Developing a Family Support Program
Overview
On 16 February 2009, the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs,
the Hon Jenny Macklin MP, announced the formation of the Family Support Program.
The Family Support Program is a key element of the Government’s investment in supporting families and children. Together with financial support provided through payments such as the Family Tax Benefit and a range of community based programs such as the Financial Management Program, the Government is working to deliver, in collaboration with other levels of government and non-government organisations, better coordinated and more flexible support services for children and families.
The Government is committed to:
- enhancing the safety and wellbeing of children
- promoting social inclusion and overcoming disadvantage
- working with the community sector through a National Compact (an agreement between the Australian Government and the not-for-profit sector that outlines how the two will work together to improve and strengthen their relationship).
About the Family Support Program
The FSP brings together a number of community-based families, parenting and children’s services:
- Family Relationship Services Program
- Strengthening Families Program funded under the National Illicit Drug Strategy
- Communities for Children Initiative
- Invest to Grow program
- Child Care Links
- Indigenous Children Program
- Indigenous Parenting Support Services
- Playgroup Program
- Responding Early Assisting Children Program.
The Minister has brought these services together under a single umbrella program to join up a series of key policy and service delivery approaches that have been developed over time to address specific family and/or social issues. In bringing these services together, the FSP will build on the strengths and achievements of each of these individual initiatives to provide a more coordinated and flexible approach to delivering support to families and children. Bringing these services together provides the opportunity to remove service and policy silos and facilitate greater links across the FSP service system and strengthen links with the broader community service sector and other levels of government.
The FSP comprises three core service streams:
- Family and Parenting Services: provides early intervention and prevention services and tools to families to build and strengthen relationships, develop skills and support parents and children navigating life’s transitions.
- Community and Family Partnerships: provides intensive and coordinated support targeted at significantly disadvantaged communities and families and especially vulnerable and at risk families and children.
- Family Law Services (Attorney-General’s Department responsibility): provides assistance to families to manage the process and impacts of separation in the best interests of children.
While many families seeking support may receive all the assistance they need from a single service stream, an increasing number of families and children present with multiple and complex needs. These children and families will benefit from bringing together the broad suite of FSP services in a tailored and coordinated way. Improved flexibility and tailoring of services will primarily be within the FSP streams in the first instance, however, the longer term goal is to offer families and children access to tailored and coordinated services across the FSP streams and with other FaHCSIA programs and other levels of government.
The services offered through the core FSP service streams will work to build the resilience of:
- parents and children navigating life transitions
- vulnerable and at risk families and children in highly disadvantaged communities
- families and children experiencing separation and divorce.
FSP services will offer a range of support and assistance for children of all ages. For example: Communities for Children focuses on 0-12 years while other services such as family relationship services can support children who are older. In addition, FSP service delivery will reflect critical elements of the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020, particularly by providing child focussed services and enhancing services and support for vulnerable children, families and children at risk. The diagram at Appendix A illustrates the operation of the FSP within the broader system of services for families and children.
The consultation process
The Minister stated in her speech on 16 February 2009 that the Department would talk with service providers and seek input on how to make the transition to a new FSP. The Department is therefore conducting a consultation process to explore with the sector the changes needed to transition to the FSP.
The consultation process will provide the sector with the opportunity to:
- contribute to the development of the FSP around how it will operate
- respond to a series of questions provided on key program areas to focus discussions to improve the administration and delivery of the program in the future.
This consultation process is concerned with seeking the views of the sector around the design of the FSP to ensure services in local areas better support families and children.
The Department also expects to have further consultations with the sector on specific program design elements including:
- an overarching outcomes framework
- implementing service standards for the program.
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