2.4 Community Consultation and Engagement
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Last Modified:
04-May-2017
Review Date:
01-Jun-2019
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| Purpose |
To clarify the role residential care workers have in maintaining positive relations with neighbours and in integrating children into the wider community. |
| Practice Requirements |
- Residential care workers must make every effort to be good neighbours and become a positive part of the community, and support children to do the same.
- Residential care workers must be proactive in developing and maintaining open communication with their neighbours, local police, and other community members to build effective two-way communication.
- All communication from the wider community must be clearly recorded in the Log Book.
- Community concerns must be taken seriously and dealt with in a timely way. All complaints must be investigated by the manager, who must inform the Assistant Director. The complainant must be informed of the outcome.
- As role models for children, residential care workers must behave in a professional, cordial manner when in public and dealing with members of the community.
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Procedures- Overview
OverviewResidential care workers must work with their colleagues and the children to minimise any potential negative impact that inappropriate behaviour, car parking, or residential care workers arriving and leaving for shifts may have on their neighbourhood. The manager should contact neighbours regularly or frequently if appropriate, and encourage open, two-way communication. The manager (or on-call manager) is contactable 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To help neighbours access an appropriate person, contact numbers for the manager (mobile), the home’s land line and on-call manager (after hours) should be provided to all neighbours. When possible, matters concerning neighbours should be dealt with locally and resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned. The Director and Assistant Directors Residential Care should be informed by email of all incidents and outcomes, and must be involved in cases where local management is not possible. For more information refer to 2.5 Complaints Management. The children’s successful integration into the local community is a key aim of residential care. This is best achieved through a comprehensive activity program for each child. The team should plan for opportunities to involve all children in community, sporting and recreation or leisure activities, including local police and schools.
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