Second Biennial Family Relationship Services Program Conference 

• To assist FRSP service providers to improve service delivery response to families experiencing complex issues.
• To explore how service providers respond to families experiencing complex issues through:
  • exploring current research
  • providing examples of models for working with complex, high needs families.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

• The challenges and opportunities of pooling resources from different programs, such as the Family Relationship Services Program, Reconnect and Prison Release Program, to provide integrated and holistic assistance to clients with complex needs.
• The capacity of the Building Connections for My Kids Program as a platform for working with conflicted families to shift the focus of parents from inter-parental conflict to the best interests of their children.
• The development of evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Building Connections for My Kids Program, including how structured observations and feedback have provided data to support and inform further program development.
• By engaging with key stakeholders such as prison authorities and developing specific interventions designed to respond to the needs of men in prison, effective activities can be delivered to this client group.

Actions

5. RURAL SERVICE PROVISION

Objectives

• To assist FRSP service providers to improve service delivery in regional, rural and remote (RRR) areas.
• To explore how RRR service providers optimise available resources to respond to families living in RRR areas through:
  • exploring current research
  • providing examples of models for working in RRR areas.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

Mental health issues

• The Urbis Keys Young Report commissioned by the then FaCSIA identified a large unmet need for mental health services in RRR communities.
• Mental health issues are often connected to core family relationships, creating a need to integrate mental health and family relationship services.
• Mental health issues impact on the whole family, particularly those who end up being the primary carers of family members with a mental illness. Carers are at risk of suffering from anxiety resulting from lack of appropriate mental health support services.
• Mental health issues lead to greater levels of marriage breakdown.
• There is limited access to mental health services in RRR Australia. Undersupply in RRR communities risks inappropriate care.
• One size service does not fit all clients - rural clients have different needs to city clients.

Family Relationship Centres - Wudinna, Ceduna, Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Port Lincoln and Whyalla

• Women who use outreach services prefer to talk to women about family violence issues. Outreach services include monthly day/night trips, telephone conferences and counselling, and keep in touch via letters. They have tried email, but it does not work due to privacy issues.
• The agencies share after hours servicing to work within financial constraints. Agencies also partner with other providers to integrate services.
• When clients don’t fit into a single service type, rather than turn clients away, staff try to service them under counselling.
• Staff are encouraged to multi-skill and deliver services across areas, as there are limited hours to designate to a single service.
• Attracting and retaining staff is a major problem in rural communities. They attract new staff by word of mouth and promote a family friendly, social work environment with good training, supervision, work flexibility and team reflection time. They have also been re-employing retired staff and placing students.

Family Relationship Centre, Townsville

• The Family Relationship Centre in Townsville covers a region of 450,000 km.
• Using networks in the Townsville area is very important. Indigenous staff and Indigenous Liaison Officers help build and maintain local connections.
• Service success in a new area depends on having effective links within that community and flexibility to work with people across a broad range of services.
• They retain staff by looking after them and offering housing options and offer packages to attract graduates. Barry felt there was a need to talk to the Australian Government about staffing issues such as salaries, accommodation, etc.

Actions

• Need for integrated mental health and family relationship program funding in RRR communities.
• Need for practitioner training to address the increasing need for mental health services.
• Need for community contacts lists on hand to ensure duty of care and responsive services.
• Need to negotiate with funding bodies to make positive changes in service delivery, fee structure, staffing salaries, accommodation, etc. In particular, the need to address service demand in the Port Lincoln area.
• Need to encourage service providers to talk more with their local members and not be afraid to voice their opinion.

6. INTAKE, SCREENING ASSESSMENT AND REFERRAL

Objectives

• To raise awareness of screening and assessment processes and their value to FRSP service delivery.
• To examine current intake and referral processes through:
  • presenting current research about screening and assessment
  • providing examples of screening and assessment models in the FRSP and other human service sectors
  • discussing referrals and referral processes of screening and assessment.

Panel members

Presentations

• the commissioning of her organisation by the AGD to develop a Screening and Assessment Framework for Family Relationship Centres and Family Relationships Advice Line. This has now been reviewed and amended to reflect practitioners’ feedback
• a framework based on practice principles including child centred, accountability, collaborative and preventing harm
• defined screening and assessment, timing, type, family violence, risk of self harm, child abuse and or action required
• screening for risk – universal questions:
  • safety
  • concerns about children
  • safety of anyone else
  • how would ex/partner answer?
• prevention of harm and duty of care – listen to and believe what the client says about harm
• combine tools with professional judgement
• screening and assessment should never be part of the data collection process
• screening and assessment is an ongoing process at each point of contact
• plan for safety including supervision.

