1. 1
Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter
www.finclusionh.org /contact@finclusionh.org
Introduction
This paper includes a range of practice ideas and activities that were generated by LWB casework
staff following a presentation from Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter (FISH) at the LWB case
management conference in April, 2016. The documentation of these ideas was a commitment made
by FISH to follow the presentation.
Many ideas are able to be implemented immediately from the “bottom up” by caseworkers and care
teams. They don’t require any change in the law, LWB or government policy. Nor do they need
direction or resource allocation from senior management.
Some ideas do require resources to be used differently. For example, the resources currently used to
supervise family contact in a conventional way could be redirected to support family inclusion and
family relationships. Other ideas will require some support from LWB as an organisation such as
policy and procedure development and reduced caseloads.
The ideas and activities are divided into sections concerned with casework practice, carer
recruitment training and support, family relationships and organisational issues. They do not
represent an exhaustive list of family inclusive practice strategies and should be seen as a starting
point only.
Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter (FISH).
FISH is a collaboration of agencies, individuals and family members who are concerned with building
and promoting family inclusion in the lives of children and young people in the child protection and
out of home care systems. The collaborative approach taken by FISH is role modelling a partnership
approach between workers, carers and family members. Our presentations and workshops amplify
the voices and lived experience of parents and family and give workers and carers the opportunity to
learn from the expertise of parents and family.
The goals of FISH are to improve outcomes for children and young people in care or subject to child
protection intervention. Family inclusion is an evidence based pathway to better outcomes. For
more information about the research in support of family inclusion and about FISH please go to our
website at www.finclusionh.org.
Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter
Family Inclusive Practice in Out of Home Care,
Life Without Barriers Case Managers
Conference, Sydney, 2016
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Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter
www.finclusionh.org /contact@finclusionh.org
What is family inclusive practice?
“Family inclusion is the active & meaningful participation of parents and family in the lives of
children. It requires open, warm, professional relationships aimed at building equity with workers &
carers. It is underpinned by respect & trust.”
(Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter, 2015)
Practice ideas and activities for LWB
These ideas are divided into several categories:
Casework practice
Recruitment, training and support of carers
Family relationships
Organisational issues
These areas overlap somewhat. Many of them can be implemented immediately without the need
for extra resources, approval from senior management or law /policy changes from government.
These ideas are not intended to be exhaustive. Family inclusive practice is an evolving term and we
recognise that it is best developed and grown from your work with families themselves.
Casework practice by individual case managers and staff
This was a key area for change identified by participants.
Case managers need to build relationships of trust and respect directly with
parents and family.
The case manager role was described as a linking role with the potential to build relationships
between parents, carers, children and young people.This linking or facilitating role is different from
the traditional role that has been focused on management, control and making decisions. A family
inclusive case manager facilitates and enables relationship building rather than trying to control or
manage them. Case managers can only do this when they have good relationships with family.
Build professional relationships – not professional boundaries.
Like most of us parents and family value relationships of trust, warmth and positive regard. Case
managers recognised that parents and family may have every reason not to trust workers. Being
honest and transparent about the power differential that exists between LWB and other
stakeholders including parents and family is important as is ensuring that when power is used it is
explicit and accountable. The case manager role is to try and reduce the power differential between
parents, family, LWB, carers children and young people as it is much easier to work productively in
the best interests of children within relationships of greater equity.
Get to know the histories and current life circumstances of family and parents.
Getting curious about the stories and experiences of parents and family is a good way to do family
inclusive practice. Many children and young people in care have experienced complex trauma and
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Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter
www.finclusionh.org /contact@finclusionh.org
this is often mirrored in the experience of their parents. Many parents and family have a care history
inclusing abuse in care. They may worry deeply about their children being abused. Gathering
information and stories may take time and needs a professional relationship. Trust and respect is
needed before we can expect parents and family to openly share information and stories.
Build genograms and involve family in life story work.
Case managers discussed that lifestory work does not begin and end in a photo album or box of
memorabilia colleacted by carers or held on a file. Life story work is a process of stories and
relationships including stories about great grandparents who we may never meet and family origins
from long ago. They are frequently stories of adversity and diversity. Parents and family are the
starting point for positive life story work.
Practical and financial support
Parents and family of children in care are almost always on very low incomes. Parenting while in
poverty is always difficult. Parenting your children in care while in poverty is even more challenging.
