30th November 2017
Anglicare has designed an evidence-based program for Australian child welfare conditions called Rapid Response.
Informed by a number of international evidence-based models, it works closely with families to keep kids safe at home when things get tough. It’s proven to stop young people being placed in out-of-home care and to keep families together.
Rapid Response evolved from the 2013 HomeBuilders model that was developed by St Luke’s Anglicare in Bendigo, and is now being piloted as Rapid Response in Anglicare’s southern and eastern regions.
The program works intensively over a four-week period with families at the point where children are about to be removed and a protective application issued.
We develop a safety-focused plan with child protection and the family, and provide intensive, in-home support to address the crisis. Our expert teams help the family to develop parenting skills and we connect them to longer term support services.
The rapid nature of the response is critical because we know if we can intervene early we increase the chances of a child being cared for safely at home, rather than ending up on the streets, or
in out-of-home care.
In 2016-17, Rapid Response worked with 128 families who were at imminent risk of having their children removed.
Of the 70% who completed the four-week intervention, 93% had their children with them at the end of four weeks and 80% had increased safety, according to before and after ratings by child protection workers.
To find out how else Anglicare Victoria supports families, click here
