Education

Sector Buzz: The Podcast │ Ep.1: Building Culturally Safe Support for Young People

At this year's Family Services Symposium: Together with families, Jo Stanley interviewed Ridmi, Rianne and Mahsa, three Shout-out speakers from the Centre for Multicultural Youth, and young advocates with lived-experience of family services. In this episode, they share valuable insights on the family services system through an intersectional lens and explore the importance of culturally responsive practice when supporting children, young people and families.

A guide to navigating racism in out-of-home care

This guide was developed by MacKillop Family Services, in collaboration with the Centre for Multicultural Youth, to support workers, carers and leaders in out‑of‑home care (OoHC) to recognise, respond to, record and repair incidents of racism and other identity‑based harm in ways that are trauma‑aware, culturally safe and rights‑affirming.

Multicultural Advisor support guide

This guide has been developed by MacKillop Family Services, in collaboration with the Centre for Multicultural Youth, as part of the Building Multicultural Practice in OoHC project. It aims to build a shared understanding of the Multicultural Advisor role, provide guidance on common challenges, and offer strategies and reflection prompts to support your practice.

Multicultural Cultural Support Plan: Practice Guide

This guide has been developed by MacKillop Family Services, in collaboration with the Centre for Multicultural Youth, to help staff complete a Multicultural Support Plan for multicultural children and young people engaged with MacKillop Family Services.

Building multicultural practice in out-of-home care

A guide developed by MacKillop Family Services, in collaboration with the Centre for Multicultural Youth, to support and measure culturally responsive practice for multicultural children and young people living in residential out-of-home care.

Collaborative Approaches to Supporting Positive Behaviour | Early Start, Bright Future

This recorded session captures our first Early Start, Bright Future webinar of the year, where we explored how collaborative behaviour support can transform early childhood environments. Research and practice have long shown that when educators, families, and children work together, outcomes improve and inclusion becomes possible for every learner.

Family Matters Report 2025: Strong, Loved, and Full of Potential

The 2025 Family Matters Report, released by SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, shows that while Aboriginal community-controlled early intervention, prevention and family support programs are keeping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children safe and connected to family, they remain critically underfunded.

Artificial Intelligence in the Social Work Profession: Supporting the development of human-centred technology

The Centre is pleased to share our report on artificial intelligence (AI) in the sector, with a focus on social work. The report responds to the sector's call for guidance on AI and sets out to explore how AI can support social work practice while highlighting the need for ethical, human-centred use.

Child and Family Services Workforce Survey 2025: Summary of Key Findings

Child and family services are vital in supporting families with complex needs, yet the sector faces rapid change driven by demographics, technology, economic pressures, and funding uncertainty. Earlier this year, the Centre surveyed over 300 child and family services workers to better understand workforce readiness for emerging challenges. This report outlines the key findings from the survey, highlighting ongoing challenges in the sector, such as carer responsibilities, career support, and changing technology.

Improving outcomes for young people transitioning from out-of-home care in Victoria

This interim report from Monash University examines transition planning for young people leaving OOHC in Victoria. Drawing on 80 interviews, 196 transition plans and reviews of scholarly and grey literature, it found planning is often inconsistent, task-focused and misaligned with young people’s developmental needs. Many felt excluded from decisions and unprepared for independence, with barriers including housing shortages, fragmented systems and limited cultural support. The report recommends youth-led, relational planning, improved workforce capability, culturally safe practices, clearer roles and responsibilities and stronger post-care supports to improve outcomes for care leavers.

AVITH in Context: Substance-Involved Child-to-Parent Violence

This presentation from Deakin University researchers explored implications for practice, including the importance of screening both young people and caregivers for substance use, and adopting family-based interventions that address relational dynamics and coping strategies.

Lunchtime Logics: Holding Hope, Creating Change

In this episode of Lunchtime Logics, we hear from practitioners at the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre Gold Coast Inc. 'Holding Hope, Creating Change' is an early intervention program for young people aged 5–17 who use violence against their family members.