Application
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to assess parenting practice, then work with parents to prepare and monitor parenting plans and arrangements.
This unit applies to practitioners working in complex post-separation contexts according to the requirements of the Family Law Act 1975.
The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand Standards and industry codes of practice.
Elements and Performance Criteria
ELEMENT | PERFORMANCE CRITERIA |
Elements define the essential outcomes | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. |
1. Assess current parenting practices | 1.1 Analyse client information and identify areas for parents to address in the development of parenting arrangements 1.2 Conduct risk assessment for the protection and safety of all parties according to organisation procedures 1.3 Recognise areas of significant distress or disorder and make referrals according to individual needs 1.4 Integrate family of origin issues and kinship dynamics into assessment 1.5 Use communication skills to manage overt conflict and open hostility between parties to support successful negotiation 1.6 Analyse the broader needs of the family to ensure expectations of parenting arrangements are realistic and achievable 1.7 Proactively engage in self-reflection and take steps to ensure own values do not impact on decision-making |
2. Assist clients to agree on outcomes for parenting arrangements | 2.1 Clearly explain the requirements and processes under the Family Law Act for the preparation of parenting arrangements 2.2 Inform clients of their rights and responsibilities in relation to establishing parenting arrangements 2.3 Encourage parents to consider the expressed needs of the child and/or young person 2.4 Establish and implement systems that will monitor and review parenting arrangements 2.5 Prepare parenting arrangements within the framework of child focused practice |
3. Monitor parenting arrangements | 3.1 Set review timeframes for established parenting arrangements in collaboration with all parties 3.2 Assist clients to review arrangements regularly and to negotiate modifications or new arrangements based on experience and effectiveness of current arrangements 3.3 Identify and manage any issues that may arise as a result of revised parenting arrangements 3.4 Reflect on and use learning from individual client situations to inform practice improvements |
Evidence of Performance
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:
• adhered to legal requirements for both process and outcome to assist at least 3 families with different circumstances to develop parenting arrangements that:
• comprise a documented risk assessment
• are in the best interests of the child
• consider the complexities of relationships both in and out of the immediate family environment
• include development and documentation of risk assessment
• set in place monitoring requirements
• used the principles and practices of all of the following in working with parents and children:
• client-centred practice
• child-friendly communication
• conciliation
• negotiation
• mediation.
Evidence of Knowledge
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 the development of parenting arrangements, and how these are applied in organisations and individual practice:
• children in the workplace and child-focused practice
• codes of conduct
• discrimination
• duty of care
• human rights
• informed consent
• mandatory reporting
• practitioner/client boundaries
• privacy, confidentiality and disclosure
• records management
• rights and responsibilities of workers, employers and clients
• specific legislative frameworks that apply to parenting arrangements in a family law context, including:
- provisions for children and property in the Family Law Act 1975, Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 and how these are developed into accepted parenting plans
- basic legal concepts and the law relevant to parenting issues being discussed, and knowledge of when and how to seek expert legal advice related to:
- separation and divorce
- asset division
- maintenance
- residence and contact
- breaches of law and major trends in case law relating to the issues referred to above
• work role boundaries – responsibilities and limitations for those without legal qualifications
• work health and safety
• principles and practices of:
• client-centred practice
• conciliation
• negotiation
• mediation
• age appropriate methods of relating to and eliciting perceptions, information and responses from children
• sources of power imbalances in relationships and an ability to recognise and respond appropriately to the indicators of such imbalances in their clients
• the nature of domestic violence, how to screen for indicators of family violence and its effects, power and gender issues, child abuse and associated criminal issues which may be present and impact on parenting arrangements
• issues that may impact on separated parents and children in high conflict relationships attempting to establish parenting arrangements, and the use of child focused techniques to address and minimise these impacts including those relating to:
• abuse
• alcohol and other drugs
• alienation/isolation
• disability
• grief and loss
• intergeneration issues
• mental health
• poverty/socioeconomic influences
• unresolved conflict
• violence
• own family of origin and importance of self awareness when working with separating and high conflict families
• dynamics of wider kinship networks and their importance in development of parenting arrangements
• key concepts and principles of each of the following theories and how these apply to the process of assisting clients to develop parenting arrangements:
• attachment
• family systems
• human development
• family, couple and child dynamics in normal developmental and abnormal form.
Assessment Conditions
Skills must have been demonstrated in the workplace or in a simulated environment that reflects workplace conditions. The following conditions must be met for this unit:
• use of suitable facilities, equipment and resources, including:
• client information
• family law information
• organisation policies and procedures
• modelling of industry operating conditions, including:
• scenarios that involve complex interactions with other people, including children
• scenarios that involve problem-solving.
Assessors must satisfy the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015/AQTF mandatory competency requirements for assessors.
Foundation Skills
The Foundation Skills describe those required skills (language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills) that are essential to performance.
Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.