The Foundling Advances its Efforts to Expand Evidence Based Practices in Australia

(L-R, Hon. Bradley Hazzard, New South Wales Minster for Family and Community Services,  Marta Anderson, Dr. Sylvia Rowlands in front of the Strangers Dining Room in the New South Wales Parliament Building.)

 

Last year, Dr. Sylvia Rowlands, Senior Vice President of Evidence-Based Programs at The New York Foundling, traveled to the State of New South Wales in Australia as an ‘Ambassador’ for Evidenced Based Practices. She met with key stakeholders from the governing child welfare agencies as well as preventive and foster care providers.

 

Over the next nine months, staff from The Foundling’s Implementation Support Center (ISC) worked collaboratively with the government in New South Wales to support their movement towards the use of Evidence Based Models and this groundwork has grown into a formal partnership between the New York Foundling and Department of Family and Community Services in New South Wales.

 

One year later, this work has reached new heights!

 

Sylvia returned to New South Wales, joined by Marta Anderson, Vice President of Prevention Programs, at The Foundling, and participated in an Industry Forum for Preventive and Foster Care providers in New South Wales as well as other states in Australia.

 

Below are key highlights from their latest visit to Australia!

 

• Met with New South Wales, Service System Reform Project Team

 

• Met with the Men’s Behavior Change Network Secretary and their staff to talk about Domestic and Family Violence. ). The goal of this meeting was to show that families who have experienced Domestic and Family Violence benefit from family therapy based services

 

• Presented to the Secretary of Children and Families Services on The Foundling’s success in New York City through the use of Evidenced Based Family Therapy Models of Multi-System Therapy and Functional Family Therapy-Child Welfare. After the presentation, Michael Coutts-Trotter, Secretary of the New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services said, “Your presentations, comments and questions have been exactly on point. You have brought to us exactly what we need.”

 

• Presented to home care providers on the system changes that have occurred in New York City because of our efforts to drastically reduce the number of children in foster care.

 

• Presented on the effectiveness of Functional Family Therapy-Child Welfare in preventing children from being placed into care.

 

• Met with the Secretary of the New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services who has oversight over the entire Family and Community Services responsible for the reform to their child welfare system.
• Met with the Family and Children’s Services Minister Hon. Bradley Hazzard at the NSW Parliament House to discuss the work that has been done in New York City and the impact Evidence Based Models have had on children and families.

 

• Taught a class at Melbourne University on Implementation Science and met with the State Family and Children Services Analysis and Research Department to discuss data collection and evaluation.