2016 17 annual report - kids are...

2016-17 Annual Report

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PLAN-ON-A-PAGE

REACHING POTENTIAL

TOGETHER

Annual Report 2016-17

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OUR PHILOSOPHY Kids Are Kids! was established to meet the educational and therapy needs of any child and their family. We believe that our integrated, holistic and family-centred program is the most effective way for each family to benefit from the expertise of staff across a range of disciplines.

Kids Are Kids! has adopted a model of Family Centred Practice. This approach recognises the expertise of the family who knows their child’s needs the best. Families and therapists work together to set goals based on the family’s objectives. Therapists may assist families to break down the goals they have into smaller achievable steps in order to achieve their larger goals. Therapy is provided in many settings including the home, day care and school as well as within our centres.

As part of this approach, parents and therapists are partners and both have responsibilities to meet the agreed goals set at the time of assessment.

For families this means

• Identifying goals at the outset of therapy.

• Participating in decisions about the frequency and intensity of therapy.

• Following up on therapy at home (making it part of daily life).

• Attending scheduled appointments.

For therapists this means

• Providing sound clinical information that enable decisions to be made about goals for therapy.

• Providing high-quality advice and training to families and significant others in the child’s life.

• Providing families with all the information they need to make decisions.

• Evaluating the effectiveness of intervention and making appropriate recommendations.

CONTENTS Our Philosophy ....................................................... 3 Organisational Structure ......................................... 4 Board Members ...................................................... 5 Management Team ................................................ 7 Our Team ................................................................ 7 Chairperson’s Report ............................................. 8 Executives’ Report .................................................. 9 Program Report ................................................... 10 Human Resources ................................................. 14 Funding ................................................................. 14 Premises ................................................................ 15 Statistics ................................................................ 16 Major Sponsors, Affiliates and Special Thanks ..... 18 Significant Milestones ........................................... 19 Financials .............................................................. 20 Statement of Board of Management ................... 23 Statement of Profit Or Loss .................................. 24 Statement of Financial Position ............................ 25 Statement of Changes in Equity ........................... 26 Statement of Cash Flows ...................................... 27 Notes to the Financial Statements ....................... 28 Independent Audit Report .................................... 33

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Patron—Professor Andrew Whitehouse Appointed as Patron for Kids Are Kids! in 2014. Professor Andrew Whitehouse has been working at the Telethon Kids Institute since 2009, having arrived back in WA from the University of Oxford, where he was the Scott Family Junior Research Fellow for Studies in Autism (University College). He has been awarded competitive research funds from national and international funding bodies exceeding $30 million, and he is currently funded by a NHMRC Career Development Award. Professor Andrew Whitehouse directs the Autism and Related Disorders research team, who investigate the genetic and neurodevelopmental causes of developmental disorders such as Autism and language impairment, and conduct clinical intervention trials into these conditions. He was recently awarded the most prestigious award in the country for young researchers – the 3M Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science for 2017.

“Sometimes I forget what a rare privilege it is to love what you do for a living. Working with children with developmental disabilities and their families, it is near on impossible not to wake up each day, rub your hands together and look forward to what the day will bring: extraordinary children, from extraordinary families, in extraordinary circumstances. A collision of admiration and awe that creates the strongest of passions. I am extremely honoured to be the Patron of an organisation that is awash with this passion; it lines the halls of the centre and rings out through the hooting and hollering of the dedicated staff. As long as we have organisations like Kids are Kids, we will never forget how privileged we all are to share a world with these wonderful children. “

Organisation Chart

Board of Management

Executive Officers

Clinical Management General Management

Senior Supervising

Therapists

Program

Administrator

Therapists Marketing

Coordinator

Office Staff &

Reception


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Board Members Chairperson—Wayne Revitt Wayne Revitt has worked with children who have additional needs and their families as a carer, teacher and consultant for over 16 years. Wayne has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Australia, A Diploma of Education from Edith Cowan University and a Bachelor of Education (Special Needs) from James Cook University in Queensland. Beginning with voluntary work in Special Schools and the Activ Foundation hostels and group homes, Wayne went on to teach in Special Schools in Queensland and Western Australia. More recently with Hospital School Services, Wayne was Teacher in Charge of a Specialist Mental Health programme at a Child and Adolescent Mental Health clinic. This programme involved education and therapy for adolescents with a variety of mental health issues. Wayne was the Co-ordinator of the Peter Moyes Centre at Christ Church Grammar School from 2009 to 2011 and is currently the Head of Primary at the John Wollaston Anglican Community School. Wayne’s previous role with AISWA as an Inclusive Education Consultant has provided him with the opportunity to learn from many dedicated teachers across a wide range of schools, each with different educational and religious philosophies. He is interested in student well-being and in particular the great importance of early learning through evidence based, preventative, social-emotional learning programmes. As a founder of Kids Are Kids! Therapy and Education Centre, Wayne has served as Chairperson for the majority of the last decade.

