultations and permanency planning.

2 Functional mapping and analysis of the teams within the District.

3 Review of Department district data over the previous 12 months (provided by Information Research and Evaluation).

4 Consideration of the Responsible Parenting Service (RPS) and Best Beginnings (BB) service review undertaken in 2014.

5 Interviews with district staff regarding the journey of two cases, including identifying the positions involved in decision making and case management.

6 Considerationofeachdistrict’sbudgetandHRprofile.

7 Developmentofanoverviewofexistingdistrictstructuresthroughquestioninganddistrictprofiles.

8 Review of specialist service delivery positions in districts to understand how they are involved in child protection case management and critical decision points.

1.3 Current District StructuresInformation gathered through the district visits and the audits have highlighted that each district has its own unique structure and that these differences have evolved over time. The need to deliver a service to children and families at the front end through to after a child comes into care has driven the team structures and allocation of resources between pre and post-intervention work has been addressed differently in each district. The most consistent teams in name and function are the children in care teams undertaking post-intervention work.

Pre-intervention work across the 17 districts is carried out by:

• 7 Central Intake teams;

• 5 Assessment and Intervention teams;

• 2 Duty Intake teams;

• 2 Intake and Assessment teams;

• 1 Duty and Assessment team;

• 8 dedicated Child Centred Family Support (CCFS) teams;

• 1ReunificationandCCFSteam;

• 1Reunificationteam;and

• 2AssessmentandReunificationteams.

Many of the teams have evolved due to the various changes to policy or organisational imperatives, both past and present, and this means we now have a diverse number of teams that either has mixed functions, only one function or a reduced function.

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2 Opportunities for your consideration

2.1 Standard District StructuresItisproposedthatstandarddistrictstructuresbeintroducedwhichwillsupportdeliveryoftheDepartment’sstrategic priorities and areas of focus. The intention of standard district structures is to:

• align our practices and service delivery functions with our strategic priorities and areas of focus;

• provide more consistent practice and service responses state-wide;

• enable better analysis/comparison of work across districts; and

• supportflexibleuseofourresourcesandworkforcetargetedtoareasofdemand.

BroadlytheDepartment’sfrontlinechildprotectionfunctionscanbedividedintofourkeyareasof:

• Duty or triage and intake;

• Assessment and /or intervention;

• Child Centred Family Support/early intervention services; and family support;

• OutofHomeCare(includingreunificationortransitionalandpermanentcare).

Discussion point:

a) Develop a consistent structure within the districts as well as the same team names to ensure they align tothekeyfunctionalareasthatunderpintheDepartment’sframeworksandprocessesacrossthestate.

b) Develop processes in line with the team structures at the districts which will enable the delivery of key policies and frameworks aligned to the organisational priorities.

Giving consideration to these broad functions, what could standard district structures look like?

1 Whichteamstructureswouldbestsupportdeliveryofthesefunctions?

2 HowwilltheseteamstructuressupportanddeliverontheDepartment’spriorities?

(a) Out of Home Care (permanency planning, better carer support, better support for children in placement);

(b) Best supporting our work with Aboriginal children and families; and

(c) Reducing the number of children entering care and remaining in care?

3 Whatshouldtheteamsbenamed?

4 Whatpositionsarerequiredwithintheteamstoachievethesepriorities

5 Other suggestions/ideas?

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2.2 Placement teams and care team modelMany districts have given thought to the following with a focus on delivering:

• A supported care arrangement that will maintain a child in placement

• Relative carer support

• Permanency planning

It is timely that we incorporate all of the work being done through the Out of Home Care reform. The placementteamwillbesignificantintheimplementationanddevelopmentofstrengthenedfostercaresupport and the care team model that surrounds a child in care. This will involve the districts looking at how we can enhance the work we do with children in out of home care.

