Caring Conversations is a learning approach developed out of discussions between leaders of Uniting’s Northern Kinship Care Program and Adela Holmes, Practice Leader Therapeutic Out of Home Care.  This implicitly complex trauma informed group method resonates strongly with the Kinship program’s approach to practice and the importance of targeted learning approaches to meet the unique needs of kinship carers. Caring Conversations reflects the essential relational elements of Uniting's recently launched in-house developed Therapeutic Model of Care.

The approach privileges the importance of respectful relational work for supporting the needs of kinship carers and it was in this context that discussions occurred regarding the development of this learning approach. It was agreed that knowledge transmission needed to be shaped differently to usual more didactic training approaches offered to foster and kinship carers together. The importance of carer input into the design approach was considered to be a critical part of the development of Caring Conversations and a reference group of carers was formed. The pilot Caring Conversations, held over five sessions in 2023 was shaped and led by its participants and focused on understanding the key elements that underpin the experience of kinship caring and its challenges. This presentation outlines the methodology of the program's design, the participants' experience of its small group conversational style, the topics covered and the positive impact it had on their functioning as carers navigating complex child protection and children's court systems and managing their way through complex familial/relational challenges. The pilot Caring Conversations group was so successful that further groups were organised for 2024 as well as groups across Uniting's other regions. It is anticipated that Caring Conversations will become the primary means of supporting knowledge and skill building for Kinship Carers across all Uniting's Kinship programs. 

Children and young people in out of home care have experienced adversity and they deserve to feel safe, connected and have attuned relationships with their carers and care team. 

Australian Childhood Foundation Foster Care WA team comprise of Care Coordinators and Therapeutic Specialists who practice using the Doolann Therapeutic Model of Care which is a comprehensive care response for children and young people in out of home care. Our aim is to provide inclusive, culturally strong therapeutic care and support to vulnerable children and young people, and their foster carers. Using this model, the team positions children and young people at the centre of all practice.

Following the Out of Home Care reform in WA, delivering a therapeutic foster care program as a new provider to carers who have already been caring for numerous years has brought an array of learning. Some interventions include supporting carers with a history of conflictual relationships with stakeholders involved in the child’s life, supporting carers with their understanding of trauma related behaviours and behaviours that challenge, and supporting children and young people with placement moves. We practice with the child at the forefront and have surrounded their care team with trauma informed therapeutic knowledge and interventions.

The children and young people that we are working with are starting to achieve outcomes that have been seen as too hard to achieve in the past. We have examples of children using their own words to articulate how they feel, and care teams who work together for the best interests of the child now there is a shared understanding of care.

Young people living in therapeutic residential care can  face major challenges that may prevent them from forming healthy relationships and connections within the community, which are critical building blocks for their wellbeing and safety. As a response to these challenges, Australia has introduced ‘therapeutic residential care’ (TRC) models in a number of states and territories. In Australia, TRC was developed to respond to highly complex levels of need, for those young people who were unable to live in a family or other home-based care arrangement. 

 This paper presents research which explored whether and how relational practices in TRC enable the experience of positive, trusting relationships for young people. Young people between the ages of 12 and 18 years (N = 38) reported developing trust when staff genuinely invested time in their wellbeing, demonstrated care and respect, and made them feel valued. Conversely, the lack of these practices and/or particular organisational and systemic conditions were considered barriers by some, that could lead to ‘misrecognition’. Drawing directly from the lived experience as recounted by young people currently living in residential care, the researchers conceptualise and introduce a new dimension of relational practice in residential care settings.