Treasurer—Ben Palmer Ben is a qualified economist and has extensive experience in advising and managing the investment assets of charities and not-for-profit organisations. He spent nine years in the UK, latterly as Head of Portfolio Management for a leading fund manager, before returning home to Perth in 2011. Ben has sat on a number of Investment Committees, has advised numerous trustee boards and is currently General Manager, Investments for the Government Employees Superannuation Board (GESB). Ben has three young children and is passionate continuing his involvement in the charitable sector in Perth and in particular, helping disadvantaged children. In his spare time Ben likes spending time with his family, playing guitar and restoring his 1973 MG.

Secretary/General Member Sue Goss

Sue has worked as a School Officer for a number of years at various High Schools in the Perth Metropolitan area. Her husband is an engineer and as a result, has lived in the far north and northwest, sometimes in isolated communities, for most of their lives. Sue has 2 sons (41 and 34 years) both of whom are married and 5 wonderful grandchildren. Sue's interests are varied, enjoying spending time with family most of all, but she also loves the ballet, opera, reading and travelling. Sue is passionate about helping children reach their full potential and believe it is their right to be given every opportunity to achieve the best life possible.

Vice Chairperson—Ian Jarvis Ian was encouraged to become involved with Kids Are Kids! In 2003 by his daughter Kyla, a Speech Pathologist who worked for the organisation for many years. Ian retired after 35 years with PMG/Telecom/Telstra in finance, administrative and information technology roles and 9 years with Lotterywest developing business reporting systems and analytical tools. He continues to apply his experience and skills to improving the IT systems at Kids Are Kids!

A widower with 4 children and 7 grandchildren, Ian’s interests include computing, dinghy sailing, genealogy, community matters and family. He is also involved in other volunteer work associated with the Perth Modernian Society, beginner sailor training, dolphin watch program and the local residents association.

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General Member—Judy Wood (Resigned November 2016) Judy joined the Board at the end of 2006 having just retired from 28 years teaching at Mercedes College Perth where she worked part-time as a teacher in English and later the Religious Education programme. For several years she co-ordinated a Community Service programme for senior students which involved visits to Residences for the Elderly and Schools for children with disabilities. Judy also organised students volunteering both within and beyond the College. During her association with the Sisters of Mercy she was for a time on the Order’s Social Justice committee. After a long career in Education Judy recognises the importance of early intervention and the need for increasing resources in this area. Married to Michael, Judy is the mother of three adult children. Her other interests include experiencing other cultures through travel and taking a keen interest in social justice issues in our society and beyond. Judy is currently a volunteer teaching English to migrants and refugees, a student of tai chi and enjoys being a member of Voiceworks Vocal Ensemble.

General Member/Secretary – John O’Leary John is a highly regarded insurance professional with extensive underwriting and broking qualifications and experience. John has a strong passion for Disability and Community Care and continues to focus on providing his ever increasing portfolio of clients with exceptional service underpinned by thorough risk management advice and claims management expertise.


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Therapy Team

Senior Program & Clinical Coordinator

Jun Wee

Senior Supervising Therapists

Lauren Jerrat Louise Rogerson Sally Conneally

Speech Pathology

Jessica Vis Julia Noakes

Alexandra Enright

Sonja Van Heyningen Kate O’Rourke

Alisha Dufty Ellie Hodyl

Louise Philpott Melissa Burge

Rachel Bletchly Sarah Hellyer

Valerie Phoon Dianne Raby

Management Team

Executive Officer Clinical Management— Lisa Hoffman Lisa started her career as an occupational therapist working for disability services commission with children with disabilities. She then started work at PMH in the psychiatric ward and later the eating disorders program and the family pathways program. She moved from a senior clinical role to a management role and was responsible for designing, implementing and evaluating the day treatment program for the eating disorders program. Lisa completed her masters degree looking at the peer relationship culture amongst inpatients with anorexia nervosa. Lisa joined Kids Are Kids! In 2014 as Program and Clinical Services Manager. Lisa has a son and enjoys spending time with him.

