Keep Them Safe included a commitment to progressively evaluate implementation of the Keep Them Safe: A shared approach to child wellbeing action plan over its five years and the effects of the new child protection system on outcomes for children, young people, and their families.

In December 2009 the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) and the Australian Institute of Family Studies were engaged to develop an overall Evaluation Framework for Keep Them Safe. In developing the Framework, SPRC conducted broad-ranging consultations with government agencies, non-government organisations, peak bodies, and advisory groups. A list of those consulted can be found in Volume 2 of the Evaluation Framework Report (see link below).

The Evaluation Framework was completed in August 2010, and can be downloaded here: Volume 1 – Report and Volume 2 – Annexes. It recognises the complex nature of the Keep Them Safe reforms and its multiple program areas, and also takes into account the breadth and diversity of the government and non-government service systems affected. In addition to considering the overall effectiveness of Keep Them Safe, the Framework was designed to guide evaluation of the relative impacts of different programs and their inter-relationships.

Implementation Plan

The Framework is comprehensive and proposes broadly-scoped, integrated evaluation activities. Further work was required to prioritise the activities and the application of proposed key performance indicators. In August 2010, the Keep Them Safe Senior Officers Group requested that the Department of Premier and Cabinet seek independent advice on prioritising the actions proposed by the Evaluation Framework, and on developing a four-year implementation plan for the evaluation.

The Implementation Plan was developed by Urbis Pty Ltd, and was finalised in April 2011. It focuses evaluation activity on measuring outcomes that can be attributed specifically to the Keep Them Safe reforms. In particular, it seeks to measure outcomes for targeted population groups, and the movement of families through the service system (i.e. universal services, targeted early intervention and prevention programs for vulnerable and at-risk families, and statutory services for families where risk of significant harm exists).

The Justice and Human Services CEOs Forum endorsed both the Evaluation Framework and the Implementation Plan at their 16 June 2011 meeting. They also endorsed the Implementation Plan’s proposed methodology and evaluation governance arrangements.

Following this, a Keep Them Safe Evaluation Steering Committee was established. It is composed of representatives from the government and non-government sectors and will oversee the Keep Them Safe evaluation and finalise evaluation performance indicators. Systematic evaluation of Keep Them Safe initiatives will begin in late 2011.

Interim Review

Consistent with the Implementation Plan, the government is currently undertaking an Interim Review of Keep Them Safe, which is due to conclude by December 2012. Given the relatively early stage at which this review is being conducted - the second year of the five year program of reform - the review has a particular focus on workforce and cultural change, and practice and systems changes, and how this translates into support for children, young people and families.  It is primarily a formative evaluation to guide the further implementation of KTS and provide benchmark information for the Strategic Impact and Outcomes Evaluation, and will not primarily seek to evaluate the impact or outcomes of KTS. The Interim Review plan is avaialble for download.

Strategic Impact and Outcomes Evaluation

Following the Interim Review, the government then intends to start work on the four-year Strategic Impact and Outcomes Evaluation. More information about this stage will be posted on this site shortly.