CEO report to Anglicare Victoria Council May 2010

My, how time flies when you are having fun, the cliché says, and as this will be my last report as Chief Executive Officer of Anglicare Victoria I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect over the years since 2000 and then end with a few reflections on the future.

My first reflection may seem somewhat strange. I was a reluctant starter for the position of Chief Executive Officer, I never directly applied for the position and have that “old fashioned” view of call. I remember relaying this to Bishop Curnow, then Chairman of the Board, while he encouraged me to “put an application in”. I think it was after the fifth conversation with the “head hunters” and the Bishop when I agreed to allow my name to go forward to the selection committee who I knew were also interviewing one or two other of my colleagues. You may ask why. The answer rests with an understanding of vocation and mission. Still for many of us in “Holy Orders” as they say, the modern approach of applying for a position or job remains a challenge.

Prior to my commencement the newly formed Anglicare Victoria experienced rough waters as Board and staff began the task of deconstructing and reconstructing. My predecessor, John Wilson, faced struggles on many fronts including staff anxiety and fear, industrial action, budget challenges, church concerns about mission and direction, a State Government who were intent on deconstructing the community sector to suit its own political agenda, and a range of emerging social issues. I was also aware that other peer agencies in the children, youth and family arena were expressing negative views and perceptions about Anglicare Victoria as it was seen as a predator and lacking a willingness to work co-operatively. Much of this was due to the fears and misunderstandings at what was a turbulent time for many agencies. In coming to Anglicare Victoria then I asked myself four fundamental questions:

1    How does Anglicare Victoria differ from other agencies in the sector and how should it position itself as both a faith based and community organisation?

2    How does Anglicare Victoria see its role and place as part of the Mission of the Church in the Twenty First Century?

3    What should be the role of the Chief Executive Officer - Manager, leader - or both?

4    what should be the key strategic directions of the agency?

I was conscious at the time that some staff and Board were “a little nervous” about these matters, let alone a priest as the Chief Executive Officer.

Well here we are, nearly ten years later. A great deal has been achieved and I believe there is much to celebrate. Let me list a few:

•    Completion of three Strategic Plans outlining the agency’s commitment to the most disadvantaged in the community through a range of

-    out of home care programs

-    family support services

-    community programs

-    youth services

-    rural programs

-    parish partnerships.

•    The adoption by Government of new models of service development in foster care, kinship care and residential care influenced by Anglicare Victoria’s own research and pilots.

•    A robust financial system, budget process, human resources policies and media profile.

•    The development of a Social Policy and Research Unit with an emphasis on the practice and wisdom experience of staff.

•    The completion of a short history of the first ten years since Anglicare Victoria’s formation.

•    The relocation of Central Office to Hoddle Street Collingwood – a major achievement and which I note as the end of the amalgamation period.

•    New service buildings at

Bairnsdale

Leongatha

Knox

Morwell

Frankston

Lilydale

Warragul

Wangaratta

•    Upgraded service sites at

Werribee

Lalor

Broadmeadows

Craigieburn

Croydon

Box Hill

•    Expansion of rural services in conjunction with Dioceses and Parishes in:

Gippsland

Wangaratta

Ballarat

Warrnambool

Geelong

Melbourne

Bendigo (in partnership with St Luke’s Bendigo)

•    The redevelopment of the Toolangi site, with accommodation and staff training facilities.

•    The agency’s response to the 2009 bushfires.

•    Launch of a new logo and corporate identity, the Neale G Molloy Social Justice Lecture and Dinner With the Angels.

•    The development of outcome measurements in out of home care with the focus now on family services.

•    The increasing role of volunteers.

•    The establishment of an Ethics, Social Policy and Research Committee, Finance Committee and Audit Committee.

I could go on and bore you all with some more but each addition of “Imagine” highlights the innovative programs that seek to respond to changing community need.

I certainly have not achieved this alone. It has only been possible because at all levels of the organisation we have a dedicated staff and Board. Along with our volunteers and donors our response to issues of homelessness, child protection, rural disadvantage (including bush fire and drought relief) emergency relief, family trauma and breakdown, youth isolation and confusion would not have been possible without staff and volunteers who are prepared to “think and act outside the box”, a Board willing to invest in new models of care, and donors who continue to give. At the heart and soul of our work are passionate people who believe that all individuals have the capacity to change and grow. I hope collegiality has been a focus of my leadership style while recognising where “the buck stops” as they say. Over the years we have increasingly worked as a team, engaged in rigorous and ever provocative discussions, made mistakes along the way and ruffled a few feathers. Our best work has been when we have worked and shared together. Vigorous and rigorous engagement and discussion enables the sharing of ideas and concerns contributing to best policy.