Executive Officer General Management—Teresa Barrie Teresa commenced at Kids Are Kids! in July 2010 after working in administration and banking for many years. Prior to starting in her current position Teresa worked for T&C and ANZ bank for 7 years in a Management position, after having her second child Teresa then moved onto working in administration and accounting for the family business. Teresa has 2 children and enjoys spending quality time with her family.

Occupational Therapy

Angela James Kylie Kemsley

Sarah Browning Min Ng

Physiotherapy

Samantha Jones Laura Sarubin

Clinical Psychology

Lucy Moran Nicole MacDonald

Polina Starovoitova

Marketing

Amy Cikarela – Marketing Co-Ordinator

Administration Team

Kim Wright - Program Administrator

Renae Plumridge – Receptionist

Bridie Gordon—Receptionist

Heather Turner—Receptionist

Our Team As at 30 June 2017

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Chairperson’s Report In 2018, Kids Are Kids! will reach a significant milestone; our 21st Birthday. This creates the opportunity to place our development in context.

The conception of Kids Are Kids! occurred with the emerging concern for the families of children with additional needs expressed between the four founders; a Speech Pathologist, Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist and a Teacher. We were all working in the government sector, and agreed that more needed

to be done for children to provide a holistic service that provided a caring environment for the whole family. Our goals were clear; allied health services under the one roof, staff who listen, a high level of care and the desire to make a positive difference.

Our infancy involved some sleepless nights and long hours as we encountered the myriad of policies and procedures involved in setting up a not-for-profit organisation. We formed a Board, developed a constitution and engaged consultants for areas like graphic design and a business plan. An important decision centered on the name of our organisation. To this day, this remains an essential part of our purpose and guiding philosophy. Our main aim was to provide assistance for all children. Not just children with a disability. Not just children with a particular funding code. Not just children from a particular demographic or geographical area. We believed that all kids, are just kids. We believed this so much, we added an exclamation mark to emphasise the point! This goes to the very heart of Kids Are Kids; our decisions are made based on family and community need, not categories. We wanted a flexible organization that can adapt to new situations. To help children and families, when no other assistance is available.

Our first steps were shaky. Finding suitable premises was difficult and financing the early stages of Kids Are Kids! from our own personal funds was a challenge. Eventually, the Melville Council helpfully made a room available in what was the old Child Nurse Clinic in Bateman. Then came an act of faith that made Kids Are Kids! a reality. Bronwyn Fitzgerald (nee Williams) made the brave decision to start work as our first staff member; as Speech Pathologist and leader. This involved Bronwyn accepting less remuneration, working long hours and (quite literally) going it alone. Bronwyn’s commitment to Kids Are Kids! was the foundation of our organisation and set the tone for a caring, dedicated approach to our families.

Our childhood was as expected; we grew, matured and expanded over time. We developed a sound reputation, won many government contracts and other sources of funding. We expanded into the old Bateman Pre-Primary and our premises transformed regularly as creative ways were discovered to maximise limited space. Kids Are Kids! offered family centered services through a trans-disciplinary team long before these practices became the trend. Many wonderful therapists and administrators worked extremely hard to help us flourish. Families came to us from far and wide and appreciated our caring approach.

There were a few bumps in late adolescence as we grew rapidly and adjusted to changes internally and externally. At times the continued viability of Kids Are Kids! was threatened with issues around funding and some disharmony. However, our belief in the core philosophy of Kids Are Kids! remained strong and we held fast. As we recently emerged as an adult, Kids Are Kids! is more mature, grounded and continues with a clear direction and purpose. We continue to believe that all kids are just kids. We are flexible and innovative. We have highly skilled, dedicated staff that are optimistic about our future and our capacity to make a positive difference.

Kind regards Wayne Revitt


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Executive Officers’ Report This has been another busy and exciting year for Kids Are Kids! which has seen an unprecedented period of growth in our team. This in itself has presented many challenges, but we are committed to remain true to our mission and values and provide a quality individualised service where all of our clients feel welcome, cared for and part of our Kids Are Kids! family. The growth we have experienced through our WA NDIS services and Clinical Psychology Services in particular have enabled us to support more families and welcome

