❓ The Minister for Child Protection provides an update on the Health Navigator Pilot Program, designed to improve access to health services for children in care, highlighting collaboration with stakeholders and early intervention strategies.
AnsweredQoN 193Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CHILDREN IN CARE —
HEALTH NAVIGATOR PILOT PROGRAM
193. Ms M.J. HAMMAT to the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to keeping children safe and to driving better
outcomes in the child protection system. Can the minister update the house on
how this government is continuing to listen to foster carers and work with them
to ensure that children in care are being supported to get better access to
health services and advice?
HEALTH NAVIGATOR PILOT PROGRAM
193. Ms M.J. HAMMAT to the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to keeping children safe and to driving better
outcomes in the child protection system. Can the minister update the house on
how this government is continuing to listen to foster carers and work with them
to ensure that children in care are being supported to get better access to
health services and advice?
AnswerView source ↗
Thank you to the member for
Mirrabooka, who I know has an interest in good outcomes for vulnerable members
of her community and Western Australia.
There has been quite a bit of
discussion about the child protection portfolio in the last couple of weeks. I hope
that through that discussion members of this place and anyone who is paying
attention to that debate understand the commitment that we, as a government,
have to improve our systems for some of our most vulnerable children and our
children in care. We have put in place significant reforms and made
improvements to our entire system, whether it is legislative change, increased
allocation of resources through contracts, early intervention, more child
protection workers or innovative ways of working.
In 2019—when we were still
travelling—I had the opportunity to travel to Queensland to look at
some of its initiatives. Queensland is not an entirely dissimilar jurisdiction
to Western Australia in terms of its population and geographical reach. I was
looking at its child protection system and one of the projects that I was
impressed by was the Navigate Your Health pilot program that placed nurses in
child protection districts. This is a big issue that arises for foster carers
and also child protection workers. We know that children and young people
coming into care will have a range of different issues and the sooner we can
get those issues attended to, diagnosed and treated, the better, but that can be very challenging while there is a lot of
mayhem going on with placement decisions and judgements about those
processes. In Queensland, two health workers—they use nurses—are
placed in each district. I thought that had merit, so I began some discussions
through the then health minister's office and with the Department of
Health.
I, along with the Minister for
Health, am very pleased to announce today a $3.5 million health navigator pilot
program in which two health workers will be placed in two districts: the member's
seat of Mirrabooka and the south west. One worker will be an Aboriginal health
professional who will help child protection workers, but, importantly, foster
carers, to navigate the system—as the program name implies—to
understand what is available to them and, if necessary, to make sure that those
children's needs are being met. The pilot program has been jointly
developed by the Department of Health and Department of Communities with input
from stakeholders, including the Aboriginal
Health Council of Western Australia, the CREATE Foundation, the Foster Care A ssociation of WA, Yorganop and young people with lived
experience. I would like to particularly acknowledge my parliamentary secretary,
Jess Shaw, who is chairing the steering committee to oversee this initiative.
This is an example of an innovation test and trial—if it is successful—to
see whether there is a case for extending these types of initiatives to make
sure that we get better outcomes for young people in care.
We know that early intervention is
important, particularly in the early years. Ensuring that our young people have the right supports in place when they need
them is crucial. This pilot comes on top of the changes to the Children and Community Services Act that passed through Parliament last year. One of those
initiatives was to prescribe government authorities in the regulations,
including the Department of Health, so that they prioritise requests for
assistance for children in care. As I said, they are some of our most
vulnerable members of the community and we are committed as a government to
improve their outcomes.
The SPEAKER : Minister, I just
note that your parliamentary secretary should be referred to as the member for
Swan Hills.
Mirrabooka, who I know has an interest in good outcomes for vulnerable members
of her community and Western Australia.
There has been quite a bit of
discussion about the child protection portfolio in the last couple of weeks. I hope
that through that discussion members of this place and anyone who is paying
attention to that debate understand the commitment that we, as a government,
have to improve our systems for some of our most vulnerable children and our
children in care. We have put in place significant reforms and made
improvements to our entire system, whether it is legislative change, increased
allocation of resources through contracts, early intervention, more child
protection workers or innovative ways of working.
In 2019—when we were still
travelling—I had the opportunity to travel to Queensland to look at
some of its initiatives. Queensland is not an entirely dissimilar jurisdiction
to Western Australia in terms of its population and geographical reach. I was
looking at its child protection system and one of the projects that I was
impressed by was the Navigate Your Health pilot program that placed nurses in
child protection districts. This is a big issue that arises for foster carers
and also child protection workers. We know that children and young people
coming into care will have a range of different issues and the sooner we can
get those issues attended to, diagnosed and treated, the better, but that can be very challenging while there is a lot of
mayhem going on with placement decisions and judgements about those
processes. In Queensland, two health workers—they use nurses—are
placed in each district. I thought that had merit, so I began some discussions
through the then health minister's office and with the Department of
Health.
I, along with the Minister for
Health, am very pleased to announce today a $3.5 million health navigator pilot
program in which two health workers will be placed in two districts: the member's
seat of Mirrabooka and the south west. One worker will be an Aboriginal health
professional who will help child protection workers, but, importantly, foster
carers, to navigate the system—as the program name implies—to
understand what is available to them and, if necessary, to make sure that those
children's needs are being met. The pilot program has been jointly
developed by the Department of Health and Department of Communities with input
from stakeholders, including the Aboriginal
Health Council of Western Australia, the CREATE Foundation, the Foster Care A ssociation of WA, Yorganop and young people with lived
experience. I would like to particularly acknowledge my parliamentary secretary,
Jess Shaw, who is chairing the steering committee to oversee this initiative.
This is an example of an innovation test and trial—if it is successful—to
see whether there is a case for extending these types of initiatives to make
sure that we get better outcomes for young people in care.
We know that early intervention is
important, particularly in the early years. Ensuring that our young people have the right supports in place when they need
them is crucial. This pilot comes on top of the changes to the Children and Community Services Act that passed through Parliament last year. One of those
initiatives was to prescribe government authorities in the regulations,
including the Department of Health, so that they prioritise requests for
assistance for children in care. As I said, they are some of our most
vulnerable members of the community and we are committed as a government to
improve their outcomes.
The SPEAKER : Minister, I just
note that your parliamentary secretary should be referred to as the member for
Swan Hills.
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