At CareSouth we are committed to building strong relationships with Aboriginal organisations and communities and making a genuine and positive contribution to the reconciliation process.

This commitment to facilitate partnerships and improve service delivery for our Aboriginal clients and the wider community underpins all of the work we do across our wide range of programs and footprint.

This year our focus has been on achieving “better practice” in several ways:

• Identifying gaps in policy and practice and bringing these to the attention of the CareSouth Policy Review Committee
• Reviewing our cultural support planning and practices and developing a consistent cultural support plan for frontline staff to better support CareSouth’s Aboriginal clients
• Ensuring staff have a sound understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their culture through training opportunities. In October Curijo Aboriginal Consultancy Firm facilitated cultural awareness training for 67 staff and carers across our organisation
• Ensuring education and application of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Placement principles
• Supporting the enhancement and preservation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people’s sense of identity
• Inspiring and attracting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to seek career pathways in the Community Services sector through our Aboriginal Employment Strategy.

In the 2016-2017 financial year a working group, led by our Southern Region Manager and Aboriginal Community Development Officer and five staff members from across our regions, coordinated the development, consultation and approval of the CareSouth Reconciliation Action Plan. The ongoing development of our Reconciliation Action Plan has included:

• Frequent consultation internally within CareSouth and externally with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations
• Comprehensive consultation with Reconciliation Australia as required, and the submission of the plan to Reconciliation Australia for formal endorsement prior to our launch and public release of the plan

CareSouth is also a strong advocate and participant in cultural events and community development across the regions in which we work. This year CareSouth celebrated and recognised significant cultural events such as NAIDOC Week, National Reconciliation Week, National Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day.

CareSouth staff attended NAIDOC family fun days across our regional footprint in NSW and the ACT and staff ran activities including t-shirt painting stalls with the young people they support across our programs. CareSouth also sponsored the regional NAIDOC awards and the Kids in Care Cup – an annual Aboriginal Rugby League knockout competition held in Wollongong in September to raise awareness of what fostering is all about and the need for more Aboriginal carers across NSW.