more wonderful staff to our team. We are so proud of all of our staff, and the immeasurable contributions they make to our families and our workplace. The Kids Are Kids! team continues to grow in strength and quality and also in the support and care they offer each other. Each challenge this year has seen our staff unite further and develop as a team and as individuals. During the year we applied for various grants and government tenders and were very pleased to be awarded a contract with WA Country Health Services to provide Clinical Psychology, Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology services to families in regional and remote areas and as one of five external service providers for Child Development Services Speech Pathology. Other contracts extended for a further year included DSC Autism Assessments, CDS Autism Assessments and CDS Physiotherapy. We were successful in a Perpetual Trustee Grant application and were awarded a $60,000 grant from the Helen Leech Trust to provide Circle of Security groups to families of children with special needs. The Shire of Cranbrook submitted a successful grant to the Great Southern Development Commission which will enable Alisha to provide Speech Pathology Assessment and Intervention to the local community. We have been able to commence and grow our services for Clinical Psychology in Rockingham thanks to the hard work of Lauren Jerrat and her initiative in making connections in the region. We have put more focus and energy into fundraising this year thanks to our extremely hard working subcommittee. The incredible generosity of our donors and supporters enabled us to continue to make our services accessible to all families, provide a subsidized Circle of Security Program to help improve parent’s repertoire of strategies to support their children, improve their relationships and also continue our highly valued Therapy Scholarship Program. The pinnacle of our fundraising this year was our Christmas in July Gala Dinner. This wonderful night was a celebration of Kids Are Kids! and it was inspiring to be joined by so many of our Corporate Supporters, families and friends of Kids Are Kids! .Together we raised $27, 000. The highlight of the year was undoubtedly the opening of our Sensory Xploration Hub in October 2016, with sincere thanks to the Think Fragile X Foundation, Grant Thornton, Valmac and so many other supporters for their generosity and personal support of this exciting facility. Our therapists are finding this world class therapy facility is helping to achieve significant progress for so many of the children that attend the centre and enabling them to be more creative in their programming. The smiles on the faces of the children heading in and coming out of the Hub, and hearing the squeals of laughter of the children is a daily reminder of what motivates and inspires us. Our annual Family Christmas Picnic at Piney Lakes, supported this year by staff from Grant Thornton and Zenith Insurance, was a great success with a record number of children attending. Constant change in the disability sector through NDIS trials and changes in procedures has been challenging to navigate in all of our roles, but also rewarding in being able to provide services to more families who are choosing Kids Are Kids! and making a difference in more children’s lives. We were successful in our application to be a registered provider on the Disability Services Provider Panel for both Early Intervention and School Aged services. We supported many of our families to make the transition to an individualised funded service through WA NDIS or to welcome new families to Kids Are Kids! and support them through what is often a challenging time. We were delighted to recruit Jun Wee to lead our KidStart and WA NDIS programs and she has done an outstanding job in supporting families and staff across these programs. We are constantly looking to improve our services and develop our programs to meet the needs of our clients and families. To this end we have developed a number of new group programs this year and also fostered relationships with other not for profit organisations including Miracle Babies, Kalparrin, Autism West, Directions and also with the Department of Child Protection, Rockingham CAMHS and many GP’s. We are so pleased to be supported by our Patron, Professor Andrew Whitehouse and appreciate all that he has done for Kids Are Kids! again this year. Thank you to our longstanding Corporate supporters, Grant Thornton, ATCO Australia and Lakes Networking. We were also thrilled to be chosen by the Newmont Perth Social Club as their charity partner for 2017. We were appreciative of the opportunity to appear briefly on the Channel 10 news and be featured in the Fragile X Association’s national newsletter. Our own client newsletter was relaunched this year and featured inspirational stories from the families we support. Overall 2016-17 was a great year for Kids Are Kids! We look forward to continuing to strive to meet the challenges ahead.

Warm regards, Teresa Barrie Lisa Hoffman Executive Officer General Management Executive Officer Clinical Management

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Program Report

KidStart Early Childhood Intervention Program (DSC), WA NDIS and NDIA NDIS

(Jun Wee, Senior Program and Clinical Coordinator)

The Disability Service Commission (DSC) Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) KidStart program has continued to provide excellent transdisciplinary therapy services to up to 78 families at any one time throughout the year.

Therapists continue to work closely together to provide family centred services to clients in their natural environments, including home, school, day-care and community. Families continue to strongly benefit from the 3 Psychology sessions offered by Kids Are Kids! within our KidStart program. Significant work has occurred within the team to improve the quality and timeliness of Family Service and Support Plans (FSSP) written with families. Goals documented on these plans are based on each family’s priorities, and work towards a functional outcome for the child. During the 2016-2017 financial year, the time that clients spent on the waitlist has ranged from 0-8 weeks.

The WA NDIS program continues to grow and is now equal in size to the KidStart program. More therapists are beginning to work under the WA NDIS program, and significant work has been undertaken to upskill therapists in their knowledge of WA NDIS, as well as how to work within this funding system. With a new Program Coordinator on board since April 2017, the team has worked together to streamline processes and procedures in response to the needs of this fast growing program.

