Allambi Care staff recently participated in the first rollout of Kevin Campbell's adapted Family Finding training. After 18 months of training by Mike Mertz, from Seneca, California, Allambi Care and Australia’s first trainers in the model. Kelly-Lee Goodchild, Rebecca Shiels-Earl and Errin Schumann were thrilled to support Allambi Care practitioners gain a deeper understanding of the model, how to implement family finding in their everyday casework, and the importance of family inclusion.
Family Finding training highlights and creates an urgency by working in live casework during the training. Participants often see, during the training and live casework experience, that families are critical in the lives of children who live in care, and that children’s wellbeing is significantly increased when we realise this.
The training gives practitioners strategies and skills to work with family, and encourages us to look at ourselves as practitioners – seeing if we are in the best position to be effective in our work. Family Finding training supports practitioners to see families as allies and for families to feel as important as they are, and know that they are genuinely needed in the lives of their children.
By building a free and forever network through Family Finding, as practitioners we promote a stronger sense of identity, relational safety and belonging for children Allambi cares for, well beyond their time in care.
Podcast:
In the month of March 2022, Errin Schumann and Kelly-Lee Goodchild were interviewed for a podcast by Bob Friend, Director of the National Institute for Permanent Family Connectedness at Seneca Family of Agencies, and Mike Mertz, Director of Permanency and Family Engagement and National Family Finding, and Engagement Trainer with Seneca Family of Agencies.
The podcast was a reflection on the five year journey that Allambi Care has taken since over 90 of their staff were trained in the model in 2017. During the podcast, Errin and Kelly-Lee reflected on the trials and tribulations of embedding the Family Finding model into practice, and all affiliated frameworks.
It was incredible to reflect on the process, and, more importantly, to reflect on the differences in outcomes for children when practitioners are keen to understand, motivated and committed to finding and connecting children to their birth families, as part of their everyday practice.
For an example of our Family Finding work watch the following amazing video of how I connected a young man back with family…