2.3 Central Intake (CI)Through the review of district structures the concept of having a central intake process for the metropolitan areahasbeenidentified.Acentralintakeprocesscouldhaveanumberofbenefitsforourworkincluding:

• a consistent approach to assessment of referrals developing consistent thresholds;

• the ability to free up districts to focus on the assessment, intervention and Out-of-Home care functions; and

• Strengtheningstaff’sskillsandexpertiseintheassessmentpractices.

Whilsttherewouldbebenefitstosuchanapproachitisacknowledgedthattherecouldalsobesomechallenges, such as timely access to local knowledge and networks. The opportunities and challenges Central Intake presents need to be fully considered and balanced against one another.

IfCentralIntakeisimplemented,arotatingstaffingmodelisconsideredoptimal.ImplementationofanystaffingmodelwouldbethroughanExpressionofInterest(EOI)process.

OptionswhichhavebeenidentifiedforaCentralIntakeprocessmayinclude:

• using a rotational staff model of operation which will be staffed through an EOI process for acting or relievingopportunitiesforafixedperiodoftime(6monthsto12monthsinthefirstinstance)totheCIunit;

• the team being based in one central location;

• one single point of contact using a 1800 number for all new work referrals across the metropolitan area; and

• theCentralIntaketeamundertakingallreferral/intakeworkthroughtoSafetyandWellbeingAssessment(SWA),atwhichpointthecasewouldbetransferredtothedistrict.

Whatteamstructurescouldbestsupportthecareteamapproach?

Do we need specialist teams to maintain a child in placement?

Whataretheconsiderationsthatareneededintermsofprofessionaldevelopment and supervision for staff who have this function?

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WhatdoyouthinkabouttheconceptofCentralIntake?

1 HowwouldCentralIntakesupporttheachievementoftheDepartment’sstrategicpriorities?

a) Out of Home Care (permanency planning, better carer support, better support for children in placement);

b) Best supporting our work with Aboriginal children and families; and

c) Reducing demand for child protection intervention services?

2 WhatfunctionswouldaCentralIntaketeamundertake?

3 Whatpositionswouldsupportdeliveryofthesefunctions?

4 Are there different ways of delivering Central Intake and what would these models look like?

5 WhatarethealternativestoaCentralIntakemodeltoachieveconsistentthresholds?

6 WhataresomeofthepotentialintendedorunintendedconsequencesofaCentralIntakemodel

7 DVIRs how can they be managed through a Central Intake model

2.4 Specialist staff in DistrictsThescopingofcurrentDistrictstructuresalsoidentifiedarangeofdifferencesinhowspecialistpositions,asoutlinedbelow,areinvolvedinthebroadfunctionsoftheDepartment’sworkoftriage,assessment,intervention and out of home care:

• Aboriginal Practice Leaders

• Psychologists

• EducationOfficers

• LegalSupportOfficers

• SeniorPracticeDevelopmentOfficers

AreviewofPsychologicalServices,EducationOfficersandLegalsupportOfficersiscurrentlyunderway.

Following an extensive state wide consultation in 2014-2015, The Aboriginal Practice Leader Directions Paper1 makes 19 recommendations about how APLs can work in partnership with district staff to strengthen their work in the areas of leadership, casework, quality assurance and support for continuous learning. This information is useful and can perhaps further inform the way we consider the use of the APL specialist role in triage, assessment, intervention and out of home care.

Howandwhenspecialistroles(andothersnotmentioned)becomeengagedintheDepartment’sworkwithfamiliesandhowthesespecialistrolescouldbebestutilisedhasbeenidentifiedasanarearequiringfurther consideration.

1 http://wunan.org.au/wunan-delivers-report-on-living-change-initiative-in-halls-creek

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Your thoughts and feedback are welcomed on how specialist roles could be more fully utilised from first contact with the Department, to service exit.. These five questions may help guide your response:

2.5 Earlier Intervention teams and functionsA review of the way the Department delivers early intervention services will need to be undertaken, with closer examination of:

• atwhatpointduringthefirstreferraltotheDepartmentafamilywillreceiveaservice,

• what level of service is required, and

• whether that service is best delivered by the Department or by the community sector.