The transition of the Rockingham and Mandurah areas into WA NDIS will be of particular significance to the KidStart program, as this will affect more than 30% of our existing KidStart clients. Key workers in the team are particularly supporting clients in these areas by linking families with Local Coordinators (LC’s), assisting them in the goal setting and prioritising and finally providing relevant assessment and intervention summary information to families and LC’s . The Program Coordinator is working closely alongside therapists to provide quotes for therapy services with Kids Are Kids! to Local Coordinators and families, so that those services can be included in their WA NDIS plans. It is noted that in order for clients to transition smoothly into their WA NDIS plans, LC’s are requiring quick responses from the therapy team, and significant time and resources are being used to support our families in this area.

Kids Are Kids! also continues to receive a steady stream of new WA NDIS enquiries, from new clients in the WA NDIS trial site areas, interested in receiving therapy services. This has grown from approximately 4 new enquiries a month, to approximately 7 new enquiries a month across the year.

Overall, it has been a very busy, but very successful year in both the KidStart and WA NDIS programs. The team has shown its strength and resilience in a growing/changing sector environment, and leadership changes and continues to remain positive about the unique quality service Kids Are Kids! can offer families in both of these programs.

Child Development Service (CDS) Program

(Sally Conneally, Senior Supervising Speech Pathologist)

This year Kids Are Kids! were able to provide CDS Speech Pathology services to 143 clients: 71 Bateman clients and 72 Rockingham clients. This was an average of 5.9 hours of services per client.

This year saw significant change in the CDS Speech Pathology Program. In August 2016, Kids Are Kids! received confirmation that we had been successful in tendering for the new three year CDS contract, starting on 4th January 2017. We were one of five external providers. This involved providing services under two different contracts across the year, each with significantly different protocols and processes. Our CDS contract managers asked Kids Are Kids! to complete services for the majority of clients under the first contract by the end of 2016 so that only a few families would need to transition to the new service. Sally updated the CDS program procedures for the new


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contract and presented them to the SP team in December 2016, prior to the commencement of the new contract in January 2017. Our staff have worked hard to provide quality services under each of these contracts and adapt our processes to fulfil requirements of the new service contract.

Sally and Lisa attended an orientation session for the new CDS contract with other external providers in October 2016. Procedures, care pathways, reporting spreadsheets and report templates were presented and discussed. They also attended a follow-up meeting regarding the new contract with other external providers in November 2016. Queries regarding procedures, care pathways, reporting spreadsheets and report templates were answered.

On commencement of the new contract in January 2017, the number of speech pathologists working in the contract was reduced to two: Sally Conneally and Melissa Burge. This was to enable Sally to monitor the transition into the new contract procedures more easily. As the year progressed, two more speech pathologists were inducted into the new program procedures: Sonja van Heyningen and Julia Noakes. At the start of the new contract in January 2017, it was agreed that 4 new referrals per month would be sent for Rockingham and 2 per month for Bateman. However, through negotiation with our contract managers, an increase in the number of monthly referrals to Bateman was approved to 5 per month from April onwards. An initial contractual audit has been completed and Kids Are Kids! has been meeting KPIs regarding timeframes for completing assessments and uploading reports.

Our CDS Physiotherapy service has performed well this year exceeding budgeted forecasts. There was again a seamless transition of therapists as Laura Sarubin returned from maternity leave and resumed this caseload. We were offered the second one year extension option on our existing contract which ended May 2017 and we have continued to improve our administrative and data entering processes to promote a more timely service to families and to better meet our KPIs. This service operates with very tight time frames which is essential when working with very young children with plagiocephaly and torticollis.

Autism Assessment

(Jessica Vis, Senior Speech Pathologist)

The Autism Assessment team at Kids are Kids! has been very busy this year as a panel provider for DSC and CDS. We have welcomed Speech Pathologists Alex Enright, Dianne Raby and Sarah Hellyer to our assessment

team. Our Senior Speech Pathologist Louise Philpott relocated to Victoria, but continues to provide remote mentoring for the team, to ensure consistency of assessment and reporting. Jessica Vis has taken over the leadership of this team and we continue to receive a steady stream of referrals, co-ordinated by Kim Wright.

We are now able to offer private autism diagnostic assessments with both Speech Pathology and Clinical Psychology. Polina Starovoitova (Clinical Psychologist Registrar) recently joined the Kids Are Kids! team and is experienced in providing panel autism assessments therefore can work with our experienced Speech Pathologists to provide a more stream lined service to families.

