Positive Memory Bank - Berry Street

4. Application process
The Positive Memory Bank application
process was developed using principles of
inclusion and child/youth participation.
Key to this approach was the ‘free’ format
adopted for the completion and submission
of applications; to avoid excluding any child
or young person on the basis of their age or
capacity to complete a written application,
the application form (Appendix 5) was
developed to facilitate submissions in
multiple formats.
The guidelines provided to staff supporting
applications articulate that applications
would be welcomed in any form the child or
young person chose to use to communicate
their wishes. Drawing, photographs, writing
and posters were all specifically noted as
possible forms of application, but it was
further noted that any other approaches
chosen by the child or young person would
be considered valid forms of application.
Deliberately broad in nature, the guidelines
permit any child or young person who is
connected to a Berry Street program or
service to submit an application to the PMB.
This approach meant that no child or young
person could be deemed less or more worthy
of enjoying the benefits of opportunities for
positive memories, and avoided the difficult
task of a detailed definition of eligibility
criteria. It threw open the opportunity to
everyone from the children in our Out of
Home Care programs to the children of
women involved with the Domestic Violence
program and the children affected by the
2009 bushfires who are connected via the
Bushfire Case Management program.
The only requirement was that every
application be supported by a Berry Street
staff member. This involved the staff
member closest to the applicant writing a
letter to outline the child or young person’s
request (especially where the chosen
application format does not clearly define
the opportunity details), provide any further
information that may support the
application and, where relevant, link it to a
case management plan or process.
Detailed guidelines (Appendix 6) were
developed for staff, to accompany the
application form. In addition a youthfriendly
version was created to be handed
out to young people with a poster
announcing the opportunity.
4.1 From the Applicants
Nearly 90% of applicants surveyed heard
about the Positive Memory Bank through
their Berry Street worker. Those that didn’t
either saw the flyer or heard through their
parent’s worker or a mentor. For the most
part the development of applications was a
team effort between workers and children
and young people.
A handful of children and young people
surveyed (14%) felt the application process
was not easy to understand. Of the
remaining 86%, most felt it was easy to
understand with the rest considering it at
least ‘kind of’ easy to understand. When
asked whether the application form was
easy to complete the responses were roughly
the same.
When asked to grade the application process
on a scale of 1-10, responses ranged from
three to ten, with the largest number
indicating a rating of 7/10.
Recommendations for improvement can be
summarised thus:
• Use clearer language
• Remove the need for so much writing
• Provide a list of what will and won’t
be funded.
We heard from children and young people
that some of them already knew what they
wanted the money for as it had been a
dream and a wish of theirs for some time.
However others had to think more carefully
about something they would like and which
would contribute to their positive memories.
4.2 From the Support Workers
Feedback shows that low literacy levels and
age (too young to know how to write or to
engage fully with the application) were
factors in cases where support workers
appeared to have developed the application.
The time spent on the application process
varied from one hour to one day and the
most common method of applying was via
written and typed applications, followed by
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