Fiona Atkins, Acting Director of Ashley Youth Detention Centre, shares how she fosters a supportive environment for both staff and young people in detention, advocating for their wellbeing and implementing trauma-informed practices. Her leadership style illustrates the power of incremental change in youth detention.

In out-of-home care, neurodiversity shapes how children respond. Jessica Wright advocates for neuroaffirming practices to address challenges faced by children with trauma-based responses and neurodivergent traits.

Current research shows that children who are "dual-involved" in both child protection and youth justice systems are prone to criminalisation when these systems don’t interact effectively. This system failure is known as systems abuse. Dr Claire Paterson-Smith, Dr Tatiana Corrales, and Dr Patricia McNamara presented their preliminary findings on their important, if troubling, research: The criminalisation of children in care in England/Wales, New South Wales and Victoria. Their research highlights the urgent need for positive systemic change, and what we can do in our day-to-day practice to move us in the right direction.

In our latest Q&A with the trainer blog, Therapeutic Residential Care Specialist Dr Glenys Bristow delves into how exploring behaviours that challenge can prompt introspection. We can ask, 'What underlying factors contribute to challenging behaviours?' This invites understanding rather than judgment.

As recognition of trauma-informed care continues to grow, it’s increasingly important to support those who work with trauma-exposed children and young people. Deputy Director Noel Macnamara has run several popular workshops on trauma-informed supervision, equipping supervisors to support direct care workers facing the inevitable challenges of working closely with trauma. In this Q&A, we catch up with Noel to learn more about his workshop and why trauma-informed supervision is an important ingredient of trauma-informed care.

Proactively investing in strengthening children’s support networks to understand and respond therapeutically to trauma benefits everyone. The need for ineffective and costly crisis responses, such as Alternative Care Arrangements, is preventable. It is imperative that the out-of-home care system adopt a child-centred and evidence-based therapeutic care approach to uphold the rights of children and, in turn, benefit from their strengthened connection to their communities.

All carers want the children they care for to have the best time at Christmas, but the reality can be very different. Being sensitive to children and young people’s needs and feelings while embracing the spirit of the season can be a tricky balancing act.

CareSouth was recently awarded the Outstanding Therapeutic Residential Care Team Award at Youth Action NSW's Youth Work Awards. The CETC proposed the new Outstanding Therapeutic Residential Care Team award category to Youth Action to celebrate and acknowledge the compassionate, dedicated teams supporting children and young people in NSW residential care.

CETC is conducting research aiming to understand how positive relationships and social connections can be fostered for young people in Australian Therapeutic Residential Care settings. The project's current focus involves data analysis and development of a survey tool for the project's next phase.

Foster Care Week is an annual celebration of foster carers and their supporters for contributions they make to children’s lives. Jess Wright, an occupational therapist with a psychology background, recently received the Outstanding Support for Exceptional Circumstances Award for her work supporting foster carers over an 18-month period.

Foster Care Week, observed from September 10-16, is an annual celebration acknowledging the incredible contribution our volunteer foster carers make to the lives of children in out-of-home care. The theme for 2023 was “Hearts of Gold”, a theme that reflects the type of person it takes to commit to welcoming someone else’s child into their home.

The most difficult aspect of working in residential care is not managing the behavioural challenges of the children and young people, the demanding shifts, or the lack of resources. Rather, it is the surge of feelings that can surface while doing the work. Even calm, caring, and sensitive residential care workers can often be shocked by their own anger and hatred.