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Follow the links below to find material targeted to the unit's elements, performance criteria, required skills and knowledge

Elements and Performance Criteria

1. Elements define the essential outcomes
2. Make child needs central to service provision
   • Review client information to establish the context for the family and the child
   • Seek clarification and understanding of court orders to determine legal parameters of any service provision or interventions
   • Plan and document activitiesandinteractions that are suited to individual child needs in collaboration with parents
   • Provide an environment, equipment and resources that supports safe interactionsof child and parents
   • Recognise and respond to the needs of reluctant or non-participative children
   • Identify and report information according to legislative requirements
3. Support parents to maintain child focused approaches
   • Focus on children’s issues as a matter of priority in interactions with parents
   • Ensure the child is at the centre of support and intervention plans
   • Select and use interpersonal skills that engage parents/carers and facilitate understanding of required behaviour
   • Recognise and manage parents’ inappropriate attempts to exchange information
   • Recognise and manage inter parental disputes
4. Respond to situations requiring child inclusive process
   • Recognise situations when child inclusive process is required
   • Discuss with parents/carers the appropriateness and usefulness of engaging children
   • Communicate the role of child consultant to parents/carers and children, and the differences from own role
   • Obtain consent from children and adults to engage a child consultant
   • Engage the services of a child consultant to represent the needs, perceptions and attachments of children according to organisation procedures
   • Communicate with the child consultant about the child’s best interests and methods of integrating child’s need and views into own work processes
5. Monitor and evaluate child-focused practice
   • Obtain and use feedback from parents/carers and children about the experiences of the service to inform improvements
   • Review practices and policies for their effectiveness in relation to child-focused practice
   • Identify and respond to the need for guidance and direction for colleagues

Performance Evidence

The candidate must show evidence of the ability to complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit, manage tasks and manage contingencies in the context of the job role. There must be evidence that the candidate has:

• consistently applied the concepts and intention of working in the child’s best interests as stated in the Family Law Act 1975 in the planning, provision and monitoring of services to at least 3 families with children experiencing conflict

• responded appropriately to situations where:

• the child is vulnerable or at risk

• there is a requirement for child inclusive practice.

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Knowledge Evidence

The candidate must be able to demonstrate essential knowledge required to effectively complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit, manage tasks and manage contingencies in the context of the work role. This includes knowledge of:

legal and ethical considerations for child-focused practice, and how these are applied in organisations and individual practice:

codes of conduct

discrimination

duty of care

human rights, including:

- child rights to protection

- active right to participate

- right to choose course of action and make decision at their level of ability in any planning processes

mandatory reporting

privacy, confidentiality and disclosure

records management

rights and responsibilities of workers, employers and clients

specific legislative frameworks that apply to child-focused practice, including:

- principles and practice standards for working within the child’s best interests as stated in Family Law Act

- the key components of, and differences between, child-focused practice and child inclusive practice, and when they are used

- types of court orders that may influence the delivery of services

work role boundaries – responsibilities and limitations, including the separate role of child consultants and when this may be appropriate

work health and safety

case management principles of assessment, planning, monitoring and review

stages of child development and relevance to work with vulnerable children

attachment and family systems theories and how these are applied to working with vulnerable and traumatised children

importance of peer relationships for vulnerable and isolated children

principles of empowerment and application of these to work practice

types of issues that are important to children in situations involving family conflict

equipment, activities and resources that support engagement with children

indicators of abuse, types of abuse, children who are particularly vulnerable and reporting systems

indicators, effects and dynamics on family relationships, and implications for children of:

conflict

family violence and abuse

substance use

mental illness

disability

separation and divorce

trauma

parenting and family dynamics in different cultures

service options for referral to relationship support and interventions services

concepts of parent alienation in separation and divorce and their application to work

effects of loss, grief and depression on children experiencing family conflict

indicators of, and responses to, child anxiety including childhood resilience

ways that parents may make inappropriate attempts to exchange information

strategies to manage inter parental disputes including:

ensuring safety of vulnerable clients

using assertiveness and negation skills

modelling

reinforcing the organisations policy on rights and responsibilities of both clients and workers

undertaking risk assessments for vulnerability

re-focusing attention on child’s expressed wants and needs.

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