Social Care Solutions

Specialising in tailored solutions for safeguarding children in the
education, child protection, health, and early education sectors

Consultancy

As experts in the child protection industry, we have a wealth of knowledge and skills to assist organisations to build, change, grow, improve and review their programs, projects and teams

Program Reviews
Quality Assurance
Team Development
Leadership Development
Peer Mentoring Program
Special Projects

Training

Whether delivering standard child protection training courses or building and facilitating bespoke, fit-for-purpose training packages, SCS can design and run training that meets your needs.

Assessment Writing Workshop
Tailored Training and Development
Practice Enhancement Project
Online Masterclasses
Standard Training
AAPP – Australian Assessor Preferred Pathway

Assessments

Offering foster and kinship care assessments, parenting capacity, guardianship, suitability and specialist assessments, our team have a proven history of completing high quality assessments across Australia.

Foster and Kinship Care Initial and Renewal Assessments
Step-By-Step Assessments
Guardianship Assessments
Parenting Capacity Assessments
Coaching and Mentoring

Support

We have a team of practitioners, youth workers and specialists who can deliver in-home and in-community support to families of origin and foster and kin families needing additional support to care for their children and young people.

Placement Support
Family Group Meetings
Complex Case Reviews
Life Story Work
Professional Supervision
Policy & Tender Writing

Mel James - Chief Executive Officer

A dedicated social worker with 25 years’ experience, Mel founded Social Care Solutions in 2009 with a vision to improve outcomes for children and young people in care. Her unwavering commitment to excellence and ethical practice has guided SCS’s growth into an internationally recognised organisation known for its integrity, quality and innovation.

Carmen Bonner - Chief of Operations

Carmen joined SCS in 2014 after a career in frontline and senior management across child protection and disability services in Australia and abroad. Her commitment to evidence-based, child-led, and trauma-informed practice guides her work leading our teams to be innovative, creative, collaborative and child-focused across all areas of the business.

Christina McLaughlin - Chief of Strategy and Governance

After 30 years in frontline and policy areas of government, Christina joined

SCS to reconnect with her commitment to children and young people. As

Chief of Strategy and Governance, Christina brings deep expertise in

policy and program development, stakeholder engagement and

leadership, guiding SCS in quality, excellence and best practice.

Testimonials

As a leader in a large community organisation I engaged SCS to assist in the development of the organisation’s foster care assessment expertise. Mel and the team are absolutely top of their field in this important work. They assisted us to model best practice, improve capacity and develop expertise in holistic assessment of carers. We used their peer mentoring service and professional development for our assessment workers and the feedback was phenomenal.

Jenny McNaughton, Deputy CEO - Berry Street

Latest News

Foster carers training with Social Care Solutions in South East Queensland

Introducing Fostering Beginnings: A New Chapter for Social Care Solutions

We're proud to share that Social Care Solutions has been funded to deliver Fostering Beginnings — a new foster carer recruitment, training and assessment program across South East Queensland.

Jul 161 min read

group of adults with hands together on a table

How Do We Know If The Work We Do Is Truly Making A Difference For Children And Families?

How do we know if our work is truly making a difference? At Social Care Solutions, impact isn't assumed — it's measured. We're currently piloting Impact Measurement Tools across all service streams to capture real outcomes for children, families and professional stakeholders. Because excellence isn't measured by completion. It's measured by the difference we make where it matters most.

May 132 min read

adult hand holding a childs hand, grass in the background

Steady Hands in a Shifting Sector

Queensland’s community services and child safety sector is facing major change as the Commission of Inquiry into the child safety system accelerates toward findings in May 2026. Social Care Solutions supports organisations through uncertainty with experienced practitioners, tailored training, supervision frameworks, and critical debriefing—building internal capacity so teams can keep delivering consistent support to children and families.

May 52 min read

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