It was inspiring and exciting to spend the morning collaborating with practitioners, academics, sector leaders, policymakers and, most importantly, people with lived expertise of child protection and out of home care services, at the first Family Inclusion Roundtable, hosted by the University of Newcastle Centre for Law & Social Justice. What is family inclusion? Put simply, it’s the active and meaningful involvement and participation of children, parents, extended family and kin in family strengthening and child protection processes at policy and practice levels, with the intention of maintaining and strengthening their connections and valuable ongoing role in children’s lives. Simple to say, but challenging to embed in systems and structures that aren’t built to prioritise it. Right the way through the service continuum for vulnerable families, there are opportunities to improve responsiveness, respect and active involvement of families in decision-making about their own futures. More hopeful still was the commitment by many of those present to continue to work together to establish a new Family Inclusion Alliance to continue The important work of integrating research, practice wisdom and lived experience and advocating for system reform and service development that furthers family inclusion in practice. Massive thanks and congratulations to Nicola Ross, Dr Wendy Lee Foote, Jessica Cocks, Shantelle Common, Deb Swan, Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter (FISH) and the many others who worked together to bring the Roundtable to fruition. Interested in being part of the solution? 📷 Use the QR Code below to register your interest in keeping the momentum For Family inclusion going. ♻️ Repost to get the word out and connect with others who are interested in driving positive change and social justice. #FamilyInclusion #DignityDrivenPractice #ChildProtectionNSW #OutOfHomeCare #LivedExperience #SocialJustice
Nicola Ross
5mo
Thanks Ben - it was great to be in the room with you and so many other people with such deep lived experience, knowledge and commitment. The roundtable feels timely - and we will keep going forward together to make the change that is needed - for better outcomes for children and their families.
Jessica Cocks
5mo
Thanks Ben Spence it was great to see you there!
Project Management | Parent and Family Advocate
5moThe Family Inclusion Research to Practice Roundtable created such an important space for people from all sides of the Sector to come together with parents, grandparents and young people with lived experience of our broken child protection system. I am fortunate to be in a position to work towards systemic change through my role and as a parent with lived experience of child removal and restoration due to DV. Broken is an understatement, and it was not an easy space to sit in. It was heavy and brought to surface many memories packed away, many parts of my story that I draw upon from time to time to share when the right people are listening. Many of those people were in the room, they were listening. The important part is what comes next. Words need to be turned into action. Let's keep the momentum going. Join the Family Inclusion Alliance and let's see where we can take this. Thank you for the space and respect.