Imaginif...the spirit of Christmas lasted.

Of what relevance is policy to foster carers and foster children? Policy in child protection is in place because it is recognized that consistent recommendations can guide decision making, ensuring the rights and safety of all concerned. Codes of practice aim to reduce known risks and to indicate a “least of harm” way to proceed when a foster care issue is ambiguous (an ethical dilemma).

Policy is used as an important guidance structure in the delivery of social and care services in foster care. Standards put in place by policy are the parameters as to what is considered best practices. They indicate how actions are to be carried out, by whom and how to evaluate if the process was effective. Policy aims to provide a consistency to the delivery of foster care services to both the carer and the child. Overall, there is an inherent moral obligation to see that human rights of dignity, justice, respect and safety are maintained.

A lot of literature exists about  policy analysis. The following points of recommendation have been gleaned from a number of documents and identify key areas of policy for the foster care system;

• Create and evaluate a system of recording information that occurs during discussions with foster carers and children. This includes casual interactions where an agreement is made between an agency and their client (i.e., the carer and or child in care).
• Continuously review policies with all stakeholders and modify standards as necessary. It is important that child safety policies provide supported direction that is relevant to changing situations (e.g., introduction of the frequency test to account for Indigenous Australian family visitors that are often spontaneous, culturally important and stay for very short periods).
• Ongoing task-specific training (e.g., application of policy or supported visits) that includes group work and the foster carers when possible as well as child protection agency staffs.
• Ensure that continuous supervision is available with all training within the child protection industry. Mentoring or buddy-up systems work well as a novice carer or child protection worker is able to start as a participant observer. Discussion of concerns and inquiries within a learning and development relationship provide a senior worker at hand to take over responsibility when necessary.
• To establish an inclusive culture that integrates and standardizes stakeholder responses and builds on shared multi-disciplinary knowledge, skills and competencies.
• Cultivates a culture of critical thinking, including reflection on one’s own decision making and actions.
• Identify known ongoing risks to all persons involved in each child protection case. Have indicators of danger to alert stakeholders that a more formal assessment or supervisor intervention may be needed.
• Provide reinforcement of organization’s key values and goals to create a culture of consistency, responsible decision-making and confidence.
• Develop a decision matrix that contains categories of concerns and rates the level of each. A standard guide as to “where to draw the line” will ensure that only the extremes of concerns will require a more controlling interaction with regards to relevant authorities.

Ultimately, the policy of child protection requires the input of all stakeholders and so transparency of information is also needed. Foster care policy must seek to limit tragedies and to enable whilst empowering children in care, their carers and parents and child protection staffs.

 Safe Kids and The Act

Foster Carer University: Online learning for therapeutic parenting

Well~ I’ve had a busy week learning more about safe kids and the Child Protection Act, 1999. I expect a lot from the child protection workers I engage with on a daily basis as a foster carer, and so I’ve decided to step up to the challenge myself. Oh the joys of policy analysis It is one of the frustrations of being in the child protection system that so much legislation does exist, amendments occur regularly and no-one ever seems to be up to date with most of it! So as a busy multi-tasker myself, I’m going to help my foster child, other foster parents, the rest of my child protection team and myself to be aware and implement best practices to keep kids safe.

Experience has shown me (I am an online tutor) that the best way to read an Act is to have a goal. Recently I was having a hissy fit over the different points of view about people staying overnight at my home~ the boundaries kept shifting. I’ve been a carer for almost 9 months and in that time have had friends, lovers and family over for dinner/drinks/dvds or to babysit and have invited the person to stay the night. As none of these people “regularly” stayed over I did not ask them to get a Blue Card, as outlined during my initial interviews and assessments to become a foster carer. However, a week ago it became clear that “regular” can mean different things to different people.

According to the Child Protection Act, 1999 there is a criteria to determine who is legally considered to be a “regular” member of a household. If a person “stays overnight in the person’s home at least – once a week in a month; or once a fortnight in 2 consecutive months or; once a month in 6 consecutive months” (CPA, 1999, Schedule 3(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) they meet the frequency test criteria to be considered a regular member of the household.

So at present, I have no one in my life meeting these requirements, though my support team and I are now reviewing my child’s support plan to ensure that his special needs, my lifestyle choices and our safety strategies are functional and clear. However, this is an issue that should have been nutted out at the beginning of the placement- I am a 35, single, sexually active and social being. And he is a child who was placed with me to learn about “normal” functioning.

Evidently child protection workers and foster carers need to understand more about legislation for keeping kids safe, and we need to review it on a regular basis (pun intended). Carer frustration at apparent increasing control over one’s life and lack of consistent information; children’s anxiety and confusion brought on by stressed out carers; and workers stressed about making the most correct decision to ensure children’s safety, could be negated by us all getting to know the boundaries a bit(ss) better.

Guide to Child Protection Legislation

Invest in Foster Carers and We’ll all Benefit

Foster Care Training: Online Learning for Therapeutic Parenting