An update on the Practice Improvement Agenda at Life Without Barriers

1. Mary McKinnon – Executive Director, Practice and Quality
WELCOME
At Life Without Barriers, we are always working hard to find
new and better ways of doing things so that we better fulfil our
purposes: partnering with people to change lives for the better.
Since arriving at LWB three years ago, I and my team have
had the privilege of leading a broad program of improvement in
out of home care. Our aim has been to deepen LWB’s
organisational capacity and improve outcomes for children,
young people and their families – this has been a significant
undertaking in an organisation of our size and scale, and I
have been consistently impressed by the willingness of LWB
people at all levels to embrace change and strive to improve.
To date, we have focussed broadly on four major areas:
 Strengthening our organisational child safety approaches
 Implementing contemporary practice improvements
 Partnering with others to offer more responsive support to children and families, and
 Increasing our engagement with research and evidence.
Our implementation approach has been guided by context – for example, we have piloted some initiatives in a
particular area whereas others have received a staged national rollout. Other initiatives have been targeted at a
specific role or service we provide in a particular area.
As you will appreciate, making continuous improvement a part of day-to-day business is no small task. We gain
practice wisdom every day, the evidence-base continues to expand and cultural change is rapid and relentless
– against this backdrop we need to adapt and improve while continuing to provide the services that our clients
need every day.
I do, however, think we have demonstrated it is possible, and I would like to share with you some of the steps
that we have taken. We have learned a lot along the way, and I hope this starts a conversation in which we can
all share our insights and collaborate to improve practice, and more importantly, the lives of those we serve.
I look forward to your thoughts.
Mary McKinnon
Executive Director | Practice and Quality
Life Without Barriers
LWB PRACTICE UPDATE | MARCH 2017

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Strengthening Organisational Child Safe Approaches
Listening to Children’s Voices
It is important that children in OOHC are aware of their rights and understand how to make complaints, both
within and outside of their supervising agency. To help facilitate this, in late 2014 Life Without Barriers
conducted an exercise in which all children in OOHC were provided with a copy of their rights, as relevant to
their state or territory, and provided with a postcard outlining simple mechanisms for making a complaint within
LWB (both direct to their allocated worker and to a local office) and to the relevant external authority (e.g. the
Ombudsman or Children’s Commission).
This exercise was conducted during regular home visits – with the addition of centralised oversight – providing
the opportunity for all children to be visited in the place where they live and to discuss issues around rights and
complaints with their caseworker.
Children were also asked some simple questions about whether they felt safe and part of the family where they
live – while the results were very positive, LWB recognises there is still work to be done and is conducting
further analysis using client data to assess the factors that contribute to feelings of safety and happiness for
children and young people in care.
We Put Children First – Children’s Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility
Every day, LWB offers support and care to children. We want each and every one of those children to feel as
safe and respected as they should, and all of us have a responsibility to make sure their safety comes first and
that they’re well cared for, protected from abuse and given the respect they deserve.
A visible commitment to a child-safe organisation by its leaders, and a clearly stated expectation that all adults
share the responsibility for child abuse prevention, are essential to ensuring that a culture of child safety
permeates throughout OOHC organisations.
LWB’s approach to child safety, We Put Children First, incorporates the following elements which aim to
address the leadership, governance and culture aspects of child safety:
 A booklet that details LWBs position on the shared responsibility for child safety; describes
unacceptable behaviour in relation to children and LWBs response to such behaviour; and, advises
staff and carers what to do if they are concerned about the safety of a child we support.
 A stated commitment by the Board of Directors to be accountable for the organisation’s performance
in child safety.
 A filmed statement by the Chief Executive outlining our position on child safety, which has been
shown to every member of the organisation – including the Board of Directors – and is used in the
induction of all new staff and carers. This video is also publicly available on our website.
 Signed acknowledgement by all Board Directors, Executives, staff members and foster carers that
they have read and understood We Put Children First.
 Discussion at all team meetings across the organisation, including corporate support teams, of We
Put Children First.

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We Put Children First – Understanding Child Sexual Abuse
Building on the success of the first phase of We Put
Children First, in 2016 LWB rolled out a second phase
dedicated to understanding child sexual abuse and the
people who perpetrate it, as well as detecting and
responding to disclosures of abuse.
It is a requirement that all staff working with children and
their supervisors, foster carers and even recruitment staff
complete training to understand these issues – the link to
the left is a video summarising this training. At LWB, the
safety of children in our care is a non-negotiable priority,
and this approach will be subject of continuous review,
development and improvement.
Children Under 12 in Out of Home Care
Each and every child we support deserves the opportunity to grow
and thrive in safe, stable surroundings that meets their strengths
and needs – with few exceptions, this means living in a caring
family environment. Due to age-specific developmental and
attachment needs, this is especially the case for children under the
age of twelve – in recognition of this, LWB’s policy position is that
children in this age group should be placed in family-based care.
We do understand, however, that in some cases, the needs of
children under 12 may best be met in the intensive, therapeutic
and round-the-clock care environment of residential services. At
LWB, only the Chief Executive may approve an arrangement such
as this, with stringent oversight, review and monitoring processes
put in place for every single placement. To find out more about our
stance, please click here.
Contemporary Practice Improvement
Leading Practice
We believe in investing in our staff, and we recognise that frontline supervisors are the cornerstone of good
practice at LWB. As such, we have developed the Leading Practice strategy, a training and support approach
that helps turn frontline supervisors into practice leaders.
Drawing on a range of professional development and psychological literature, Leading Practice is delivered via
intensive workshops that are supported by a range of resources and tools, as well as by follow-up coaching and
debriefing sessions. Evaluations of the strategy have demonstrated very positive results, with supervisors
reporting that they feel more able and better to supported to make a real difference in people’s lives via their
leadership.