• the need to know what we’re looking for
• whether the service was going to fit the need of the client
• drilling down about the risk, what is the risk to the client, significant others (eg grandparents)
• the need for policies, and procedure to back it up
• intake as the beginning of the engagement process, first screening opportunity (eg, level of conflict), Apprehended Violence Order (AVOs).
• snapshot of client concerns - there are often many steps before you can move to Family Dispute Resolution
• the need to have a complete picture and understanding of legal responses; and have a collaborative and consultative approach
• the opportunity to triage on urgency – be responsive
• assessment including relationships between partner and children, level of capacity and complexity (eg, mental health), co-operation/ communication, level of respect, disparity of stories, is it voluntary?
• the assessment of individual/couple or family - can they be in the same room, capacity to reflect, power differential, fear of harm, should the children be interviewed?
• assessment being ongoing
• the fact that tools are only as good as the people using them – useful as guides
• considering the level of response, including legal response, and reporting, including assisting clients to a safe haven
• whether the client was ready, can the organisation provide the service, do they need some other intervention/referral/exclusion?
• collaborating with other services ensures the best service
• staff expertise as the key to successful assessments.

• why do we do what we do? What does it mean to the client? How do we do it?
• what are the client’s needs? – need to hear the story – relationship is the key to assessment
• is this person suitable for our services? Can we fill the needs? Reflection and supervision
• how does this client fit into the big picture, family and community?
• child safety, partner safety and family safety
• need to be innovative on the safety issues, assessment does not stop at the Family Relationship Centre
• integrated service delivery - what is the best service solution for the client?
• personal values and skill base and get help if required
• ethical and boundary issues – potential to meet clients in the local community – what impact would this have on the client?
• Referring out and the need to link with other agencies – developed Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with other agencies. Warm referrals (eg, through telephone calls) to support the client’s transition to another agency
• making use of tools and the need to be flexible. Tools need to be adjusted to suit the client and their location (eg, working with an Aboriginal worker and client)
• the use of action research to improve and continue to refine tools and practices.

Discussion Points

Service Provision

• Relationship building is the key to assessment.
• Staff expertise is a key to screening and assessment. Some providers send administration or intake staff to introductory counselling courses along with ‘managing difficult clients’ training sessions.
• Co-operation between providers, developing MOU’s with various organisations.
• Practitioners undertaking self-reflection, values and ethical issues.
• Assessing the client’s personal strengths.
• Get a full picture as soon as possible.
• Assess the level of danger:
  • legal response
  • CAR (Child at Risk)
  • be prepared to seek assistance from peers
  • be prepared to ask the hard questions as it may just assist in building relationships.

Actions

7. COUNSELLING

Objectives

• Facilitate reflection on counselling and its role as a therapeutic intervention when working with families, couples, individuals and groups.
• Raise awareness of innovations in counselling and of how counselling is used across the FRSP service delivery system.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

• The challenges and opportunities of delivering counselling and other support services to diverse client groups such as NESB men (in particular Greek speaking men), drought affected families in rural and remote Australia and step or blended families.
• The need to inform the development of service models with an understanding of the distinctive characteristics of diverse client groups by drawing information from sources such as demographic data and community consultation.
• The development of tailored service interventions for diverse groups, through techniques such as outreach, adjusting language and engaging with the community, provides a platform for successfully delivering counselling to these groups.

Actions

8. EDUCATION AND SKILLS TRAINING

Objectives

• Assist service providers to keep abreast of current models and practices in Family Relationship Education and Skills Training.
• Raise awareness of innovations through:
  • reflecting on the role of education and skills training as a key early intervention model in family relationship work
  • providing examples of innovative and integrated practice
  • exploring current practice and future directions.

Panel members

Presentations

1. Expansion of workplace projects.
2. Development of innovative media.
3. More user friendly benchmarking, improvement of standards in training and program development.
4. Increased use of structural change learning - greater emphasis on evolutionary development of service user to practitioner transformation.
5. Addressing the missing gap, recognition and training of educators to work with a wider counselling skill set to ensure learning for disadvantaged communities is maximised.

Discussion Points

• Inadequate funding.
• Workforce capacity.
• How to allow client needs to drive program development.

Actions

• MAREAA to have discussion forum on website.
• Create a national network to implement accreditation framework.

