O Au O Matua Fanau. Our Children are our Treasures. Child, Youth and Family Pacific Action Plan 2010 and Beyond

Transcription

1 O Au O Matua Fanau Our Children are our Treasures Child, Youth and Family Pacific Action Plan 2010 and Beyond

2 The symbol of the old person s hand depicts the wisdom of the old guiding the young, the connections to their unspoken world and the bond of love that transpires from it. The image s meaning of life and longevity forms the foundation for this Pacific Action Plan, O Au O Matua Fanau Our children are our treasures.

3 contents O Alo ma Fanau Our Treasure 2 Our Vision 3 Consultation: The voice of the community 4 The Action Plan 5 Goal one: Achieving permanency for Pacific children 6 and young people in care Goal two: Enhancing social work practice 8 Goal three: Strengthening relationships 11 Goal four: Developing leadership 12 Goal five: Reducing offending 14 Acknowledgements 16 Ia ifo le fuiniu i le lapalapa As to each coconut leaf belongs a cluster of young nuts, so each individual belongs to his family. SAMOAN PROVERB

4 O Alo Ma Fanau our treasures All children belong in families and aiga where they will be loved, nurtured and safe. Our goal is to work with families so that children can live happy, healthy lives as part of their own family, aiga and community. When children are not able to stay at home, we want to find them a safe and stable family where they feel they belong. We know that a loving, permanent home makes the single greatest difference in helping children in Child, Youth and Family care grow into secure adults. We all have a role to play in keeping alo ma fanau well cared for and safe from harm. We need families and communities to come together and support each other. This Action Plan focuses on working with our families and communities over the next five years, so that together we can care safely for our children. Our senior Pacific staff and Pacific social service providers will team up to engage with Pacific families who need help, in a way that is supportive and respectful to their culture. We will work with families early on, so that their children don t need to come into care, but can be safe and strong as part of their own family. When children do need care, we want to find them permanent homes with aiga or another family where they know they belong. Together we can help Pacific alo ma fanau be safe, loved and have a home and family to call their own. E rima te arapaki, te aro a, te ko uko u te utuutu, iaku nei Under the protection of caring hands there s a feeling of love and affection COOK ISLAND PROVERB 2

5 our vision We want to make sure all Pacific children and young people are safe from harm and well cared for, strong as part of a loving family, and able to thrive by helping them to be the best they can be. We all have a role to play in improving outcomes for Pacific children, young people and their families and our aim is to: increase the wellbeing of all Pacific children, young people and their families reduce the number of Pacific children and young people in care by helping them be well cared for in their own families intensify our efforts to secure permanent homes for Pacific children and young people support Pacific families to access services that enhance wellbeing improve our staff capacity and capability to work with Pacific families strengthen the leadership skills of Pacific providers to support our work with Pacific families. 3

6 consultation: the voice of the community The Pacific Action Plan is the result of six months of consultation with Pacific communities, and we ve worked hard to ensure the communities voices have been heard. This plan is powerful in that it incorporates the views of all the key people from the community. We learned not just about what we need to do, but how to do it in a way that is in tune with Pacific values and cultures. Through our communities knowledge and commitment we will be successful in getting better outcomes for our children and young people. Feedback from the consultation process identified key opportunities for joint development work with the Pacific social service sector, including: working together to provide a Pacific responsive care and protection and youth justice service promoting violence prevention work within Pacific communities improving social workers knowledge and skills to engage Pacific extended families, community and church groups understanding why Pacific values, protocols and cultural knowledge are crucial when working with Pacific families increasing social and community skills and knowledge within the Pacific provider sector. It is the support of our Pacific communities that will make this plan a success. Fakamalolo ke he tau amaamanakiaga, ke mafola ai e tau matakainaga Strengthen all endeavours and the community will benefit NIUE PROVERB 4

7 the action plan The key focus for O Au O Matua Fanau is providing Pacific children and young people in care with a home for life. Our alo ma fanau need a safe and stable living environment where they are safe, well cared for and know that they belong. We have written this plan for our stakeholders, our staff and the people we work with. Together we can support our people to increase their skills when working with Pacific families and strengthen our partnerships to achieve positive outcomes for Pacific children and young people in care. We will carry out this work by: raising awareness among staff of the values and cultural beliefs of Pacific peoples so our practice and policies are sensitive to these issues ensuring all our communication with Pacific families is appropriate to their needs and is easily understood recognising and using the skills and cultural knowledge of our Pacific staff where appropriate engaging our Pacific providers, churches and community leaders to work alongside us to achieve our goals. 5

