• New Client Management System
• NSW News
• Casework Statistics - 30 June 2008
• Correspondent Profile - Pakistan
• Child Rights Corner - A child's right to live in a natural family environment
• Case Study - Now I no longer feel so alone

ISS is in the final stages of developing a new Client Management System that will improve our casework practice and enable data collection for management purposes. The database has been developed for a project funded by the Ian Potter Foundation and will be used for research into the implementation of the 1996 Hague Convention on Child Protection. The database will also have a wider impact on the delivery of ISS Australia’s casework generally.

The NSW Office of ISS Australia is very pleased to announce that the Department of Community Services (DoCS) has provided a further three years funding for the Inter-Country Family Separation Support Program. This program provides casework services for NSW residents affected by international parental child abduction and for people wanting to trace or be reunited with members of their birth family following inter-country adoption.

ISS casework statistics in the first 6 months of the year showed a steady increase in casework across all program areas except National Family Services, which showed a drop in referrals. Highlights include the strong growth in referral levels in NSW - reflecting the funding arrangements that are now in place with DoCS NSW - and the steady growth in the IPCA Service in all states.

The ISS Information and Advice Service is also an area of growth, particularly within the National Family Services Program, which does not receive any government funding. Click here to see the Statistics.

My name is Mohsin Raza and I have been the official ISS Correspondent in Pakistan since 2004. My role is situated within the Pakistan Government in Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education. The Ministry predominantly focuses on improving the lives of vulnerable people in society with an emphasis on children, women and senior citizens. It also aims to alleviate poverty and promote social progress and social justice in Pakistan.

The majority of ISS cases come from the UK, Canada, Spain, Germany, Australia and USA where large numbers of Pakistani people have settled. A considerable number of cases are related to child protection. In Pakistan, a significant number of families live in joint extended family environments and I therefore receive many referrals from ISS Branches and Correspondents which are looking to place children with extended family members in situations where the child’s parents are unable to care for them. ISS Pakistan also undertakes other services to assists individuals and families such as tracing and home assessment services, and providing legal advice on child protection issues.

ISS Australia met Moshin Raza in person when he attended the network training event in Sydney in 2007. Since then, he has been extremely helpful in cases with Australia and has provided professional and prompt reports. Mohsin Raza does not receive any additional funding for his ISS work so to reduce costs and provide an effective service he often seeks the assistance of local staff, NGOs and pro-bono legal services in Pakistan.

CHILD RIGHTS CORNER

A child's right to live in a natural family environment
By Tara Harvey, Inter-Country Caseworker, NSW Office

The family is one of the fundamental groups in society and it is a given that children have the right to grow up in a family atmosphere of love, happiness and understanding. A guiding principle of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is that the preferred family environment is one where children live with their natural parents. However, children throughout the world are often separated from their natural parents and immediate family. Situations in which separation occurs are adoption, family breakdown, migration or when a parent is assessed as unable to care for a child due to child abuse concerns.

The CRC outlines a child’s right to care within the family environment in Articles 5, 9, 10, 18 and 20. Under Article 9, the child has the right to maintain a relationship with both parents and to have regular contact with them. Article 20 states that where children cannot be cared for by the parents, solutions for their care must take into account continuity in a child's upbringing with regard to the child's ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background.

ISS helps to ensure children’s rights are maintained when separated from their parents by:

• assessing overseas family members for kinship placements where children are unable to live with their natural parents. Once a child has been placed with extended family, ISS can provide support to ensure the child has transitioned and settled into living with the extended family and maintains contact with his/her natural family.
• providing ongoing support for children to maintain contact with both their parents when they are unable to live with one or both of their parents. ISS can help to establish contact arrangements and can also provide tracing service to locate a child’s natural family and facilitate communication between a child and his/her natural parents once they are located.

CASE STUDY