Lisa Hoffman and Jessica Vis met with the team at CDS, along with Perth Psychology Services to discuss efficiency of report writing between the two organisations and to improve other processes. This was a valuable meeting and has improved service delivery in this contract.

Department of Social Services (DSS)

(Jessica Vis, Senior Speech Pathologist)

The DSS team continues to provide therapy and resources support to Kids Are Kids! families. Several families in the KidStart team have chosen to top up their state funding using DSS funding. Other families on the waitlist

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for KidStart have been able to commence services sooner, using DSS funding until a KidStart place becomes available. The team continues to provide a consistent and co-ordinated service for families using both state and federal funding at Kids Are Kids! The team has also been working with families who are transitioning to WA NDIS or NDIA Hills, supporting families to use their funding most effectively during the transition process. This year Kids Are Kids! was approved to provide DSS services through video conferencing to rural and remote families which has been used by several families to improve their access to services.

WA Country Health Services (WACHS) Program

(Sally Conneally, Senior Supervising Speech Pathologist)

Over the year Kids Are Kids! was able to provide WACHS services to 63 clients: 55 WACHS-Clinical Psychology clients (including 5 for Northam) and 8 WACHS-Speech Pathology clients. This was an average of 4.6 hours of

service per client.

Kids Are Kids! provided Clinical Psychology services to Katanning and the Pilbara with an interim contract from July to December 2016. During this period our WACHS program coordinator, Kylie Kemsley commenced parental leave and Sally took over coordination duties. We were pleased to be able to continue to provide these services through a successful but lengthy tender process and commenced a new WACHS contract with the Pilbara and Katanning regions from January. We were later told that we had also been successful in our tender for Speech Pathology services to the Pilbara and some months were spent working with the regional staff to plan and develop this new service.

Lisa, Sally and Kim attended the WACHS monthly management meeting in March 2017 via Telehealth with Kylee Cox, Deanna Exeter (Pilbara) and Michelle Carrington (Katanning). Feedback was received from Pilbara regarding how pleased families were with WACHS Clinical Psychology services provided by Kids are Kids!. WACHS were also happy with the reporting format used by Kids Are Kids!

In March we were asked to quote for a combination drive in drive out and telehealth service for clinical psychology for Northam. Lauren and Polina have both been involved in providing this new service.

Sally and Lauren attended a WACHS staff meeting via Telehealth in May with South Hedland senior SP and OTs. The referral process for SP services was discussed and Lauren gave information regarding CP services. Kids Are Kids! Speech Pathology services commenced in May and are developing slowly. Kids Are Kids! has also been asked to provide OT services via telehealth to Tom Price in the Pilbara and these services commenced in July.

Fee-For-Service Program

(Louise Rogerson, Senior Supervising Occupational Therapist)

Our Fee-For-Service program continues to provide individualised and multi-disciplinary services to clients and their families. The program offers a focused or detailed assessment and individualised quality therapy

according to the goals of the child and their family. Families can choose to see one therapist or a multidisciplinary team. These sessions can take place either in the home, school or at the Kids Are Kids! Centre in Bateman or our satellite offices in Rockingham or Mount Barker. Whilst the costs of these services are met by the families, Kids Are Kids! provides many services under the Commonwealth Government’s Chronic Disease Management and Mental Health plans which allow families to claim through Medicare. Our therapists also have provider numbers allowing families to claim through a range of Private Health Funds.

School-based Program

(Louise Rogerson, Senior Supervising Occupational Therapist)

Kids are Kids! continued to provide services at Aubin Grove Primary school throughout the year with 2 days of Speech Pathology and 1 day of Occupational Therapy each week.

The school was able to provide a separate work area for both therapists, further enhancing quality and efficiency. Services are currently


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provided by Melissa Burge Speech Pathologist and Senior Supervising Occupational Therapist Louise Rogerson. In February 2017 some clients from Aubin Grove Primary School transferred to the newly opened Honeywood Primary School nearby. OT services were provided at Honeywood.

We concluded our 3 year contract with All Saints College Junior School in December 2016.

Kids Are Kids! provided annual OT Screening for 48 Kindy students as well as ongoing weekly Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology therapy services to children as requested. In 2016 we continued to provide Speech Screens at Our Lady of Mt Carmel school for approximately 50 Pre-Primary children.

