Kim Nixon Consulting staff are experienced in providing both guardianship assessments and casework tasks associated with guardianship applications for the Children’s Court. This includes conducting and writing up the Guardianship Assessments, as well as drafting Care Plans, s90 applications and affidavits. Communities and Justice staff and Legal Officers have provided positive feedback about the quality of our work and in particular our assessments.
This includes the assessor interviewing subject children, the carer/s, household members, carers children, birth parents, reading the required information documented on the referral form, and completing the Guardianship Assessment template, and includes the provision of photos of the carers home, home inspection form, and a copy of the assessor’s resume.
Our goal is to complete each assessment within 6 weeks of it being allocated to one of our assessors, and we rarely do not meet these deadlines. If there will be a delay this would be negotiated with the agency staff, prior to the due date.
In line with our DCJ tender requirements, we aim to contact the carers within one week of receiving a Purchase Order number.
If the KNC Assessor completes the assessment, the costs of completing the Court Work associated with making a Guardianship application to the Court, such as drafting Care Plans, s90 applications and affidavits, will be reduced considerably due to the assessor already being familiar with the matter.
Relative/Kinship Carer Assessments
Kim Nixon Consulting has completed a very high number of Relative/Kinship Carer Assessments, a large number of which have been filed in the Children’s Court. Our goal is to complete each assessment within 6 weeks of it being allocated to one of our assessors.
This includes the assessor interviewing the carer/s and household members, reading the required information documented on the referral form, and completing the Relative/Kinship Carer Review template, and includes the provision of photos of the carers home, home inspection form, and a copy of the assessor’s resume. If the subject child/ren is already placed within the home, they will also be interviewed.
Step by Step New Carer Assessments
Kim Nixon Consulting has a few staff who are trained in conducting Step by Step assessments for new carers. Our goal is to complete each assessment within 6 weeks of it being allocated to one of our assessors.
This includes the assessor interviewing the proposed carer/s and household members, reading the required information documented on the referral form and completing the Step by Step Carer template, and includes the provision of photos of the proposed carers home, home inspection form, and a copy of the assessor’s resume.
Parenting capacity or restoration assessments - birth parent/s
Kim Nixon Consulting has completed a significant number of Parenting Capacity Assessments. A number of these have been used in the Children’s Court. Our goal is to complete each assessment within 6 weeks of it being allocated to one of our assessors, unless there are complex issues.
This includes the assessor interviewing subject children, the carer/s, the birth parent/s, household members at the birth parents home, reading the required information documented on the referral form, and completing the Parenting Capacity or Restoration template, including the provision of photos of the carers home, home inspection form (birth parents home), and a copy of the assessor’s resume. We have developed a new template for assessing households with concerns for an unborn baby. We have based this template on our review of research from across different jurisdictions. The template allows us to make recommendations for how to best support families prior to the birth of their baby, where risk factors have been identified. Making these referrals early in the pregnancy, improves the opportunities for best outcomes.
Carer Permanency Assessments
These assessments consider which permanency goal would best meet a child's needs, including the options of a guardianship order to a relative/foster carer, parental responsibility to a relative or the Minister, or whether the case plan goal of adoption should be considered. Our goal is to complete each assessment within 6 weeks of it being allocated to one of our assessors.
This includes the assessor interviewing the carer/s and household members, reading the required information documented on the referral form, completing the Carer Permanency template, and includes the provision of photos of the carer/s home, home inspection form, and a copy of the assessor’s resume. If the subject child/ren is already placed within the home, they will also be interviewed.