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NSW Child and Family Strategy
The NSW Child and Family Strategy was launched in 2015 with the aim of building on LWB’s work with
children, young people and families with an increased focus on doing the basics well and a greater use of
evidence-informed practice and programs in what we do. The strategy aligns with the policy objectives of the
NSW Government’s Safe Home for Life reform agenda, with initiatives including:
 Implementing the Practice Support Initiative, which included a Practice Support Help Desk and a
Practice Business User Group
 Holding the LWB Case Management Conference for all NSW caseworkers, with keynote speaker
Kevin Campbell from the US National Institute for Permanent Family Connectedness
 Implementing a Transforming Caring Project focused on conversations with carers to work with birth
families
 Redesigning and reinvigorating the foster care recruitment process
 Implementing initiatives such as Leading Practice to drive practice improvement across NSW.
The strategy is now fully embedded in NSW with a variety of positive outcomes having been measured. Based
on this success, work is currently underway to roll this strategy out nationally using the approach in NSW as a
template.

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Communication Methods
As responsible service providers, we are duty-bound to continuously review and update our policies and ways
of working to reflect developments in the evidence base and practice experience.
There is a challenge, however, in communicating these changes to busy workers – particularly those part of
large and geographically diverse organisations – in a way that helps them improve their practice and perhaps
even deepen their understanding of the environment in which they work.
An approach that I have found recently to be successful is using non-traditional media to engage workers who
may not otherwise have the time or inclination to read policy guidelines. To this end, LWB is beginning to a
range of approaches including short animated videos that distil critical information into an accessible format
when communicating policy and other changes.
I have included examples of these videos from the second phase of We Put Children First and our refined
approach to communicating our stance on children under 12 in OOHC in the section above.
Partnering with Others
Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter (FISH)
LWB recognises that family is a child’s first and most important relationship and has been an enthusiastic
supporter of FISH for several years. This unique and exciting initiative is a collaboration of individuals, agencies
– including LWB – and family members dedicated to building and promoting the inclusion of family in the lives
of children and young people involved in the child protection and out of home care systems, thus improving
outcomes for all.
Recently, FISH has been going from strength to strength. Highlights include:
 The launch of the FISH website to help parents whose children have been or may be at risk of being
removed find information, support and guidance.
 The award of a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to FISH convenor and LWB staff member Jessica
Cocks, allowing her to travel to and learn from sites in the UK, Norway, Canada and the US at the
cutting edge of best practice for improving outcomes for vulnerable children and families.
Hunter Central Coast Family Engagement and Restoration Pilot
In 2016, LWB launched a pilot program in the Hunter Central Coast region to improve the way that we work with
the families of children in care. The pilot approach utilises an evidence-based family assessment process (the
North Carolina Family Assessment Scale) in smaller casework teams with lighter caseloads and a consultancy
role, ultimately aiming to support carers and family to form relaxed and less formal relationships.
A key element of the project is the creation of a new Peer Support Worker role, which means that for the first
allowing LWB to offer families in the Hunter Region the chance to engage directly with a support worker who
knows what it is like to have had a child placed in care. This is a first for LWB and, I believe, for the OOHC
sector in Australia.
The new role will help to provide a safer and more inclusive service for families with children in or at risk of
entering care. Part of its remit is to provide advice to case managers on family engagement and to partner with
the project team to develop policy, procedures and communications that are more family inclusive. There will
also be family outreach and advocacy elements.

