Extended CARE PROGRAM

The Extended Care Program provides safe, nurturing and culturally sensitive placements for Aboriginal children who are unable to reside with their families, ensuring that their needs and wellbeing are attended to.

 

We try to reunite children with their families wherever possible and make sure that they maintain links with their family and the Aboriginal community.

 

The Extended Care Program adheres to the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle by recruiting Aboriginal carers as a priority and providing regular and ongoing training to all of the carers.

 

Our staff will:

• Promote and support the child’s connection to family and community.
• Visit children in their placements on a regular basis.
• Support and assist carers.
• Facilitate and supervise access visits with parents, siblings and extended family members.
• Take children to school, appointments and leisure activities when required.
• Ensure children’s safety, wellbeing and developmental needs are met.
• Support and monitor VACCA Kinship Care placements where children are placed with relatives who are not foster carers.
• Assist and support parents and families move to reunification.
• Advocate for the child and the family with government departments when necessary.

The Extended Care Program provides a range of placement options such as:

• Voluntary foster care:  can be arranged when a family needs a break, are in a crisis or experience unexpected illness.  These can be planned or be an emergency placement.
• Protective foster care:  can be short or long term and is utilised when the child is removed from their home due to protective concerns and legal intervention.
• Other services include:  the recruitment and training of foster carers, a supervised access program, priority access to medical assessments and applying the Looking After Children framework of service delivery.

In addition, the Educational Support Worker provides intensive educational support to the children and provides consultancy to schools on enhancing educational outcomes for children in care.

 

Becoming a Foster Carer

If you are interested in caring for Aboriginal children and supporting their connection to culture, please contact the Extended Care Program on 8388 1855.  Training and support is provided and carers receive a tax free allowance.

 

All assessments and work with carers and children are subject to VACCA’s confidentiality policy.