About the SDP
About the sector
The family and placement services sector is a new way of thinking about the services that provide support to children whoa re at risk of, or who are in out-of-home care and their families. It incorporates CSOs that deliver:
- family services (identified as activity 33018 in the Office for Children Policy and Funding Plan 2003-2006)
- out-of-home care
- placement support.
There is a clear link between family support and placement and support services and any examination of an issue, such as workforce planning, needs to consider issues across both areas.
Local government or health organisations that deliver family services are not included in the scope of the plan.
Planning together for the long term
The need for stronger long term strategic planning was one of the five conclusions drawn in the June 2003 report Pathways to Partnership – the final report of the Out-of-Home Care Partnership Case Study Review.
Preparing a sector development plan offers an opportunity for government and community service organisations (CSOs) to work together to assess the sector's current capacity and future needs to ensure that it continues to deliver high quality services to vulnerable children, young people and their families.
Development of the plan also reflects the Partnership Agreement between the Department of Human Services and the health, housing and community sector (external link to a PDF), in which the department commits to:
- endorse the importance of sustainability and long term planning to the capacity of the health, housing and community sector to deliver quality services
- work actively with and involve the health, housing and community sector in planning, policy and program development, research, innovation and evaluation to ensure that these processes work for the community and to use the expertise and knowledge of the health, housing and community sector.
The plan will also focus on the needs of Aboriginal service providers, reflecting the over-representation of Aboriginal children and young people within the placement and support system, and the under-representation of Aboriginal families within family services.
As a recent report released by the Department of Human Services notes:
Under-utilisation of services and supports contributes to the over representation of Aboriginal children in Child Protection. Mainstream services are not sufficiently willing and able to engage Aboriginal families. Nor do Aboriginal services have sufficient capacity for earlier intervention and prevention. ("every child every chance" website in the Library_Background to the reforms: Protecting children: ten priorities for children's safety and wellbeing in Victoria – technical options, Department of Human Services, August 2004, p. 40.)
About the plan
Purpose
The overall purpose of the Family and Placement Services Sector Development Plan is to:
- identify the current and future challenges facing the sector
- identify the actions required to meet these challenges
- develop a realistic and achievable process for meeting these challenges.
The plan will focus on five broad areas: ( working groups section)
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scenario planning – which will produce an estimate of the demand for family and placement services, identifying the key drivers of that demand and their relative importance
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workforce planning – which will examine current and future workforce needs
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physical and systems infrastructure – which will examine capital/building issues and information technology and telecommunication
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funding models and viability – which will examine the adequacy of current funding arrangements
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systems governance and performance monitoring – which will examine the structures and systems we put in place to drive and monitor improved performance
The timelines
Work on the plan is expected to be completed by October 2005.