WINANGAY

Winangay acknowledges and recognizes Aboriginal people as the traditional owners of Australia. We acknowledge and thank the Elders (past and present) for their wisdom and custodianship of this land. Australia, is, was and always will be Aboriginal land.

 We welcome you to Winangay’s web pages

WINANGAY Resources have a new resource to assess and support Existing Aboriginal Kinship Carers. This website is designed to ensure people around Australia are aware of this new and innovative resource.

The assessment tool is culturally appropriate, strength based and rests on a strong foundation of Australian and international research. It has been developed to assess and support existing kinship carers. Through a series of interviews it identifies carer strengths, concerns and unmet needs.

After a validation meeting in Sydney, January 2011From left to right: Professor and Chair of Child Protection Marianne Berry, Aunty Sue Blacklock, Paula Hayden, Seated: Gillian Bonser

It also benefitted from the support of a number of key academics (including Dr Marilyn McHugh (UNSW) and Professor and Chair of Child Protection Marianne Berry – from the Australian Centre for Child Protection). 

 Why was the tool developed?

Kinship care is a culturally appropriate form of care and is part of the Aboriginal way. Many Aboriginal kinship carers have complex needs and face

competing challenges with a lack of adequate support services. Existing assessment tools did not meet Aboriginal kinship carer’s needs. Many were designed for foster carers not kinship carers others were not culturally appropriate. This tool has been developed for existing carers, a tool for new kinship carers is under development.

Steps in the process

The resources include plain English questions in a flexible and informal format for conversational interviews with existing kinship carers. The layout and approach is culturally appropriate, respectful and empowering for Aboriginal carers and communities. After the relationship is established a series of pictorial cards are used to rate strengths and concerns and develop a joint action plan to support the family and improve outcomes for Aboriginal children.

As Gillian said “They are easy to use and engaging and the ratings

can be repeated at key milestones to document changes in the family”.

• Environment and Basic Needs 
• The Kinship Carer
• Kids and Their Wellbeing
• Carer’s Actions and How They Work with Others

Each card focuses on a key factor identified by the research and practice wisdom as key to successful outcomes for Aboriginal kids and kinship carers.  They allow carers to identify their strengths and areas of concern and place them on a continuum from real concern to deadly strength. This forms the foundation of a joint action plan by visually displaying key areas of unmet needs and prioritizing concerns that need to be urgently addressed.

 The Pilot

The resources are about to be piloted in a number of locations in Australia. It will involve Aboriginal workers using the tool with existing Aboriginal kinship carers. Pilot participants will undergo 2 days of training in using the tool and will then return to their communities to use the resource for 12 weeks before they provide feedback, suggestions and comments on the tool. We look forward to validating them and to continuing to refine them.

The pilot will provide information about the usefulness of the tool and suggestions for improvement and refinement. It will also provide information on the needs of kinship carers and their priorities for support.

The pilot was originally intended to operate with 4 services in NSW. However the interest in the tool has been so strong and extensive that we have workers in Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, and ACT wishing to join the original pilot group. Workers from other states have also requested places in the pilot and we are now planning a second pilot group. This will mean a total of 36 workers in 18 locations in Australia will test the tool and provide feedback on their experiences in using it. Given that these sites include a range of Aboriginal nations,  remote locations like the Kimberleys, rural locations like Parkes and city locations including Sydney and Brisbane, we should have a breadth of information about cultural appropriateness and indications of changes or additional material that is required.

How is this tool different?

Winangay has been ‘purpose’ developed to specifically meet the needs of Aboriginal kinship carers and workers. It has deliberately been designed to work collaboratively with kinship carers, actively engaging their input, preferences and perspectives throughout the assessment process. It results in a joint action plan to increase outcomes and support for Aboriginal children and kinship carers.

The resource is culturally appropriate and visually engaging. The format of the resource is deliberately informal and uses earthy colours and Aboriginal graphics and images. The questions are in plain English and flow together to encourage conversations. It can be used to monitor and review changes in the family over time.

“WINANGAY changes the way we work with Aboriginal families. So training in the use of the tool is essential. We hope to be offering this training in the second half of 2011” said Paula Hayden. Costs for the training and resources are yet to be determined. We expect the resources will be launched around September or October 2011 and they should be available shortly afterwards.

Aunty Sue demonstrating the cards to the Aboriginal Reference Group