Page 1898 - Week 06 - Thursday, 30 July 2020
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supports to participate effectively, and in an informed way in the child protection process. It is an independent information and support service for birth families, including kinship carers.
The Birth Family Advocacy Support Service assists families to:
• understand how the child protection system works;
• access targeted services and supports; and
• communicate with Children and Youth Protection Services (CYPS), ACT Together and others involved.
The Birth Family Advocacy Service listens to parents without judgement and offers advice appropriate to their circumstances. The Service recognises that there is significant overlap between contributing mental health factors, the grief and loss after the removal of a child, and ongoing, intergenerational trauma for parents and birth families. In response, the Service has been liaising for several years with services such as the Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team at the Canberra Hospital, as well as linking clients to Relationships Australia, Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy, and other mental health services that are able to provide counselling to families in contact with the child protection system.
2. In 2019, the waitlist for Red Cross Advocacy Support Service was 34 families seeking assistance. In June 2019, additional funds of $338,965 were committed to reduce the waitlist by 50 per cent within four to five months. On 1 July 2020, there were 18 families that were awaiting assistance with an anticipated wait time of 3 to 4 months. Red Cross have reported an increase in service demand during COVID-19.
Red Cross is continuing to triage all referrals and provide those families that are on the waitlist with regular phone contact and assistance, access to Court workshops and referrals to legal services as appropriate.
Red Cross is currently recruiting to a vacant position to further reduce the waitlist and wait times for engagement. It is anticipated that when the new staff member commences, the majority of the families will be allocated to a case manager.
3. When action is taken to ensure the safety and wellbeing of a child or young person that results in them being removed from their parent’s care, CYPS engages with parents to understand their needs and provide supports. This includes providing information and advice about services that can assist and support them, support the parent’s contribution to care team meetings to support their child or young person, and other supports as identified that would meet their individual needs. In addition, families have access to information such as the ‘Working together for kids guides’ that contains all information available about where they can seek support, access services and understand child protection processes.
CYPS recognises the distress experienced by families when the child protection system must intervene to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children. CYPS also understands the importance of maintaining contact with birth families and makes efforts to engage and remain in communication with birth families who are involved with the system. These are complex and emotional circumstances and the response is individualised depending on the needs and engagement of each family.
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