The Future

The work of Anglicare Victoria is affected and influenced by what is happening to families. At our February Senior Management Team training day, Professor Alan Hayes spoke about the pressure on families and how violence, mental health issues and alcohol were affecting family and community relationships. These issues are being experienced across the agency with an increasing number of clients demonstrating abuse and aggressive behaviour towards staff. There will be the need for greater professional development and care for staff in the future as they confront the darker side of human nature and the raw reality of troubled and neglected families. The emotional impact on staff cannot be ignored or underestimated. Suitability for this work will need to receive greater attention. There will also be the need for media training for senior staff, as we have seen in recent times a more inquisitive and less sympathetic response to our work amongst the most disadvantaged.

Secondly, we must continue to remember the lessons of the past, ie “learnt but not forgotten”. The lack of policies and refusals to address failures of the past cannot be ignored as we go forward in addressing the needs of children, young people and families today. When I started working in the field over 45 years ago, first as a volunteer then as a low paid carer, we went by the “seat of our pants” as they say. There were no Professional Practice Forums. Len Tierney and Dorothy Scott from the University of Melbourne were encouraging people like myself to do social work and a range of new professionals were entering into and reforming the child care field.

Thirdly, Anglicare Victoria’s role is not only about repairing or mending the broken. It is ultimately about restoration, resilience, relationships and bridge building.

Service is not just about repairing or mending the broken, it is, as I just said, ultimately about resilience, restoration, relationships and bridge building. If there is something secularists, humanists, people of faith or no faith do have in common in a diverse and multicultural community such as ours, it is that humanity can be healed and strengthened in the common ground of service. We may have different understandings of how this may be achieved but the goals are similar. The problem and the challenge is in the detail. For us at Anglicare Victoria it means looking beyond the immediate, the needs of the agency, personal preference or ideology, the demands of Government, to the people. It is at this point I want to focus our thoughts, and challenge each of you to think beyond the box and outside of the box – to explore your creative side and leave behind the details and the organisational and management challenges. As I have said to some of you in recent times:

•    we should not be constrained in our thinking about what other agencies may or may not do.

•    we should set an agenda for ourselves based on how best outcomes can be achieved for families and children.

•    what are the lessons learnt and never to be forgotten from the past?

•    growth for growth’s sake should not be the sole goal.

•    what skills, wisdom and experience do we possess which would position or place us as an agency of first choice?

•    what legacy, or legacies are we leaving for the future?

•    what may we need to give up personally and as an agency?

Brian McLaren, an author and writer, speaks about a number of critical issues that we all face in the coming year:

•    the health of the planet.

•    the prospects for peace

•    the authority and integrity of Parliament.

•    the agenda for prosperity.

•    meaning and purpose.

The challenge for us both as individuals and as an agency is what is our role in influencing these challenges? What can we bring to the table to build:

•    social capital.

•    social cohesion.

•    personal ethics.

•    tolerance and acceptance.

•    social change.

Robert Fitzgerald speaking at a Major Church Providers gathering in Canberra recently spoke about how important it was for agencies like Anglicare Victoria remaining independent, robust and creative. The key to all these attributes is leadership, embracing not only good service, but also advocacy, listening and overriding commitments to the faith principles of justice. It is the latter he identified and with which I agree totally.

Religion and religious faith is not about rules and regulations. Groups such as the Australian Christian Lobby, and for that matter parts of our own Anglican Church, who seek to impose an agenda which discriminates and excludes many in our community from the generosity of the divine do, I believe, distort the Gospel message. Why do we argue non negotiable issues around abortion and the unborn, but not about how to feed the world’s poor, or stop killing people we label as enemies? Why are we so concerned about homosexual marriage, but not about global warming or use of fossil fuels or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction? Why do we argue about the origins of species but pay scant interest in the demise or extinction of some species?

Why am I so passionate about these matters? Simply because I believe the narrative of the Gospel is far richer and more inspiring than the institution of which I remain a staunch member while retaining a great sadness about its attitudes and role in aspects of its life. My commitment goes beyond religious clichés and language but rather to the heart of God as compassion, justice, mercy and redemption. The President of the United States “stirred the pot” as we say when he spoke these words:

Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion specific values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my Church to invoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

Now this is going to be difficult for some who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many Evangelicals do. Within a pluralistic democracy we have no choice. Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves a compromise, the art of what’s possible. At some fundamental level religion does not allow compromise. It’s the art of the impossible. It God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God’s edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one’s life on such uncompromising commitments may be blind, but to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing.

This is what stands at the centre of Anglicare Victoria’s work - I hope this is never forgotten or disregarded. The baton is now to be handed on in both joy and trepidation.

Canon Dr Ray Cleary

5 May 2010