April - June 2024

A message from the CEO

Our organisation remains in great shape and will soon report a surplus demonstrating our strong financial health and good governance. Thanks to our accountant, Ann Freilich, and Treasurer, Richard Giles, for their work in keeping ISS Australia financially strong.

We are most pleased that in the new financial year we have secured the continued support of the Attorney General’s department for our work in international parental abduction and the NSW Department of Communities and Justice including for our work in international child protection and more. 

We are also pleased to have new funding this financial year from the Myer Foundation and the Gandel Foundation and also a new sponsorship from Nicholes Family Lawyers, a prestigious Victorian based family law firm. We thank all our funders and donors for their most generous support which enables us to perform our critical role for children and families across borders.

I wanted to thank our staff members Eleni Baily and Jessica Raffal for their contribution as speakers at the international HCCH (The Hague Conference on Private International Law) Forum on Domestic Violence and the Operation of Article 13(1)(b) of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention. It is a wonderful testament to the skills and expertise within our organisation that two of our leaders were invited to speak at this eminent international event. 

ISS Australia also convened in a breakfast symposium on International Kinship Care in May with our partners Nicholes Family Lawyers and Children’s Rights International. Damon Martin, our Deputy CEO, addressed the symposium on the benefits of international kinship care. 

ISS both in Australia and internationally is finalising our plans to mark our 100th year in existence internationally. Our ISS General Secretariat will celebrate this historic milestone on 10 October 2024, at the beautiful Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva. Around 450 guests from around the world are expected to attend.

In Australia we are also finalising events and the Sydney celebration will be held at 2-4pm on Wednesday 23 October 2024 at the NSW Parliament, featuring Minister Kate Washington. We hope to see some of you there!

Peter van Vliet
CEO, International Social Service Australia

Hague Conference Forum in South Africa

ISS Australia’s Manager Lawyer Jessica Raffal and IFM Coordinator / Senior Social Worker Eleni Bailey were invited to present at the Hague Conference on Private International Law Forum on Domestic Violence and the Operation of Article 13(1)(b) of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention in Sandton, South Africa from 18 to 21 June 2024. 

Jessica spoke in session 1 ‘Key actors in the operation of Article 13(1)(b) in Domestic Violence cases. Jessica spoke about the value of the 1980 Convention and the need for decision makers applying it to better recognise the risks presented by domestic violence to both mothers and their children and to ensure the Convention remains relevant and compelling. Jessica presented alongside judges from three different jurisdictions, including Justice Victoria Bennett from the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

Eleni gave a presentation at the conference titled ‘Post -decision – preserving the best interest of the child (supporting children and their families)’. Eleni outlined the work of ISS Australia’s Social Work team in supporting families who have been ordered to return to Australia. In addition to presenting a case study, Eleni highlighted the important work of the ISS network, the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration, detailed safety planning and ongoing risk assessment to support vulnerable children and families. 

Children with Disabilities Mission in the Philippines

At the request of the ISS General Secretariat, ISS Australia Deputy CEO Damon Martin, led a 5-day Needs Assessment Mission to the Philippines to assess the alternative care systems for children with disabilities in the Philippines as part of the ISS General Secretariat’s global program “A better future is possible”. The program aims to promote quality care and family life for children with disabilities without parental care or at risk of being so, and assists governments in their care reform to progressively phase out residential care institutions and promote family setting for all children, including children with disabilities (CWD), through family reintegration and family-based care.

Photo from a visit to Las Piñas Persons with Disability Federation

Damon’s reflections after the mission is that social work and alternative care are well developed in the Philippines, compared to other Asian countries he has worked in. Additionally, Filipinos have very strong and close family ties, which enables good gatekeeping mechanisms in their barangay (village or ward). However the scale of CWD in the Philippines is huge, UNICEF estimates there are 1.6 million children with disabilities, while other estimates refer to 5 million children living with a disability. Because of poverty, lack of resources and access to support, many CWD are placed in residential care institutions due to the unavailability of extended family placement options, as well as a lack of local foster carers and prospective adoptive parents willing to care for a child with disability. 

Damon completed the mission with ISS regional advisor, Khadijah Madihi and our experienced local Filipino partner, NORFIL Foundation, Inc. ISS is developing a Needs Assessment Report with key findings, analysis, and recommendations.

International Kinship Care Breakfast Symposium

Left to right: ISS Australia Deputy CEO Damon Martin, The University of Melbourne Law School Professor John Tobin, Monash University Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn, The Honourable Justice Jennifer Coate AO, Nicholes Family Lawyers Managing Partner Sally Nicholes, Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan and
ISS Australia CEO Peter van Vliet

On 1 May 2024, in partnership with Nicholes Family Lawyers and Children’s Rights International, a breakfast symposium focusing on International Kinship Care – A Child Rights Approach was held. The event held at the Melbourne offices of Nicholes Family Lawyers, heard from a panel of distinguished experts including guest speakers The Honourable Justice Jennifer Coate AO, Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan, Monash University Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn, International Social Service Australia Deputy CEO Damon Martin and The University of Melbourne Law School Professor John Tobin. The event was moderated by Nicholes Family Lawyers Managing Partner Sally Nicholes and closed by International Social Service Australia CEO Peter van Vliet.

