DoCS Corporate Plan 2004/05 - 2008/09
see and download a full copy of our Corporate Plan 2004/05 - 2008/09 (PDF)
A new period in DoCS’ history began in December 2002, when the NSW Government announced an extra $1.2 billion over five years to build the capacity to deliver better service to the children, young people and families of the State.
This huge project involves many individuals and organisations, with over half the money to go to service providers outside DoCS. The period since then has mainly been a time of planning and constructing the platform to support a project of this size.
150 additional caseworkers commenced work during 2003/04, after a recruitment campaign which attracted over 1,000 applications.
We have also greatly enriched our policy and advisory base for serving Indigenous and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse clients.
A new Economics Branch has been created to ensure that our resources are allocated efficiently in the future.
It is now more important than ever to have a solid planning basis.The culmination of our planning phase is the DoCS Corporate Plan 2004/05 - 2008/09. It will have annual reviews during its life to ensure we remain on track as conditions change and our data give us better information about what is working well and what requires adjustment.
Some key themes reappear repeatedly in the DoCS Corporate Plan 2004/05 - 2008/09.
The first is demand management. Part of the $1.2 billion is for prevention and early intervention programs designed to reduce the rate of growth in demand for statutory intervention by DoCS. Research indicates that these programs can have exciting outcomes for children who are at risk in infancy.
The second theme is of process improvement. We will be reviewing everything we do, from when a child is first reported until they are safe with their family or in a permanent care placement. The Enhanced Service Delivery project will test new models of DoCS’ service delivery to see which work best.
The third, and possibly most important theme, is that of working intensively with the service provision sector on all aspects of our work from prevention and early intervention to the permanent placement of children and young people in out-of-home care.
This sector needs to grow, to become more flexible and to offer a wider range of options, particularly for Indigenous children and young people, and children with special needs.
There are special challenges in serving clients in rural and remote areas of NSW where infrastructure is scarce. Resolving these issues is a major focus for DoCS and for its partner organisations as the field changes and expands.
DoCS’ Corporate Plan 2004/05 – 2008/09 provides the framework that shapes the services we provide and decisions we make. It sets out our objectives, and clearly establishes how we will continue to measure our performance over time, as well as the rationale behind these measures.
Of course, we can only achieve these objectives through the expertise and commitment of our staff and stakeholders, who play a key role in the delivery of community services in NSW. DoCS has multi-faceted partnerships – with its staff, government agencies, our clients, our funded services and the NSW community.
These partnerships will only be facilitated and enhanced, to the benefit of communities now and in the future, by the successful implementation of DoCS’ Corporate Plan.
I look forward to working closely with both staff and stakeholders to implement this plan. I am confident that it will guide us well in our efforts to provide the people of NSW with community services that meet the highest standard of excellence.
Neil Shepherd
Director-General