Practical and financial support is a vital part of family inclusisve practice and should be part of our
relationship with all parents and family. Parents and family will often avoid asking for help for fear
they will be judged or that their need for assistance will be used as evidence of their lack of ability to
parent well. Case managers had a range of ideas ffor practical help including the following:
Transport to contact, meetings, school events
Paying for activities at contact
Travel, accommodation and other costs for family to attend special events, meetings or for
contact
Support letters and references to support parent and family access to basic needs including
housing, workforce participation etc
Referral and linking to support services including counselling and parenting programs
Providing information and advocacy when needed including referring parents and family to
the FISH website
These things are often not expensive or time consuming but can make a big difference for parents
and family who are struggling to manage and get the support services they need. Your discussions
indicated that you saw a disparity in the way carers families receive ongoing support and our
approach to work with first families and a recognition that this disparity needs to change.
Recruitment training and support of carers
This was a key theme that emerged from the presentation and from discussions.
Introduce family inclusion expectations early in recruitment.
It is important to recruit, train and induct new carers with strong and explicit expectations about
family inclusion. This will require changes in the way LWB currently works with carers and there was
clear acknowledgement of this in your discussions.
Be family inclusive in our publication material, training material and on our website
Ensure family inclusion is part of early discussions with carers
Make sure carers know they are normally expected to meet and form relationships with
family – the “doing” of family inclusion.
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Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter
www.finclusionh.org /contact@finclusionh.org
Change language and challenge the beliefs and assumptions that carers (and other LWB
staff) may hold about families
Provide training to new and existing carers about the importance of first family and family
inclusion
Include first families in recruitment, training, induction and support activities as consultants
and trainers. This will role model a family inclusive and power sharing approach
Make sure families and carers have the opportunity to meet and form
relationships
This was a strong theme and there were some great ideas. Case managers seemed keen to begin to
change the “mindset” of carers AND the organisation and to move away from an organisational and
practice culture where carers may have been seen to need “protecting” from family.
Case managers to encourage and support meetings between carers and family in all
situations unless there are very pressing reasons for people not to meet. Case managers can
negotiate what this support looks like with family, carers and most importantly with children
and young people. Good case planning happens in relationships so it is important that
opportunities for relationship building happen in their own right and are not just combined
with particular events such as annual meetings
Find opportunities for relationship building in day to day life such as school and sporting
events, birthday parties and family occasions
LWB can begin to host events that are inclusive of family such as family fun days, picnics and
Christmas parties.
Family relationships and family time together.
There was discussion that current “casework as usual” tended to focus on arranging and “managing”
family contact events and not on supporting meaningful and sustainable family relationships. Family
inclusion is about a lot more than contact arrangements.
“I definitely think it comes from the
caseworker…. If they have a relationship
with the family, if this is trusting, then this
will mean a better culture, a better
relationship with the family..”
(Parent with children in care, Newcastle, 2015)
The way family contact, including time together, is arranged and supported is very important. It is
through seeing and interacting with each other that children and families maintain and develop their
relationships. LWB needs to move towards a practice culture of support and facilitation and away
from management and control when it comes to family relationships. Some of the ideas in the above
section on carer recruitment, training and support are also very relevant here.
The case manager as role model and leader
Many of the barriers to family inclusion are concerned with values, attitudes and beliefs. Family
members are a part of this as are carers and workers. Stigmatisation is very powerful. However, as
the quote above illustrates when caseworkers role model a respectful and inclusive approach then
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Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter
www.finclusionh.org /contact@finclusionh.org
this impacts positively on all other parties, especially children and young people who see their
family, and therefore themselves, being respectfully included.
Review and reconsider the need and purpose of paid workers in family
contact.
The role and purpose of the “supervisor” or other worker in contact arrangements should always be
explicit and understood by everyone. In the experience of FISH there is rarely a need for formal
supervision for safety reasons. However at times there may be a need for support to assist family
relationships to grow and thrive. Be clear about the purpose of any worker, aim to reduce the
structure and formality of family time as much as possible and consistently with the needs of the
family, children and young people.
Respectful attitudes and behaviour from paid workers and carers
Family time for children and young people in care is often stressful. Getting prepared for visits,
taking part in them and then recovering from them can be emotionally draining and difficult. If a
worker or carer is present for any period of this visit then disrespectful attitudes and behaviour
makes them even harder. Conversely if workers and carers behave respectfully and display non
judgemental attitudes and beliefs then parents, family, children and young people are likely to
experience more positive outcomes.
It is important not to blame families for the stressful nature of family time.
The role of carers in family time
There was a suggestion from the LWB conference that carers take the role of “supervisor” of family
contact. This is also something that may be being encouraged by Family and Community Services.