Clinical Psychology

(Lauren Jerrat, Senior Clinical Psychologist)

Clinical Psychology services at Kids are Kids! have experienced significant growth and demand over the past year. In 2017, two new psychologists- Senior Clinical psychologist Dr Lauren Jerrat and Clinical Psychology

Registrar Polina Starovoitova joined our growing team. Staff have worked hard to provide professional and timely services to many families across WA. Referrals have continued to increase in our WACHS and FFS programs and this demand is likely to continue. We are also seeing an increase in demand for psychology services through WA NDIS, particularly for school aged children. Due to increased demand we are now providing weekly psychology services from our Rockingham office which has proved very popular and assisted more families to access these services. Kids Are Kids! was excited to launch our first Circle of Security Scholarship Program with the funds raised at last year’s Christmas in July Gala Dinner to support parents to improve their relationship with their children and their range of parenting strategies.

Kids Are Kids! Great Southern

(Alisha Dufty, Senior Speech Pathologist)

This year has seen significant growth in the Great Southern branch, despite being managed

remotely from Bateman while Alisha was on maternity leave for 4 months. During Alisha’s leave our Speech Pathologist, Julia Noakes and Occupational Therapist, Min Ng, visited Mount Barker for a clinic and provided follow up and support from Perth. Families particularly appreciated the opportunity for some OT input. Since Alisha’s return, our client base continues to grow steadily, thanks in part to a grant from the Mount Barker Co Operative which funded workshops, discounted speech pathology screens and heavily discounted assessments through the local day care centre and three local playgroups; addressing both the need for increased parental awareness and enhancing capacity to access services. Innovative solutions and funding continue to be sought to overcome the financial barriers prevalent in the region, such as payment plans for assessments and a revolving stuttering group based on new research. Kids Are Kids! is also very excited to have been named as sole provider in a successful grant from the Great Southern Development Commission which will provide one day per week of speech pathology in the Shire of Cranbrook for 12-18 months, increasing the FTE of the Great Southern Branch to almost 0.4 for the first time since opening. We moved premises this year to the Mount Barker Community College which is working well for the local community. We have also been developing links with the Denmark community and will start providing services in this region next year. We look forward to providing accessible services to all families in the Great Southern who have in the past, been expected to travel up to three hours for therapy sessions.

Therapy Scholarships

Kids Are Kids! was thrilled to be able to offer 10 therapy scholarships again this year thanks to the wonderful generosity of Variety, the Think Fragile X Foundation and ATCO Australia. We had a total of 22 scholarship applications and our selection panel included representatives from Variety, the Think Fragile X Foundation, ATCO and administrative and clinical staff. Scholarships were offered to 10 very worthy families so that

their children could access much needed therapy at Kids Are Kids! to address their goals and priorities to improve their children’s lives. We have been exploring fundraising initiatives this year to enable this important program to continue.

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Group Program

(Alex Enright, Senior Speech Pathologist)

We have continued to provide some longstanding group programs this year including Messy Play and our Social

Eyes program, which has been reviewed and developed by Melissa Burge and other therapists. We have received very positive feedback around this revised program from recent participants. This year has also seen the development of a number of new groups including a popular Infant Massage group, developed by Physiotherapist Sam Jones, a specialised Articulation group developed by Alex and a Circle Of Security Program which has been subsidized by the funds raised at the Christmas in July Gala Dinner.

Human Resources Every team member at Kids Are Kids! is passionate about improving children’s lives and brings their expertise, care and compassion to providing meaningful and relevant therapy services to children and their families. In 2016-17 we welcomed new staff to our growing clinical team. Dr Lauren Jerrat, Senior Clinical Psychologist and Min

Ng, Occupational Therapist, joined us from interstate and Jun Wee, Senior Program and Clinical Coordinator, joined us to head our KidStart and WANDIS programs. Our Speech Pathology team has experienced steady growth welcoming Valerie Phoon, Sarah Hellyer and Dianne Raby and we were also able to increase our Clinical Psychology team with Kate Bodill and Polina Starovoita helping us to provide additional services in Rockingham, Northam and the metro area.

Alisha Dufty, Rachel Bletchley and Kylie Kemsley all had gorgeous baby boys this year and we have more staff expecting bundles of joy in the coming year.

Funding

Contracting

This year we provided services for 72 places in our DSC funded KidStart Early Intervention program and our contract for DSC funded Autism Assessments was extended a further 12 months. We were delighted to be awarded a 3 year contract with the Health Department for CDS Speech Pathology services and our contracts

for CDS Physiotherapy services and Autism assessments were extended for a further 12 months. We were also thrilled to be awarded a 2 year contract with WACHS for Clinical Psychology and Speech Pathology services to waitlisted families in rural and remote locations through a telehealth medium.