8 GOAL 1 achieving permanency for pacific children All children need a home for life, in families where they are loved, safe and have a sense of belonging. It s our job to do what s best for children and young people in care, and keep them at the centre of our decision-making at all times. The early years of a child s life are important to their overall development, so our initial focus will be on finding a stable and loving home for vulnerable infants, who are at greater risk of harm as they depend on caregivers to provide for all of their needs. 6

9 and young people in care GOALS ACTIONS OUTCOMES Establish goals to keep vulnerable infants at home, while we work with their families to help them be safe and well cared for. Intensify our efforts to find permanent homes for vulnerable infants. Confirm health and education plans for all Pacific children in care. Develop partnerships with Pacific providers. Review all goals for vulnerable infants in care every three months. Check care plans for vulnerable infants during early involvement, in order to review planning and family participation. Review all children s care plans every six months to make sure the plan is working towards finding the child a home for life. Set up a monitoring programme to confirm key issues from completed health and education plans are addressed. Check care plans for vulnerable infants during our early involvement, in order to review planning and family participation. Implement wrap-around services for Pacific families. 50% increase in the number of Pacific children in safe homes with their own families by June All Pacific children in care have an appropriate care plan that is monitored and reviewed. Care plans identify that Pacific children are accessing appropriate health and educational services. Increased knowledge on the status and issues for Pacific children in care. Timely and appropriate support services are in place. A reduction of Pacific children coming into care. 7

10 GOAL 2L enhancing social work practice Practice depth and experience is essential given the critical nature of our work. All staff have a role to play in improving outcomes for Pacific children and young people in our care. To achieve this outcome all social work staff and their supervisors need to: understand the unique factors related to Pacific families who come in contact with Child, Youth and Family know the difference between ethnicities within Pacific communities ensure they have the right systems, policies, tools and working environment to enable them to be effective in their practice have effective engagement with extended family and aiga when searching for placements. We have many Pacific staff working in our organisation, from frontline social workers through to senior practitioners. Our Pacific staff use their language and cultural skills to work effectively with their local service providers, networks and community leaders. These skills are key to improving outcomes for children and young people in care, and in particular, in our daily interactions with Pacific born families. We will continue to enhance Pacific staff skills and support all our social workers to work together to improve outcomes for Pacific children, young people and their families. 8

11 GOALS ACTIONS OUTCOMES Improve social workers and supervisors ability to respond to the needs of Pacific families. Build and maintain an effective team of Pacific social workers. Identify potential Pacific leaders in regions. Increase the number of senior Pacific practitioners in the care and protection sector. Review and refresh the induction training tools to include cultural competencies for engagement with Pacific families. Establish cultural responsiveness programmes and forums at key sites for supervisors and practice leaders. Establish a coaching and mentoring programme for sites that have a high number of Pacific staff and clients. Identify strategies to up-skill, train, recruit and retain Pacific social workers. Establish a coaching and mentoring programme for potential leaders from the Pacific workforce within Child, Youth and Family. Increase the range and number of skilled Pacific social workers by developing strategies to achieve a strong Pacific care and protection workforce. Increased number of skilled le staff who are confident working with Pacific families. ies. Mentoring programmes established by 30 June Leadership pathways established by 30 June A 10% increase in qualified Pacific social workers by 30 June

12 10

13 GOAL 3L strengthening relationships We all have a role to play in keeping kids safe. By working with family, aiga and community partners, we can help children and young people to get the best start in life. To provide a culturally responsive service we need to engage with a diverse range of partners, including Pacific social sector providers and their community leaders. We will strengthen our partnerships with the community and pacific providers to work directly with children and young people and their families. This will allow us to actively engage Pacific families and communities to help us find children and young people a home for life where they are safe and well cared for. GOALS ACTIONS OUTCOMES Engage with Pacific providers to develop best practice programmes. Maintain a regular forum with Pacific providers and community leaders. Develop a database of all local Pacific community leaders. Bi-annual Pacific leaders forum and database established by November Build the confidence of the Police and Pacific providers to engage with our sites on violence prevention initiatives. Work with the Auckland Partnership model developed Region to develop community initiatives on violence prevention. Implement a partnership model and violence prevention programmes delivered by November between Child, Youth and Family, service providers and Police for young offenders. Promote working relationships between Child, Youth and Family s sites, funding and contracting teams, and Pacific providers. Promote cultural responsiveness within senior leadership at Child, Youth and Family. Mapping the needs of Child, Youth and Family and local Pacific providers to meet the needs of Pacific children and young people. Develop Pacific responsiveness training for senior leaders within Child, Youth and Family. Improved local knowledge of Pacific providers. Increased knowledge of Pacific issues by senior leaders within Child, Youth and Family. 11