9. WORKING WITH INVOLUNTARY CLIENTS

Objectives

• To assist FRSP service providers to respond confidently to the challenges of working with involuntary clients.
• Raise awareness and exchange ideas, knowledge and resources about the challenges of working with clients who are obliged to receive services through the FRSP.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

• Similarities with children at risk and Children’s Contact Centres client group, and the high likelihood of domestic violence which necessitates working with statutory authorities and the family courts.
• It is important to have very clear protocols in the Parenting Orders Programs. Work closely with the courts and strongly urge them to refer all family members to the program as it is easier if they start off together. It is the issues in relationships which initially make court orders appear unworkable. Routinely meet with children to involve them in the process.
• Working with involuntary clients has required a cultural change in the organisation. Training and recruitment are major challenges because of the different skill sets required. Having to work with all family members with varying needs and work with a more extensive support system. The system includes elements of social control, therefore supervision and support are essential to prevent burnout.
• Practitioners should focus on the importance of engaging clients and building an ongoing relationship. Akivra’s organisation focuses on parents’ problems and the circumstances that have brought them to their current position. It then works on a plan to enable them to understand their position and how to address issues.
• Clive’s organisation’s experience has been that if they engage with involuntary clients flexibly too early, involuntary clients will often accuse the worker of bias. It’s important to be very clear at the beginning.
• With voluntary clients you can begin to explore issues at the beginning of the process. With involuntary clients you have to take time to develop trust and your relationship with the client, before they will open up.

Actions

• take time to develop trust with involuntary clients to enable them to build an open, working relationship with program staff
• undertake an intensive assessment at intake incorporating AVOS/DVOs to screen for background issues of abuse, substance abuse, etc.

10. WORKING WITH MEN

Objectives

• Share examples of innovative and integrated service delivery to men and their families.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

• Current research indicating improved health, social and educational outcomes for children when fathers are involved. This includes:
  • a positive influence on children’s social, emotional and cognitive development
  • the crucial role fathers can play in the establishment and maintenance of breastfeeding patterns (the benefits of which are well documented)
  • less social difficulties experienced by children with secure attachments to both parents
  • the importance of healthy father-child relationships, especially during the first seven years of a child’s life.
• Further information is available on the Family Action Centre website on: www.newcastle.edu.au/centre/fac/efathers/includingfathers/framework-whyfip.html
• The importance of ensuring work premises are father friendly, for example by:
  • creating a space on premises where men can gather
  • regularly asking staff how they have included fathers in their practice.

Actions

11. WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

Objectives

• Enhance service responses to young people.
• Assist FRSP service providers to explore how:
  • family relationship issues impact young people
  • family relationship issues impact young parents
  • innovative service delivery models.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

• Engaging a young person if parents make contact.
• Single session therapy model.
• Creative ways of working with young people, for example, engaging outreach workers to meet young people in ‘their spaces’ such as shopping centres.
• Significance of engaging with schools and legal services.
• Important to be flexible when working with young people.
• Relationships have primary importance for young people and with their teachers as well.
• Working with technology, for example, email and telephone counselling for families living in remote areas. Children also respond quite well to DVDs.
• Working with young parents, for example, working with an adult education provider to engage them, parenting training, support groups, help with practical issues (homelessness, poverty, education).

Actions

12. WORKING WITH ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS

Objectives

• Enhance service responses to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to achieve better outcomes.
• Take stock of current ideas, activities and challenges that impact on improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

Muriel Bamblett

• Need to have an understanding that the land is where an Aboriginal person’s soul comes from.
• Meaningful relationship begins with being respectful. Services should not employ Aboriginal workers merely to tick the Indigenous box. These relationships (exploitative) should be examined so there can be meaningful collaboration and co-operation between Indigenous and non Indigenous services.
• Need to have an understanding of the broader reasons for Indigenous services, cultural development and maintenance, education and independence.
• Many Indigenous clients have experienced racism in mainstream services and do not trust them. The cultural background, including the stolen generation and policy of assimilation, has been passed down.
• Indigenous services aim to allow Indigenous people to access essential services. They are different due to the assertion of Indigenous status, the mark of kinship which in turn influences accountability structures. It is also different because of the way Indigenous services relate to community disadvantage.
• Historically, Indigenous services grew out of the needs of Indigenous communities. The majority are focused on the early intervention. For a long time Indigenous people could not get services until the crisis point (eg, when child had already been removed from home).
• Need to build the infrastructure by increasing such things as tertiary availability for Indigenous people.
• How to have meaningful partnerships:
  • acknowledge and accept the Indigenous communities’ role to self determine
  • show high levels of respect in all aspects of engagement
  • premised on equity and careful consideration
  • acknowledge that Indigenous services do not have the same finance and resource capacity as non Indigenous services but have much to offer in community knowledge
  • acknowledge that community development is key and this will take different amounts of time in different communities
  • acknowledge that Indigenous communities have difficulty in trusting government services, accepting their voices and seeing them as partners
  • non Indigenous services should explain to Indigenous communities the ethics base of their service and their attitudes towards community development.
• In moving towards cultural competence, recognise culture and connection to community is in the best interests of the Indigenous people and being a culturally safe organisation.
• To develop a cultural framework, including cultural safety, cultural competence and awareness, you need to live and breathe the culture.

