7.6 Advocacy Advocacy focussed on system level changes that will benefit families and children is an ongoing essential part of our work . Policy and Service Development remains also very active in advocacy around policy and practice development through key relationships , working groups , committees or consultative forums .
During 2009 the key policy areas that were the main focus of our advocacy included :
Looking After Children ( LAC ) integrated reporting and standards . National Standards for Out of Home Care . Development of an Aboriginal Kinship Care Program . Productivity Commission report on the contribution of the not-for-profit sector . Health promotion for young people in Out of Home Care , including sex education . Kinship care program reforms . Victorian Government Out of Home Care reform direction and contracted case management . Charter of Rights for Children and Young People . Proposal for a „ Boarding School ‟ model of Out of Home Care . Child Protection .
We made submissions to a number of Inquiries – Royal Commission into the Bushfires . The Victorian Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee Inquiry into Strategies to Prevent High Volume Offending by Young People . The National Child Protection Framework .
7.7 Funding Submissions / Tenders The Central Funding Forum continued to meet quarterly to prioritise and match project ideas / requests with potential funders .
Over 2009 , we made over 75 submissions totalling approximately $ 5 million and generated in excess of $ 3 million . The development of the new finance system within business operations will also integrate task of managing tenders , submissions and resultant contracts enable more efficient analysis of our tender and submission writing work .
7.8 Research We have a continuing involvement in a small number of research projects on : -
Utilisation of outcome measures within Take Two – a clinician ‟ s perspective . Police responses to breaches of Intervention Orders in the North & West region . Key factors which contribute to children in Out of Home Care connecting emotionally to their psychotherapist . LAC Assessment and Action records redevelopment . Young People ‟ s Experiences of residential care . Influence of organisational context on implementation of practice reforms . An Australian Research Council Grant in conjunction with Melbourne University regarding the identification of protective factors for children living with domestic violence .
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