In order to better assess and support families who are involved with the Department this review will need to include the services the Department funds, manages and contracts externally.

2.5.1 Responsible Parenting Services (RPS)

Responsible Parenting Services, comprised of Parent Support and Best Beginnings, are home visiting servicestargetedtotheat-riskandhardtoreachfamiliesinWesternAustralia.Theseserviceshavebeenfunded since 2010 by Royalties for Regions (R4R) and in six regional districts of Pilbara, Murchison, Wheatbelt,SouthWest,GoldfieldsandGreatSouthern–afteroriginallybeingdeliveredintheMetropolitanarea, Peel and the Kimberley.

How often do specialist roles in your district currently provide consultative advice and/or duty/intake discussions, assessment, placement and ongoing case management?

How do the specialist roles in your district contribute to the improvement of practice standards?

How do specialist roles provide consultation on complaints from families,specificallyAboriginalfamilies?

WhatistheroleofspecialiststaffinSignsofSafetymeetingsandcase/care planning with families?

Whatadvicedospecialiststaffmembersprovideoncomplexcase matters?

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2.5.2 Parent Support

ParentSupportprovidesin-homeandoutreachservicestoassistparentstotakecontroloftheirchildren’santi-social, criminal and truanting behaviour through better parenting strategies. The target group is ‘hard to reach’familiesandtheirschoolagedchildren.ParentSupportplaysakeyroleincoordinationatadistrictlevel for youth at risk of entering care or engaging with the justice system. This coordination capacity involves identifying young people most at risk and coordinating government agency case management. Capacity to participate in joint case management responsibilities should be maintained. However, the service could potentially engage with more Aboriginal young people and families, particularly across the metropolitan area.

What are the best ways for Parent Support to work with youth services in the community sector to improve outcomes for Aboriginal young people and their families?

2.5.3 Best Beginnings

Best Beginnings is an earlier intervention program delivered in partnership with the Department of Health which targets mothers with high risk factors (domestic violence, drug and alcohol misuse, adolescent pregnancyandmentalhealthissues).Theserviceprovidesin-homevisitingoverthefirsttwoyearsofaninfant’slife,aimingtoincreaseattachmentandfocussingonthechildandmother’shealthandwellbeingand social connectedness.

Best Beginnings is an important diversionary service which could be integrated more closely to intake orfamilysupportteamsandearlierinterventionfunctions.Best Beginningsworkershavesignificantearlychildhood expertise and could be a valuable resource to the districts. The relationship with child protection intake is currently unclear and the extent to which Best Beginnings prevents children entering care is not known. However it appears that there is capacity for the service to reach more Aboriginal families.

What would be the best way to align Best Beginnings to prevent Aboriginal children coming into care?

2.5.4 Revised RPS structure and operating model

Parent Support and Best Beginnings have the potential to be further engaged in earlier intervention to prevent Aboriginal and other children entering care. The program model could be adapted to be more culturallyresponsiveandflexible,withKPIsdevelopedaroundworkwithAboriginalfamilies.Thereisalsoscope for the interventions to be better linked to strategies such as liquor restricted premises applications, child protection income management and other tools.

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The role of the Parent Visitor could be expanded beyond Parent Support, to provide parenting support and services to the Family Support or other front end teams, especially in Child Centred Family Support and intensive family support. The Parent Visitor would provide practical in home support to a range of families identifiedbytheDepartmentasrequiringassistancetoimproveparentingandotherlifeskills.ParentSupport,BestBeginnings,YouthandFamilySupportWorkers(YFSWs)andParentVisitorscouldbetterconnect and integrate with other family support efforts of the Department and the funded services, including links to Family Support Networks (FSNs) in districts where they operate. This could include providing case management services as part of the alliance of agencies.

It is timely to redevelop the Best Beginnings service as it currently exists to re-align it more closely with the Department’skeypriorities.ItwillalsobeproposedthatpriorityisaffordedAboriginalfamiliesandalsoforyoung mothers who are leaving or have had a period of care.

