Some leading philanthropic trusts and foundations in Australia, like those in North America, are increasingly interested in moving away from a reactive funding model in which they merely respond to requests for funding to a more proactive model in which they develop, in collaboration with those in the field, the broad parameters of innovative programs they wish to support, and then invite agencies to make expressions of interest in relation to these program dimensions.

Selected programs need to be committed to evaluation and prepared to help disseminate their innovations and experiences to the field. It is this last step, from innovation to dissemination, which has often not been taken in the past, resulting in lost opportunities for valuable and cutting edge pilot projects to make an impact on practice and policy.

This article focuses upon the first ten years of implementation of the Australian Child Support Scheme. It investigates the philosophy and social ideology which underpin the Scheme and questions whether the objectives of the Scheme are being achieved. The central thesis is that the ideology of the Scheme needs to be fundamentally altered in order to properly cater for financial support of children of separated families.

The article suggests that the amendments put forward by the recent Joint Select Committee investigation into the Child Support Scheme will not ameliorate the deficiencies in the Scheme as they do not go to the pivotal core of what a child support scheme is created to do. The article describes how the ideologies inherent in the Scheme might be altered in order to create a system of child support which would cater for all system users.

This paper addresses the issue of contact centres, which have evolved to address the needs of children and parents affected by separation and divorce. The author notes the emergence of contact services in Australia and the establishment of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Children’s Contact Services (ANZACCS). The bulk of the paper outlines the development of children contact centres in France, summarises findings from the evaluation of 10 centres, and describes examples of three different French contact centre models. Brief summaries are also included of the situation in the UK and the USA. Some suggestions for Australian services are made, including the need for multi-disciplinary working parties in each State and Territory to advise programs.

Working from a background in child protective intervention and staff training and development, the authors sought to address two commonly reported deficits in child protection – the lack of a risk management framework and failures in interagency collaboration. This paper reports their approach to locating a risk and safety factor matrix and their evaluation of its use in a series of interagency workshops designed to improve collaboration.

This paper, based on material previously presented at the ACWA Biennial Conference in Sydney, describes the design, development and implementation of the ‘Looking After Children’ practice and management materials in the UK. The paper traces the research and practice background to the trialing of these out-of-home care assessment and planning materials in the UK, where they are expected to be adopted and implemented by all statutory agencies by the end of 1998. The international interest in the Assessment and Action Record is supported by an exploration of the arguments for child-focussed assessment and planning for ‘placement as a process – not an event’. Finally there is coverage of the three recently completed pilot projects in Western Australia. An argument is made for the adoption and adaptation of these materials as potential practice standards for the ‘State as parent’.

This paper presents the findings of a study into current induction practices in foster care agencies throughout Victoria. Eighty per cent of registered agencies responded to a mailed questionnaire exploring: the means of initial contact for prospective foster families, information and pre-service education sessions, assessment of families and the ongoing relationship between new foster families and the foster care agency.

Educational strategies are explored and the issue of worker continuity is discussed in relation to foster family retention and maintaining commitment through early placement difficulties.

There are events and there are events that are reported in the media. How the media decide to report an event is reflected upon in this paper. Using case examples, the paper stresses that media coverage may describe but one part of an event, leaving other stories untold.