This two day Research Conference will inform, challenge and inspire those concerned with taking the next steps – from Inquiry to Action. Whether carrying Inquiry into Action through research, practice enhancement, program improvement or policy development, this event will provide the opportunity to share latest developments with colleagues.

Full Program Available Now

Key Note Presenter Day 1: Professor Marie Connolly, University of Melbourne

Professor Marie Connolly is the Chair and Head of Social Work at the University of Melbourne. She has published extensively, including 12 books in her area of scholarship. Her research interests include: the research-practice-interface in child protection; children in statutory care; family group conferencing and family engagement strategies in child welfare; reforming child protection systems; and rights-based practice in child and family welfare. Her teaching areas reflect her areas of research and scholarship: child and family welfare; and social work theory and practice.

Key Note Presenter Day 2: Emily Munro, Deputy Director of the Thomas Coram Research Institite, UCL Institute of Education 

Emily Munro began her career at the Centre for Child and Family Research (CCFR), Loughborough University. During her time there she undertook an extensive body of research to inform child welfare policy and practice. At an international level, Emily is a coordinator of the International Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood
from Care (INTRAC), which is a world-wide network of researchers concerned with the process of transition. Emily joined Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU) in 2013. Her new role includes management of rapid response projects commissioned by the Department for Education to inform the child protection and adoption reform agendas.

Please click on the links below to access copies of the presentations.

Stream 1: Child Safety: Beyond Inquiry – How can we keep children and young people safe?

• Being Safe, Feeling safe: Children’s perceptions & experiences of safety within Institutional contexts
• “…as a good parent would…” Inquiry into the provision of residential care services to Victorian children and young people who have been subject to sexual abuse or sexual exploitation whilst residing in residential care
• Taking Responsibility – Striving to becoming a Child & Young Person Safe & Friendly Organisation
• One year on, early results of our research project: ‘Kith and kin care – What’s the story with the kith?’
• Victorian Government Proposed Child Safe Standards – Compulsory minimum requirements for organisations
• Just Families- A Model for Universal Prevention and Targeted Early Interventions, multi-risks and vulnerable families with children 0-2 years, including the ‘What the Family’ app
• Child Focussed and Trauma Informed Risk Assessment, Analysis and Practice
• Life Without Barriers’ Approach to Situational Prevention
• Home Based Care Houses: A Pathway from Residential Care to Foster Care
• Exploring & Understanding Violent Behaviours & Victimisation among Homeless Youth
• Wellbeing and Being Well

​Stream 2: Educational Outcomes for Vulnerable Children – Our challenges and opportunities for the next decade

• The Role of School Staff & Education Settings in the Identification, Support & Prevention of Youth Homelessness
• Evaluation of the Melton Sudanese Student  Engagement & Support Pilot Program
• An Introduction to the Early Childhood in Foster & Kinship Care Study with Early Findings on Learning
• Good Shepherd’s ‘Engage’ Program: Applying the research evidence in re-engaging culturally & linguistically diverse young people to learning
• From Learning to Behaviour Change: Factors that influence the transfer of workplace learning
• Supporting Positive and Equitable Education for Children & Young People Living in Out of Home Care.
• Trauma-Informed Positive Education: Transforming teacher practice to meet the needs of our most vulnerable students
• Lessons from Abroad – 2015 Sector International Study Tour
• Working differently with families using an Integrated Care Team approach
• Taskforce 1000
• From Evaluation to Informed and Relevant Practice: The case of Certificate 1 in developing independence

Stream 3: Research, Evidence and Practice of Working with Vulnerable Families in Australia

• How Can We Benefit from Research? Balancing the expectations & needs of stakeholders in child and family CSOs
• Transformative Research & Field Driven Reform – Building a framework for statutory kinship care from the ground up
• Indigenous Young People Leaving out of Home Care in Victoria
• The Potential of Permanent Care 2015
• “Together we Can Act Now to End Family Violence in Cardinia Shire”: Evaluating a collective impact initiative.
• Bridging the Gap – Finding New Opportunities
• Acting and innovating at the Family Action Centre: programs, research and teaching in support of families
• How can relationship services collaborate with the Child Youth and Families Sector
• Key Developmental Assets – An online carer tool for evidencing outcomes in foster care
• Development and Implementation of the Connections Outcomes Framework (Stage 1): The Process, Learnings and Next Steps
• Linking the evidence from research to practice – strengthening vulnerable families in caring for their children and keeping them safe.

Stream 4: The Voice of Young People, Children, Parents & Carers in Research, Policy and Service Delivery

• An Evaluation of the Berry Street Stand By Me Leaving Care Program
• The Bounce Project – Resituating young people from consumer to professional
• Adult-Child Relations & Child Vulnerability
• ‘A Good Life’ in the City of Maribyrnong : The voices of our children, young people and families
• Young Views: The project ideas and children’s acceptance of them
• “I love pornography . . . Did I just say that?” Young people talk about the prevention of sexually abusive behaviour
• Recognising their agency: promoting greater inclusion of biological children of foster carers
• CREATE’s Research and Advocacy with Children and Young People Who Have Experienced Out-of-Home Care
• Using New Technologies & Traditional Research Methods to Embed the Voices of Children and Young People in Programs for Fathers Who use Violence
• How to Avoid Repeating the Adoption Mistakes of Australia’s Past: Consider the perspectives of adults adopted as children and their families, not just of prospective and adoptive parents
• The Platform – The CREATE Foundation

Sector Research Partners: