A new program dedicated to finding family placements for children and young people in residential care has been launched by the Minister for Child Protection.
The Finding Families program brings together a team of seven senior placement officers dedicated to identifying safe, secure and sustainable family placements with kin or community, for children and young people currently living in residential care.
It is well-evidenced that children and young people who grow up in a family environment, experience significantly better life outcomes than those children and young people living in long-term residential care.
The aim of Finding Families is to give more children and young people in contact with the child protection and family support system an opportunity to grow up in a nurturing and loving environment with their kin or community.
Finding Families will prioritise children aged 10 and under, including sibling groups, as well as Aboriginal children and young people who are over-represented in the child protection and family support system.
The program will be made up of three teams including a general team, an Aboriginal-specific partnership with KWY Aboriginal Corporation to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and families and staff with multicultural expertise focused on children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
KWY Aboriginal Corporation will lead the work for Aboriginal children and young people alongside local Aboriginal organisations around the state.
Each team will work closely with DCP case managers and staff in residential care to identify and refer children and young people to the program and then travel across the state, or even country, to find family or community who are suitable and willing to take on the child or young person's care.
A key part of the program is putting in place appropriate services and supports for the carer to ensure the placement is successful.
Recent data shows that 15 per cent of children in the child protection system are in residential care. Almost 85 per cent of children and young people live in family-based care.
The program will initially be trialed over 12 months to ensure processes are refined and learnings about how best to engage with families and broader support networks is fed back. Outcomes will be evaluated at the end of the 12 months.
The program sits alongside the $13.4m State Government investment into additional Family Group Conferencing announced through the 2023/2024 State Budget.
As stated by Katrine Hildyard
All children and young people deserve to grow up in an environment where they feel loved, supported and nurtured, and have opportunities to thrive and reach their potential.
We are determined to try and help ensure that they can through working with young people and families to look at every possible option for safely keeping young people connected to family and living in a family home.
Finding Families will focus on doing just that. It is an innovative new program which dedicates staff resources to the sole purpose of identifying family-based placements for children and young people currently living in residential care.
This team will be flexible and often on the road, having conversations with people of significance to the child or young person, to form a bigger picture of possible support people for the child.
Importantly, there will be teams dedicated to working with Aboriginal and multicultural families, with a strong and clear focus on ensuring cultural factors are considered when finding family-based placements for children.
We recognise the importance of Aboriginal children being connected to family, culture, country and community and I am really grateful to KWY for partnering with DCP on this program focused on giving more Aboriginal children and young people an opportunity to connect with and be cared for by their family and community.
As stated by Craig Rigney, Chief Executive Officer, KWY Aboriginal Corporation
This initiative and collaboration are to be commended and acknowledging the importance of an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation in KWY Aboriginal Corporation working alongside DCP throughout the pilot.
Being able to work within community for our community and our families is at the core of our daily business.
Our specialised workforce and way of engaging with our families is crucial to the success of the initiative.
The overall outcome for these specialised teams is to connect our children with community and families leading to a reduction of our children in out of home care across SA.
