2020-21 Annual Review

Annual Review

2020-21

Acknowledgement of Country Act for Kids would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land where our Australian offices are based.

We would also like to acknowledge Elders past, present and emerging.

We seek to foster a culture of friendship and partnership between Act for Kids and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, organisations and communities.

Ella Gillespie “My Place” Reconciliation Action Plan Art Competition winner

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Act for Kids Annual Review 2020-21 About Act for Kids Act for Kids is a for-purpose organisation that delivers evidence-based professional therapy and support services to children and families, who have experienced or are at risk of harm. We have helped thousands of children and families for over 30 years.

Through prevention, treatment, research, education and advocacy, we are committed to supporting thousands of children, young people and their families.

Executive team Chief Executive Officer

Dr Katrina Lines

Chief Financial Officer

Mrs Leanne Dreves

Executive Director of Service Operations

Dr Kaye Pickering

Executive Director of Philanthropy and Marketing

Mr Rob Williamson

Executive Director of Service, Strategy and Growth

Mr Thomas McIntyre

Executive Director of People, Culture and Infrastructure

Mrs Koni Hanlon

Patron

OUR PURPOSE

Patron

His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, Governor of Queensland

We help keep kids safe, heal from trauma and lead happy lives.

Ambassadors Founding Ambassador

Dr David Wood

OUR VISION

Lifetime Ambassador

Kay McGrath Anomi Bruynius

All kids have a safe and happy childhood.

Bruce Morcombe Denise Morcombe

OUR VALUES

Kim Skubris Jon Rouse

We are a professional, ethical team who is caring, courageous and collaborative.

Lesley-Anne Houghton Maxine Horne Pedro Gondim Quentin Flannery Ram Kangatharan

Board of Directors Chairman

The Hon Dr David Hamill AM

Deputy Chairman

Mr Nigel Harris Mr Thomas Rice Mr Emmanuel Pappas Ms Zoe Newbury Dr Ryan Mills

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Sascha Chandler Volunteer Ambassador

Helen McGrory

Parent Ambassadors Alecia Stevenson Brian McGuckin Chris Mountford Gemma Mountford

School Principal Ambassadors

Ms Teleiah Bayfield

Elizabeth Foster

Mr Simon Neill

Jan Maresca

Ms Madeline Lea

Kim McNamara

Mr Gavin Mackey

Lisa Morrison

Ms Emma Costello

Michelle Bond

Ms Maria Rampa (until February)

Paul Zernike

Mr Berkeley Cox (until February)

Wade Haynes

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The Facts Over 486,000 Reports

Nationally, Emotional Abuse

In 2019-20, there were 486,280 reports made to child protection authorities in Australia.

was the most common primary type of abuse suffered by children.

48,886 kids confirmed Emotional

In that same 12 months, 174,719 children accessed child protective services. 48,886 children were confirmed to have suffered abuse or neglect.

12%

Non-Government Organisation

11%

Family

10%

0.02%

9%

of notifications came

directly from the child involved.

Children under

12 months were most likely to suffer abuse or neglect.

Physical

Sexual

9%

19%

Health professional

Nationally,

22%

22%

School

Social worker

54%

14%

Most common source of child protection notifications

Police

Neglect

Abused or Neglected Breakdown by state

NSW

16,856

SA

2,217

VIC

16,714

NT

1,150

QLD

6,537

TAS

406

WA

4,725

ACT

280

11,700 infants received child protection services in 2019-2020.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are

7X more likely to receive child protection services.

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. Child protection Australia 2019–20. Child welfare series no. 74. Cat. no. CWS 78. Canberra: AIHW.

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We help keep kids safe, heal from trauma and lead happy lives.

Chairman and CEO Report Act for Kids is immensely proud of the results achieved throughout the 2020-2021 financial year.

As the country continued to face months of enduring lockdowns and restrictions in its battle with COVID-19, Act for Kids experienced a significant increase in demand for its services. Once the first wave of lockdowns lifted in the first quarter of the financial year, we saw up to 50 per cent increases in the demand for some of our programs as families sought support during the uncertain times.

Whilst the Act for Kids team couldn’t always deliver face-to-face services, we are pleased to report that the team supported 40,434 Australians, including 25,997 children over the past financial year. This was an outstanding result with significant increases experienced in the family support programs.

Our highly regarded integrated therapy services continued to be delivered via online telehealth during the ongoing lockdowns, to ensure that as far as possible we could meet the needs of children who had experienced trauma.

