Partnering with your caseworker
Information about participating in case planning, cultural planning for Aboriginal children and young people, and family group conferencing.
Participating in case planning
You will be involved in making a plan for your child, called a case plan. Case plans are developed in consultation with you, your child, your caseworker and the child or young person’s foster carer.
Case plans vary depending on what a family needs, but always describe what you and other important people in your child’s life, including health care specialists, need to do in the best interests of your child.
Birth parents
As a birth parent, you can participate in decision-making by:
- attending conferences and meetings
- having a support person accompany you to a meeting or conference
- contributing agenda items for a meeting.
We understand that parents may need extra support to express their views, participate in decision-making and understand the outcomes. We can provide appropriate support to help you participate, such as arranging for an interpreter or Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander support person or community representative.
Foster carers
Foster carers are encouraged to work with parents and caseworkers to ensure your child maintains regular contact with you and possibly members of your extended family and other important people in your child’s life. They will work with you and the caseworker to help your child deal with their feelings about being separated from you and their family.
When it is part of the case plan, foster carers are also trained to help prepare your child for their eventual return to your home. In most cases, the main goal will be for your child to return to their family. This could involve services being provided to you or other members of your family, such as counselling or legal advice.
Case planning meeting
A case planning meeting is an opportunity to talk about the wellbeing of a child or young person in care and discuss any support needed, any issues or achievements. Case planning meetings aim to achieve good outcomes for the child or young person in care.
Families, the child or young person (where appropriate), their carers, other significant people and relevant agencies are invited to discuss issues, share information, make suggestions, participate in decision-making and identify goals. The case meeting may involve getting everyone together face-to-face or over the phone.
The child or young person’s caseworker organises the meeting and either they or their supervisor helps run it.
There are many different reasons for holding a case meeting. Some of these include:
- a child or young person enters care
- a plan is being developed to reunite a child or young person with their family
- the child or young person has an unplanned change in placement
- there is a change of caseworker
- a critical incident has occurred which may affect the child or young person
- during placement reviews.
Case meetings may be called different things such as case conferences, case review meetings and protection planning meetings. These meetings are the first step in developing or reviewing a case plan.
What is a case plan
A case plan outlines steps and responsibilities to help meet children and young people’s day-to-day and longer term placement and support needs. This includes ways to keep a child or young person connected with their family and community, their health and wellbeing, education, emotional and social development.
A case plan clearly identifies goals and outcomes, key actions, the roles and responsibilities of all relevant people and how the plan will be monitored. The goals in the case plan aim to build on the strengths of the child or young person, their family, carers and community.
What happens at the meeting
Generally, the caseworker, carers, parents or other family members and the child or young person (depending on their age and whether or not they wish to) attend the meeting.
The caseworker introduces everyone and explains the meeting’s purpose. The previous case plan is reviewed and comments made on what has or has not been achieved since the plan was drawn up. The meeting then focuses on the agenda and each item is discussed at length.
If a child or young person is not at the meeting the caseworker is mainly responsible for making sure their views and wishes are expressed.
Notes of the discussion are taken and kept as minutes of the meeting. After the meeting the case plan is updated by the caseworker or a new one is created. All people at the meeting get a copy of the case plan when it is finalised.
Being prepared
As a parent or carer there are a few things you can do to make sure you are prepared and able to fully take part in a case meeting.
- If you have an issue you think is relevant ask your caseworker to put it on the agenda at the start of the meeting or talk to them before the meeting.
- Be on time because you may miss out on raising some of your issues or hearing important information.
- Bring any relevant information with you such as recent medical information, school letters and awards.
- Think about any questions or concerns you may have before the meeting and how you can ask these in a caring way.
- Be open to sharing information and answering questions.
If you have an issue after the meeting
If you have any issues after the meeting, or disagree with anything in the case plan, discuss this with your caseworker. If the issue remains unresolved, you can speak with your caseworker’s supervisor or their manager.
If you wish, you can make an official complaint or you can contact the Ombudsman.
Cultural planning for Aboriginal children and young people
Aboriginal children and young people have a right to be raised in their own culture. They have a right to learn and use the languages and customs of their communities and to take part in a wide range of cultural activities.
If an Aboriginal child or young person enters out-of-home care, then they must have a cultural plan that keeps them connected to their family, community and Country. A cultural plan is part of the overall Care Plan for an Aboriginal child or young person.
An Aboriginal child or young person who is being managed by a non-Aboriginal NGO must have their cultural plan approved by the Aboriginal community. This can be an Aboriginal community controlled organisation, a recognised Aboriginal organisation, or a respected member of the Aboriginal community.
Like with other children and young people in out-of-home care, a Care Plan for an Aboriginal child or young person will use placement principles. However, placement principles for Aboriginal children are different. The focus is on placing them within their biological family, extended family, local Aboriginal community or broader Aboriginal community. This approach is provided for under New South Wales child protection laws.
A cultural plan should:
- identify the cultural needs of an Aboriginal child or young person
- outline how the child or young person can experience their culture to maintain their identity and their connection to family, community and Country
- help make sure that important cultural and family information is maintained for any child who is too young to contribute to their own plan.
A cultural plan should have all the information that is known about the child or young person’s culture. The child’s family and close kin must be involved in creating and implementing it.
The information on this page is also available as a printable factsheet.
Family group conferencing
The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) understands that everyone’s family situation is different. Family group conferencing helps to build on people’s strengths and support families to overcome challenges.
What is family group conferencing?
From time-to-time, families have difficulties caring for their children and this can be for many different reasons. Family group conferencing is a way to bring family members together in a positive way with an impartial facilitator to make a plan for their child or young person. Families have found family group conferencing to be a really helpful way to work out a plan that everyone has participated in and agrees to.
How does family group conferencing work?
A DCJ caseworker will discuss with you the reasons why your family may benefit from being part of a family group conference. If you agree, the caseworker will complete a referral and you’ll be contacted by a family group conference facilitator. The facilitator will organise the family group conference and make sure everyone who is at the conference is able to speak and be heard.
The facilitators aren’t involved in making any decisions about your children or family. They're there to support your family to develop a plan that has the wellbeing of your child or young person in mind. Everything that’s said in the family group conference is confidential. This means no one is allowed to talk to anyone else that wasn’t at the family group conference about what was said.
Who can attend a family group conference?
Before the family group conference is held, the facilitator will spend time with you and ask who you want to attend. This could include members of your family, extended family and kin, a support person or a community elder. You may also want to invite agencies that have been working with you.
Children and young people may attend the family group conference. This will depend on their age, maturity and what needs to be discussed. They can also write down their thoughts and someone else attending the conference can read this out for them.
The 3 stages of a family group conference
1. Information sharing – everyone introduces themselves and talks about the difficulties the family is having and why this is a concern.
2. Family time – is private time for only the family to discuss and develop a plan about the concerns that were raised.
3. Agreeing to the plan – the plan has to say what needs to be done, by who, and when these actions need to be taken. This will ensure the safety and wellbeing of your child or young person. All participants need to agree to the plan and all will receive a signed copy of the plan.
The facilitator will ask the family when they would like a review meeting. This is an opportunity for the caseworker, your family and other agencies working with your family to meet and talk about progress of the plan.
Printable brochure
The information on this page is from this printable brochure Family group conferencing: Information for parents and carers. It's also available in 6 other languages:
A version of this brochure has been created for children and young people and is also available in 6 other languages: