Sarah Anderson’s Post

Caring hearts, helping hands 🤝 A day in the life at Essential Skills, equipping future champions of first aid, aged care, disability, and community services. Enrol today! www.essentialskills.com.au . . . . . #EssentialSkills #EssentialSkillsTraining #NSW #SupportWork #SupportWorker #ContinuousEducation #UpskillYourself #CommunityServices #CareerBoost #MakeADifference #Community

Ofsted Inspectors have rated our Children’s Services as ‘good’, praising their determination to continually improve the quality of service to children and families. Staff, children in care and care leavers were interviewed during the inspection in April and May this year and noted progress since the last inspection in 2019 when it was graded as ‘requires improvement.’ This time, inspectors commented: “Corporate leaders, including the leader of the council, the chief executive officer and the director of children’s services, share a determination to continually improve the quality of service provided to children and their families. There has been a concerted effort to drive performance and practice standards across children’s services.” Other positives highlighted were: • Well-managed caseloads for social workers which enable practitioners to build strong relationships • An increase in numbers and retention of permanent staff, including those who’d returned to Ealing after working in other authorities • Foster carers praising the support they receive. Read more: Children’s Services rated ‘good’ by inspectors - Around Ealing

I led the team of Headfort Foundation for Justice during our monthly visit to the Correctional Centres. The team visited Female Custodial Facility in Kirikiri on the 28th of February 2024. The experience was deeply emotional, as we encountered women incarcerated for offenses they are unaware of, victims of a flawed justice system. Many are detained for minor, bailable offenses or those that could be resolved with the complainant, yet financial constraints prevent them from perfecting their bail even after the court has granted it or reaching settlements, despite the court's promotion of Restorative Justice. We took 20 cases of women that we will be rendering free legal representation for in different Courts. When a woman is imprisoned, it's not just her freedom that's taken, but also the well-being of her children left without maternal care during their formative years. Especially concerning are nursing mothers of toddlers, who should not be incarcerated given their crucial role in childcare. It's imperative for the government to enact laws and policies that prevent the incarceration of women charged with minor offenses, recognizing mothers as primary caregivers essential to their children's welfare. #humanright #humanrightsdefender #childright #childrightsdefence #advocacyforchildren #childrenwelfare #Prisonreform #accesstojustice

Significant reforms in services such as kindergartens and aged care at the Victorian and Commonwealth levels of government respectively are driving a number of service reviews across regional and metropolitan councils. In the latest article in our Defining Matters series, Lindy Richardson, Ross Jackson, and Meredith Kennedy explore and outline the best practices for a considered and consultative service review process. Read here: https://loom.ly/822Y0q4 #Legalupdate #councils #Victoria #DefiningMatters

These numbers are concerning but not surprising. There are many initiatives that the department needs to adopt urgently, but the use of Early Intervention EMDR such as the Recent Traumatic Events Protocol (RTEP) and Group Traumatic Events Protocol (GTEP) are increasingly being researched as a means of mitigating Vicarious Trauma and Burnout in frontline staff. My wonderful colleague and friend, Jenny D. recently published an article that explores the use of RTEP and GTEP for residential out-of-home care staff and demonstrated a significant decrease in PCL-5 scores from baseline to follow up and a reduction in symptoms with and staff who received R-TEP or G-TEP. Morris, H., Hatzikiriakidis, K., Dwyer, J., Lewis, C., Halfpenny, N., Miller, R., & Skouteris, H. (2023). Early intervention for residential out-of-home care staff using eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy, 15(Suppl 2), S456–S464. https://lnkd.in/g8tBwKPh

The Fidelity model is centered around four key elements that is demonstrated by the care coordinator across each of the phases of the FOCUS planning process: 1. family-anchored 2.individualized 3. accountable 4. comprehensive The goal of a FOCUS planning process is to ensure that the care coordination team is spread out across child welfare, behavioral health, juvenile justice and/or education. Care coordinaters should be well-trained and consistently implementing best practices as they achieve sustainability of FOCUS across their states, agencies, and/or organizations

Today is the day that children in and from care, foster carers, families who struggle, over worked social workers, worn out teachers, paediatric NHS staff, CAMHS, will at last get what they need. By supporting this sector and asking the right people (not the same old same old) what to do, we can improve lives and save a fortune. https://lnkd.in/e8N9ZwwS

IMMEDIATE ATTENTION TO EMERGENCIES Every Child in your- School is someone’s world! 🌎 Student safety is paramount and can only be realized through ongoing focus on fostering safe and caring school environments and ensuring schools and communities have appropriate prevention, intervention and response strategies in place. 📞 Calls us - 9216266140 #Safetycircle #SchoolSafety #MentalHealth #Multi-TieredSystemsofSupport #Homesafety #CSR #SafetyAwareness #ComunityWelfare

There is a narrative in safeguarding work that Social Workers work beyond their hours, under intense pressure. It’s true, when I worked in Child Protection, there were times when I was out until the late hours. But let’s not forget the lengths other professionals go to when raising Safeguarding concerns. I think it is important to recognise, and thank, the wider professional network of dedicated individuals who go beyond their duties to keep vulnerable people safe. The #housing officers, #youthworkers, #nurses, #police officers, #pcsos, #community workers, #teachers, #supportstaff, #homecareworkers, #nursinghome staff and good people in the community. Without their dedication, we wouldn’t be able to keep vulnerable people safe. Safeguarding is a community activity which we all have a responsibility for so let’s say thank you to everyone who is part of that community. Do you know someone who goes that extra steps for vulnerable people? #Socialwork #socialworkstudent #asye #socialworkcoach #safeguardingcpd #safeguardingadults #safeguardingchildren #safeguardinglead #nhssafeguarding #education #socialcare #socialworker #socialworksurvival

WHAT IS A CARE LEAVER? Since my last social media post about the reasons why I am invested in providing homes for care leavers I have had a few people inbox me and ask me what a care leaver actually is. 🔹 A care leaver is a young adult aged 16-25 🔹 They have been in care or given accommodation by their Local Authority for a minimum of 13 weeks. 🔹Most children in care do not leave until they reach the age of 18 however some are forced to leave their care placements as early as 16 and to my mind they are very much still children even at age 18, who need compassion, understanding and support. 🔹The number of care leavers facing homelessness in 2002/23 had risen to 3,710, a 9% increase on the previous year. 🔹38% of them are not in education, employment or training! WHY? In my opinion, they are pushed in to adulthood with little support and are unable to access safe and suitable housing offering them a space to grow, thrive and believe in who they are. #careexperience #safehomes #homelessness #careleavers #youngadults #commissioners #localauthorities