For this stage all case planning is documented in Form 515a Signs of Safety Assessment and Case Planning Form: Stage 1 Planning for reunification/permanent care (also in related resources).
Discussion with parents
After a child has been taken into temporary care, parents are likely to experience a range of emotions including grief and loss.
Significant events such as a child coming into the CEO's care present a unique opportunity for change in the lives of the parents and their child. During a period of intense crisis, parents may be more motivated to work with us. Child protection workers must emphasise that families have the strengths to come up with their own solutions.
Child protection workers' first contact with the parents after their child is taken into the CEO's care is critical to support the parents to work through some of their emotions and focus quickly on what they need to demonstrate to get their child home.
Child protection workers should talk with the parents about the following:
- acknowledge that the removal of the child has created a significant crisis in the family’s life
- emphasise that our aim is to make the process of the care arrangement and reunification as positive as possible
- explain why the child is in the CEO's care and what steps the parents need to take so their child can be returned home
- explain what parallel planning is
- explain that the care arrangement is temporary, but the parent’s actions will determine the outcome of their child’s future
- explain that the parents will need to work with us to demonstrate their child is safe in their care, and
- discuss ways the parents can remain connected to the child.
Child protection workers must record the discussion and share their views with the parents.
One of the greatest losses a parent faces when a child is in the CEO's care is the opportunity to make day-to-day decisions for their child. Child protection workers must discuss and share these decisions with the parent to reinforce the parent’s responsibility to, and concern for, the child.
The child protection worker must ask the parent to provide:
- any additional background information about the child and their family
- their current wishes about where their child should live, and
- who in their family has an important relationship with their child which should be maintained even if the child is in permanent care.
Discuss who could be part of a possible safety network with the parents
The child protection worker must ask the parents to identify people who might be able to be part of the safety network wherever possible.
The role of the safety network will be to:
- respond and manage the foreseeable threats and dangers to a child during contact, and
- provide informal practical and emotional support to the parents.
For further information refer to Helping
Families to Develop a Safety Network (also in related resources).
Working with the child
Children who are taken into the CEO's care will also experience a range of reactions to separation including grief and loss.
Child protection workers are expected to understand that a child’s reaction to parent separation or loss is affected by a range of factors including the:
- child’s age and stage of development
- child’s attachment to the parent, and
- parent’s bonding to the child.
Other issues that may impact on the child’s reaction could include:
- their past experiences of separation
- the child’s perceptions of the reasons for separation
- the child’s preparation for the move
- the parting message the child receives
- the post-separation environment
- the child’s temperament, and
- the environment from which the child is being moved.
Explaining to the child what is happening (commencing Words and Pictures)
The child protection worker must give the child information (the amount of details provided should be appropriate to the child’s age and level of understanding) about what is happening including:
- what is happening to their family
- why people are so concerned about them
- what a foster family is: families that take care of children when their parents cannot
- when they can see their parents and siblings next, and
- if placed with a family member what does this mean for the child, parent, carer and other family members.
The child protection worker should also give the same information to the parents and carers so the same messages can be given to the child. This type of information will need to be discussed on an ongoing basis with the child.
Preparing for the Signs of Safety mapping with the family
Signs of Safety internal mapping (internal case planning meeting)
The child protection worker must convene an internal Signs of Safety meeting within seven working days of a child entering provisional protection and care to identify our expectations.
The purpose of the internal mapping is to be clear before meeting with the parents and their safety network about:
- what behaviours we need to see for the child to be returned home
- how this could be broken down into achievable steps over specific time periods, and
- how we and the safety network will monitor the plan.
The timeframe and trajectory for reunification and case closure should be documented in the safety plan.
Child Protection and Family Support division's expectations to the family must include:
- Harm statement (actual harm): who (name the person/s if known) caused harm (describe the behaviours) to whom (child) and the impact of the harm on the child. This information is documented in the affidavit.
- Danger statement(s): what we are worried will happen to the child if the child was returned to the parents’ care. This information is documented in the affidavit.
- Strengths: what strengths and observable behaviours the parents have demonstrated that make us think reunification is likely.
- Our goals: the specific behaviours that we need to see the parents demonstrate for the child to be returned to their care.
- Draft safety plan focusing on parental contact arrangements, including the following:
- how the parents can demonstrate the behaviours that we need to see through contact.
