Fostering Lifelong Connections Resources
The Research Centre for Children and Families has developed a series of tip sheets and resources as part of the Fostering Lifelong Connections study.
Importance of connections to family and culture
Resources that explore and promote the importance of connections to family and culture include:
- Carers as Custodians of Children’s Connections: Safe and meaningful connections with birth family
- Linking lives for siblings living separately in out-of-home care: A practical tool for caseworkers to promote sibling connections
- Two short films, The Bridge and Building Bridges, which explore connections to family and culture from the perspectives of Aboriginal people, and an accompanying viewing guide for social workers
- Wiradjuri Language Workbooks: Volume 1 NGUMBAYY – Sounds, Numbers, People & Family, Volume 2 BULA – Family Terms, Body Parts & Colours
Trauma-informed approaches
The Research Centre for Children and Families has developed a series of tip sheets for embedding trauma-informed approaches when working with children in care:
- Understanding and responding to trauma expressions to support family time
- Words Matter: Trauma sensitive language with children
- Taking the journey toward a trauma-informed approach to Family Time
Resources for parents
These resources were developed by parents who participated as Experts-by-Experience in the Fostering Lifelong Connections study:
- Resource for parents 1 – Light in the dark
- Resource for parents 2 – Nourishing and strengthening sparks of connection
- Resource for parents 3 – Shining your own light on family time
Family Time from a distance
Tip sheets for supporting children and families to maintain connections when distance is between them:
The Research Centre for Children and Families developed a Research to Practice Note that reviews the literature on Virtual Visitation in the family court system in the context of separated families and between children in statutory out-of-home care and their birth relatives.
We also developed a Research to Practice Note discussing Remote Social Work. The resource outlines the application of digital technologies in current social work practice, the impacts of these digitised practices and key considerations for social work practitioners engaging in digitised practices.
Susan Collings, Amy Conley-Wright and Sarah Ciftci explore how out-of-home care caseworkers can support contact between children and their birth families during social restrictions in an article for AIFS/CFCA.
Partner investigator, Beth Neil, and Ruth Copson discuss the unexpected opportunities of virtual contact between children and their families during ‘lockdown’.
Other useful resources
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing portal is an online hub that brings together best practice healing initiatives and information about what is working in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities around healing from trauma. The portal includes the latest research, reports, case studies and tools from around Australia to enable people to bring trauma informed and healing aware practices into their organisations and communities.
The Traumatic Stress Institute discusses how to support trauma-informed transformation in settings serving First Nation communities.
Covid-19 Resources
A number of organisations have released resources and information to support children and families through the COVID-19 crisis:
- NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ)
- NSW Department of Education (DoE)
- Australian Childhood Foundation
- The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (IPSCAN)
- The Better Care Network (BCN)
Working with people with disabilities
For Easy English fact sheets for parents dealing with the child protection system and advice from parents with experience, visit the Bumpy Road website.
The Council for Intellectual Disability (CID), has released a resource with inclusive communication tips for people spending time with people with intellectual disability.