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

Terms of purchase

Please note that each workshop purchase provides access for one person only. If you would like multiple team members to access this workshop, each person must purchase the workshop seperately.