• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part A - Information about Family Relationship Services
  • 1. FRS Overview
    • 1.1 Eligibility
    • 1.2 Selection
    • 1.3 Consortia and Subcontracting
    • 1.4 Funding
    • 1.5 Reporting and Assessment
  • 2. Service Delivery Components of the Program
    • 2.1 Program/Sub-program
  • 3. Responsibilities, Accountabilities and the Way we Work with the Sector
    • 3.1 Departmental Responsibilities and Accountabilities
    • 3.2 Funding Recipient Responsibilities and Accountabilities
  • 4. Performance Management and Evaluation
    • 4.1 Performance Measurement
    • 4.2 FRS Performance Framework
    • 4.3 Performance Recognition and Improvement
    • 4.4 FRSP Online
    • 4.5 Quality Assurance and Risk Management
    • 4.6 Service Assessments
    • 4.7 Site Visits
    • 4.8 Financial Accountability
    • 4.9 Evaluation and Research
  • 5. Privacy and Confidentiality
    • 5.1 Freedom of Information
    • 5.2 Security of Information
  • 6. Complaints
• Part B - Information about the Family and Parenting Services (FPS) and Family Law Services (FLS) Streams
  • 7. Program Management and Service Delivery Details
    • 7.1 Participants/ Clients/Recipients
    • 7.2 Funding
    • 7.3 Program Links with Other Agencies and Services
    • 7.4 Eligible Activities
    • 7.5 Approved FRS Services
      • 7.5.1 Family and Parenting Services – Prevention and Early Intervention
      • 7.5.2 Family Law Services – Information and Post-separation
    • 7.6 Information Technology
    • 7.7 Information Technology Support
  • 8. Contact information
• Appendix A. FRS Administrative Approval Requirements
• Appendix B. FRSP Online Protocols
• Appendix C. Operational Framework for Family Relationship Centres
  • Part One
    • Role of Family Relationship Centres
    • Assistance provided by Family Relationship Centres
    • Client Service Delivery Principles
    • Staffing, Training And Competency
    • Facilities
    • National Network
    • Principles for Engagement with Community and Other Organisations
  • Part Two - Guidelines
    • Guidelines Relating to Referrals from the Child Support Agency
    • Guidelines for Access to Centrelink
    • Guidelines on Client Service Delivery
    • Guidelines on Safety Policies, Procedures and Critical Incidents
    • Guidelines for working with the Family Relationship Advice Line
    • Guidelines for Engagement with the Community and Other Organisations and Individuals
    • Referral Guidelines for Family Relationship Centres and the Family Relationship Advice Line
    • Guidelines for Referrals to Legal Advice by Staff in Family Relationship Centres
    • Service Charter and Complaints
    • Service Charter Template
• Appendix D. Supporting Children after Separation Program - Description and Operational Requirements
• Appendix E. National Find and Connect Service for Forgotten Australians and former child migrants -Service Description
• 9. Glossary

Family Relationship Services Guidelines

• Previous: Appendix D
• Next: 9. Glossary

Appendix E.

National Find and Connect Service for Forgotten Australians and former child migrants - Service Description

Role of the National Find and Connect Service for Forgotten Australians and former child migrants.

The National Find and Connect Service (NFC) will provide an Australia-wide coordinated family tracing and support service for Forgotten Australians¹ and former child migrants to trace their personal and family histories and reunite with family members where possible.

The service is initially targeted to adults accommodated as children in state, agency-based and informal care during the 20th century, recognising that this population of care leavers is ageing, with urgent needs around searching and connecting.

Description

The NFC will provide national and centralised access to records tracing and support services.  

The proposed components of the national service include:

• a national website and single online access point to help care leavers find records held by past care providers and government agencies;
• a national 1800 telephone number for care leavers to call if they want to speak with trained staff to help them locate their personal records;
• a national network of specialised search and support services to help care leavers locate and access personal records and, where possible, reunite with family members.  Care leavers will also be connected with counsellors and other support services where required;
• new counselling support services specifically for care leavers, from appropriately trained and skilled providers, to provide support for care leavers as they trace their families; and
• national coordination and development in areas relating to care leavers access to personal information.

These inter-related functions of the Find and Connect support services will provide practical assistance and emotional support to care leavers to request records about themselves from various sources, search for records that identify, or contain information about, family members, and re-connect safely with family members, where desired and possible.

