CYF responds to recommendations made by the Chief Social Worker and the Commissioner for Children

This plan lists the 8 findings made by the Chief Social Worker and the 11 recommendations made by the Commissioner for Children. Actions already taken, underway or planned are provided in response to each of the recommendations.


1. CAT/SAT protocol

Chief Social Worker finding: It is my view that the failure to follow the SAT Protocol on 3 August 2001 and 3 September 2001 were serious breaches of departmental policy.

Commissioner recommendation: Direct Practice and Site Managers to meet with Area Controllers from the Police to review their application of the CAT/SAT Protocol.

Response:

General: The CAT/SAT protocol has been in place for some years. In April 2003, the protocol was reviewed and re-issued to all staff. On 18 July 2003, the Chief Executive and Police Commissioner issued a joint message to all of their staff. The leaders of both organisations jointly committed to ensuring there are formal local agreements between Police and Child, Youth and Family and that each agency is clear about their own responsibilities and the processes that must be followed. Service Delivery Unit Managers and District Commanders were then contacted and local agreements signed. Learning and Development staff have worked with Police to review and redesign training to reflect the revised protocols. The revised training - a complete update and rewrite - was jointly developed and is jointly delivered, thus mirroring the need for close interagency relationships at all levels. The training is currently being rolled out to all Police and Child, Youth and Family staff and will have been delivered to all by June 2004.

Masterton: The relationship between the Service Delivery Unit Manager and the Police Area Controller is excellent and this is reflected through the staff of both organisations. The Practice Manager and Service Delivery Unit Manager in Masterton have signed off the local agreement and will monitor compliance with the protocol. Masterton staff have attended the revised training.


2. Policy and Procedures relating to investigation and assessment

Chief Social Worker findings:

It is my view that the Call Centre, when taking the 3 August 2001 information on two children, ought to have specified this as two separate notifications but they were rolled together. Masterton site staff had the opportunity to correct this by altering the electronic record on receipt but did not.

It is my view that the information received on 3 September 2001 should have been entered onto the case recording system as a new notification. If this had been done, there would have been an open case that would have required a considered decision by the social worker and supervisor, and reference to the Care and Protection Resource Panel, before closure of the case.

It is my view that consultation with the Practice Manager should have occurred.

It is my view that the social worker and supervisor should have considered applying the Risk Estimation System (RES) to ascertain the level of risk that remained after the retraction was made. They did not.

The social worker needed to investigate the new information. She made a judgement to contact Charlene Aplin by letter. It is my view that this letter, worded as it was, should not have been sent. Commissioner recommendation:

Restate to social work staff departmental policy and procedures relating to the investigation and assessment of child protection notifications, with particular emphasis on Risk Estimation Tools, CAT/SAT protocol and referrals to the Care and Protection Resource Panels.

Response:

General:

On 17 June, the Chief Executive issued a message to all staff, reminding them of their obligations to follow clearly defined processes and policies. This message highlighted the importance of the CAT/SAT protocol. In addition, the Commissioner has drawn attention to the importance of the relationship with Care and Protection Resource Panels. This has been the subject of a best practice video, issued to all Service Delivery Units and Panels, which demonstrates the way in which Panels act as a constructive and critical advisory forum for the management of cases. The annual reports of all Panels are closely monitored and supervisors review the role of the Panel in individual cases. Nationally, usage of the Risk Estimation System (RES) has been given a strong focus and staff have been reminded that the use of the RES tool, or a record of why a particular case is exempt, is mandatory. There has been a significant increase in recorded use of RES and this is currently at 80 per cent nationally (100 per cent in Masterton). Learning and Development staff have developed a training package, in conjunction with SAFE and STOP, called 'The Dynamics of Sexual Abuse'. Delivered jointly with staff from SAFE and STOP, this training - of two and half days duration - started to roll out in the past two months and, within the next 9 to 12 months, will have been offered to all staff as part of the department's national training curriculum. As well as being delivered separately, training in the revised CAT/SAT protocols is included in induction training and in the orientation kit. They also feature in training in Investigation and Assessment and are incorporated into the RES training, thus ensuring maximum staff awareness and the criticality of application. Additional RES training is currently being offered to all regions, targeting supervisors, practice managers and senior practitioners. Relevant amendments to CYRAS training have been noted and incorporated. The policy covering domestic violence - notifications, role of each agency, processes for forwarding information, CYF response - is being reviewed under the auspices of the family violence strategy, Te Rito. Policy has been developed and issued on when information received during the course of an investigation or when working with a family constitutes 'new' information and should be entered onto CYRAS as a new notification. This information has been issued, in the Call Centre handbook, where detailed flowcharts and guidelines are available. These changes have been incorporated into the department's national induction training programme. This will be extended to cover a policy reminder to social workers to include all at-risk siblings in notifications. The Chief Social Worker has worked to strengthen the role of Practice Managers as leaders of best practice. She and her advisors meet regularly with the Practice Manager group in each of the six regions. They provide support and practice advice to that group of managers. They send practice information to the group very regularly. The whole Practice Manager group meet twice each year with the Chief Social Worker and her staff, to discuss practice and enhance their ability to lead best practice.

Masterton:

The Masterton Care and Protection Resource Panel has 12 members who represent the following:
Mental Health

Plunket

Open Home Foundation

Local GP

Local solicitor

Special Education Service

Youth Worker

Eketahuna representative

Women's Refuge

Police

School Principal

The Masterton Panel meets fortnightly. If required, telephone consultations take place in between meetings. There is an excellent relationship between members of that Panel and the Masterton social workers.


