Consultation Report 

Introduction

Dear Service Provider,

As an organisation that either works with people affected by substance misuse who may have children, or that works with families and/or children who may be affected by substance misuse, the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD), on behalf of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) is seeking your input to inform the development of a new phase of the National Illicit Drug Strategy (NIDS) Strengthening Families Program which is funded by FaHCSIA.

The ANCD has been commissioned by FaHCSIA to conduct an independent consultation of organisations with a particular interest in the Strengthening Families Program. The consultation is primarily focused on collecting views about the most appropriate service models, programs and investments that could be made within the context of available funding to provide the best outcomes for families and children at risk. This consultation is to be undertaken primarily via the use of this online consultation.

We encourage you to take the time to participate as this is an important opportunity to ensure that your views are considered by FaHCSIA when redesigning and refocusing the Strengthening Families Program. Where individual organisations have more than one site or where they may have more than one relevant service we hope that you will encourage all the services within your organisation to respond.

Once the consultation has been completed the ANCD will provide FaHCSIA with a report on the responses to this consultation, highlighting the key findings which will assist FaHCSIA in developing a service model for the refocused Strengthening Families Program.

To assist in answering the following questions a short background discussion paper is provided which can be accessed at http://www.ancd.org.au/assets/pdf/Consultation_Background_Paper.pdf   It will be important that you read it before answering the following questions which are expected to take no more than 10 minutes to complete. The closing date for answers to be submitted is COB Monday 4 July 2009.

Please note that no individual services or organisations will be identified as part of the consultation.

We thank you for your valuable time and information.

These questions provide information about the size and location of your service and the type of service you provide. Please note that we are interested in your specific service and not your organisation as a whole unless your service constitutes the entirety of your organisation.

1. What type of service do you work for? Please select one:
• NGO (not for profit)
• Government
• Private
• Other (please specify)
2. Is your service part of a larger organisation which provides multiple services?
• Yes
• No
3. What is the main type of service(s) you provide?  Multiple answers allowed:
• Alcohol and other drug specific
• Family support
• Child protection
• Other (please specify)
4. In which state or territory does your service operate? Please select one:
• NSW
• VIC
• QLD
• SA
• WA
• TAS
• NT
• ACT
5. Where does your service operate? Please select one:
• Capital city
• Major city (greater than 100,000)
• Regional centre (10,000 – 99,999)
• Other (eg city/town of less than 10,000)
6. What is the size of your service (measured by annual budget)?  Please select one:
• Up to $499,999
• $500,000 - $1,499,999
• $1,500,000 - $3,000,000
• More than $3,000,000
7. Does your service currently receive funding under the Strengthening Families Program?

Yes  No

These questions ask about the ability of potential service models and programs to achieve the best outcomes for families and children at risk. To gain an understanding of responses, question 1 has been asked as if there was no limit to the budget. Given that there is an annual national budget of $3.1 million for the Strengthening Families Program, question 9 asks the same question within the budget context.

You are asked to rate the degree of appropriateness/importance etc for each of the options on a five point scale ranging from extremely appropriate/important to not appropriate/important.

