The KARI Clinic is an exciting and innovative service for the betterment of Aboriginal children and young people in Out of Home Care (OOHC).

The KARI Clinic aims to:

• Document the developmental and health needs of Aboriginal children and young people in OOHC in South West Sydney;
• Match the health needs of children with available services;
• Identify barriers to appropriate care and;
• Improve health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal children and youth entering OOHC.

The KARI Clinic has had a real and positive impact on people's lives and more importantly their futures.

Purpose of Clinic

The purpose of the KARI Clinic is to identify and prioritise the developmental and health needs of Aboriginal children and young people in OOHC. This allows KARI to provide a rapid and appropriate response to address the identified health and developmental needs of children and young people within the parameters of the resources available.

This is achieved through the operation of a multidisciplinary culturally appropriate community clinic offering health and developmental assessment to all Indigenous children and young people entering OOHC with KARI.

Awards Received

The KARI Clinic has also been acknowledged through the receipt of a number of prestigious awards over the past years. These include:

• NSW Aboriginal Health Awards: Strengthening Aboriginal Families and Children Award
• Premier's Excellence Awards: for Health, Wellbeing, Body and Mind

Current Staffing

At present the Clinic has a team of therapist that includes:

• Psychologist
• Speech Pathologist
• Counsellor

South West Sydney Area Health Service (SWSAHS)

We would like to acknowledge the important contribution of SSWAHS in the development and ongoing work of the KARI Clinic.

SSWAHS and KARI have been working together in partnership for a number of years, initially this partnership was about providing the Allied Health staff to the Clinic for three hours a fortnight to conduct the face to face assessments of children and young people in the KARI OOHC programs, as KARI has increased its capacity to engage therapy staff then the number of people employed by SSWAHS has decreased. The Paediatrician, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy services continue to be provided by SSWAHS.

Clinic Vision

The vision of the KARI Clinic is that all Aboriginal children and young people either entering, currently in or since left the care of KARI received quality health or related treatments that significantly improved their quality of life.

Future Directions

KARI Aboriginal Resources Inc. strategic plan identifies the goal "Strengthen and Develop the KARI Clinic" it is intended that the KARI Clinic will be consolidated and funding sought for growth of the services offered. KARI believes that there is an urgent need for the service delivered by the KARI Clinic to be available for the benefit of all Aboriginal children and young people in care and ultimately all children and young people within the local community.