The evaluation of the 'Protecting and Nurturing Children - Building Capacity, Building Bridges' Initiative

The 'Protecting and Nurturing Children: Building Capacity Building Bridges (BCBB)' was a national workforce development initiative funded by the Australian Government under the National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children. It was undertaken by the Australian Centre for Child Protection in partnership with twelve Communities for Children programs sites, and involved over 2000 practitioners from more than 250 organisations. The initiative aimed to transform the goals of the National Framework into action that made an impact within communities - through building practitioner capacity and strengthening collaboration between adult-focused and child and family focused services. In short, adult problems are the cause of more children entering the child protection system, and a different approach - combining support and collaboration - is desperately needed. This report outlines the formative evaluation of the initiative and its key learnings.