One of the biggest challenges was the ability to deliver our face-to-face Protective Behaviours Program Learn to Be Safe with Emmy and Friends (LTBSWEF) in schools due to home schooling for

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extended periods of the financial year. In 20202021, LTBSWEF was delivered to 5,692 primary school children which was a 26 per cent decrease compared to 2019-2020, as a direct result of COVID 19. In response to the positive feedback and research outcomes for the program, Act for Kids hopes to reach more kids and help more educators feel confident, capable and supported to deliver the content themselves given the changed conditions and restrictions with COVID-19. This will result in the expansion of the program to include separate modules appropriate for children in the early years and across the Primary School year bands as well as training modules to build community awareness and capacity.

Act for Kids’ Social Enterprise, Youthrive experienced its own substantial growth with the team supporting 1,552 clients through 23,000 individual support services, including via telehealth services, during the 2020-2021 financial year. The team saw huge increases in demand in North Lakes which led to the establishment of a second clinic in the region (set to open in the first quarter of 2021-2022 financial

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year) offering psychology, speech pathology, occupational therapy and dietetics.

Whilst the pandemic had a slight impact on the overall number of people Act for Kids supported, the organisation’s achievements were far-reaching.

Act for Kids Academy, an online training platform targeting organisations that work directly or indirectly with children was successfully launched in October. By participating in this training, organisations and staff will become a part of a growing community who prioritise child safety, creating safer communities and a place for young people to thrive. Each person who completes the Act for Kids Academy program is also contributing to supporting Act for Kids’ vision for all kids to have a safe and happy childhood.

An exciting addition to the organisation was the pilot trial of individualised support packages.

The Act for Kids Individual Support Program tailors support to meet the needs of each child’s unique circumstance and partners with Child Safety Services in Queensland to improve outcomes. A highly specialised Trauma-Informed Care Team approaches each child’s needs holistically. The team aims to support, repair, and improve outcomes within the biological, neurological, psychological, behavioural and emotional domains for each child.

This is proving to be a huge success with positive outcomes such as school re-engagement and placement stability for many clients. So far, the program has successfully supported 28 children.

Another major milestone was the launch of the Act for Kids Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in March supported by former Prime Minster, the Honourable Kevin Rudd AC. After many years of hard work by many people, we were proud of the commitment to act to positively impact the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. Through the RAP, the Board made a strong commitment to Reconciliation by prioritising the appointment of two First Nations Directors, Gavin Mackey and Madeline Lea. Both have already provided Act for Kids with generous expertise and cultural guidance. Along with these new Board appointments, we also said farewell

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to two dedicated Directors, Maria Rampa and Berkeley Cox. We thank them for their invaluable advice and commitment to helping Australian children. Alongside, Madeline and Gavin, the Board also welcomed Simon Neill and Emma Costello as Directors.

Act for Kids has a strong 33 year history of supporting children and their families across Australia. It began as an organisation to treat and prevent child abuse and neglect. By 2020, Act for Kids had experienced significant growth and had grown beyond its initial purpose. Whilst treatment and prevention are still the organisation’s commitments, there is an amplified focus on leading social impact, child-voice advocacy and evidenced–informed responses to child-wellbeing.

The new purpose, “We help keep kids safe, heal from trauma and lead happy lives” was influenced by a yearlong project that asked children, families, team members and community partners what impact they believed Act for Kids had, and should continue to have in the future. The new purpose recognises the organisation’s commitment to preventing and treating child abuse and neglect and its aspirational language acknowledges our continued efforts to help keep kids safe.

We sincerely thank the Board for their ongoing support, the Executive Team, team members, volunteers, stakeholders, supporters and our muchvalued corporate partners for joining us on the Act for Kids journey and working with us to help keep kids safe, heal from trauma and lead happy lives.

David Hamill

Katrina Lines

The Hon Dr David Hamill AM, Chairman

Dr Katrina Lines CEO

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Financial Stats Revenue 2021

Expenses 2021

75%

82%

Government Grants

Services relating directly to children & families

0.5% Community Grants

8% Admin Costs

0.1% Interest Received

1% Lottery Prizes

10% Fundraising

9% Marketing & Fundraising costs

4% Value of Donated Services 11% Other income

In the last 6 years, Act for Kids has supported 227,562 people and children in need

21,698

34,324

40,128

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

46,084

44,894

40,434

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

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We worked with 40,434 people during 2020-2021

Intensive Family Support

30,238

5,692 Integrated Therapy

94

Learn to be safe with Emmy & Friends

4,363 SafeKids

Individualised Support Packages

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Emmy And Friends Service Spotlight In 2020-21, we taught 5,692 Grade One students how to keep themselves safe!

Learn to be Safe is an internationally recognised evidence- based protective behaviours program that historically has been delivered by Act for Kids facilitators directly to children in grades Foundation through to Grade 2 over 5 sessions within their own classrooms.

