good practice guidelines
The Good Practice Guidelines for DoCS Funded Services (the Guidelines) is one of the key initiatives outlined in the DoCS Funding Policy.
The Guidelines manual has been developed as a key resource to support implementation of the Good Practice Guidelines.
The manual includes the Guidelines, as well as a quality self-assessment workbook and workplan. These tools were developed and piloted with a cross-section of DoCS-funded services, and will assist organisations to align their current practices with those outlined in the Guidelines.
- Good Practice Guidelines for DoCS Funded Services manual (PDF)
- self assessment workbook template (MS Word)
- priority grid template (MS Word)
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quality workplan template (MS Word)
when are organisations required to implement the Guidelines?
All DoCS-funded services, with the exception of children’s’ services and out-of-home-care (OOHC) funded services, are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the Guidelines and begin to plan their approach to implementation.
Brighter Futures Program service providers are already implementing the Guidelines under their contractual arrangements. Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) service providers will be implementing the Guidelines from July 2007.
For children’s’ services and out-of-home-care (OOHC) the quality assurance approaches already in place will remain. Over the next three years, the Guidelines will be applied to the Department’s other funding programs.
getting started with the Good Practice Guidelines
Before starting the self-assessment consider:
- which guidelines your service will be addressing at this time.
- who will read the document. (e.g. is it for internal purposes, or is it to be read by an external agency) – this will determine the level of detail and explanation you use
- how you will consult with staff and/or volunteers, clients/participants, management, governing body/management committee as well as key stakeholders. It may be worthwhile to appoint an internal coordinator to coordinate this consultation process.
- estimate the overall time needed to complete the self-assessment. From the pilot evaluations, each guideline averaged about eight to twelve hours to complete
- other suggestions and examples for getting started and completing the self assessment are included in the workbook.