- how this could be broken down into achievable steps over specific time periods
- how we and the safety network will monitor the plan
- timeframe and trajectory for reunification and case closure, and
- likely consequences and bottom lines.
- Possible next steps in working with the family towards building future safety for the child (case plan including supports and services).
For further information, refer to Considerations
for Supervisors When Internally Mapping a Case (also in related resources).
Planning contact arrangements
Contact arrangements must be developed before the care arrangement or within seven working days of the child coming into provisional protection and care as part of the child’s provisional care plan. Refer to Chapter 3.4: Care planning - provisional care plans, care plans and Viewpoint for further information.
Contact arrangements must include:
- purpose of the contact
- the type of contact (direct or indirect, individual and/or group)
- frequency (what level of contact would best suit the child)
- who can be present
- where the contact is to be held
- whether contact is to be supervised (and who will supervise it including an appropriate safety network/family member) or unsupervised
- the role and expectations of all those involved, and
- who will provide feedback on the contact to the child protection worker, and who/how feedback will be given to the parents.
For further information, refer to: Guide to Developing Contact Arrangements, Unsupervised Contact Arrangement and Supervised Contact Arrangement (also in related resources).
The contact schedule and agreement must be reviewed at least monthly, or more frequently if required, as part of the Signs of Safety review meeting (review of Form 515) and adjusted as appropriate in the best interests of the child.
Parental contact arrangements
The child protection worker must develop parental contact arrangements in the context of the safety goal(s) and safety plan.
The purpose of reunification contact with parents is to:
- maintain and strengthen the parent’s connection with the child
- help the child manage the impact of being separated from their family
- provide ongoing opportunity to assess the parent’s capacity and willingness to care for and demonstrate safety, and
- facilitate the opportunity for parents to learn parenting skills, practice those skills and receive feedback on their progress in relation to the safety goal(s).
The contact arrangements should prioritise the child’s safety and wellbeing while enabling the parents’ needs to act as naturally as possible.
As part of the internal Signs of Safety meeting, the child protection worker must plan and agree with their team leader on the present and proposed future contact arrangements. Parents must be advised of the plan.
Enhanced contact centres
Child Protection and Family Support division have Enhanced Contact Centres in the metropolitan area to provide suitable child and family-friendly environments for contact. The centres are for children aged 0-5 years and their parents. Workers model responsive and consistent behaviours that help children to feel emotionally safe for parents.
Where it is appropriate for a child and their parents to have contact at an Enhanced Contact Centre, child protection workers should arrange this at the centre nearest to where the children live.
Child protection workers should refer to the following documents (in related resources) when setting up Enhanced Contact Centre arrangements:
Sibling, other family and signficant other contact arrangements
As part of the provisional care plan, the child protection worker must plan how the child will stay connected with siblings, other family members and significant others.
Child protection workers should describe the purpose of contact for each family member and how this reflects the type of order being sought. The contact arrangements should be reviewed at least monthly as part of the Signs of Safety review meeting and adjusted as appropriate in the best interests of the child.
For children who do not have regular contact with their parents, the role of extended family in providing a sense of culture, identity and connectedness is critical. In the case of Aboriginal children, persons who are regarded as significant in the child’s network under customary law or tradition are included in the term ‘family’.
Practical considerations for planning the meeting
Child protection workers also need to consider:
- who needs to attend the meeting (parents, safety network members, our staff, other professionals, carers and child if age appropriate)
- if there should be one meeting that all participants attend or a number of meetings (for example, in family and domestic violence cases), and
- how to include the voice of the child (for example, if the child cannot attend – use of audio, letters or pictures).
Refer to Facilitating
a Signs of Safety Meeting with Families (also in related resources) for further information.
Role of the carer
It is important to begin building the relationship between the parent and the carer from the first meeting. The child protection worker should explain to the parents and carer that it takes more than one person to meet a child’s many needs and they are likely to:
- have shared goals to do what is best for the child
- have their own unique knowledge, abilities and role for helping the child, and
- both participate in decision making and working together in order to help the child.
The child protection worker and carer should agree on what information about the care arrangement can be shared with the parents. Care arrangement information should not be shared if there are risks for the safety of the child, carer, or the carer’s family.
The child’s carer should be involved wherever possible in the reunification process. The child protection worker should invite the carer to the Signs of Safety meeting. If they are not able to attend or if there are safety issues, the child protection worker should work with the carer to keep them involved in the process and obtain their views.