Grants During the year we were awarded a grant from Perpetual IMPACT Philanthropy Program the Helen Leech foundation for Circle of Security groups to promote positive relationships and bonding between parents and their children targeting at risk families. We were also awarded a grant from Mount Barker Cooperative for speech pathology screens in the Mount Barker region.


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Donations

We were very grateful to be the beneficiary of a number of donations during the year and thank everyone for their generosity and continued support. Without the support of our corporate partners and individuals it just would not be possible to continue to provide quality affordable therapy

services to all families. A special thanks to The Think Fragile X Foundation, Grant Thornton, ATCO Australia, ATCO Gas, ATCO Power, Lakes Networking, Santa’s Helpers, Rudy Wong, and Anderson Dufty Building Company.

Fundraising

Our inaugural Christmas in July Gala Dinner was a fun filled night bringing everyone together to help raise significant funds. Money raised has been used to subsidise the Circle of Security program and provide therapy scholarships.

We also raised funds through Cadbury Easter Eggs, Entertainments Books, Sausage Sizzle and the Grill’d Local Matters program.

Premises

Xploration Hub

Maria and Luke Goss and the Think Fragile X Foundation raised $180, 000 to build a world class Sensory Xploration Hub at Kids Are Kids! This unique facility was officially

opened in October 2016 and features the Grant Thornton Active Room and the Valmec Calming room. We are very proud of this facility and appreciate the generous support of so many people that have made this vision a reality and the opportunity to work with the Goss family to make a difference to so many families.


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A Special Thank You to these

ORGANISATIONS: ATCO Australia

ATCO Gas Australia ATCO I-Tek

ATCO Power Australia City of Melville

Lotterywest Santa’s Workshop

Think Fragile X Foundation Nexia Perth

Lakes Networking Newmont

Compu-Stor West Australian Ballet

Grant Thornton Variety WA

INDIVIDUALS: Anne Doble

Ian Jarvis Diane Richardson

Marie Trappitt Ted Rowley

Chetan Xavery Rudy Wong

Jonathon Curtis Matt Taylor, Past MLA Member for Bateman

Major Sponsors and Affiliates


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Formed by a group of four professionals working in the disability services area:

Margaret Orr, Wayne Revitt,

Mai Welsh (nee Keane) and Bronwyn Fitzgerald (nee Williams).

SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES

1996 The idea conceived to provide families with a choice in the services they received from a non-exclusive, holistic, family-centred service provider at the lowest possible cost. 1997 Kids Are Kids! was officially incorporated in 1997. 1998 Became operational at the old Parry Avenue Bateman Child Health Centre. 2000 Growing demand prompted a move to our current location at the old Bateman Pre-primary Centre . 2005 Demand for services continued to increase. Improvements made to the premises including internal partitioning by John Madden. Large Lotterywest grant to establish computer server, network and workstations 2008 Car parking added 2010 Brookfield Multiplex added a covered external therapy area and major landscaping improvements 2011 Building Belonging converted old gross motor store to a therapy room and veranda area enclosed South City Church “Reno for a Cause” upgraded the front garden/lawn area and installed entrance pergola Mobile Therapy Van purchased funded by Paul Newman’s Own Foundation and Lotterywest Room Leased at Lotteries House Rockingham 2012 Addition of a transportable building with two therapy rooms and an office 2013 New partitions were installed to improve privacy 2015 Fragile-X Foundation funded a major renovation to entrance and reception including a new parent retreat and Fraggles Physiotherapy Room Branch opened in Mount Barker. 2016 The Sensory Xploration Hub funded by the Think Fragile X Foundation opened. Client age limit extended to 18 year olds and Kids Are Kids! officially recognised as a school age service provider. Inaugural Gala Dinner held as Christmas in July

a: 26 Parry Avenue, Bateman, WA 6150 | PO Box 1096, Booragoon, WA 6954 t: (08) 9313 6566 | f: (08) 9313 5566

e: [email protected] | w: kidsarekids.org.au

Proudly endorsed by our Patron, Professor Andrew Whitehouse

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Finance Kids Are Kids! finished the 2016/17 financial year with an operating surplus of $137,369 (2015/16: surplus of $87,940) after depreciation. The Kids Are Kids! balance sheet continued to reflect a stable financial position as at 30 June 2017 with net assets of $553,887 (2016: $416,518 ).


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2016 17 annual report - kids are...

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