Children and young people in Out of Home Care placements experience multiple layers of trauma, and their minds and bodies are adept at developing coping skills which enable survival. These adaptive skills often present as problematic or difficult behaviours, and may have a negative impact upon placement and permanency.
In 2016, Creating Links developed and implemented the Immediate Placement Pilot Program, a service delivery model that has a focus upon meeting the needs of children and young people entering care for the first time, prioritising permanency planning, in particular early restoration to birth family or extended family
The foundation of the Creating Links Immediate Placement Model is based on affording opportunities to children and young people immediately upon their entry into care to enhance their understanding of their situation and surroundings during the immediate placement, and provide a therapeutic approach to engaging parents to address childrearing practices, understand their responsibilities as parents and participate in activities that will nurture children, enhance child -parent attachment, develop routines and maintain stability in the family home.
The model utilizes utilise a mix of contracted Para-professional Foster Carers (PPFC), Placement Practitioners, Clinicians, and state child protection authorities who work together to investigate future placement options for the child/young person, including family searches, assessment of restoration viability, kinship assessments, working with birth families to support skill development and capacity building, and referral to other services/agencies.
This paper will discuss how the Immediate Placement Program model supports permanency, review feedback from participating children, young people, families and carers, and examine the collaboration strategies Creating Links utilised with key stakeholders to promote successful outcomes in relation to effective permanency planning and out of home care.