14 GOAL 4 developing leadership Pacific social service leadership is critical to the success of improving social outcomes for Pacific families. To achieve success we need wisdom, visionary focus, and robust leadership. It is vital that there are strong and skilled Pacific leadership groups to guide the work of the Pacific provider sector. We are committed to ensuring information is available to support the development of Pacific providers skills and to build established relationships within the provider sector to strengthen the capability of key leaders. This will increase providers knowledge of Child, Youth and Family s services and will help to strengthen communication with internal stakeholders and the Pacific social service provider sector. GOALS ACTIONS OUTCOMES Support leadership development for Child, Youth and Family senior managers. Support the growth and development of Pacific providers competencies and service delivery. Actively support leadership development within the Pacific provider sector. Actively support a coaching and mentoring programme for all Pacific providers. Induction programme on Pacific issues for senior managers developed. Provide information to providers on programmes and services to achieve key outcomes for Pacific families. Work in partnership with the provider sector to develop current activities for a leadership programme to enhance providers skill levels. Identify six key people to mentor Pacific providers. Increased knowledge of Pacific peoples by Child, Youth and Family senior managers. Key Pacific providers are competent in providing Child, Youth and Family services to families. Positive feedback from Pacific provider leadership programmes (Tagata Tuamotu Programme). Provider sector becomes a training ground for Pacific management and skills transfer. 12

15 13

16 GOAL 5 reducing offending The number of Pacific children and young people who offend and come into the Youth Justice system is low; as is the re-offending rate. However the severity of violent offending by Pacific young people remains high. We need to connect children and young people who are offending with the right services. This means building awareness among key stakeholders of their needs so that Pacific providers, church groups and community leaders can assist in reducing offending by Pacific youth. We will develop specific initiatives to address Pacific youth offending and assist with the reintegration of young people back to their families and communities to ensure they have the best opportunity possible to: lead an offending free future overcome a tendency for violence maintain a positive sense of their identity and abilities build strong pro-social relationships with their family and community gain literacy, numeracy and other employment related skills. 14

17 GOALS ACTIONS OUTCOMES Reduce the rate and severity of re-offending by Pacific children and young people. Build stronger relationships with Pacific communities when engaging with children and young people who offend. Promote and support cultural responsiveness with Justice sector partners to ensure collaboration is ongoing. Develop youth justice programmes for young people who offend. We will work with families of children and young people who offend in a culturally appropriate way to address the reasons behind their re-offending. We will collaborate with Pacific communities, church groups and the Pacific provider sector to strengthen the delivery of services to address re-offending by children and young people. Develop Pacific responsiveness training with Justice sector partners to ensure that central messages are delivered across the justice sector. Coordinate the development of programme pathways for young offenders. Pacific families are involved in reducing re-offending. Key Pacific providers are involved in Youth Justice Family Group Conferences with the young person and their family. Increased competence in the way we engage with Pacific children and young people. Two programmes developed by November 2010.

18 acknowledgements This plan has been developed with the valued input from a wide range of individuals, groups, and organisations. The advice and assistance from the following individuals is particularly acknowledged. Pacific Plan Steering Group Members Pacific Providers of Social Services (Christchurch, Wellington, Waikato and Auckland) Members of the Auckland Pacific Island Network Members of Canterbury EEO Members of Central EEO National Office of Child, Youth and Family and the Ministry of Social Development Epuni Care and Protection Residence Korowai Manaaki Youth Justice Residence Lower North Youth Justice Residence Pacific Island Presbyterian Church, Mangere Pacific Island Presbyterian Church, Tokoroa Pacific Island Presbyterian Church, Newtown Pacific Island Presbyterian Church, Christchurch Malaeola Auckland Samoan Catholic Community Cook Island Christians Church, Otara South Auckland Community Church Cook Island Presbyterian, Newlands Victory Church, Porirua Congregation Christian Church of Samoa, Christchurch Congregation Christian Church of Samoa, Newtown Congregation Christian Church of Samoa, Porirua Congregation Christian Church of Samoa, Napier Congregation Christian Church of Samoa, Hamilton Congregation Christian Church of Samoa, Grey Lynn New Lynn Wesley Methodist Church Wellington Wesley Methodist Church Mangere Tongan Methodist Church Otara Wesley Methodist Church Life Church, Manurewa Hosanna World Outreach Church, Lower Hutt Past and present clients of Child, Youth and Family Regional Directors of Child, Youth and Family Pacific Senior Government Officials Group Pacific Advisory Group (Ministry of Social Development). 16

19 Täkanga etau fohe Working together in harmony will ensure success for our community TONGAN PROVERB

20 CYF140 Feb 10