Christine King

• Learning circles - use to teach children and pass on knowledge from elders who have been trained in the history and stories of the children.
• Need to understand that Indigenous people have their own complex system of laws, kinship etc, which was ignored and destroyed because it was not based on western thinking. Although Indigenous people thank you for contributions and acknowledge the good hearts of people, this does not allow others to speak for Indigenous people – they are competent in this.

• Act as a guide to building connections with Aboriginal people.
• Recognition of client’s background to build trust and to take into account the reality of Aboriginal families in order to help them more appropriately and effectively.
• Reminder of cultural obligation.
• Teaches protective behaviours.
• Builds resilience through gaining knowledge about how ancestors overcame the issues they faced.
• Building of identity, self esteem and pride.

• Family knowledge and practice.
• Story makers - person that has the stories passed from the dreamtime and brings them to the present to make relevant comment on the current situation to empower Indigenous people. An ancient tool that could be revitalised to strengthen Aboriginal families.
• Dreamtime stories.
• Learning circles - being revitalised and we encourage you to take part in these to build resilience in the people you are working with.

• Shows a willingness to learn.
• Foundation for building trust.
• Recognises the existing strengths of the families.

• government policy across the board – Aboriginal people are closing their doors to services as they see them as a representation of government policy
• resources – need additional resources to keep services going and allow them flexibility to meet needs of the community
• racism – expectations of the Indigenous communities/ stereotypes.

• Identify how Indigenous students can be supported to be Indigenous social workers, not just a social worker.
• Need to invest more in training young people about what it is to be an Indigenous person.

Anita Vosper

• What would you want if you had unlimited resources to address the needs of the community?
• How can we help you to obtain the resources?
• How are we going to share the roles and responsibilities? - vital to ask at the beginning.

• healthy relationships in Indigenous communities living in the Redfern area
• promote parenting and relationship skills
• promote physical, emotional and mental wellbeing in Indigenous families and connections to their culture and community, and to strengthen these for the benefit of future generations.

• improved self confidence, communication and self esteem
• accidental counsellor, parenting, sexual assault workshops
• healthy families’ circles calendar
• future direction/career for Indigenous people.

• negotiating roles and responsibilities
• reporting requirements (verbal in Indigenous communities rather than written records)
• measuring progress
• developing trust
• mainstream services need to prove that they are trustworthy.

• support to be sole agency applying for project funding
• trained project coordinators
• developing cross cultural competency in the mainstream agency
• shared resources and knowledge.

Actions

Objectives

• Explore the issues of responsiveness and accessibility of FRSP services.

Panel members

Presentations

• three internal Indigenous scholarships
• a partnership with a local Indigenous community centre
• improved service delivery to families experiencing domestic violence
• online counselling to respond the needs of people with barriers to accessing face to face counselling.

Discussion Points

• Family Relationships Online is being reviewed through the Family Relationships Online Improvement Project. Stakeholder consultation occurred in July and August 2007.
• The Family Relationship Advice Line is addressing service access barriers for CALD and Indigenous communities, with the support of interpreter services and a network of Indigenous practitioners.

