What will you learn?

This session provides a practical, real-world framework for working with children in Out-of-Home Care – with a focus on consent, systems navigation and trauma-informed practice.

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• Understand who can consent to OT services by clarifying guardianship, parental responsibility and decision-making authority across different OOHC arrangements
• Navigate the child protection system with greater confidence by understanding how OOHC, ministerial guardianship and statutory systems operate and how they impact your role
• Define your role within a multi-stakeholder environment by managing communication with carers, caseworkers, schools and other professionals without losing clinical focus
• Plan OT intervention that aligns with case planning and long-term outcomes, ensuring your therapy supports placement stability, development and transition planning
• Apply trauma-informed, system-aware clinical reasoning by recognising how trauma, attachment and system changes influence engagement, behaviour and progress
• Respond to fluctuating presentation and progress by adapting your clinical approach when impacted by family contact, court decisions or placement changes
• Navigate ethical tensions in real-world practice by balancing the child’s voice, best interests, legal requirements and practical constraints
• Work more confidently within complexity by developing a clearer framework so you’re not figuring it out as you go each time 
  

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is designed for occupational therapists who are:

• Working with children and young people in Out-of-Home Care or under guardianship arrangements
• Supporting clients involved in child protection systems
• Unsure about consent, decision-making authority or accountability
• Managing multiple stakeholders across systems
• Wanting to strengthen confidence in complex, real-world clinical situations

 This is particularly valuable for OTs who:

• Have recently started receiving OOHC referrals
• Feel uncertain navigating guardianship and consent
• Want a clearer understanding of how therapy fits within the broader system

Why attend?
Working in Out-of-Home Care isn’t just clinically complex… it’s systemically complex.

Without a clear understanding of how the system operates, OTs can find themselves:

• Unsure who can consent to therapy
  
• Overwhelmed by competing stakeholder demands
  
• Misaligned with case planning or long-term goals
  
• Struggling to interpret changes in behaviour and progress
  
• Navigating ethical tensions without clear guidance

This workshop gives you clarity! You will leave with a stronger understanding of the system, a clearer sense of your role, and practical strategies to deliver OT services confidently, ethically and effectively within OOHC.

What's included?

• Gain online access to the workshop – live workshops are delivered via Zoom, while self-paced options include access to recorded sessions
• Download workshop slides and any resources provided by the presenter
• Enjoy six months of access to the recording and resources via your Verve OT Learning Library
• Receive a certificate of completion for your CPD records, available via email upon completion of the workshop