The overarching aim of program is to prevent potential harm to children. Content is based on existing evidence showing that it is crucial that students learn two core skills: } Understand the basic concepts of safe and unsafe in relation to personal body safety; and } Build skills and confidence to ask adults for help.

Thanks to the continued support of the Vita Foundation, the Learn to be Safe with Emmy and Friends protective behaviours program was delivered to 5,692 Grade one students nationally teaching children: } How to identify their early warning signs } Safe and unsafe situations } Personal and private body parts } Safe and unsafe secrets } What to do if they feel unsafe and how to identify safe adults.

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Sadly, the numbers of kids who received this amazing program was reduced in 2020 – 2021 because of COVID lockdowns and school closures.

The educational program which has been running since 2008, consists of five weeks of learning and aims to prevent potential harm.

The program has again demonstrated children as young as five and six years old are readily able to learn protective behaviours, retain the information over time and utilise the knowledge if necessary.

In conjunction with our evaluation evidence, we also receive consistent extraordinary feedback from the children, teachers and parents impacted by the program. In response to the positive feedback and research outcomes, Act for Kids endeavoured to reach more kids and help more educators feel confident, capable and supported to deliver this sensitive content. Thus, we have expanded our program to include separate modules appropriate for children in the Early Years and across the Primary School year bands. We will be implementing these in the 2022 school year.

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Max’s Story Five-year-old Max is a victim of significant child abuse. He had suffered severe verbal, physical and emotional abuse and neglect at the hands of his parents who were supposed to love and protect him.

Life for Max was very lonely. He was shown very little love and affection. During the first lockdown period as a result of the global pandemic both of his parents lost their jobs and were at home with Max. There were no games, fun or learning experiences in Max’s home. Max’s abuse increased significantly.

He was left to his own devices, with no adult supervision or interaction with his parents on most days. Due to the seriousness of Max’s situation, he was removed from his parents’ care and placed with his grandmother, Shirley. As a result of the trauma he had suffered at the hands of his parents, Max had severe developmental delays. His speech and language were limited, and he was socially withdrawn. Max only communicated using simple gestures such as pointing and using single words.

Sadly, it’s not uncommon for children who are abused and neglected to find it difficult to interact positively with other people or express themselves using words.

They struggle to understand their own feelings and frequently feel overwhelmed.

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Max became very attached to his grandmother, and he struggled to safely leave her side. He would suffer separation anxiety whenever he was away from her. Desperate to help Max heal from the trauma he had experienced so that he could lead a happier life, Shirley contacted the team at Act for Kids. Act for Kids supported Max through speech therapy, occupational therapy, and psychological support to build on his relationship with his grandmother, encourage safe separation, and develop speech and language skills.

After two months of intensive therapy, Max had a breakthrough and is now communicating using phrases and short sentences with a range of vocabulary and expression, resulting in improved positive outcomes at home and school. Max’s progress means he is on a journey to healing from trauma to lead a happy life. *To protect the identity of the client details in this story are blended

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RAP Launch We were proud to launch our Reconciliation Action Plan.

Follow QR code to see our Reconciliation Action Plan

Our New Purpose!

“We help keep kids safe, heal from trauma and lead happy lives!”

Act for Kids’ new aspirational purpose was created after a yearlong project that asked children, families and community partners what impact they believed Act for Kids had, and should continue to have in the future. These pictures were drawn by clients when we asked them how Act for Kids made them feel.

Follow QR code to learn more about our new purpose

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Thanks to our generous supporters It’s nearly impossible for Act for Kids to measure the support and impact it receives from the team of volunteers.

We would like to acknowledge individual and corporate volunteers, Board Directors and students who supported us during the 2020-2021 financial year. Thank you for every raffle ticket sold, Christmas present gift-wrapped and donation tin rattled as well as the support at some of our centres. A special mention once again to our Volunteer Ambassador Helen McGrory and Marnie Sluice who continue to help keep kids safe, heal from trauma and lead happy lives.

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Thanks to our Supporters The positive outcomes achieved in 2020-21 were not possible without the generous support of sponsors and partners, who provide so much more than just financial support, but also pro-bono, in-kind and volunteer services. We are deeply grateful, thank you.

Official Sponsers

Benjamin Slome Charitable Foundation

Saywell Foundation

Bruce & Joy Reid Trust

Fitzapatrick Family Charitable Trust

Vivienne Court Trading

Event & Program Partners

Pro-Bono Supporters • SOAK

• Zenith Optimedia

• Follow Agency

• Publicis

• King & Wood Mallesons

• Primary Health Network

• Elevate

• Messages on Hold

• Vuly

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For more information please call 1300 228 000 or visit our website actforkids.com.au mail@actforkids.com.au PO Box 1844, Milton, Qld 4064 ABN 98 142 986 767