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Practice paper
Supporting children in families with complex needs: Nine tips for practitioners who feel out of their depth
Rhys Price-Robertson and Courtney Schuurman, Emerging MindsIf you are feeling overwhelmed or out of your depth, this practice paper outlines ways in which you can begin to develop confidence in supporting children in families with complex needs. -
Practice paper
Engaging with parents who have children in out-of-home care: Key considerations
Mary Salveron, Nicole Paterson, and Rhys Price-RobertsonEngaging with parents or caregivers who have children living in out-of-home care can be daunting for practitioners who do not have much experience with child protection services. This resource outlines some of the key considerations for engaging with such parents, and encourages you to reflect on the relevance of these issues to your own practice. -
Practice paper
Recognising and strengthening the stories of children in care
Nicole Rollbusch and Dan MossThis paper identifies practical ways professionals working with children who are in care can bring children’s histories to life in ways that support their sense of identity and confidence, even when children’s experiences with their birth families included trauma or neglect. -
Guide
Practice principles for supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children in out-of-home care
Hilary Miller and Kristel Alla, Australian Institute of Family StudiesThis practice guide uses learnings from Australian and international research to build practitioner awareness of approaches to support the mental health and wellbeing of children in out-of-home care (OOHC). It outlines principles that may be useful to guide practice when supporting children in OOHC. -
Fact sheet
What type of programs improve the mental health outcomes of children in out-of-home care?
Hilary Miller and Kristel Alla, Australian Institute of Family StudiesExplore the most common types of programs that aim to improve mental health outcomes for children in out-of-home care (OOHC) and the evidence for overall program types -
Short article
Supporting children with disability in out-of-home care (OOHC)
Hilary Miller, Mandy Truong and Kristel Alla, Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS)This resource provides an overview of the over-representation of children with disability in out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia. It may be relevant for people working in child protection, including care workers, social and youth workers, mental health professionals, and disability, health and allied health practitioners. -
Short article
What factors predict long-term mental health for children in out-of-home care?
Catherine WadeThis short article summarises a recent paper which examines how key child and family characteristics predict long-term mental health for children in out-of-home care. -
Fact sheet
One Talk at a Time: Child sexual abuse: Get the facts
National Office for Child SafetyThis resource from the National Office for Child Safety (NOCS) includes foundational information about child sexual abuse. The resource contains statistics to learn more about child sexual abuse and helps to dispel common myths and misconceptions, and help people understand the role they can play in protecting children and young people. -
Website
One Talk at a Time: Having conversations
National Office for Child SafetyThis toolkit from the National Office for Child Safety has been designed to help adults have preventative conversations about child sexual abuse with children and young people, other adults and organisations. -
Short article
How fathers’ warm and responsive parenting can support child mental health
Melissa Willoughby (AIFS), Cat Strawa (AIFS), Vincent Mancini (Telethon Kids Institute, UWA and The Fathering Project) & Hilary Miller (AIFS)This resource will explore the evidence on how fathers can positively influence their child’s mental health through warm and responsive parenting. -
Short article
How fathers can support child mental health through setting limits and managing behaviour
Melissa Willoughby (AIFS), Cat Strawa (AIFS) & Vincent Mancini (Telethon Kids Institute, UWA and The Fathering Project)This resource outlines how fathers’ approaches to setting limits and managing behaviour can affect child mental health. It also provides considerations for practitioners to support effective practice with fathers and other caregivers. -
Guide
Supporting fathers’ mental health in the perinatal period
Cat Strawa (AIFS), Melissa Willoughby (AIFS), A/Prof Rachel Dryer (ACU), Dr Robyn Brunton (CSU) and Carol Dabb (ACU)This resource describes fathers’ mental health and support needs in the perinatal period, and how practitioners can support fathers during this time.