3. Compliance

Commissioner recommendation: Include compliance with policy as a performance measure in individual social worker performance objectives.

Response:

General: The current performance management system for social workers takes account of compliance with policies and procedures.


4. Training in family violence and protecting children

Chief Social Worker finding: It is my view that there was a lack of rigour applied to the decisions made in the most recent contacts in this case and that this may have arisen from the long, familiar relationship between the family and those who were involved with them. The normal checks and balances of the care and protection system, all of which need to be triggered by a social worker and considered by a supervisor, did not operate effectively in this case.

Commissioner recommendation: Ensure that departmental social work staff receive ongoing training in family violence and methods of intervening to protect children.

Response:

General: The department has given a focus to supporting and upskilling social workers through clinical supervision training, delivered by Massey University, available to all supervisors. This training has been very well received. Learning and Development staff are now developing training for supervisees, to ensure social workers make the best use possible of supervision. Discussions are taking place with tertiary institutions, to have a Masterate or PhD student undertake research on the issue of familiarity. A two day training programme in Family Violence has been incorporated into the national social work induction training. This is mandatory for all newly appointed social workers. This programme is also offered outside of induction as resources permit.


5. Training in interviewing, listening and responded to children and young people

Commissioner recommendation: Ensure social work staff receive training which enables them to interview, listen and respond to children and young people.

Response:

General: A range of training has been developed, including programmes that assist social work staff in interviewing, listening and responding to children and young people.

Masterton: The staff at the Masterton site meet fortnightly to have in-service training sessions. Recently this was on the subject of talking with children. This is a popular and effective means of on-going training and upskilling.


6. Senior management

Commissioner recommendation: Review how the department's delivery function is represented at senior management level to ensure that the experience of practitioners is appropriately considered.

Response:

General: Two of the seven members of the Strategic Management Team are social workers. Their presence ensures a strong practice voice is heard. The Chief Social Worker's role is to audit the quality of practice within the department and is, therefore, a particularly influential voice. Eight of the twelve members of the department's Operational Management Team are experienced social workers. Eleven of the twelve third-tier managers of frontline services are experienced social workers.


7. Community liaison function

Commissioner recommendation: Consider an increase in the numbers of Community Liaison social work positions or the adoption of a model where social workers have responsibility for a geographical area.

Response:

General: Community Liaison social work positions were established in 1995, as part of the department's response to changes to the CYPF Act. At that time, the government had decided not to legislate for mandatory reporting. Rather, the Chief Executive would be required to provide information to the general public and to particular professional groups, on the importance of recognising and reporting child abuse and neglect. Community Liaison social workers began visiting schools and community groups in New Zealand, promoting the need to report abuse and to work together to prevent abuse. These positions have been added to by other initiatives now underway. SDU managers have been appointed and a key part of their role is relationship management, encouraging community participation and interagency cooperation. The department's priority has been on employing social workers who work directly with clients, rather than filling these liaison roles. In particular, the Rise Above It campaign (in Masterton) and the Everyday Communities (in six parts of the country) work have replaced the work of the individual community liaison social worker. Now, Child, Youth and Family works with a range of community leaders to get the same messages across to communities, but in a different way.

Masterton: This is a site which does still have access to a community liaison social worker, covering Wellington/Masterton and Dannevirke areas. This position works very well for Masterton.


8. Workload management

Commissioner recommendation: Develop and implement an effective workload management tool.

Response:

General: A project to design a workload management system was commenced in early 2003 and is expected to be completed by June 2004. Implementation will commence in July 2004.

Masterton: In Masterton, social workers have, on average, about 20 cases each. (This is 20 families, not 20 individuals.) Caseloads in Masterton are now - and have been - manageable. There will, of course, be varied numbers at different times as caseloads fluctuate. When case numbers are high, supervisors can ask other supervisors for staff to assist, as required. The workloads are managed by supervisors. It is the supervisors' responsibility to decide how many cases each social worker should have and to allocate accordingly.


9. Roopu teams

Commissioner recommendation: Review the effectiveness of Roopu teams and the resourcing, training and professional support for these teams.

Response:

General: This recommendation is not accepted and will not be actioned. There is no reason to believe that Roopu teams are resourced and supported in any way different from non-Roopu teams.

Masterton: In Masterton, there is a team of social workers who take all of the Maori cases, although they themselves are not all Maori. Caseload numbers in that team are relatively similar to those of other teams ie average about 20 cases each. When there is a time of high demand, the whole office works together, as a team, to meet the challenges.


10. Seeking the views of clients

Commissioner recommendation: Direct that case reviews in future consider the views of clients (including the views of children) to assess the effectiveness of departmental intervention.

Response:

General: A practice session on this subject, called 'Voices of Children', was held at the supervisors/practice managers professional workshop in July 2003. The Commissioner for Children has planned to meet with senior managers from Child, Youth and Family, in December, to review the current ways in which she carries out her role of monitoring the department. This will include discussion of the current protocol for the review of cases.

Masterton: The 'Voices of Children' session was delivered to staff in the Wellington region and Masterton staff attended that delivery.


11. Social workers in schools

Commissioner recommendation: Discuss the extension of the Social Workers in Schools Programme with the Secretary of Education.

Response:

General: Discussions held with Social Services, Education and Health Ministers. Extension of the programme is currently inhibited by social work workforce supply shortages. These issues are being considered by a sector-wide Workforce Development Group as part of the MSD-led Care and Protection Blueprint which is due to report back to Ministers in November 2003. The Department has contracted an additional Social Workers in Schools position in Masterton.