Synopsis:

OzChild is a Government funded organisation for the care of vulnerable families.  It is a direct descendent of one of the earliest orphanages in Melbourne, the St James’ Dorcas Society shelter for orphaned children.  Today it is a national organisation and all their work is done in community and homes, working with families.

OzChild’s vision is that ‘All children and young people are safe, respected, nurtured and reach their full potential’. As part of its strategic plan 2016-2020 it aims to measure the impact and success of its programs using a strong evidence-based methodology and reporting of client outcomes.

Senior OzChild staff visited the US to explore appropriate evidence-based models that would focus on prevention of children entering care and in November 2016, SafeCare and Functional Family Therapy Child Welfare were launched in the Bayside Peninsula area of Victoria. This presentation will focus on the SafeCare Model which is an evidence-based parenting program for parents of children aged 0-5 who are at-risk of or have been reported for child neglect or physical abuse.  Recently featured on 4-Corners.

Speakers:

Liz McPhillips is the Team Leader of the SafeCare program at OzChild and has been in this role since the inception of the program in November 2016. Liz has extensive experience in out of home care and has previously worked in Child Protection as a High Risk Infant specialist. Prior to this Liz worked in child care, a mother and baby unit, and a maternity unit.

Lisa Sunderland is the Program Manager of Family Services at OzChild of which the SafeCare program is one of the suite of services that is provided. Lisa has been the Program Manager at OzChild for the last 6 years and prior to this had extensive experience in working in a range of different roles in Child Protection.