Whilethecurrentfocusisonhighriskyoungmotherstheprogramisconsideredavoluntaryprogram;it is proposed that it move to be part of the suite of services delivered at the front end, with the referrals received primarily from the Department, FSN, or KEMH/obstetric hospitals. The referrals would come in through a Central Intake to determine the appropriate response.

Both Parent Support and Best Beginnings workers will need to continue to build and maintain relationships with the Department of Corrective Services and the Department of Health to provide integrated, joint case management.

TheYFSWpositionwillcontinuetoworkinthestrategicdirectiontoaddresstheoverrepresentationofAboriginalchildrenenteringcare,YFSWpositionsshouldworkwithahighproportionofAboriginalfamiliesand any further development of options for these positions should be undertaken at the review.

2.6 Strong Families CoordinatorThe Strong Families service assists families with complex problems to achieve their goals through coordination of government services. At 30 September 2015, Strong Families had 285 cases open in the quarter from July, of which 59 per cent were Aboriginal.

However, the extent to which Strong Families prevents Aboriginal children coming into the care of the Departmentisunclear.WhileStrongFamilieshascontributedtobetteroutcomesformanyfamilies,theincreasingoverrepresentationofAboriginalchildrenincareinthelastfiveyearsindicatesthatthedeliveryofcase management and intensive support for Aboriginal families with complex issues remains a service gap.

This is an opportunity to consider how the resources associated with Strong Families services can be re-directedtoachieveoutcomesthataremoreclearlyalignedwiththeDepartment’sstrategicpriorities.Options for use of the Strong Families resources include closer linkages with Intake, Assessment or Child Centred Family Support teams to intervene earlier and work more intensively with families, while linking with local Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and Family Support Networks.

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2.7 District staff who deliver support roles i.e. Family Resource Employees, Parent Visitors, Case Support Officers and YFEWs

TheFamilyResourceEmployee(FRE)roleandtheCaseSupportOfficer(CSO)roleareasignificantsupport to case management.

A review of the roles and functions of these positions will provide us with an opportunity to further develop clarity in the current roles and the potential for the future.

The review will formalise the roles they take or can take as a support to child protection workers, while developing a career path with opportunities to seek further training and support to higher education. Opportunities will be considered throughout the review to make strong links to involve the purposeful recruitment of Aboriginal staff that will be supported to further study through the diploma. The review will also focus on the CSO and FRE roles and their functions in the districts to consolidate and support the significantchangesinvolvedwithearlyinterventionsandpermanencyplanning,aswellastheintroductionofthe coordinator role at the Enhanced Contact Centres.

How can the districts support roles such as FRE’s, CSO‘s Parent Visitors assist us to achieve on our key priorities?

WhatwouldastructurewhichplacesParentSupportandBestBeginnings with the front end teams look like?

How would such a structure assist a focus on diverting children and young people from child protection?

How can the Strong Families role be adapted and realigned to earlier intervention and diversion of Aboriginal families from child protection.

How could these services best coordinate and connect with the Family Support Networks?

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3 Next StepsThe next phase of the district structural review steering group and working parties will look at each of the aboveareasthatareorwillsupporttheDepartment’skeyprioritiesbeingdeliveredthroughtheOutofHome Care Reform.

Your thoughts and feedback on how these key areas could be supported or implemented more strongly are welcomed.

Wewillbeseekingyourfeedbackthroughvariousmeans,throughdistrictvisits and/or by survey. I encourage you to participate as your thoughts are valuable to help shape and develop the way forward for all elements of the district structural review.

Survey link:

https://www.research.net/r/DSRPaperFeedback

Closing date for online survey completion is 11 March 2016



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Notes

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Notes

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District Structures and Service Delivery Functions

Discussion Paper

Department for Child Protection and Family Support

Documents

Department for Child Protection and Family Support …...4 District Structures and Service Delivery Functions Discussion Paper 1 Background 1.1 Introduction The Department for Child