Actions

14 RECRUITMENT, RETENTION AND REMUNERATION

Objectives

• Assist service providers to respond proactively to the changing workforce environment.
• Raise awareness and exchange ideas, knowledge and resources about workforce development strategies through:
  • exploring current research, practice and future directions about workforce issues.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

• More than one million people work in the Community Services and Health Sector.
• The biggest barrier to acting on the family law reforms and accepting the challenges they pose is how to recruit, retain and remunerate staff appropriately in the current job market.
• The ageing FRSP workforce is a significant issue. With many workers retiring in the next 15 years, this trend could impact negatively on the sector’s ability to deliver a full range of services.
• The number of retirees is expanding by 3 per cent each year and replacing them is a significant challenge.
• The specialised nature of work in the sector requires more than just academic qualifications, it also requires significant experience post graduation. Nevertheless, the sector’s work is generally not recognised by society as essential, which diminishes the sector’s ability to seek better outcomes for its workers.
• Current organisational structures and functions, with relatively fixed job roles and a tendency to reward loyalty and experience, probably work well for the current workforce. A key question is; are they appropriate for the workforce of the future?
• There is a ‘war for talent’ within the sector. In the words of Clive Price, “Managers are fighting over the custody and residence of valued staff”. This can create impediments to inter-professional practice and the ability to offer broad career paths.
• It is becoming increasingly prevalent for prospective employees who are genuinely attracted to the sector, to seek work elsewhere due to better pay in other jobs. That is, financial imperatives are increasingly important to the choice of work.
• Competition with the public sector for staff is exacerbated by private sector employer contributions to superannuation set at 9 per cent, whereas the public sector is at 15 per cent.
• Competitive tendering processes for services to government may be contributing to poor remuneration provided by organisations to their workers. This may be due to a perceived need to deliver services at a lower unit of cost in order to remain competitive.
• Regardless of government’s impact on salaries, much of the onus is on organisations to provide appropriate salaries for staff. The 30 per cent funding increase provided by government for existing services came with no strings attached and service providers were free to pass on that 30 per cent increase to their staff through salaries.
• The type of work within the sector is by its nature difficult, therefore people will/can be reticent to do the work for the level of remuneration on offer.
• There is an acute skills shortage in rural areas. One problem, which is also common to many city locations, is that many workers do not live in the locations where services are most needed.
• There has been some success in attracting Indigenous and CALD workers to the sector.
• The current labour force does present some opportunities:
  • over the last five years, 40 per cent of labour market growth has come from the 45+ age bracket (ABN Amro). That is predicted to grow to 80 per cent in the next 10 years. The sector may be attractive to this group.
  • new graduates from Generation Y are seeking opportunities to advance their careers, but they are also, quite often, seeking meaningful work. The sector can provide this.
• To respond proactively to the changing workforce environment, organisations need to encourage portability, provide opportunities and encourage entry.
• To recruit and retain staff organisations need to:
  • ensure they and the sector are attractive to, and provide career pathways for, employees (particularly Generation Y). At a higher level, career pathways across professions and sectors should be explored (eg, from social work to education and vice versa)
  • orientate staff effectively and demonstrate that a career path exists within the organisation and the sector
  • value the work staff d
  • recognise the importance and benefits of good supervision
  • offer good training
  • offer good, flexible work-life balance arrangements
  • improve salary structures and consider having indexation that at least considers increases in the consumer price index.
• Priority areas for workforce development include rapid entry into the sector for all occupations, rapid and appropriate skills formation, and the identification of new and expanded roles.
• The Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council have developed seven family relationship qualifications, which at the time of the conference were expected to be officially endorsed within 20 days. The qualifications will become part of Australian standards. They will not be compulsory and are not intended to replace established university qualifications required by the sector. They simply represent an opportunity for workers in the sector to have their skills recognised.

Actions

• Government and the sector need to further engage and discuss the development of a consolidated strategy for addressing workforce issues experienced by the sector.

15. GOOD SERVICE

Objectives

• Assist FRSP service providers to reflect on the systems and processes concerned with the overall direction, effectiveness, supervision and accountability of their organisations.
• Raise awareness and exchange ideas, knowledge and resources about what makes a good service.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

