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Updated April 2024
At Parenting Research Centre, we want to help service providers design and implement whole-of-organisation approaches to improving quality in practice, for the ultimate benefit of clients.
Practice governance is a key driver of practice quality improvement efforts. It places the quality of practice, which is underpinned by the organisation’s vision, values and beliefs, at the centre of an organisation’s thinking and behaving.
The key to effective practice governance is to create a line of sight from practice to outcomes across the whole organisation, including the organisation’s board. This requires recognition of the central importance of the interface between practitioners and clients, as well as a commitment to placing practice at the heart of everything an organisation does.
The Parenting Research Centre is at the forefront of collaboration with the sector to improve organisations’ line-of-sight to practice via practice governance frameworks. Our journey started in partnership with Life Without Barriers who, since 2018, have been developing and implementing a practice governance framework to enable its board to better understand practice quality.
We had the opportunity to work closely with Life Without Barriers’ executive team and Practice Governance Committee to progress their approach to practice governance. More recently, our team has been involved in the planning of a wider organisational implementation of this Framework.
Transforming practice governance in the NSW community sector
Since then, our work in practice governance has expanded. In partnership with peak bodies The Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA) and Fams, we’re transforming practice governance in NSW’s child and family sector, ensuring evidence-based, transparent processes for safer and better services.
With ACWA, the project vision is to ensure that community organisations have the necessary practice governance mechanisms in place. The Parenting Research Centre and ACWA have joined forces with a network of 8 non-profit sector agencies to cultivate practice governance expertise in child and family welfare services. Ultimately, a blueprint for a practice governance framework that has undergone rigorous “stress testing” with the sector itself will be openly accessible through ACWA and their training arm, the Centre for Community Welfare Training.
We have also partnered with Fams to develop and refine a blueprint for a practice governance framework tailored for small- to medium-sized organisations across NSW. As a pivotal peak body, Fams plays a crucial role in bolstering and enhancing the capabilities of the child and family sector in NSW. This project will enable smaller organisations, who are dealing with limited time and resources in a changing environment, to create a bespoke practice governance framework that suits their needs.
At the conclusion of these projects, our expertise in customising practice governance frameworks and facilitating their implementation will be available to the sector. This ensures that organisations can access support to integrate a practice governance framework into their existing processes and structures.
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