October updates for statutory out-of-home care and adoption agencies.
Acknowledgment
On 14 October 2023, the proposal for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament was unsuccessful at the referendum.
We acknowledge the weight of this process has been enormous and felt particularly hard among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues and the communities we serve.
The important work of our office to partner with Aboriginal people and communities towards better outcomes continues, especially for children and young people in care. We will draw on this process over the last few months to work harder and sharpen our focus.
We will continue to support the rights of all children in NSW. However, it's important to again recognise that First Nations children are over-represented in most areas of disadvantage, including contact with the child protection system. With the referendum over, it’s time for us to redouble our efforts to support those who care for children in NSW, especially the most vulnerable.
Transition of Aboriginal children and young people to the care of Aboriginal out-of-home care providers
At the end of June 2023, the Children’s Guardian Steve Kinmond wrote to all Principal Officers regarding the transition of Aboriginal children and young people to the care of Aboriginal out-of-home care providers.
Critical elements for successful transition
The transition of Aboriginal children and young people in out-of-home care to the care of Aboriginal organisations is of critical importance to their wellbeing. It is a significant undertaking for both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal sector. The success of transition will rely on a truly collaborative approach and ensuring that the Aboriginal agencies receiving these placements have all the information they need to meet the needs of children and young people transitioning into their care. This is particularly important as new Aboriginal agencies begin providing out-of-home care services for the first time. It has been our experience that if transition of placements to new providers is not managed well, the care provided to children and young people can be compromised.
Aboriginal agencies have been telling us about the consequences of transitioning placements where prior to transfer, risks have not been identified, adequately managed, or where incomplete information is provided. The sector can support Aboriginal children and young people, their families and carers by ensuring that placements are ready for transition. This means that outstanding casework is complete and any risks or vulnerabilities in children and young people’s placements have been addressed prior to transition. It also means that the receiving agency is provided with the necessary comprehensive, accurate and current information about the placement.
Our office has had discussions with Aboriginal out-of-home care agencies about their experiences of transition and the information that is necessary to assist an agency to support transition of new placements without compromising the care provided to children and young people. The transition project control group is doing further work to agree on minimum information requirements to support transition and our office will be part of these discussions.
Supporting the transition of authorised carers
Aboriginal out-of-home care agencies will be required to re-authorise carers transitioning from other agencies. This involves completing a new application for authorisation on the Carers Register.
In undertaking a new authorisation the receiving Aboriginal out-of-home care agency may use the results and outcomes of checks completed by a previous designated agency, when deciding whether to re-authorise a carer. However, the receiving agency must review the outcome of these previous checks and make its own decision about the carer’s suitability. The receiving agency should keep a copy of the information provided by other designated agencies about the carer and carer household, and should document how it has used this information in making a decision whether to re-authorise the carer. The Out-of-home Care Transition Project is available in Resources on our website. It sets out information that should be exchanged between transferring agencies and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to support the re-authorisation of carers.
We will continue to have conversations with both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal agencies about challenges and opportunities as the transition project progresses.
Resources to support the transfer of Aboriginal children and young people to Aboriginal agencies
You will recall from our communications earlier this year that we have been working with Curijo, an Aboriginal consultancy group, to develop resources to assist non-Aboriginal designated agencies in developing cultural support plans for Aboriginal children and young people in their care.
We have also been working with Burrun Dalai Aboriginal Corporation, an experienced Aboriginal designated agency, to develop two videos to support the written resources. The videos include interviews with Burrun Dalai staff regarding the work they do with children in their care and there are powerful messages about the importance of meaningful casework to support cultural connections.
The Developing Aboriginal Cultural Support Plans resource and the videos are available on our resources page.
- Developing Aboriginal Cultural Support Plans (nsw.gov.au)
- Cultural Connections video
- Culture and Care video
Residential Care Workers Register update
The RCWR has now been live for over 12 months. A continued thank you to all agencies for the ongoing work with the new register. A few key reminders are noted below for all agencies.
Training
Our website contains training modules and user guides to support agencies in the entry and ongoing management of residential care worker records. Please use the below link to refresh your knowledge and to ensure new agency users complete this as part of their role.
Access the Residential Care Workers Register training
WWCC verifications
WWCC verifications for residential care workers must be done via the RCWR. The worker record will then display the status as at the last verification.
A WWCC Verification Task is created when a WWCC is due to expire in 6 weeks and an email notification is sent to the agency’s WWCC Alert email as a reminder. The agency must reverify the WWCC for the individual prior to expiry, to ensure the worker can continue to be engaged as a residential care worker. The task must also be actioned and closed before it will be removed from the agency’s work queue. There are currently outstanding tasks in this work queue so we encourage all agency’s to review and action those still visible.
If an agency has not reverified a WWCC for a worker and this expires, this will display in the Dashboard report, Expired WWCC. Where this occurs, we will follow up directly with agencies to discuss noncompliance in this area.
Detailed information on managing WWCC verifications via the RCWR are included in this user guide.
