Family/Whānau Caregiver Assessment and Approval

1. Family/Whānau Caregiver Assessment and Approval Engaging with families to achieve better outcomes for children and young people

2. What the workshop looks like Today’s workshop gives us an opportunity for: • Further discussion and questions about the new family/whānau caregiver assessment and approval process • Deciding how we’ll undertake family/whānau searching • How to undertake a family/whānau caregiver assessment • Using the Three Houses and Core Needs of Children to inform/guide discussions during the family/whānau caregiver assessment hui • Development of a site action plan – where to from here for staff?

3. When children and young people can’t stay with their parents • As a companion to the new family/whānau caregiver assessment process, a key information has been developed to guide social workers in situations when it is not safe for the child to remain with their parents but where a safe placement can be located for them without Child, Youth and Family needing to secure custody through the Family Court • Even when a child is not in the Chief Executive’s custody Child, Youth and Family still has a responsibility to ensure the people taking on the care of the child or young person are the people who will best met their needs and keep them safe • This key information outlines the minimum requirements for assuring safety as well as ideas on how to manage concerns and support the placement • This key information will be discussed in more detail later in this workshop

4. The new family/whānau caregiver assessment process These parts will be familiar to you as we already do them: • Safety checks – Police, CYRAS, TRIM, ID, referees, medical, home visit • Assessment report • Approval delegations for convictions These parts of the process are new: • Family/whānau caregiver assessment hui • Stronger focus on supporting the placement • Roles of the child’s social worker and caregiver social worker • Self-assessment for prospective caregivers • Provisional approval

5. Which assessment process? From March 2012 Child, Youth and Family will have distinct caregiver assessment pathways for non-family/whānau (Ways to care) and family/whānau It will usually seem really clear which assessment process best fits a particular situation, but in others it may be more difficult. When unsure consider the following: • Do the child or young person’s parents think of the prospective caregiver as family/whānau? • Does the child or young person think of the prospective caregiver as family/whānau? • Use your professional judgement, consult with your supervisor and record the rationale for your decision Key Information: Which caregiver assessment process do I use? provides more guidance.

6. Family/whānau assessment hui • Brings together the prospective family/whānau caregivers, other family members (including the child or young person and their parents) and the child or young person’s social worker to discuss the suitability and capability of the prospective caregivers to provide safe care • Is held as a stand-alone meeting or following another family gathering (e.g. family group conference) • Largely replaces the existing interview process (although additional interviews are completed outside of the hui when concerns or sensitive issues arise) • Information for medical and referee checks is gathered during the assessment hui • The Three Houses can be used to guide discussions and help everyone to stay focussed on safe care for the child or young person

7. THE THREE HOUSES Adapted by OCSW for use with prospective family/whānau caregivers (April 2010, Child, Youth and Family) VULNERABILITIES NEXT STEPS STRENGTHS Friends/Peers Community – including work Support needs, agencies Community – including work How will the care arrangement be supported (e.g. any training, material needs, special needs of the child or young person, contact with other family/whānau members) Extended family/whānau support (paternal and maternal) Knowledge of child’s needs (understanding of the child) Previous experiences (prospective caregiver’s own background and of providing care) Extended family/whānau support (paternal and maternal) Knowledge of child’s needs (understanding of the child) Previous experiences (prospective caregiver’s own background and of providing care) Family/Extended Family Family/Extended Family

8. Supporting the placement • A support package for the placement is developed during the assessment hui which will identify what will help the prospective caregivers best support and care for the child or young person • This support package is written up and included in the caregiver assessment report • The support package is reviewed as part of the review of the child’s case plan (see the Caring for Children and Young People policy) i.e. every three months • Caregiver reviews continue as per the Caregiver Support and Review policy

9. Roles and responsibilities • Family/whānau caregiver assessments are led by the child or young person’s social worker • Someone other than the child’s social worker facilitates the family/whānau assessment hui • The child or young person’s social worker writes up the assessment report • The caregiver social worker provides ongoing support to the caregiver from the point of approval • Depending on their availability, the caregiver social worker can become involved in the assessment process at an earlier stage (i.e. to attend the assessment hui and/or assist with completion of assessment tasks) • Roles around who completes which tasks in an out-of-area caregiver assessment situation are clearly defined

10. Self-assessment for prospective caregivers • As part of the assessment process, the prospective family/whānau caregiver completes a self-assessment which helps identify their strengths and needs as well as their expectations and responsibilities as caregivers for Child, Youth and Family • The prospective caregiver is provided with a copy of the Caregiver Handbook at the beginning of the caregiver assessment process and given whatever assistance they require in order to complete their self-assessment • The family/whānau member will not be considered for approval until they have returned their completed self-assessment

11. Provisional approval • Replaces ‘emergency approval’ • Only occurs in exceptional situations where a family/whānau member has been identified as the best placement for a child and there is a need for this placement to occur with some urgency • Requires completion of safety checks – Police, CYRAS, ID and home visit – and supervisor approval • Provisional approval is not granted if the family/whānau member’s criminal history or CYRAS record suggests the placement may not keep the child safe • The family/whānau assessment hui is held within 5 working days of provisional approval • Full approval will be granted within 20 working days following the assessment hui

12. After today … This policy comes into effect from March 2012 This workshop will help you become more familiar with the policy, key information documents and resources and also determine who will do what on site.

13. Let’s take a closer look …

14. Swim lanes diagram

15. The family/whānau documents The family/whānau caregiver assessment and approval policy Key Information: • Identifying safe care solutions for children and young people when they can’t stay at home • Which caregiver assessment process should I use? • Undertaking the family/whānau caregiver assessment • Incorporating the core needs of children and young people into the caregiver assessment process Resources: • Self-assessment for caregivers • Family/whānau caregiver assessment report • Family/whānau caregiver assessment flowchart

16. Needs of children and young people in care • What do children and young people coming into care need? • What are we looking for from family/whānau caregivers Specifically think about knowledge and qualities you would want to see • How will we evidence this?

17. Completing the assessment hui • Understanding the difference between the assessment hui and other meetings • Who will we invite to the assessment hui and how will we find them • How we will use the Three Houses in the assessment hui

18. Practice Session • The Core Needs of Children – case study

19. Working collaboratively The assessment process is led by the child or young person’s social worker, irrespective of whether they are a care and protection or youth justice client. It’s important that we work collaboratively on this site to support each other and complete safe caregiver assessments for children and young people. • How will we do this on site? • Who on site can/will facilitate the assessment hui? • How will sites utilise the expertise of caregiver social workers when completing family/whānau caregiver assessments? • What skills might staff members need to further develop in order to complete this work? Develop an action plan to ensure there is a shared understanding on site about how the process will take effect from March 2012