Baptist Care SA’s Care Pathways services have seen dramatic changes over the past six months as a result of reforms in child protection that were instigated by the Child Protection System Royal Commission.

The team has worked hard to transform and enhance the care we provide to children and young people under guardianship in response to the recommendations of ‘The Life They Deserve’ Report.

Part of these changes involved the cessation of Short Term Care and the introduction of Placement and Support Packages (PaSP).

All of the young people in our PaSP are traumatised and have very high needs, many have disabilities. The new model focuses on stabilising children and young people in crisis; providing them with a therapeutic environment where they feel safe, secure and comfortable as they prepare to transition to their long term home.

As a PaSP panel member, we now receive more information about each individual child and are able to assess whether we have capacity to meet these needs before applying for their care.

Another important distinction is that going forward rather than utilising rental properties, we intend to purchase our PaSP homes; allowing us to be more responsive to the needs of our young people. For example, we can now decorate, hang artwork, dig vegetable gardens and purchase specialised equipment quickly and efficiently.

The new model has also shifted towards a part-time, rather than casual, workforce; helping to provide a more secure and therapeutic home environment, and a sense of stability, for the young people in our care, as well as our staff. Each home has a House Lead who is solely focused on the care and wellbeing of those in their house.

The changes have meant transitioning our young people from STC into PaSP as seamlessly as possible, which has been a significant undertaking. We currently have 12 children and young people aged 2-14 years old, settled in five PaSP houses across the Northern and Southern Adelaide suburbs.

While the changes are exciting and positive, it has taken an enormous collective effort across the organisation to bring us to where we are today.

We would like to thank everyone involved in this transformational project for your patience, hard work and commitment over so many months.