Alert emails
Every agency nominated 4 emails to be linked with the Alerts at the time of initial registration. It is the agency’s responsibility to ensure these are monitored and remain current, so that notifications sent to the agency are received and actioned. If a change in email is required, the Primary Administrator must complete this. As a reminder, the 4 Alert emails are:
- WWCC alerts
- General alerts
- Reportable Allegation alerts
- Information exchange
The purpose of each is outlined in this user guide.
Changes in RCWR users
Each agency must keep track of the users created to access and manage the RCWR. It is essential that the agency’s Primary Administrator is always current as this is the contact used by our office. If an employee leaves the agency or no longer requires access to the RCWR, the user account must be end dated.
The Primary and General administrator user guide includes details of each of the user types and instructions on how to create and end date users.
Data remediation or issues
If there are any questions or concerns with how to manage the RCWR or its functionality, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss this - the team can be contacted via email at residential-register@ocg.nsw.gov.au
Updated behaviour support guidance
The Department of Communities and Justice has updated its medical and dental consent tool and factsheet to more clearly reflect that where a child or young person is not capable of consenting to their own medical treatment, authority to consent to medication is delegated to the child or young person’s carer. This includes authority to consent to psychotropic medication.
Children (under 16 years) who are prescribed psychotropic medication must also have a behaviour support plan in place which includes the psychotropic medication as a strategy. Carers need to let their authorising designated agency know when a child in their care has been prescribed psychotropic medication, so the agency can commence developing a behaviour support plan for the child. If the child already has a behaviour support plan in place, the agency needs to update the plan to reflect the new psychotropic medication. A behaviour support plan for a child (under 16 years) which includes psychotropic medication must be approved by the Principal Officer of the designated agency supervising the placement.
We have recently updated the Behaviour Support Guidance Tool which is available in Resources on our website. This tool is intended to be used by designated agencies to evaluate behaviour support policies and procedures. The criteria outlined in this resource references current legislative requirements and are used when we review an agency’s behaviour support policies, procedures and practice.
NSW extended care study
Isabella Kristo, a PhD candidate from the University of Sydney, is currently researching the impacts of the ‘Your Choice, Your Future’ policy as it is being implemented in NSW. The study will be centred on the expertise of young people aged 18-19 with experience in foster, residential or kinship care, to be interviewed about their perspectives and experiences.
The first round of interviews will take place between now and March 2024, preferably in person at out-of-home care support agencies across NSW or at an appropriate location of the young person’s choice. The aim of this study is to discover what supports 18-21 year olds need at this stage in their lives and to use this information to form recommendations that will improve the lives of care leavers into the future. Participants will be paid for their time.
If you work with young people aged 18-19 with experience in foster, residential or kinship care who may be interested in participating in this study or would like further information, please contact Isabella by email Isabella.kristo@sydney.edu.au or telephone 0457 787 815.
Accreditation portal reminder
Almost all designated agencies now access the accreditation portal to update agency details, contacts, addresses and lodge notifications, application forms and program details updates.
Each agency has a nominated Primary Administrator who manages all other agency user accounts.
Please remember to use the accreditation portal to notify the Children’s Guardian:
- when there are changes to your agency’s Principal Officer or agency contact details
- when there is a death of a child or young person in statutory out-of-home care placed with your agency
- when a child under 12 is placed in your agency’s residential statutory out-of-home care program, and if the placement with your agency ceases before the child turns 12
- if your agency is provisionally accredited, when it first makes placement of a child in statutory out-of-home care or when its adoption services commence.
Survey results - how we communicate with your agency
In May 2023 we circulated a reader survey with the newsletter - thank you to everyone who completed the survey about how we share information with your agency. Your responses will help us provide the information you want, in the format that works for your agency.
Most respondents indicated that they wanted information from us monthly, via email (including alerts when new information is available on our website) and newsletter.
Most respondents also indicated that they get the information they need from the Office of the Children’s Guardian via email, our website, during onsite assessments and newsletters. Most respondents let us know that the information they want from us includes:
- Updates on legislation
- Information about assessments and requirements
- Information by standard and how to apply these in practice
- Case studies about good practice
- Information about the Carers Register and the Residential Care Workers Register
Monitoring to renewal
The trial new approach to monitoring statutory out-of-home care and adoption services will continue throughout the rest of 2023. We appreciate the feedback we receive from participating agencies as we refine the new streamlined process. We will be communicating with the sector again soon about its progress and the final consultation on the Code of Practice.
Child Safe Standards and statutory out-of-home care and adoption services
The Child Safe Scheme requires certain child-related organisations ('child safe organisations') to implement the 10 Child Safe Standards recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse through their systems, policies and procedures. On 1 February 2023, Part 9A of the Children’s Guardian Act 2019 came into force, which allows the Children's Guardian to take action to ensure organisations comply with the Child Safe Standards.
Designated agencies and adoption service providers are not currently included in the Child Safe Scheme because they are already regulated by the Children’s Guardian under the NSW Child Safe Standards for Permanent Care.
