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Annual Report 2007 - 2008 Download Pdf

Presidents Report

This past year has been one of reflection, planning, development and growth, not only for Outcare but for governments in regards to the provision of services that will assist in reducing crime.

Shifts in policies and programs at both State and Commonwealth levels will provide great opportunities for Outcare in the future to enhance the quality, level and range of services currently provided. Some examples include:

• The Department of Housing and Works is moving to reduce the number of agencies contracted to provide housing while increasing, for the remainder, the housing stock for which they will have responsibility.

• The proclamation of the Prisons and Sentencing Legislation Amendment Act 2006 which enables minimum security prisoners to leave prison to engage in training or employment during the day then returning to the prison in the evening.

• The extensive remodelling of the Commonwealth’s Job Network program which not only allows specialist agencies like Outcare to apply to deliver services to specific client groups but more importantly the inclusion of ex-offenders as an identified specialist group alongside disabled, indigenous and migrants.

Outcare applauds these changes and looks forward to working with these Departments in making these initiatives successful.

Consistent with Outcare’s long term goal to be involved in more proactive and primary crime prevention, over the past few years we have been expanding the level and range of services to young people engaged or in danger of engaging with the Justice system. A key focus of these services is to provide opportunities and support that will enable the young person to develop not only the skills but the confidence to move on. Over the last 12 months we have achieved some very positive results however there are some critical systemic barriers that need to be addressed before we can see significant reductions in the number of young people entering the justice system. One such barrier is the lack of supported accommodation available to young people at risk. Unfortunately without stable accommodation and supervision being available in the community the only sentencing option available for some young offenders has been for them to be housed in a juvenile facility, which is totally unacceptable. Outcare is actively working with the key stakeholders to develop strategies to address this critical issue.

Another key strategy for diverting young people from engaging in criminal activities is education. Outcare’s “Keeping Kids out of Crime” has been an extremely, and increasingly successful education program that involves an ex-offender (Gary O’Reilly) talking to students in upper primary and lower secondary schools about crime and its lifelong consequences. The talks are integrated into the curriculum process and focus on areas such as offending, bullying, racism, respect, drugs, families, communication etc. Since commencing the program in mid 2006 Gary has spoken to in excess of 29,986 students across 171 schools and the demand for his services continues to grow.

Over the past 12 months the Board has been redefining Outcare’s purpose, vision, values and strategic directions. As a result we have developed a 3 year Strategic Plan 2008 – 2010 which focuses on 4 key areas which are Leadership and Governance, Innovation, Financial Sustainability and Workforce Development and Retention. We have already developed and implemented a number of strategies in each of these areas which are achieving positive results. I am pleased to say that we are also on the final leg of completing extensions to our building, which has taken over 18 months.

I encourage you to take the time to read this report, as it will provide a small insight into some of the excellent work that has been undertaken by staff over the past 12 months. These achievements would not be possible without the continued efforts and commitment of staff, volunteers and Board members.

I would like to give a special thanks to Bill Case who is retiring from the Board after 11 years of service. During his time Bill held the position of President for 3 years and Vice President for 5. His dedication and enormous contribution over this time will be sorely missed and I wish him and his wonderful wife June all the best in their retirement.

Peter (Chook) Henson
PRESIDENT

Executive Director’s Report 2007 - 2008

This has been an incredibly busy and productive year for us all. Our outcomes in service delivery have continued to be very positive and our service levels have risen. I am pleased to say that some old resourcing issues have been finally resolved, while other new but more minor ones have emerged. The organisation has a much improved economic base which will underpin the organisation for years to come.

PROGRAMS
Accommodation resourcing issues
For many years we have annually reported that we have been severely under resourced in our accommodation programme, and on occasion have even discussed the possible closure of the service. It is pleasing to announce that at the time of writing we have been informed that we are to receive the funds for the final staff position that we had asked for, in addition to the new maintenance position we achieved last year. This whole process has taken in excess of three years and we are now close to the level of funding that more recently funded programs have been allocated.

As flagged last year, Outcare is now seeking preferred provider status with the Department of Housing and Works in order to increase the amount of housing stock allocated for newly released offenders. The evidence is very clear that stable accommodation is an imperative in reducing re-offending behaviour after someone is released from prison.

Addictions staff increased
Demand on the Addiction Service has been significant and a new federal funding round (NGOTGP) in the year provided the opportunity to increase this service provision. Unfortunately we were only able to increase this funding by I FTE, not a further 4 as requested. Outcare has the most interface with justice clients who have addiction and substance abuse issues, and should have been provided with more resources in this area. The state based Triple P Addictions Counselling Program funding will be put out to tender in the latter half of 2008 and success then should give us the core of a decent counselling service which we can expand upon in the future. Outcare also became part of an addictions / mental health co-morbidity capacity building partnership, something which will improve skills of staff in that area of client work.

