Parenting Assessment Skills Development
A Victorian program
Who is this service for?
The Parenting Assessment Skills Development Service (PASDS) is available to parents who have children between the age of 0 and 3 years, who are currently clients of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH).
Referrals to this service are received via Child Protection. If you are interested in accessing this service speak to your Child Protection worker.
The program assesses whether children are growing up in a safe environment and parenting capacity and competency. It also assesses whether parents can learn new skills to nurture and meet a child’s intellectual, emotional and physical needs. This work is guided by goals set by parents, the PASDS worker and the DFFH Child Protection worker.
About the service
This service looks different for every family. This is because it is unique to your specific needs and circumstances.
Together with you, Baptcare PASDS will get to understand:
- your child’s needs for physical, social, and emotional development
- family history and whether this has any impact on the current situation
- the things you are doing well as a parent, and the areas where you might need support
- any supports that might be available, including both other family members and different services or organisations that may be able to help.
By learning more about about you and your family, we can create a skills development program which is carefully designed for your needs and circumstances. With this program, together we can build on areas of strength and identify where you will benefit from extra support.
What happens when I access this service? What will my experience look like?
- We work with families for up to eight weeks.
- Baptcare and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing will check in on things regularly to ensure we are meeting and supporting your needs.
- Your Baptcare PASDS worker will work with you in your home. This will happen a minimum of two times per week, for up to two hours each visit, until you complete your PASDS skills development program.
- After six weeks, a formal review will be held with you, your Baptcare PASDS worker, and your Child Protection worker. The purpose of this review is to see what is going well, and what may need further support or development. Informal meetings may also be organised in between this time, for the same reason.
- At the end of the program, your Baptcare PASDS team will write a final report, which is given to the DFFH. There will be a closure meeting where you can talk about this report, and you can also make a formal request for a copy of the report from the DFFH.
Do you need support caring for your child?
If you already have a Baptcare PASDS worker or you would like information about the program, you can call the following numbers for support:
- Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm: (03) 9373 3800.
We keep your information private
We will deal with anything you tell us with respect. We will also keep your information private.
However, where a Baptcare worker has concerns in regard to the safety of a child—or children—we have a duty of care to discuss this concern with Child protection.
Providing compliments and feedback
Baptcare wants to help you to know about your rights. You have the right to tell us what you think about the services you receive from Baptcare.
We want to hear about your experience with Baptcare—good or bad—so we can provide you the best support possible.
If you have ideas on how we can improve, let us know!
See below our feedback statement, rights and responsibilities statement, and print version of our feedback form.