• A greater level of rigour is now being applied to compliance with funding agreements and contracts.
• These are not new expectations, but a greater level of consistently is now required in order for FaHCSIA to meet obligations under the Financial Management and Accountability Act (1977).
• Some examples of how this will apply to FRSP funded organisations include:
  • acquittal of funding from previous years will now be required before further funding is provided
  • milestones must be fully met unless adequate reasons for not doing so are provided
  • client fees from FRSP funded programs must be recorded and its expenditure accounted for, as Funding Agreements require this public money to be spent on FRSP service delivery.
• Compliance with FRSP Approval Requirements helps ensure service quality across the sector. Individual organisations are expected to constantly review and improve service quality.
• Government will work closely with the sector in developing and implementing mechanisms to achieve these results.
• In order for this to occur, organisations need to be supported by good governance practices. This is the process whereby decisions important to the future of an organisation are taken, communicated, monitored and assessed. It also includes the processes organisations have for holding managers accountable and measuring performance.
• An organisation’s governing body is responsible for the governance of the organisation rather than service delivery. They are essentially interested in the question, Is the organisation achieving its mission?
• To be effective, a governing body should have representatives from the community, practitioners and the client base. If these stakeholders are not represented, organisations should consider why this is the case.
• In line with this, it is good practice for organisations to have a short protocol that allows practitioners to raise issues directly with the governing body.
• The National Institute of Governance at the University of Canberra has a range of resources and services available to support non-profit organisations
  Phone: 02 6201 5607
  Fax: 02 6201 5608
  Email: nigov@canberra.edu.au
  Post: National Institute for Governance, University of Canberra ACT 2601
  Internet: www.governance.canberra.edu.au/
• Templates designed to help organisations further develop governance practices in the context of their own culture, mission and operations are also available through the Institute.
• It is also important for organisations to evaluate the effectiveness of their own governance processes.

Actions

• When all new services have been established, a strategic conversation between FaHCSIA, AGD and the sector will occur to consider the issue of funding versus purchasing services.
• A strategic conversation will also occur with the FRSP sector to develop processes and mechanisms for reporting on the use of client fees collected.
• Consideration will be given to developing protocols and documents to be made broadly available that can assist organisations in meeting service delivery and governance requirements.

16. RESEARCH – INFORMING AND FORMING PRACTICE

Objectives

• Inform service providers of current research that impact on the FRSP.
• Showcase FRSP action research and other sponsored research.

Panel members

Presentations

• limited computer/internet use
• criminal convictions/imprisonment
• low family income
• unemployment
• disability/sickness
• early school leaving
• child maltreatment (when several of the above indicators present).

• legislative changes
• service provision
• studies of families.

• Manager interviews - first 15 Family Relationship Centres, eight Early Intervention Services and eight Post-Separation Services.
• Staff focus groups – eight with Family Relationship Centres, three with Family Relationship Advice Line and four to eight with Post-Separation Services.
• Staff survey – web based self-completion survey combining of open ended and closed questions. Staff across the FRSP will be invited to participate.
• Other data - organisational data, Family Relationships Online web statistics and possibly FRSP Online data.

• employed staff with childcare experience and expertise
• offer unlimited adjunct care at certain times of the week
• consent from both parents for the child to attend
• started to count how often clients bring children with them to figure out resourcing needs
• developed children’s activity packs that can be used in the centre and taken home
• experimented with using artwork/drawings that children can complete while waiting at the centre and put them on display in the centre.

• curiosity
• interest in what makes people tick
• desire to make a difference to people
• interest in customer service
• understanding the interaction between research and practice.

Actions

17. DATA AND REPORTING

Objectives

• Raise awareness among service providers of the level of information being collected, its intended use and what is available to the sector.

Panel members

Presentation

Discussion Points

• Why data needs to be collected?
• What questions does the data help answer?
• How does the data collection benefit clients?
• How does the data benefit organisations?
• How does the data benefit government program managers?
• What reports are able to be generated from the data set?

Actions

18. CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE SERVICE DELIVERY

Objectives

• Assist service providers to develop culturally appropriate models of service delivery across different service types.
• Raise awareness and exchange ideas, knowledge and resources about enhancing culturally appropriate service delivery.

Panel members

Presentations

Discussion Points

• The alien nature of traditional Western concepts, such as professional counselling, to many families that have recently arrived in Australia or are from non-English speaking backgrounds and how services are overcoming these barriers by working with communities.
• The need for service interventions to operate in a whole of family context that can respond both to the different gender roles within and across generational issues experienced by families from non-English speaking backgrounds. For example, the development of information resources for non-English speaking families.
• The challenge of developing effective cross cultural models of service delivery that maintain quality and reflect Australian legal requirements and cultural values, while respecting the cultures of families from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Practical Tips

• All cultures want to create good citizens who contribute to a common good.
• The paradox of family surviving starvation, torture and trauma and then breaking down in times of peace.

Innovative Practice

• Effective translation techniques.
• Use of scenarios to encourage participation without shame.
• Strength to strength a bridge to mainstream program (RAPS).

Integrated Practice

• Focus on homeland parenting practices and integrating these with Australian practices.
• Strength to Strength is integrated with RAPS. It is a culturally appropriate program that is able to shape mainstream service.

Actions