Resource list

Relevant Legislation:

• Children, Youth and Families Act 2005
• Social Security Amendment (Flexible Participation Requirements for Principal Carers) Bill 2010
• Social Security Amendment (Flexible Paricipation Requirements for Principal Carers) Bill   2010 - Explanatory Memorandum

Create
www.create.org.au

• Report Cards - Transitioning from Care

Department of Human Services, Victoria, Australia (DHS): 

www.dhs.vic.gov.au/

• Charter for Children in Out of Home Care Provides a clear and simple set of statements of the rights that children and young people can expect to be upheld throughout their time in care as well as explanatory notes about these rights.
• Court Orders: Ongoing and New The commencement of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 introduces a range of new orders to encourage greater flexibility in dispositions and significant changes to current orders. This fact sheet describes these new orders, as well as changes to current orders.
• Education Subsidies Entitlements and Fee Assistance  Packages for statutory and non-statutory carers.
• Family Relationships Online A one-stop shop for foster and kinship carers to find information about the financial and non-financial supports and services available to them and/or the children in their care.
• Guideline for Consent for Participation in Excusion Camp Activities . Guidelines for consent for participation of children and young people in out of home care in school excusions, camps and other non-school activities.   
• Guidelines for Overnight Stays for children and young people in out of home care
• Guidelines for Responding to Quality of Care Concerns in Out of Home Care.
  These guidelines have been developed to ensure that quality of care concerns relating to home-based carers (including lead tenants), residential carers and kinship carers are responded to in a consistent and timely manner. We must be confident that children and young people in care are safe and well cared for and that carers are supported and treated fairly while concerns are investigated
• Home-based Care Handbook 2007. This handbook has been developed by DHS in liaison with the Foster Care Association of Victoria (FCAV). This handbook starts to address issues in home-based care but is not a rule book and does not explain every issue that may arise. Many of these issues require careful consideration on an individual basis. This handbook reflects relevant legislation, policy, standards, current procedures and practice guidance. It is a resource to assist carers and workers improve the standard of care for children and young people in foster care and adolescent community placement.
• Provision of Information about Children in Out of Home Care to Placement Providers and Carers
• North and West Metropolitan Region Leaving Care Program. Leaving Care services available from 2009/10 to young people in the North and West Metropolitan Region (N&WMR).
• Registration Standards for Community Service Organisations. The Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 provides a formal approach to ensuring quality services for vulnerable children, youth and families through the registration of organisations providing family or out-of-home care services and the development of registration standards.
• The Best Interests Framework for Vulnerable Children and Youth. Has been developed to support a consistent understanding of these principles (best interest principles) and their practice ramifications.
• Unborn Child Referrals  for Family Services and Child FIRST Practitioners
• Unborn Child Reports for Child Protection Practitioners. The Children, Youth and families Act 2005 will allow anyone in the community to contact Child Protection or Child FIRST before the birth of a child, if they have serious concerns for the wellbeing of a child after their birth.

Office of the Child Safety Commissioner Resources:

www.ocsc.vic.gov.au/

• Calmer Classrooms: A Guide to Working with Traumatised Children. This booklet assists kindergarten, primary and secondary teachers, and other school personnel in understanding and working with children and young people whose lives have been affected by trauma.
• Caring Classrooms: A resource designed for to assist carers and the broader school community to better understand how abuse, neglect and other forms of trauma can impact on children's development and learning.  It compliments the "Calmer Classrooms" publications (see above),
• Charter for Children in Out-of-Home Care. A double-sided A4 reference check list which describes the basic rights of children living in out-of-home care
• Financial Support for Grandparents and Other Relative Carers - first in a series. A resource outlining Government assistance and benefits which may be available for grandparents and other relative carers of a child.
• From Isolation to Connection - A guide to understanding and working with traumatised children and young people.
• Great Expectations. Supporting children and young people in out-of-home care to achieve at school
• Parenting for Grandparents and Relative Carers - second in a series This booklet has been written for grandparents who are the fulltime carers of their grandchildren and for other members of the extended family who are caring for children.
• Statutory Declaration for Informal Relative Carers Victoria- form and information booklet. A guide to the Statutory Declaration for Information and Relative Carers Victoria.  This has been developed to assist carers to gain better access to services for the children in their care.
• Things to Look at when Selecting Child-Safe Activities or Services for Your Child. (OCSC). entrusting the care of your child to someone else is a beig step. This booklet reates some of the key child safety issues that may assist you to decide how child safe an activity, service or organisation is.
• Victoria Charter Supporting People in Care Relationships 2009
• Wise Choices: Safe Children Important tips for you to consider when choosing an organisation or activity  your child will participate in, or deciding who you will leave your child with.  Further information in the form of a DVD and can be ordered for free at http://www.ocsc.vic.gov.au/order/index_wise_choices.htm

Ombudsman Victoria
www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au

• Annual Reports
  Own Motion Investigation into Child Protection - Out of Home Care
  

National Framework

• Development of National Standards  for  Out of Home Care (Working document)
• National Framework Out of Home Care  Dec 2010 (Working document)
• Protecting Children is Everyone's Business: National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children 2009-2020·(COAG).

Other publications of interest:

• Annual Report of Inquiries into the Deaths of Children Known to Child Protection 2009 (Victorian Child Death Review Committee).
• Care System Impact on Academic Outcomes 2010 (Anglicare and Wesley)
• Child Protection Reports (Australian Governement - AIHW)
• Family Tax Benefits Letter @ 18 July 2011
  This letter from Parliamentary Secretary for Community Services, Julie Collins MP confirms that carers can advise Centrelink verbally of claims for additional children in their care
• Financial and Non-Financial Support to Formal and Informal Out of Home Carers
  Written by Marilyn McHugh and kylie valentine for the Social Policy Research Centre in NSW, this report details the financial and non-financial support requirements for formal and informal out of home carers in Australia. 
• Protection Applications in the Children's Court: Final Report (Victorian Law Reform Commission)
• Report of the Infant in Care and Family Contact Research Project 2009.  (University of Melbourne)
• Supporting Carers of Other People's Children: A Handbook on Support for Foster, Relative and Kinship Carers and the Children and Young People in their Care (COAG).
• The Cost of Support for Stable Foster Care Placements (University of Melbourne, Monash
  University with Barnados Australia
• Transitioning to Independence from Out of Home Care Discussion Paper(DFHCSI) December 2010) 
• Wise Up. A resource produced to help parents and carers identify sexual abuse (Child Wise)