1. Within the context of an unlimited budget, how appropriate do you think the following expanded service models would be to achieve the best outcomes for families and children at risk?
• A single service provider to roll out a standardised program across Australia
• A number of one stop shops located in key areas providing a range of services
• A number of individual services situated across Australia providing services that meet local needs
• Existing alcohol and other drug service providers expanded to address the needs of people affected by substance misuse who also have children
• Existing family support and child protection services expanded to address substance misuse issues
• Developing a program to enable existing alcohol and other drug services to become better equipped in identifying and responding to children at risk
• Developing a program to enable existing family support and child protection services to become better equipped in identifying and responding to children in families affected by substance misuse
• A program of funding which follows individual children across both alcohol and other drug and family support and child protection services
• Other - If there is a service model not listed above that you consider important please provide details on the type of service and the degree of appropriateness?
• Not appropriate
• Somewhat appropriate
• Appropriate
• Very appropriate
• Extremely appropriate
2. Within the context of an annual budget of $3.1 million, how appropriate would the following service models be to achieve the best outcomes for families and children at risk?
• A single service provider to roll out a standardised program across Australia
• A number of one stop shops located in key areas providing a range of services
• A number of individual services situated across Australia providing services that meet local needs
• Existing alcohol and other drug service providers expanded to address the needs of people affected by substance misuse who also have children
• Existing family support and child protection services expanded to address substance misuse issues
• Developing a program to enable existing alcohol and other drug services to become better equipped in identifying and responding to children at risk
• Developing a program to enable existing family support and child protection services to become better equipped in identifying and responding to children in families affected by substance misuse
• A program of funding which follows individual children across both alcohol and other drug and family support and child protection services
• Other - If there is a service model not listed above that you consider important please provide details on the type of service and the degree of appropriateness?
• Not appropriate
• Somewhat appropriate
• Appropriate
• Very appropriate
• Extremely appropriate
3. How important do you think the following services are to achieve the best outcomes for families and children at risk?
• Early identification and prevention
• Treatment/ intervention    alcohol and other drug treatment that includes attention to children in the treatment plan and/or intervention re parenting that includes active consideration of alcohol issues
• Case Coordination between alcohol and other drug services, family support and chid protection services
• Referral between sectors i.e.: to specific alcohol and other drug or family support and child protection services
• Aftercare support for families with a member who has undergone alcohol and other drug treatment
• Outreach
• National social marketing campaign
• Other   if there is a service not listed in B 3) above that you consider important please provide details on the type of service and the degree of importance?
• Not important
• Somewhat important
• Important
• Very important
• Extremely important
4. How important do you think the following should be when considering the allocation of funds under the Strengthening Families Program?
• Service delivery
• Workforce development
• Organisational development
• IT Infrastructure
• Sector development
• Integration of services eg sharing infrastructure services
• Data collection and analysis
• Information sharing  e.g. research findings
• Other if there is an area not listed above that you consider important please provide details of this and its degree of importance?
• Not important
• Somewhat important
• Important
• Very important
• Extremely important

C) NEEDS AND LOCATION

These questions ask you to indicate what factors are most important in determining where the current annual budget of $3.1 million should be allocated to achieve the best outcomes for families and children at risk.

1. Indicate how important you believe the following factors should be when determining which programs/projects receive funding:
• Prioritising geographic areas of greatest need
• Prioritising responses to disadvantaged populations
• A research/evaluation evidence base for proposed services and programs
• Other if there is an factor not listed above that you consider important please provide details and level of importance.
• Not important
• Somewhat important
• Important
• Very important
• Extremely important 
2. Are there particular client groups that need to be targeted as a priority?

   Yes (please provide details)………………………………………………………………………………………………………
   No

D) SELECTION OF PROVIDERS

Assuming that FaHCSIA identifies a model which they intend to fund under the Strengthening Families Program, we are interested in what factors you believe are important when selecting service providers. A link to a list of currently funded programs and services under the Strengthening Families Program is provided in the Background Discussion Paper.

1. Indicate how important you believe the following to be in determining which service providers receive funding:
• Sustaining the existing services currently funded under the Strengthening Families Program
• Rationale and relevance to refocused Strengthening Families Program
• Maintaining continuing funding for existing services
• Evidence of current service capacity and performance
• Ensuring services are located in areas of need
• Likelihood of service sustainability in the medium to longer term
• Service exists within a larger organisation
• Other – if there is a factor not listed above that you consider important please provide details and indicate the degree of importance
• Not important
• Somewhat important
• Important
• Very important
• Extremely important

F) FINAL COMMENTS

Are there any additional comments you would like to make on how best the funding could be allocated to support the development of a new phase of the Strengthening Families Program?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Thank you note