Cultural Plans & Cultural Consultations
Cultural Planning, Family Finding & Cultural Connection
We provide specialist cultural planning and family finding services for Aboriginal children and young people in out-of-home care, including the development of initial Cultural Plans, comprehensive reviews of existing plans and ongoing cultural planning as children grow, relationships change and new family, kin and community connections are identified.
A Cultural Plan should never be a static document completed to satisfy a compliance requirement. It is a living and evolving plan that must develop alongside the child or young person. Cultural identity, understanding and participation change across developmental stages, and cultural planning must remain responsive to age, emerging identity, significant relationships, placement circumstances, permanency planning and the child or young person's own views and aspirations. A strong Cultural Plan translates cultural knowledge into meaningful action and creates clear accountability for maintaining and strengthening connection to family, kin, community, Country and culture.
Family finding is integral to this work. Cultural planning cannot be authentic when it is developed solely from information held within agency records. Through careful family mapping, engagement with family and kin, consultation with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, Link-Up services, cultural knowledge holders and other relevant community connections, we work to identify, restore and strengthen relationships that may have been disrupted, overlooked or lost through involvement with the child protection and out-of-home care systems.
Sheree brings extensive experience working with Aboriginal children, families and communities across child protection, out-of-home care, family preservation, permanency, therapeutic practice and behavioural support. Her experience includes developing comprehensive Cultural Plans and culturally responsive Behaviour Support Plans, undertaking family finding, working collaboratively with ACCOs and Aboriginal services, and integrating cultural, clinical, behavioural and wellbeing information into assessment, planning and decision-making. She is also a trained Aboriginal Health Practitioner, a Registered Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioner with specialist practice expertise in Aboriginal wellbeing, and has undertaken research into evidence-informed practice approaches for working with Aboriginal children.
This depth of practice enables us to undertake cultural planning with both professional rigour and cultural humility. We recognise that cultural authority sits with Aboriginal families, kin, communities and cultural knowledge holders. Our role is to facilitate meaningful consultation, seek out information that may not yet be known, ensure the voices of children and family are reflected, and translate that knowledge into practical, accountable and developmentally responsive plans.
Our focus is on producing Cultural Plans that are authentic, evidence-informed and capable of being implemented plans that identify who holds responsibility for maintaining cultural relationships, what actions will occur, how connection to Country and community will be supported, how family and kin relationships will be strengthened, and how progress will be reviewed over time.
Most importantly, we understand that culture is not an activity, an annual event or an attachment to a case plan. For Aboriginal children and young people, culture is fundamental to identity, belonging, safety, wellbeing and lifelong connection. Effective cultural planning ensures that children do not simply know they are Aboriginal, but have genuine opportunities to know who they are, where they belong, who they are connected to and how those relationships will be protected and strengthened throughout childhood, adolescence and into adulthood.
Cultural Safety
Cultural safety begins with recognising that professional knowledge does not replace cultural authority. My practice is grounded in cultural humility, critical reflection and an understanding that culture, identity, family, kin, community and Country are fundamental to safety, wellbeing and belonging. I recognise the responsibility practitioners and organisations hold to examine power, bias, assumptions and systemic practices, and to understand how this influence the experiences of Aboriginal children, families and communities. Cultural safety is determined by the experience of those receiving a service, not by the intentions of those providing it.
Our role is to listen, build genuine relationships, work alongside Aboriginal people and communities, respect cultural authority and ensure that practice remains accountable, responsive and open to challenge and change.
Referrals for cultural plans: sheree@the-logical-solution.com
We will require basic information around the child, young person, cultural identity, age and some basic family information. Cultural plans may take up to a month depending on how much family finding is required.