"Lets get engaged!" - Building Partnerships with NGO's under a Differential Response Model

Authors

John O'Leary & Moyra Crum

Organisation

Child Youth & Family, Wellington, New Zealand

Child Protection Agencies seeking to address the concerns which come to their attention do so at their peril. The importance of tailoring solutions to meet the needs of individual children has been increasingly recognised as the optimal way to achieve best outcomes. Developing such solutions requires actively engaging the range of services and differing styles of delivery within the community and NGO sector.

Child Youth and Family (CYF) New Zealand's statutory child protection agency along with similar services in other countries have struggled with care and protection social work being driven increasing notifications contributing to a focus on forensic investigation, resulting in reduced flexibility of service provision to address the best interests of the child and family. The risk focused forensically driven and intrusive nature of care and protection investigations can work against effective engagement of families. While the purpose of an investigation and the accompanying statutory powers are aimed at protecting children and can ultimately mean the removal of children from their caregivers, the engagement of families is imperative to the long term outcomes for children. This is particularly relevant in cases of neglect and complex behavioural problems.

Underpinned by legislative change CYF are introducing a Differential Response Model (DRM) to respond more flexibly and appropriately to notifications of abuse and neglect. The DRM will build on effective collaboration with NGOs and other government agencies to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and their families

This paper describes the approach to beginning engagement with the NGO sector through to their active participation in DRM. It highlights the findings of a significant piece of research with NGO's and CYF staff which challenge some previously held beliefs about the nature of each others values and perspectives and provides a positive platform for building future collaboration.

Biography

John O'Leary and Moyra Crum are members of the DRM project team. John is an experienced social worker and researcher. Moyra has an extensive experience in collaborative working with NGO'S