Blood Borne Virus Program
This program continues to provide a valuable health service to our clients. This year Outcare was not allowed by the Health Department to utilise some small surplus funds to support the vaccination program which is attached to the service, so a decision was made to fund this ourselves while seeking funds elsewhere. By vaccinating the women partners of prisoners we are providing a service to a group which is over 20 times more likely to be at risk of acquiring a blood borne virus of some sort. Our completion rate shows that the cost per person is approximately double that of the general population, but given the 20 plus risk factor for the target group, it is a very cost effective way of providing this service to a target group who would not normally access vaccinations for themselves in the community. The Department of Health’s stated position that they “are not getting enough bang for the buck” if the surplus was utilised for vaccinations, does not finally stand up in this case.

Employment and Training service
Good partnerships and innovative thinking has allowed this service to get involved in a few new different projects this year, and we have had other agencies approaching the service for its involvement and input. The Job Start employment placement program found itself amongst stiff competition as the labour market tightened up. The redefined Job Network system should offer us further opportunities to improve employment services for the client base.

Family Support Centres
The family support centres continue to provide much needed support to visitors to the prisons. The sheer volume of visitors (160,000 this year) ensures that the services are well used. Some service delivery at some prisons has been adjusted and expanded to better suit the needs of those prisons. In most cases this meant that improved access to visits was provided for visitors.

The introduction of new identification technology raised some concerns amongst visitors when it was announced but this did not prove to be enduring.

Keeping Kids out of Crime
This program not only won a certificate of Merit in the National Crime Prevention Awards, but it also secured funding through the Proceeds of Crime Fund. It has continued to be very well received, so much so that regional schools are now asking for presentations in their areas. To this end we are negotiating to try and resource this to be undertaken. At the time of writing we were informed that the project has won a State Crime Prevention Award. Hopefully this will go a long way towards ensuring a strong future for this program.

Reconnect Youth Program
Outcare’s Youth services have been very proactive this year, entering into dialogues and partnerships in order to provide better services and outcomes to young offenders who, if not diverted, away will begin to populate the adult prisons. Accommodation and poor joint case working processes continue to be the major hurdles we face in this work. It is a sad indictment of our system that young people are kept imprisoned purely because they have no one to take responsibility for them or they have nowhere else to live. The youth service is looking for answers to these issues and is embarking on some quite lateral activities to achieve this.

Re-entry Link Program
The most significant program movement this year was the increase in the size of the Re-entry Link program. In the last quarter of the financial year this was increased by 25% and a further 75% increase was initiated in the start of the 08-09 year. The increase is related to the outcomes the program achieved as they show a significant reduction in re-imprisonment in the clients who use the program. This means a significant reduction in future prisoner numbers, reducing the level of demand for more prisons, restraining costs for the prison system etc. All this means is that the State Government has recognised it obtains a very good social and economic benefit from the investment they have made in Outcare.

ORGANISATION
Strategic Planning
A new complete strategic plan was developed in the latter half of 2007 and action plans for supporting this were developed by each section. What also flowed from this was a focus on a variety of matters for future development and improvement. These included looking at governance processes, both with Board and management, training audits and planning, staff recruitment and retention, and other areas which will support the new strategic objectives.

Staff Recruitment and Retention
Recruitment and retention of staff is one of the major problems currently facing the non government sector and Outcare is not immune to this. The funding levels offered to the sector ensure that we are not competitive with government salaries and conditions, and the situation is made even more difficult as government departments are now actively headhunting our staff.

The organisation made a conscious choice to support and join with other agencies in taking these staff retention issues to the government, and we hope that in the medium term we can help make some changes in this area.

In the meantime we are initiating and doing things which make and keep Outcare a place where staff are happy and willing to work.

Management
The management team has had to deal with a variety of changes, service changes and staff expansion, building works etc. this year, on top of the normal workload the services bring. The growth of the organisation in the last couple of years has brought with it other demands as well.

It has became very obvious that we need to insert some more resources into the administrative and management end of the organisation and to this purpose we have been seeking a General Manager of Service delivery, plus more administrative staffing resources. The administrative structure of the organisation still reflects staffing levels that have existed since the late 1980’s, when there were 60% less staff in the organisation. Moves are underway to address these resourcing needs.

Building Expansion
Thanks again to support from Lotterywest, we have begun the much discussed expansion of our new office space in order to house the increased services and staff that come with the recent service expansions. Started some months ago, this project is planned for completion in Feb 2009 and this time next year hopefully we should be holding our Annual General Meeting here.

It has been a very busy 12 months which has had an immense amount of activity in it, most of which is not adequately reflected in this report. I would like to thank the Board, Management Team, Staff and Volunteers for being able to get through it all still relatively sane and happy.

Peter Sirr
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER