confidence and capacity to lead change in behaviour and to model positive behaviour depends on the support of their colleagues, line managers and organisational leaders. It is important to recognise the role of family and community leaders who are able to communicate, mediate and support parents who are at risk, or who are not presently able and willing to protect and care for their children. These leaders are able to bring parties together and ensure the best interests of the child are ‘front and centre’. Vulnerable children and young people can also learn and develop leadership roles to be their own advocates and advocates for other children and young people in similar situations. The extent to which this occurs will depend on the leadership shown by family and community members and front-line staff. Positive attributes of leadership described in the Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry final report include: transparency and trust valuing, listening to and respecting others giving time and engaging communicating the goal in ways that resonate working clearly towards the goal modelling and promoting a positive culture having courage to challenge and move roadblocks supporting people to take responsibility for achieving results leading and trusting others to lead. Collaboration The Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry final report acknowledges that a large number of agencies are involved in the child protection and family support system – the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services, Childrens Court, Department of Education and Training, Queensland Health, Queensland Police Service, Department of Housing and Public Works, government agencies responsible for advocacy and oversight, non-government agencies delivering services to children and families, advocates and academics. The report proposes that all parties work together towards the common goal of keeping children safe and able to reach their potential. There are different ways of ‘working together’, depending on the degree of inter-connection: Cooperation – informal or connections, with infrequent information flows, to adjust individual projects Coordination – formal or defined connections, with structured communication flows and shared project resources, to develop joint programs
In 2015, stakeholders and specialists from across the child protection and family support system participated in a two-day workshop to identify criteria for assessing the four attributes of workplace practice. Six to eight criteria were identified for each attribute: Strength-based practice: Person-centred Listening and respect Strength-based Works together Risk taking Learning Leadership: Leads change Communicates goals Supports people to take responsibility Models and promotes a positive culture Challenges and moves roadblocks, pays attention to feedback Transparency and integrity Leads and trusts others to lead Collaboration: Mutual Open respectful communication Shared aims Openness to others’ views Shared decision making Able to negotiate and compromise Cross-cultural practice: Respect, value, acknowledge Grows knowledge, understands impacts of history Encourages expression of culture Supports connection to culture Adapts services Values cultural wisdom to inform decisions Acknowledges own culture and reflects Monitors embedding of cross-cultural practice
have been developed for Frontline workers. The other categories of workers each have a single set. The sets are as follows: SET 1: Frontline workers – working with children and young people SET 2: Frontline workers – working with adults SET 3: Frontline workers – working with families and parents SET 4: Frontline workers – working with kinship, foster and respite carers SET 5: Frontline workers – working with Elders and community members SET 6: Human Services staff – working with colleagues SET 7: Managers and Executives – working with staff SET 8: Service network members – working with other network members Self-assessment and feedback This Toolkit presents the eight sets of questions from two different perspectives: Self-assessment – workers assess their own practice Feedback – from clients or colleagues, etc. A matrix of all questions can be found in the Appendix. The Appendix has been formatted so that for each attribute (strength-based practice, leadership, collaboration and cross-cultural practice), a table of and then feedback questions are presented. As an illustrative example, the questions for strength-based practice are presented below. SELF-ASSESSMENT FEEDBACK SET 1 Frontline Workers: How do I work with children and young people? SET 1 Frontline Workers: Feedback from children and people CRITERIA When working with children and young people, do I: Do the adults who work with you: Person-centred show them I care about them take their feelings and worries into account care about you take your feelings and worries into account Listening and respect listen to their ideas include them in discussions listen to your ideas include you in discussions
support them to make decisions that work for them support you to make decisions that work for you together help them to make the changes they would like help you make the changes you would like Risk taking encourage and support them when things go wrong encourage and support you when things go wrong Learning respond to their suggestions to improve the way things are done respond to your suggestions to improve the way things are done Feedback from perspectives For simplicity, the questions provided in this Toolkit only provide feedback from a second-person perspective. For example, Set 3 allows frontline workers to self-assess their work with families and parents and then obtain feedback from families and parents. However, in this example, other relevant perspectives include: Feedback from colleagues about their work with families and parents Feedback from managers about their work with families and parents. The questions would only require minor amendments to be used in this manner. Instructions Selecting questions A range of different perspectives is required to assess workplace practices, however a comprehensive assessment is an exhaustive and time-consuming process. A strategic approach may be preferable – select sets of questions that focus on the most critical interactions, or the ones that require the most improvement. For example, an organisation delivering family support services to parents might select the following sets: SET 3: Frontline workers – working with families and parents SET 7: Managers and Executives – working with How to use the questions
References and further reading Relevant information can be found in the following resources, many of which were referred to in this document (NB: URLs were correct at the time of finalisation – 31 August 2016): The Australasian Evaluation Society (2013) Guidelines for the ethical conduct of evaluation and a code of conduct for evaluators Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2015) Cultural competency in the delivery of health services for Indigenous people: A literature review of cultural competence training. Issues no. 13 produced for the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse by Roxanne Bain Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy and Development (1998) Protocols for consultation and negotiation with Aboriginal people Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy and Development (1998) Proper communication with Torres Strait Islander People Department of Communities, Safety and Disability Services (2010) Practice Paper: Working with people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services (2015) Strengthening Families Protecting Children Framework for Practice R (2015) Networks and Collaborations website Knight R (2015) Changing the culture within the child protection system Multicultural Mental Health Australia (2010) National Cultural Competency Tool for Mental Health Services National Health and Medical Research Council (2007) Australian Code for the responsible conduct of research Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry final report (2013) Taking Responsibility: A roadmap for Queensland Child Protection Queensland Family and Child Commission (2016) Strengthening the Sector: A Strategy for working together for a responsive and sustainable system across the child protection and family support sector Queensland Health (2010) Queensland Health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural capability framework Vale C (2015) Murawin website