The carer may facilitate reunification through mentoring the parents and having a role in contact. Development of a positive relationship between the carer and parents will help the child avoid the stress of divided loyalties and allows the carer to play a supportive role after reunification. The use of the Communication
Book for Foster Families and Birth Parents (in related resources) should be discussed with the carer and parents so that it is used in a positive manner and supports the child’s transition between them.
Refer to the following related resources for more information:
Signs of Safety meeting with the family (case planning meeting)
The child protection worker must arrange a Signs of Safety meeting with the parents and key stakeholders within 30 working days of the child entering temporary care.
The purpose of the meeting is to:
- explain the reasons why the child is in need of protection (harm and/or danger statement)
- explain what we are worried will happen to the child if the child was returned to the parents’ care (danger statement)
- identify what strengths and observable behaviours the parents have demonstrated that make us think reunification is likely (strengths)
- explain our safety goals so that parents understant what they need to demonstrate for their child to be returned to their care and reach consensus on the family goals
- identify the family’s ideas about what needs to happen for the child to be returned to the parents’ care (family’s views and goals)
- discuss the next steps for the primary permanency plan (reunification): our's and the family’s plan of how foreseeable dangers and threats will be managed through contact arrangements to allow the parents to demonstrate safety, and how this will be monitored (safety plan including contact arrangements)
- discuss the plan for the development of a Words and Pictures explanation for the child
- talk about parallel planning and the timeframe requirements, and
- talk about the next steps for the secondary permanency plan (permanent care): review the genogram and ecomap to explore whether any members of the safety network are possible care arrangement options, identify the family’s ideas about permanent care options, and discuss timeframes for decision making.
The meeting is also an opportunity to identify who might be involved in the child's care team.
As part of the planning process, consideration should be given to any:
- complicating factors: issues that make working with the family more difficult in building or sustaining child safety so the child can be returned to the parents’ care, and
- missing or new information: is any additional information required or new information obtained that needs to be considered in relation to the safety plan (note: child protection workers should search the FDV Triage Application for reports of family and domestic violence involving the prospective carer/s, other adults living in the home and regular visitors to the home).
The case plan must document our expectations of the parents and the actions that we will take if parents are unable to demonstrate their capacity to provide appropriate care, and the review date. A clear case plan will minimise the sense that we ‘move the goal posts’.
Child protection workers must document the outcome of the meeting using Form 515a Signs of Safety Assessment and Case Planning Form: Stage 1 Planning for reunification/permanent care (in related resources).
Documenting the plan for parents and safety network members
Although Form 515 Signs of Safety Assessment and Case Planning Form is the formal document, the child protection worker should consider what the most appropriate format is to document the safety plan, the timeframe and trajectory for reunification for parents and other stakeholders.
Preferably, the safety plan should be documented in a ‘user-friendly’ one page sheet in an accessible format for the parents, child (where age appropriate) and safety network members. Child protection workers should consider the use of calendars and visual formats to document the timeframe. The document must assist parents to know how they are progressing within the agreed timeframes.
Assessments, supports and services for the parents
Assessments, supports and services required for the parents to achieve reunification must be identified as part of the case plan. Assessment of the parent’s needs must commence as soon as practical after the child enters temporary care to work towards building parent’s capacity to provide safer care.
The types of assessments, supports and services required for each child and their family will vary depending on the reasons for the child needing to be taken into care.
Generally, the allocated child protection workers should provide reunification assessment and support, however in some cases, and where available, it may be appropriate to refer this to community sector services contracted by Child Protection and Family Support division. Child protection workers should consult with their team leader and/or the senior child protection worker placement services for advice about the appropriateness of the referral and availability of services in their district.
Child protection workers should make contact with the community sector service provider as soon as possible, where available, to determine suitability and any waiting list. Waitlists must not delay reunification. The child protection worker will need to explore what other options are available to support reunification where a delay in access to these services is likely. This includes child protection workers undertaking the reunification work.
Once a referral has been accepted, the child protection worker must convene a meeting with workers from the reunification service, parents and our workers to identify the work to be completed and clarify roles. Workers from the reunification service must be invited to case plan reviews to discuss progress.
Words and Pictures
As part of the ongoing work with the family, child protection workers should involve the parents and child in the development of a Words and Pictures to explain to the child why we and the Court decided the child could not live with their parents.
Further information can be found in the following documents (also in related resources):