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Funding

The Australian Government has provided $26.5 million over four years to deliver an Australia wide coordinated records and family tracing and support service for Forgotten Australians and former child migrants, including costs of direct service delivery, website design and build and program development and management.

Target Group

The target group Forgotten Australians and former child migrants, that is:

• people who spent a period of time as children in children's homes, orphanages and other forms of out-of-home care in the last century; and
• children who arrived in Australia through historical child migration schemes and who were subsequently placed in homes and orphanages.

Client centred service delivery

The model and services developed for a NFC service are predicated on the principle that services need to be planned to meet the individual needs of clients, and that meeting these needs must take into account additional or ongoing support required for individuals as they search for information or reconnect with family.  This includes involvement of care leavers and their families in decision making and planning.

The nature of care leavers' childhood experiences clearly indicates that working with care leavers is a specialist area demanding a model that acknowledges, understands and responds to the lasting impacts of loss and abandonment in childhood. 

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Client Activities

NFC services provide information and referral, counselling and support for care leavers to access their personal and family histories and to reconnect with family where this is possible.

NFC services are not intended to provide a crisis response for cases where the primary issues are the responsibility of state governments such as health care, including the high and complex needs of people suffering mental health, family violence, and drug and/or alcohol misuse.  NFC may refer clients to relevant state government support agencies or engage the client in a crisis response where this is appropriate.

Premises and co-location

Find and Connect support services will be located where they will fill gaps in service provision, be accessible to care leavers for face-to-face support where possible, and be able to access the range of resources required to facilitate searches (state and territory departments, for example).

The location and situation of services for Forgotten Australians will also take into account sensitivities for Forgotten Australians including proximity to or involvement of past care providers or care facilities in the provision of services. 

Where services are located in large regional centres, the capacity to locate national Find and Connect support service workers within relevant community-based organisations can be explored. These workers would liaise with capital city national Find and Connect support services to undertake any physical searches which may be required, eg to check archives.

Find and Connect counselling services may co-locate with other support workers, and also be available across locations through the use of brokerage funds on a sessional basis. Recruitment of a pool of counsellors will necessitate working with professional associations, such as the Australian Association of Social Workers and the Australian Psychological Society.

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Specialist Support and Expertise

Given the specialist nature of the services to be provided, a range of induction, learning and development issues need to be considered in relation to staff.  A careful recruitment and selection process will be needed to attract staff with the capacity and skills to do this work.

The needs of Forgotten Australians and scope of services to be provided as part of the national Find and Connect service are broad and will each require specialist skills and expertise including:

• suitably qualified staff with behavioural science expertise will be required to respond to the complex emotional support and counselling needs of care leavers;
• suitably qualified staff in Records Management / Records Tracing – expertise in this field is critical to provide effective service provision for care leavers who are searching for their records; and
• high level understanding of historical policies and approaches to out-of-home care in Australia including the affect these practices have on care leavers and their families.

There is a clear need to involve care leavers at a whole-of-program level and at a service delivery level, including in the induction and ongoing learning and development of staff and through partnership with care leavers or care leaver representative groups as user representatives in an advisory role.

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Engagement with Government and other organisations in the community

The national Find and Connect service will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the needs of care leavers including an understanding of instances of systemic abuse and mistreatment of children in out-of-home care and have a sound knowledge of the location, type and management of institutional care facilities across Australia. 

The national Find and Connect service will demonstrate a strong referral network with other agencies. This includes other services for Forgotten Australians and former Child Migrants including Link Up services; counselling and support services; medical practitioners, other family support and health services and State Government agencies.

Working relationships with other agencies may include the development of a memorandum of understanding or joint guidelines around the program aim, referral protocols, client confidentiality and mandatory reporting requirements.

Reporting

Funding recipients must provide reports as required and in accordance with Schedule 5 of the Australian Government Terms and Conditions for a Standard Funding Agreement and in accordance with Item E of the Funding Agreement including acquittal of funds and participation in self-assessments, external assessments and evaluations as required.

1. The term Forgotten Australians includes people who spent time as children in Australian children's homes, orphanages and others forms of out-of-home care in the last century, including members of the Stolen Generations.

• Previous: Appendix C
• Next: 9. Glossary

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