While this is well intentioned, FISH cautions against this as it may be detrimental to positive
relationships between carers and family. If supervision is needed then this should come from
elsewhere with clear roles and purpose as described above.
Carers can play a very productive role during family time but this role should be concerned with
relationship building, partnership with parents and family and be child focused. There should be no
absolute requirement that carers be present throughout a child’s time with their family. Family
members often feel under scrutiny by carers and a “supervisor” role is likely to make this worse.
Concerns regarding carers “supervising” family time together also applies to phone and other non
direct contact.
Less formulaic and more “natural” family relationships.
“Treat me like I’m normal… because I am normal. Treat me like a normal parent”
“Because children need their parents in their lives…. One way or the other”
“If a child can live in a family and love mum and dad, as well as loving their extended family, then a
child can live in a foster family and have a love for their parents as well. There doesn’t need to be
such segregation. There should be room to bring families together”
Parents with children in care, various FISH events, 2014 - 16
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Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter
www.finclusionh.org /contact@finclusionh.org
“Family relationships are a process, a journey, just like in other families. They aren’t a series of family
contact events.”
OOHC Worker, Newcastle, 2015
When thinking about family inclusion it is useful to think about how “normal” families function and
what we mean by a “normal” family anyway. Families in Australia are as diverse as our society and it
is just as possible to “do family” when your children are in out of home care as it is when parents are
living away from their children in any other situation.
Parents, family and children and young people in care do not want to be stigmatised or marked out
as different by rules and procedures that are unnatural and formulaic. These are some of the ideas
that emerged from your discussions:
Get to know one another and have shared family time (carers, parents, children and young
people)
Include extended family in activities and events, along with the carers extended family
Find out what kids want and try and get it for them. This should include overnight stays with
grandparents, parents, siblings and more, school holiday trips and restoration after long
term orders if this is what kids want and need.
Treat kids in care like normal kids who see their family often and when they want and need
to.
Include parents in decision making and make sure they know what’s going on
Be flexible and realistic about section 149 information. Make sure parents and family have
the information they need and that their kids need them to have. Kids shouldn’t have to
keep secrets from their parents.
Organisational issues
There were a number of suggestions about opportunities for LWB to make organisational changes
and improvements to build family inclusive practice. Case managers felt there were organisational
barriers to family inclusive practice .
Policy and procedure development
Case managers argued for the development of an organisational position on family inclusion
including practice guidelines. FISH supports the development of an overall organisational policy
position and the implementation of a family inclusive practice framework. The NSW Child and Family
strategy has made family inclusion a key platform in the LWB approach to permanency. This is an
important step towards an overall organisational position on family inclusive practice.
However care should be taken in the development of practice guidelines that are very prescriptive
and formulaic. Prescriptive and formulaic practice is counter to relationship based practice and to
family inclusion. Children and young people need us to respond to them and their families and
carers in ways that are individualised and appropriate to their unique circumstances. Case managers
need both autonomy and support to practice in ways that are different and family inclusive.
Caseloads and resource allocation
Case managers have argued for lower caseloads that will allow them to spend time developing
relationships with family and to work more inclusively. Realistic caseloads are a very important part
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Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter
www.finclusionh.org /contact@finclusionh.org
of family inclusion. Resource allocation in LWB should make direct casework practice a priority as it
is through day to day casework and case management that change will be achieved.
Support from management to work differently
This was a significant theme from conference discussions. Case managers are concerned that their
managers and colleagues, including those in clinical roles, may not support a more family inclusive
approach.
As stated earlier a family inclusive approach must give case managers autonomoy and support to
work differently. A very risk averse organisational culture runs counter to family inclusive practice
and there was some feedback from case managers that LWB may be working in risk averse, rule
dominated ways. Managers and clinicians may also need support and training to empower teams to
work in the ways described in this paper.
Training in family engagement and relationship based practice
Although much of the discussion about training was concerned with carers there was also a need
expressed for ongoing training for case managers and other direct service staff such as family
contact workers. Case managers clearly appreciated the opportunity to learn from parents who have
children placed in out of home care as well as from others with lived experience of the child
protection and out of home care system and expressed a willingness to continue to learn in these
ways.
Case managers overall expressed a need for more skill development to work more productively and
respectfully with everyone affected by the out of home care system including children, young
people, their families and their carers. They clearly understood the complexity and the importance
of their work.
To contact FISH and arrange training, a speaker for your event or consultation please email
contact@finclusionh.org.