Anew partnership between the Department for Child Protection (DCP) and the Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing (ORSR) to better support children and young people in care to lead healthy, active lives is kicking goals.
The partnership is already proving highly successful, with professional sporting organisations working hand-in-hand with government to provide new opportunities.
Reaping huge benefits is the formalisation of partnerships with sport and recreation organisations to increase opportunities for children and young people and their carers to attend sporting events.
The Adelaide Football Club (AFC) and the Port Adelaide Football Club (PAFC) have already jumped on board, providing hundreds of tickets to games this season for children and young people in care.
Over the past two years, the Crows have provided more than 800 tickets to home matches through their Crows Care Program.
Netball SA also provided tickets for children in care to attend Thunderbirds matches during their grand final-winning Super Netball campaign.
AFC and DCP recently facilitated a consultation event and an AFL ‘come and try’ program for caregivers and children involved in foster and kinship care.
This initiative collected feedback to help design a tailored sporting program for children in family-based care.
PAFC’s community arm, Power Community Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DCP to engage and support children in care through clinics, carnivals, school programs, events and ticketing.
Netball SA is providing places in its highly popular Hospital Research Foundation Group Adelaide Thunderbirds’ School Holiday Clinics.
Developed in consultation with staff, carers, representatives of sporting clubs and associations along with community organisations, the partnership has also piloted trauma training for State Sporting Organisations (SSOs) with a view to roll this training out across clubs.
SSOs – SACA, SANFL, Netball SA and Basketball SA – and a representative from the Adelaide Football Club have been consulted about the Trauma Informed Training package that will be rolled out to help educate the sporting sector about how to identify and support children with trauma.
The training focuses on increasing understanding of childhood trauma, trauma related behaviour and inclusive environments for children in care with materials being developed for clubs, coaches, volunteers and administration staff, associations and local government.
The partnership also strives to improve the access of children and young people to sport by developing an innovative approach to better distribute sports voucher funding and by establishing a sports equipment donation scheme for children in care.
