OPEN Forum: Family Preservation & Reunification reforms – VACCA’s approach to embedding cultural practice and outcomes in CSnet

May 4, 2023

VACCA is driving an Aboriginal-led design of a client information system (CSnet), to embed culture and practice to deliver outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities. It is doing this across multiple programs. The purpose of the webinar is to share the approach to the design of the Family Preservation & Reunification (FPR) program to support practice and learning for workers. VACCA and CSnet invite you to a case study on how this is being implemented.

OPEN Forum: The Menu of Evidence for Children and Family Services

March 28, 2023

Access the video recording of the session here!

OPEN and the Evidence Strategy team from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing invite you to watch a walkthrough of the first stage of the Menu of Evidence. The Menu is an online searchable repository that brings together information on effective evidence-based practices and programs to support the design of services, practice and policies for the child and family services sector.

OPEN Forum: What makes life good? Measuring what matters to care leavers’ well-being

March 23, 2023

Access the event recording, event review and important resources here.

In this session, Dr Claire Baker discusses what matters to young people leaving out-of-home care in the UK and how the Bright Spots program is addressing the lack of data on the experiences of young people in care and leaving care. This session is relevant for all stakeholders working in the out-of-home care sector, providing insights on how to effectively engage young people in research and how to utilize evidence to develop programs grounded in the experiences of young people.

OPEN Forum Recording: Innovations in Out of Home Care

December 15, 2022

The final OPEN Forum of 2022 focussed on Innovations in Out of Home Care - Improving the lives of children and young people who are experiencing the care system for the first time, are living in residential care, or those with a lived experience and in contact with allied support services. Presentations explored different approaches to providing support from wraparound place based support, to an implementation science approach making house level changes, to lived experience designed professional development.

OPEN Forum: Unlocking Key Ingredients in Cross Sector Partnerships – Perspectives from Child and Family Services, and Adult Mental Health Working with Parents and Children

August 30, 2022

This Forum will share insights and lessons about key cross sector partnerships between child and family services and adult mental health services. This is a crucial area of service provision with over one million children across Australia grow up in families where a parent experiences a mental illness. This group of children are two to three times more likely to experience poorer developmental, educational, emotional and mental health outcomes in childhood and adolescence.