The Southern Melbourne Child and Family Alliance (SMCFA) is a partnership comprised of 12 core-funded Integrated Family Services (IFS) and Family Preservation, Reunification and Response (FPRR) providers, who work in cooperation with the Department of Families Fairness and Housing, Child Protection and The Orange Door across the City of Greater Dandenong, Shire of Cardinia and the City of Casey.
The partnership was established in 2007 due to legislation in the Child, Youth and Families Act 2005, of which are core feature was the establishment of a community-based integrated service system for children, young people and families.
The responsibility of the Alliance is to ensure that Child and Family Services responses are coordinated to provide wrap-around support for families and to promote the safety, stability and development of vulnerable children in the region.
We acknowledge Aboriginal people as the traditional owners and custodians of the Boonwurrung, Bunurong and Wurundjeri lands of our region and we recognise their connection to the land and waters and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.
The SMCFA is divided into a Governance and Operational structure, which work towards coordinated initiatives informed by the SMCFA Strategic Plan and Action Plan, which function as evidence-based guides for the SMCFA and inform the projects to be undertaken collaboratively.
Our work aligns with the Roadmap to Reform, to move from a siloed to a connected system, which outlines three pathways to support that service delivery has a child-centred and family focus. The pathway model is represented below:
- Early Help: We partner with universal services and communities to identify and respond early when children and families show early signs of need and vulnerability.
- Targeted and Specialist Support: We collaborate with universal services and community, working with families to promote children’s wellbeing and keep them safe from harm at home. For some children in this pathway, we partner with carers to give stable and loving care that enables children to feel safe, recover and flourish on return to the birth family or through transition to enduring care.
- Continuing Care: We partner with carers, community, universal and specialist services to provide enduring and loving care for children who will not be returning to live with the birth family. We protect and support children’s relationships and connections, including through transition to adulthood.
The SMCFA are privileged to have two Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) within our Alliance, the Dandenong and District Aborigines Cooperative Limited (DDACL) and the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA).
Both DDACL and VACCA are available to support SMCFA agencies with secondary consultations to support best practice and can provide additional cultural support to any First Nation families working with a mainstream service.
The SMCFA supports the fundamental right of self-determination for all Aboriginal communities and ACCOs.
The Southern Melbourne Area is one of the most Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) areas in Victoria, and the SMCFA maintains a strong commitment to the continued development of culturally appropriate practice and service delivery to ensure the CALD community are supported.
The work of the SMCFA is driven by its members. All SMCFA partner agencies are collectively responsible for the development, monitoring, evaluation and continued improvement of the SMCFA service model.
Governance Group:
The Governance Group has a key role in decision making, delegation and setting strategic objectives in line with local trends and the broader policy and sector environment. The Governance Group is comprised of executive representation from all the funded organisations, as well as DFFH and The Orange Door.
Operations Group:
The key role of the Operations Group within the SMCFA is to provide oversight of service delivery issues, emerging trends, to showcase areas of good practice and to implement the Action Plan initiatives at an operational level. The Operations Group is comprised of Team Leader representation from all the funded organisations, as well as representation from DFFH and The Orange Door.
Working groups within the SMCFA support with data collection and provide guidance and specialist knowledge to implement directives from the SMCFA Action Plan.
Membership is extended to members within the SMCFA core-funded agencies and partnerships, who have relevant expertise within specialist areas and can support achievement of the goals of the working group.
Contact the Alliance Project Coordinator (Sarah Ford) with any queries regarding membership, or expressions of interest in joining any of the SMCFA working groups.
SMCFA current working groups include:
- Aboriginal Child and Family Working Group [IFS/FPRR/AFPRR practitioners welcome]
- Child and Family Working Group [0 – 10 years] [In partnership with the Family Violence Regional Integration Committee]
- Child and Family Working Group [10+ years] [In partnership with the Family Violence Regional Integration Committee]
- Information Sharing Working Group [In partnership with the Family Violence Regional Integration Committee]
- Southern Consultancy Panel [IFS/FPRR/AFPRR practitioners welcome]
- School Transition and Retention [IFS/FPRR/AFPRR practitioners welcome] [In partnership with the BPA Child & Family Alliance ]
- IFS: Flexible Support Packages Panel
The SMCFA planning focus is on five interdependent domains which are focused on ensuring children’s and families’ needs are met. The domains are detailed below:
With the above domains in mind, the SMCFA uses three key planning documents to further its work:
- Environmental Scan: The Environmental Scan guides the SMCFA in maintaining an overview of client pathways and emerging trends in the local area, and to make comparisons against other areas. The analysis of local area data, combined with the SMCFA member’s knowledge of the area, assists the SMCFA to identify priorities, develop strategic objectives, and inform the Action Plan in an approach tailored to the local area.
- Strategic Plan: The SMCFA Strategic Plan should outline the high-level purpose and long-term aspirations for the SMCFA, focused on meeting the needs of vulnerable children, young people and families. These objectives should direct all other decisions within the SMCFA, such as where funds are spent, and the goals within the Action Plan.
- Action Plan: After identifying priority areas and strategic objectives through environmental scanning and strategic planning processes, the Action Plan records how the SMCFA will set out to achieve the goals and agreed actions. These should be realistically actioned with the SMCFA plan time frame, and can be built upon in subsequent years in line with wider strategic objectives. The Action Plan is designed to be built upon over time, recording goals, actions and review, and is meant to be a living and dynamic document that streamlines record keeping for SMCFA planning and oversight.
- Children, Youth and Families Act (2005), Victoria, Australia.
- Child Wellbeing and Safety Act (2005), Victoria, Australia
- Family Violence Protection Act (2008), Victoria, Australia
- Best Interests Case Practice Model: Summary Guide (2012) (DHS)
- Procedural guidelines for referral and consultation: Child Protection and Child FIRST/Integrated Family Services, DHHS, (2016)
- Korin Korin Balit-Djak: Aboriginal health, wellbeing and safety strategic plan 2017-2027 (2017)
- Wungurilwil Gapgapduir Aboriginal Children and Families Agreement and Action Plan (2018) (DHHS)
- Critical Incident Management System (CIMS) guidelines (2018) DHHS
- IRIS Data Dictionary (2018) and Summary of Changes (2020) DHHS
- DHHS COVID-19 Plan for Child and Family Services (2020) (DHHS)
- Roadmap to Reform: Pathways to support children and families 2021-2024 (2021) (DFFH)
- Family Violence Reform: Rolling Action Plan 2021-2023 (2021) DFFH
- Program Requirements for early parenting, family, and placement prevention services in Victoria (2021) DFFH
- Alliance Planning and Oversight Policy for Child and Family Services (2021) DFFH
- Southern Melbourne Child and Family Alliance Interim Demand Management Strategy (2019)
- Southern Melbourne Child and Family Alliance 2020-2022 Strategic Plan, and 2022/2023 Action Plan
- Southern Melbourne Family Services Operations Meeting Terms of Reference (2022-2023)
- FPRR Phase 2 South Division: SMA Implementation Oversight Group Terms of Reference (2022)