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This article outlines key considerations and issues inherent in undertaking effective evaluations of programs developed for Indigenous Australians, written from the perspective of a non-Indigenous evaluator. The considerations identified include a number of professional practice areas, namely the need for evaluators to: operate with an understanding and appreciation of the historical and systemic context experienced by Indigenous Australians; work from the basis of a solid code of ethics and practice standards; and operate with high levels of cultural sensitivity and the ability to appreciate Indigenous world views and differences. Another central consideration identified in the article is that evaluators need to hold a commitment to produce useful and useable evaluation findings that can inform future program design and social policy in relation to improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. The article develops a number of principles for evaluators to follow in evaluating programs developed for Indigenous Australians. These include: having respect for the importance of historical, socioeconomic and psychological context; commitment to ensuring relevance in methodologies and approaches used; reciprocity in considering the benefits for participating Indigenous communities; and responsibility in undertaking effective communication and consultation. While most evaluators would agree with the above principles and values, the latter can be more challenging to apply in practice and examples of their application to evaluation, and the inherent challenges in the Indigenous context, are described. Such challenges include: operating within the restrictions of government silos with difficulties portraying the complex interrelationships that reflect the lives of Indigenous Australians; reaching consensus on evaluation design and implementation; working within restricted time frames with lack of opportunity to appreciate and reflect the unique differences among Indigenous communities across Australia; limitations inherent in engaging a broad and representative group of Indigenous stakeholders; and lack of control by the evaluator over the dissemination and influence of evaluation findings and results that link with subsequent decision-making processes.

The AES embarked upon a strategic planning process during 2009-2010 to develop a 10-year Strategic Plan for the AES. The AES Ten Year Strategic Plan (2010-2020) is titled Leading Evaluation in Australasia. The Strategic Plan and the associated Implementation Plan can be located on the AES website at < http://www.aes.asn.au/about >.

Evaluation takes place within a political and stakeholder context that has benefits for the relevance and usefulness of the evaluation. However, the politicised context also presents challenges in preserving evaluator independence and objectivity, with potential adverse consequences for the credibility of the evaluation. This article proposes that evaluators need to recognise and negotiate these challenges effectively to ensure that a quality evaluation results.

The 13th Annual Conference of the United Kingdom Evaluation Society (UKES), 'Great Expectations? Meeting the Changing Needs of Stakeholders in Evaluation', was held in Leeds, England on 22-23 November 2007. This article is a brief report on the conference.

Attempting to balance multiple stakeholder interests in program evaluation presents many challenges. The views of different stakeholders as part of a reference group, or multiple stakeholder voices within a sector, are often diverse and reflect different political and organisational interests. In order to ensure that the evaluation product is widely accepted, and thereby utilised, these differences need to be recognised, and mediated. To work effectively with multiple stakeholders in this manner, the evaluator requires well developed negotiation skills. This paper argues that negotiation is an essential component to the planning stage of an evaluation, and that strategic steps need to be taken early in the evaluation process to ensure consensus is developed in stakeholder expectations regarding methodology and outcomes from the evaluation. This article will put forward a number of negotiation principles for evaluation practice which view the evaluator as enabling stakeholders to appreciate all positions, including that of the evaluator, with consensus emerging from increased understanding and consciousness raising.

An evaluation of pre-hearing conferences in the Children's Court of Victoria was carried out during 1994 by five members of staff from the School of Social Work at the University of Melbourne. An interesting theme which emerged from this evaluation is the role of the convenor as pivotal to the process of the pre-hearing conference. The convenor has emerged as a critical figure in the success of the mediation process, and the knowledge, skills, and values they are equipped with are seen as essential to their effective operation. This article describes the role of convenors and the many responsibilities they must juggle in fulfilling their role, and the characteristics which make for an effective and successful conference. As conferences become a more frequent method of resolving conflict between individuals, families and society, it is hoped that the principles which emerge from this article will be applied to other conference proceedings. It is clear that we are moving away from conventional adversarial methods, to mediative and conciliative modes, and in doing so we need to become clear about the characteristics which are required for such processes. This is one exploratory study of a pilot project in Victoria which should be of interest to other conferencing and mediation mechanisms.

This paper traces the history of child welfare in Victoria, from the formation of the Children's Welfare Department to the present time. It draws principally upon the Annual Reports of the responsible state government department, to illustrate trends in out-of-home placement for children and young people admitted to care. It describes substantial shifts in direction to the institutions in the 1960s, deinstitutionalisation of the 1980s, and the re-emergence of home-based care as a favoured, economical option.The paper traces the ebbs and flows in numbers, periods of overcrowding and the current reduced number of children and young people in care. It notes events impacting on evolving child welfare history in Victoria, the child migration program, building projects, the establishment of family group homes, regionalisation, external review, the Children and Young Persons Act (1989), and mandatory reporting legislation. Themes emerging include: early child welfare as a period of rescue and reform; the monitoring of standards and re-entry of the department to residential care; the building of institutions and rising numbers in care; redevelopment and the emergence of a community focus; the expansion of child protection; and the phasing out of old models and the search for cost efficient alternatives.A challenge for the 1990s is the need for deliberate and planned monitoring and evaluation as institutional and residential care give way to home-based care, and numbers of admissions decrease. The paper aims to provide useful, historical material for readers with an interest in child welfare work which would benefit from a descriptive review of the past.

This article addresses the challenges facing the child welfare system in general, and child protection practice in particular, in responding to female genital mutilation (FGM) in an Australian context. Policy and programmatic responses to FGM are analysed to identify how child welfare concerns may be addressed in a culturally sensitive manner. PGM is depicted as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, related to a complex of inter-connected cultural, social, economic, religious, gender and migration issues. An appropriate response is one that acknowledges these antecedents through the utilisation of a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach. Legal and child protection responses to FGM are inadequate if operating in isolation and are most effective as adjuncts to community development strategies that are aimed at education, information dissemination and consciousness raising among affected communities. More work needs to be undertaken to develop frameworks for practitioners in a cross-cultural context, particularly in the light of continued settlement within Australia of migrant and refugee communities from countries with different child-rearing practices and beliefs.