The first of the Centre’s forums on the key themes of its submission to the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry was held today with a focus on local governance and outcomes frameworks.
The forum considered a draft issues paper on this theme that will be submitted to the Inquiry in early August and published online here.
An audience of about 30 representatives drawn mainly from the Centre’s member organisations heard chief executive officer, Dr Lynette Buoy, set the context for the forum before introducing four presenters on specific aspects of local governance.
Paul Ronalds, First Assistant Secretary for the Office of Work and Family in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet presented on local governance principles for social programs. Anglicare’s Dr Sarah Wise spoke on an evaluation of Communities for Children. A successful community service development initiative was also highlighted by John McDougall, executive officer of Go Goldfields, which recently received a $2.5 million State Government grant to address disadvantage in Central Goldfields Shire.
The presentations concluded with KPMG’s Sarah Gruner speaking on the evaluation of ChildFIRST.
Dr Buoy said there were many examples of existing practices that showed a firm commitment to seeking ways to improve the outcomes of vulnerable children, young people and families.
"The local governance structures and outcomes frameworks that we have proposed in our submission to the Inquiry will help to focus and guide these new ways of doing business; they are not ends in themeselves," Dr Buoy said.
Selected presentations are now available (PDF):
- Paul Ronalds – Principles for Local Governance
- Dr Sarah Wise – Governance and Evaluation of Communities for Children
More to come.
The Centre’s website for the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry is www.theiroutcomesmatter.org
