PeakCare congratulates our President, Michael Tizard, on his appointment as National Families Week 2013 Ambassador.

 

The following information has been provided to PeakCare by the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services and is now being passed on to you.

A few weeks ago, PeakCare brought you news of consideration being given to the establishment of a Community Services Industry Body (CSIB).

A consultation paper on the CSIB is now available online.

PeakCare’s Annual General Meeting was held yesterday afternoon and for the first time as far as anyone can recall, a secret ballot was needed to elect the Board for 2013 due to a higher number of nominees than vacancies.

Following the announcement of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into institutional responses by public and private organisations to child sexual abuse in Australia, PeakCare has submitted comments in response to issues raised in a consultation paper recently released by the Australian Government.

PeakCare Qld will be holding its Annual General Meeting on: Tuesday, 18th December 2012 from 3:30pm at the offices of BoysTown, Suite 11, Black Street, Milton followed by end of year drinks with Board and PeakCare staff members. This year there are four (4) vacancies for Board Membership. The nominations for these positions are as follows; 

As the 4th annual Transition to Independence (T2I) Month drew to a close on November 30^th, we reflect on the outcomes for 2012.  The key focus of this month is engaging all personnel in the child protection system and associated government and NGO partners to improve the assistance offered to young people as they make the journey from the child protection system to independence.

Armed with the task of providing practical information for carers, practitioners and child protection personnel in assisting children and young people in care with sexual health, our international expert Simon Blake took up the challenge in offering this forum on behalf of PeakCare and Family Planning Queensland.

For the past 8 years, Elizabeth Fraser has provided a leading role in advocating for Queensland’s children and young people.

The launch of Transition to Independence (T2I) Month was held on Monday, 5^th November at the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian.

PeakCare's executive director, Lindsay Wegener, joins Mikaela Simpsons program 'Strong Voices' on The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) to discuss issues being raised about the child protection inquiry. 

Over 100 ‘preventers’ attended the first of PeakCare Queensland’s Meet the Preventers Child Protection Expos held at Griffith University at Logan City yesterday. The discussions and debates were lively and animated and imaginations were stretched and challenged.

Child Protection Week got off to a flying start with the Queensland Child Protection Week Awards ceremony at Parliament House last Thursday. Commission for Children, Young People and Child Guardian’s Assistant Commissioner Barry Salmon took the helm as the Master of Ceremonies, a tradition for the Awards Ceremony.

Channel 7’s Kay McGrath, a keen supporter of child protection in Queensland, was the Master of Ceremonies for Remembrance Day 2012, a joint initiative of Forgotten Australians and the Child Protection Week Committee.

Professor Clare Tilbury has requested that PeakCare distribute the following statement prepared by her in response to an article that appeared in the Courier Mail on Wednesday 29^th August 2012. 

The CREATE Foundation offer advice on how young people can be heard at the Child Protection Comission of Inquiry

On 26^th May 2012, a full-page open letter to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Queensland was published in the Courier Mail.

The Department is making significant changes to the Foster Carer Agreement. The changes are intended to improve how the department provides for carers’ support and learning and development needs.

On March 20th 2012 the Voices in Action Forum was held to launch the new look Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy. 

Youth Homelessness Matters Day (YHMD) 18^th April, 2012 was held at Kurilpa Point Park, located next to the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in South Brisbane. This Brisbane launch of the National Youth Homelessness Matters Day was attended by...

At the final hearing in the Equal Pay case the full bench of Fair Work Australia was told the Federal Government would fully fund it's share of wage increases for SACS workers.

A comprehensive guide that lists and links resources to assist in working with clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds has been produced by the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (ECCQ).  This is a “must-have” resource for all child protection practitioners!

The overmedication of babies, children and teenagers is gaining more and more media attention both in Australia and around the world.

On behalf of PeakCare Queensland and our membership, I heartily congratulate Professor Karen Healy on her election to the role of National President of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW).

Lindsay Wegener's letter that was sent to the Editor of the Sunday Mail in response to an article by Mr Andrew Bolt.

A number of concerns have been recently reported to PeakCare by Member Agencies about some “not so perfect” matches of children – very young children in particular - being made with residential services.  

“What’s special about specialist foster care?” was the big question wrestled with by around 45 representatives of current providers of specialist foster care services, the Department of Communities and PeakCare Queensland during a workshop hosted by PeakCare on 15th September.

The Department of Communities has released new guidelines for reporting missing children. Along with these guidelines, a standardised form has been produced for use by both Departmental Officers and non-Government organisations that may be required to report missing children to the Police Service.

This week Lorraine Dupree, our Policy and Research Manager has written a post on our professional practice Blog on transition from care.

The Workforce Council have released the 2010 Skills Update Report.

The Courier Mail highlights concerns about the high number of children in care on ADHD medication in comparison to the general population. 

New strategy for tackling over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the care system.