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Working with Children and Young People with Harmful Sexual Behaviours
In 2015, LWB formed an advisory group with a number of
leading stakeholders – including FaCS, Uniting Care, NSW
Health, New Street and private sexual health practitioners –
to help support children and young people exhibiting
harmful sexual behaviours. The group’s aims are to keep
children and young people safe from further sexual,
physical and psychological harm, minimise the risk to
others and to protect those presenting with problematic or
harmful sexual behaviours by minimising both the risk of
and opportunities for the behaviour recurring.
The group devised a framework that included a variety of
complementary approaches, including guidelines and
practice resources to assist staff in recognising,
understanding and responding to problematic sexual
behaviour. All NSW residential care staff receive training in
Identifying and Responding to Sexualised Behaviours in
Children and Young People in partnership with True
Relationships Queensland, and clinical staff receive training
in Connection, Family and Fairness in partnership with New
Street. Rapid response processes were also implemented
so that residential care staff have access to timely direction,
information and debriefing from the NSW Clinical Manager.
REACH Program – Helping Young People Achieve their Goals
Young people in OOHC tend to experience barriers to accessing higher education, with a knock-on effect being
poor life outcomes in a variety of area. To help address this and with the aid of a grant from Western Sydney
University, LWB developed the Reach program to expose young people to higher education, as well as career
mentoring and even a professional makeover.
In April 2016, 13 young people graduated from the first instalment of the program. Feedback has been very
positive, and one young man said: “I want to get an apprenticeship as a brick-layer. This helped to see how
maths is relevant to that. I’m going to turn up to classes now.” Thanks to a donation from the IT company
Computer Systems Australia, each graduate also received a tablet computer to help them on their educational
and professional pathways.
Engaging with the Evidence
Evidence-informed Strategy
It is widely understood that evidence-informed practices and programs have a significant role to play in
providing better outcomes for clients. While LWB has for some time delivered these, it has become increasingly
clear that a clear and consistent evidence-informed strategy will help us get the best out of the work that we do.
To ensure our strategy was itself evidence-informed, we went out and surveyed the research around what
constitutes good evidence, some of the barriers to implementation that organisations face and how to best
evaluate and monitor the work that we do. We then built on this work to develop a strategy that will help ensure
that LWB remains at the forefront of evidence-informed practice, and gets the best outcomes from its evidence-
based programs.

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The strategy, research paper and other materials are all available at http://www.lwb.org.au/about-
us/publications-and-resources/evidence-informed-strategy
Research Approach
Another aspect of our evidence-informed strategy is our approach to partnering with research institutions to help
build the evidence base in our sector. We have developed a clear policy to support this approach, which
includes the primary criterion we use to evaluate whether to proceed: how the research will benefit our clients,
or those in similar groups.
Some of our current research partnerships include:
CARE Implementation Evaluation Cornell University
Perspectives of Parents with Children in OOHC University of Newcastle
Use of Medication for Adults with Intellectual Disability in
Queensland
Queensland University of Technology
Lost in Transition: Supporting Young People with Complex
Support Needs
UNSW, La Trobe, Monash, QUT (ARC)
Exploring the Experiences of Young People in Residential Care Australian Catholic University
Building the Evidence Base for Prevention and Recovery Care
Services
University of Melbourne (NHMRC)
Children and Residential Experiences (CARE) Model
It is a confronting but unavoidable fact that children and young people placed in OOHC
are likely to have experienced trauma, and it is often young people with the most
significant experiences of trauma who are placed in residential care. To ensure that we
provide the best possible care and support for these young people, LWB has partnered
with Cornell University to implement the evidence-based Children and Residential
Experiences (CARE) model, with national implementation underway.
The CARE model engages staff at all levels of the organisation, providing them with
intensive training in how to create the kind of environment that helps young people to
heal, grow and thrive. It focuses on six key principles drawn from extensive research
into child and adolescent development and provides a safe space for vulnerable young
people to learn and practice new life skills and realise a developmental trajectory more
in line with their peers.
Youth Advocate Program
The Youth Advocate Program (YAP) was developed in the USA with the aim of connecting vulnerable and at-
risk young people – particularly those involved in the juvenile justice system – to family and community. It is one
of the most strongly supported evidence-based programs for high-risk young people, with a number of
independent studies demonstrating improved outcomes and a reduction in offending behaviour for participants.
LWB recently completed a two year pilot of the YAP program in NSW – the first time that YAP had been utilised
in Australia. The outcomes were extremely positive, with most young people entering training and employment,

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reconnecting with family and community and achieving other goals. We are currently seeking opportunities to
expand this program to continue these excellent results.
The Abecedarian Approach
In 2016, LWB partnered with the University of Melbourne and the local
community to deliver training in the Abecedarian Approach (3A) at a
crèche in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. 3A
is underpinned by evidence-based teaching and learning strategies that
maximise children’s learning outcomes by enhancing educator practice.
It focuses on learning games, enriched caregiving and other activities to
help support educators, parents and caregivers to provide the best
possible environment for learning and childhood development.
Following extensive consultation, a tailor-made 3A practitioner training
package was developed to ensure that educators and others in the
community were able deliver the best possible outcomes for the kids in
the crèche and beyond. The package comprised five two-day workshops facilitated by a 3A practitioner and
delivered between September 2016 and February 2017. Staff on the ground report that the kids are enjoying
participating in the workshop, and the adults are already seeing the benefits – key messages from the workshop
have also been translated into Warlpiri so that they can be displayed on the walls of the crèche.
THANK YOU
Thank you for taking the time to read this practice update, and I look forward to continuing the conversation.
You can contact me on (03) 8480 9613 or at mary.mckinnon@lwb.org.au – I hope to hear from you soon.
Kind Regards,
Mary McKinnon
Executive Director – Practice and Quality
Life Without Barriers