Working with children and families
Our relationship with families should acknowledge and understand their individual and family circumstances. This includes experiences of discrimination, grief, loss and violence.
Permanency case management
Permanency Case Management supports parents, families and communities to make permanent arrangements that provide children with an experience of feeling loved, safe and connected to their family, culture, country and community. Service providers, where significant risks have been identified, partner with families and their community to achieve stability, certainty and opportunities for children to have the best possible start in life and achieve their full potential.
Case management is a process whereby a child and/or a family’s needs are identified and services are coordinated and managed in a systematic way. The core elements of case management include assessment, case planning, implementation (service delivery), monitoring and review. The safety, welfare and wellbeing of children is of paramount concern, and the provision of services to parents or carers can be an important protective function for children. All parents and carers may have a range of unique needs, and a holistic approach to case planning, which incorporates supports for these needs, should be adopted. Engaging children and their families in a strong partnership throughout the case management process is key to ensuring better outcomes for families. Different agencies will be responsible for different elements of permanency case management, depending on the child and family’s individual needs. However, all agencies have a common purpose in working towards the best possible permanency outcomes.
Permanency Case Management aims to reduce the impacts of trauma. It encourages practitioners, children, siblings, parents, carers, guardians and other professionals to work together. They should share knowledge, skill and insight to ensure holistic assessment, purposeful case planning and trauma-informed responses. This collaborative approach supports diverse engagement and shares risk about decisions and actions that impact on children, their families and their community.
Permanency Case Management enhances the safety and wellbeing of children through meaningful relationships, partnerships and decision-making which is led by the child, their family, carers and other significant people. Assessments, decisions and case plans are informed by a family’s experiences, strengths, protective factors and context, as well as the specialist knowledge, skills and practice wisdom of practitioners.
Decision-making processes are reflective and transparent, and based upon evidence based models and tools. Permanency Case Management uses critique and reflection to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of practice, and uses empathy and a trauma informed lens to consider the experiences of children, their families, carers and other significant people.
As we have noted later in this part and elsewhere in the guidelines, adhering to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child and Young Person Principles outlined in section 13 of the Care Act is critical to permanency outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. They should act as a foundation for permanency case management.