Supervised Contact and Mentoring

CareSouth’s Family Connections program provides Supervised Contact, Transport and Mentoring services to children and young people in foster care.

Supervised Contact workers promote a safe, supportive environment for children and young people while they spend time with their biological family. Last financial year 30 Supervised Contact staff helped facilitate positive relationships and experiences for families while ensuring the safety and well-being of children and young people at all times.

The majority of the services the Family Connections Team provide are for supervised contacts and mentoring. CareSouth’s Family Connections program provided around 550 hours of Supervised Contact each month or 6500 hours in the past financial year. Most supervised contact hours are for long-term foster care placements of children and young people in our internal programs. We have a high retention rate with more than 75% of our children and young people remaining as ongoing clients.

Fortnightly mentoring sessions and monthly contacts are the most commonly requested engagements in the Family Connections program. Most of the children that we provide contact for are in long-term placements and are supported by a team of supervised contact workers with a range of experience in social work, psychology, welfare, policing, education and health.  The program actively recruits Aboriginal and CALD workers, in line with caseworker and client requests, to ensure children and young people maintain their cultural identity.

Our one-on-one mentoring program for 10 to 18 year-olds helps young people develop new skills, build on their strengths and live up to their potential. CareSouth mentors helped 19 young people in our foster care program this year by offering guidance, support and encouragement, as well as setting goals and making plans for the future. Our CareSouth mentors are carefully matched with children and young people based on individual needs and focus on relationship and capacity building.

The CareSouth Mentoring Program provides guidance, support and encouragement to young people who need a helping hand to improve their confidence, resilience and life skills. We help young people reach their full potential by tailoring mentoring activities to suit their individual needs. The young person, their caseworker and their mentor meet regularly to establish learning goals and build capacity.

Contact workers have decades of experience

The Family Connections program has some of CareSouth’s longest-serving employees, with three staff providing consistent support and care to children and young people in our foster care program for more than a decade.

Anne Scoular has been with the program for 13 years and is one of CareSouth’s longest serving contact workers. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the sector and continues to learn and build her skill set through internal training opportunities. Anne has brought together more than 200 families and supported over 500 children and young people during her time with Caresouth.  Anne has been regularly supervising an ongoing family contact for the past eight years and this consistency of care is an important factor in providing vulnerable children and young people with a safe and supportive space in which to spend time with their families.

Kate Tammjarv has also been with CareSouth’s Family Connections program for the past 13 years. Kate has a background in early childhood teaching and is a very nurturing contact worker, who always ensures that the child’s well-being is a priority.  Kate has been working consistently with the same family for the past decade and is often the first worker called when vulnerable children under five require support.

Nowra Aunties and Uncles coordinator Noga Bertram started at CareSouth 11 years ago as a supervised contact worker and has since found her niche linking vulnerable children with caring mentors. Noga continues to provide support to the Family Connections program when required, while also juggling her role with Aunties and Uncles. Noga has worked consistently with one family for the past decade and continues to cover contact visits for families with whom she is familiar when the usual worker is on leave.

Robyn Perry has been with the program 11 years and is one of the most sought after workers in the Milton/Ulladulla region due to her high level of reporting and her extensive experience working with children in foster care.