International Social Service Australia

ISS Australia joined in the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the International Social Service (ISS) this week at Parliament House, Sydney, NSW. Guest speakers included Minister the Hon Jodie Harrison, Departmental Secretary Michael Tidball, Uncle Michael West from the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council, and Emily Hikaiti, a highly respected advocate for children and young people in the out of home care system. Many generations of ISS staff, board members and stakeholders joined us for this important celebration. 100 years of supporting children and families across borders and helping people belong and know who they are. Happy Birthday ISS! Pictured below are staff, board members and stakeholders of ISS Australia!

ISS Australia’s Deputy CEO, Damon Martin, recently presented at the National Kinship, Permanent and Foster Care Conference at the Melbourne Convention Centre. Damon presented on ‘How International Kinship Care creates Equity in Permanency’. In countries around the world there are children and young people in care who have extended family members overseas that may be able to care for them. In Australia alone, there are over 46,000 children in care, the majority of whom are in placements with carers that they have no biological connection with. ISS has developed a set of Equity in Permanency principles for child protection practitioners and decision-makers to prioritise the exploration of family placements, without discrimination of any kind. These principles promote access and connection with the child’s extended family (both locally and overseas) to provide the best opportunity for them to be raised with a strong sense of identity, belonging, roots and culture.

ISS Australia’s Manager Lawyer, Jessica Raffal, recently had the honour of presenting at the Hague Conference on Private International Law Forum on Domestic Violence and the Operation of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention. Jessica is a leading legal practitioner in International Parental Child Abduction. She spoke in the first session of the conference and gave her insightful perspectives on family violence and the Convention in the link below. ISS Australia provides expert legal, social work and mediation support services in international parental child abduction and as a Community Legal Centre we also use this expertise to contribute to policy development in this area. ISS Australia is proud to be an active member of the International Social Service (ISS) network helping children and families across borders around the globe. https://lnkd.in/gHVG65dX

ISS Australia has released its quarterly newsletter. Read all about our work supporting people impacted by international parental child abduction, promoting international child protection and kinship care and delivering international family mediation services. ISS Australia is committed to supporting children and families across borders. https://lnkd.in/eDcJVnqV

This Saturday May 25 is International Missing Children's Day. On this day people around the world draw attention to the thousands of missing children globally, support the children who have found their way home, remember those who have not been found and commemorate missing children who have been victims of crime. ISS Australia is dedicated to supporting families with missing children through our international parental child abduction legal and social work services. Many of ISS Australia’s international network partners such as Droit d'Enfance - Fondation Méquignon (SSI) in France also provide support services for missing children and their families. On this day ISS Australia affirms our absolute commitment to missing children, to their families, to the Australian National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, and finally to a world in which child safety and child rights are our number one priority. #internationalmissingchildrensday icmec.org/May25 Australian Federal Police (National Missing Persons Coordination Centre)

The ISS Australia International Family Mediation (IFM) and International Parental Child Abduction (IPCA) teams have had an engaging and informative week at the Family Relationship Services Australia (FRSA) conference. Held in Melbourne this was a fantastic opportunity to promote the work of ISS Australia, network with other family relationship services and learn about current issues in the sector. ISS Australia supports children and families across borders. Eleni Bailey (below far right), from our IFM team, managed and led ISS Australia's delegation.

ISS Australia was pleased to partner with Children's Rights International and our new sponsor Nicholes Family Lawyers (Sally Nicholes) this week to hold a symposium on International Kinship Care: A Child Rights Approach. The symposium heard from experts including Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan, the Hon. Jennifer Coate AO, Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn, Mr Damon Martin and Professor John Tobin. International kinship care involves the placement of children overseas with family when similar local family placement options are not available. ISS Australia advocates for the full exploration of international kinship care in the best interests of the child. ISS Australia has also also just released our quarterly newsletter where you can read all about ISS100. Yes - it's our birthday. ISS was formed 100 years ago in Geneva by female pioneers and is now found in around 130 countries around the world. https://lnkd.in/gEfAqDth Pictured below are speakers and attendees of the symposium.

ISS Australia’s Damon Martin and Anjali Prabhu recently presented in an ISS Asia-Pacific webinar: Cross-Border Family Connections - 7 Principles to Protect Children's Rights in Practice (see the video link below). With ISS colleagues from Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Thailand, Damon and Anjali presented the principles which prioritise the exploration of family placements, both locally and overseas, without discrimination of any kind. They also provided practical case examples on implementing the principles and invited child protection professionals and policy decision-makers to discover when, why and how to consider cross border family placements. ISS Australia and our network partners are proud to provide expert advice in Australia and around the world on supporting children and families across borders. https://lnkd.in/e5gdkZ9c

Happy International Women's Day! The International Social Service was created in 1924 in Geneva, Switzerland, by women who wanted to help the millions of families and children displaced across borders by war. This work has had an incredible impact on thousand of families and children around the globe. We are now a global network present in more than 120 countries including Australia helping children and families across borders. Below are the women who continue this important legacy started 100 years ago and make ISS Australia what it is today. #IWD2024 #ISS100

Happy International Women's Day! The International Social Service was created in 1924 in Geneva, Switzerland, by women who wanted to help the millions of families and children displaced across borders by war. This work has had an incredible impact on thousand of families and children around the globe. We are now a global network present in more than 120 countries including Australia helping children and families across borders. Below are the women who continue this important legacy started 100 years ago and make ISS Australia what it is today. #IWD2024 #ISS100