Resume

After achieving a Bachelor of Social Studies degree from the University of Sydney (1975), Penny practiced in country New South Wales before joining the Drugs in Pregnancy program at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. This began her long interest in working with children who have been impacted by the child protection system and who are not able to live in their birth families.

Penny has worked as a private practitioner in the field of Adoption, Permanent Care and Foster Care since 1988, initially specialising in the area of assessment of prospective adoptive parents and in identifying the additional responsibilities, sensitivities, awareness and skill required in parenting a child born to someone else. Her work with children in the out of home care system and adoptees has given her a particular interest in how these children come to know and understand their experiences, and, more importantly, how they are provided with the tools, and the emotional support, to integrate their experiences in as functional a manner as possible.

She has extensive experience working with birth families, many of whom have been impacted by the child protection system themselves, and with carers, to build the family based contact arrangements that she believes offer the most sustainable model for contact as the young person matures.

With a colleague, Penny has developed and presented all Departmental Intercountry and Local Preparation for Adoption seminars, as well as the Out of Home Care Preparation for Adoption seminars. More recently she and her colleague have developed training for caseworkers, assessors and managers to develop their skills in working with all the parties and processes of adoption.