The symposium sought to commence a national discussion about how to strengthen current child protection systems, principles, policies and protocols to enable a well understood and structured framework for exploring, and potentially achieving, international family placements for children entering permanent care.

Association of Child Welfare Agencies Conference 2024

On 5-7 June 2024, ISS Australia’s Senior Social Worker Phoebe Peters attended the Association of Child Welfare Agencies (ACWA) Conference 2024, a conference where child and family welfare professionals discuss ways to better achieve positive outcomes for vulnerable children and families. The theme for this year’s conference was “Reimagining our work with children, families and communities”. 

The conference covered family support and intervention, family preservation, domestic violence and child protection, out of home care and residential care. There were several streams that ran concurrent presentations on: child protection and domestic violence, keeping families together and reunification, residential care, and hearing from First Nations experiences, services, and initiatives. 

Standout presentations of the conference included, Professor Darcey Merritt, MSW, of the University of Chicago who gave a thought-provoking presentation on the impact of family support services, highlighting the historical similarities between the US and Australian contexts. Also, Sue Trembath, Director of Improving Placement Outcomes within the Department of Child Safety Queensland who discussed the importance of using ‘fit-for-purpose’ language with clients. And finally, Alice Xiao, Youth Ambassador of the CREATE Foundation who shared her insights into the care system from lived experience as well as her time as a Consultant at CREATE. 

In summary, the ACWA 2024 conference was an enriching learning experience, which led to valuable reflections and ideas for ISS Australia’s work, as well as providing important updates on the work of other local agencies and support services in the sector.

Family Relationship Services Australia (FRSA) National Conference

ISS Australia’s International Parental Child Abduction (ICPA) Social Work and International Family Mediation (IFM) team attended the Family Relationship Services Australia (FRSA) National Conference held at Pullman Melbourne on the Park from 13-16 May 2024.

ISS Australia’s IPCA and IFM team, left to right: Eric Brunet, Amelia McDermott, Kay Hardefeldt, Eleni Bailey

This important conference is one of the largest annual gatherings of practitioners, academics and policy makers from around Australia working to support children, families and communities. The theme for the FRSA conference this year was ‘valued now and into the future’ providing an engaging and evidenced-based platform to discuss a plethora of topics relevant to the family services sector. 

For the first time ISS Australia held a booth at the conference enabling us to interact with the conference participants, provide service flyers, informative brochures and answering participant questions. There was so much engagement in the booth from professionals we needed to print additional flyers for the remaining days of the conference! The booth facilitated important networking opportunities with other family relationship professionals working towards collaborative and best practice approaches for clients. 

Case study – Adoptees access to their birth records

As these social changes occurred, Australia’s adoption practice also experienced dramatic change and moved to adoption being practiced in a spirit of openness. This move to ‘openness’ attempted to achieve the best of both worlds – providing security for the child and the new family without cutting the child off from knowledge of its roots or totally excluding the birth parents.

As changes occurred in adoption practice throughout Australia, so did adoptees’ rights to their birth information. During the period 1984–1994 most Australian States and Territories enacted adopted information legislation, ending the era of Australia’s closed adoption practice. Adult adoptees and birth parents could now access information from adoption records and, if they wished, could attempt to trace and locate their birth family members.

While the access to birth records benefits people adopted in Australia, ISS Australia also assists many Australian residents who were adopted overseas where the legislation can differ greatly. This case example involves a person adopted in Northern Ireland in the 1960’s who approached ISS Australia for assistance to access her birth records. 

For people adopted in the UK before 1975, they need to access their records through an ‘approved adoption advisor’ (ISS Australia is approved to do this). However, the legislation in Northern Ireland only allows for a local social worker to view the adoptee’s file and draft a heavily redacted ‘Letter of Information’ for ISS Australia to share with the adoptee. While the Letter of Information helped the adoptee fill in some of the missing puzzle", it still left her with many unanswered questions about her early life and the circumstances of her adoption.

Unfortunately, we believe this practice is a continuation of the ‘secrecy’ era and doesn’t respect the adoptee’s right to access their own birth records and information contained within their entire ‘adoption file.’ For this client (and many others), who are unable to access their full birth records and other associated documents, this can have an ongoing negative impact on them throughout their life. Ongoing negative impacts may include a distorted sense of self, a sense of shame or low self-esteem related to the secrecy surrounding the client’s experience of accessing incomplete or redacted records, which can also hamper future search attempts. 

As the client from this case study with significant health challenges said, "I’m really distressed to die without a clear understanding of my early years. Not for litigation, just for closure"

Can you support ISS Australia?

ISS Australia is a national, not-for-profit organisation. We believe that all people have the right to belong and know who they are.

ISS Australia has been dedicated to supporting and providing services to children, families and individuals impacted by a range of cross border issues.

Please consider donating. Your generous tax-deductible donation to ISS Australia will help us continue to support, protect and reunite vulnerable children and families separated by international borders.