I mentioned CAPP the other day. This is the new plan devised by the Ministry of Children and Family Development and entitled Child and Family Support, Assessment, Planning and Practice (CAPP) Initial Implementation Plan. It was introduced in January 2010 so it is hot off the press. The stated intention of this initiative from the home office of the MCFD in Victoria is to provide an improved approach to practice. In my April 9th post I highlighted the guiding principles of the new plan, each of which is filled with promise.
As I write I am mindful of the skeptical but insightful comment left on my April 9th blog post when I introduced the MCFD’s new plan. The comment by an anonymous writer stated that reform to the existing system by a rewrite of the guiding principles is not the solution. The writer illustrated this point by citing William Wilberforce’s 1787 Slavery abolition Act, which aimed not to improve the lot of slaves but to abolish slavery. Similarly the liabilities of our provincially sanctioned child removal cannot be corrected without first abolishing the CFCSA and then redrafting it with guiding principles. Do you agree?
You can read about the plan yourself with this MCFD document.
And with this post I invite your comments. After you read the 10 page plan, do you believe it can change the problems about which this blog and others speak? Speak your mind.
I did a quick search on the PDF file for "parent" and "family". No hits on parent, "family" appears in the headers and in a very limited fashion in body text.
ReplyDeleteMy response would be to let parents and those interested in MCFD reform to take the courses and play a part in observing the results. I don't see that option in the document.
I'm not clear from reading the material what the results are supposed to be.
The Vision appears somewhat ambiguous, "parent" and "family" is not in the Vision statement.
Will implementation reduce removals? Shorten time in care? What were the questions that were asked that this CAPP is trying to answer?
Less suffering for parents and children isn't there. Allowing a parent to do there job even while a child is in care would be a welcome consideration of the statement of evaluating and enhancing parenting strengths.
What I read by omission, is that parents are the adversary. They are what children are to be protected from, this is the only reason they are in care.
Strengths analysis of the parents and surrounding family, friends and supporting community, if you recall was left blank in the Baynes risk assessment. Also, in mine. Also in other parents I've spoken to.
So, I would want to see the course training materials and experience the course, and then evaluate the recipients of the course, as well as the social workers charged with deliverying the content.
When someone manages to get a copy of this material, pass it along.