Permanency with lifelong connections: Casework practices to support positive relationships between carer and birth families

In Australia, the emerging model of child welfare policy and practice emphasises 'permanency and lifelong connections with birth families'. In 2014,1amidst widespread public concern about an increase in the numbers of children in out of home care, the Commonwealth Government established a national parliamentary inquiry, overseen by the Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee (Commonwealth of Australia, 2015). Its terms of reference included investigation of best practice models of care, consistency of approach across the country, and the extent to which children in care retained a connection to birth family. The committee called for Commonwealth Government leadership on a nationally consistent approach to the out-of-home-care system, and the inquiry has led to widespread reforms to improve placement security, consistency in legal decision-making and permanency practices across Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, Parliamentary Debate, 2017)