Parenting KI response to FSP consultation 

Yes, I believe that the increase in the flexibility of how the programs are to be delivered will enable organisations to better meet the needs of the community.

• Services need to be able to deliver programs that are relevant to the community, and the current needs (eg: parents on Kangaroo Island currently need to look after their wellbeing, a lot are from drought affected farms)
• New ways of 'capturing' families at risk need to be tried, this will be through innovative ideas. (experience has shown that 'fun' and 'wellbeing' events draw in families that have not previously used our services, and that they will be more willing to attend courses etc once they have had a positive experience with our organisation)

• Service providers need to realise that often the problem that is presented by a parent or family is often just the tip of the iceberg, and that trusting relationships must be developed in order to assist families in the best way possible.
• Relationships with other services are crucial to identifying families at risk.
• Encourage other services to meet on a regular basis to discuss the best ways to assist the families concerned. Service providers understand the importance of confidentiality, and I believe this could be done in a way that maintains that confidentiality while ascertaining how to support a family. However, there are still some that are reluctant to discuss clients, so I believe that the encouragement to cooperate at this level needs to come from a higher authority in order to gain valuable information from all service providers.
• STANDARDS: II believe that the reporting goes a long way to maintaining the standards in organisations - if outcomes are not being met, the project must not be offering what parents want and need. And if, on the whole, attendance and feedback is regular and shows that outcomes are being met, then the standards of the service are at the very least adequate.
• Providers will benefit from sharing resources in that they are on-site where the clients will naturally be - eg: as a part of a child care centre, as our organisation is, project coordinator has easy access and a lot of opportunities for meeting parents, as well as being able to become aware of issues that are affecting families sooner. Sharing administration and child care staff makes sense, as it gives the project coordinator access to people who have the relevant experience in their area, freeing up time and resources for the coordinator to support families. In the case of our organisation, this could be better achieved with the benefit of a parenting room that could be used for courses and workshops, enabling us to make use of the child care facilities and staff. (we currently need to hire another venue, with 2 spaces so that we can have parents and crèche on the same site. This also would cut down on set-up time, as well as costs involved with hiring the venues and extra staff.) It would also enable us to offer smaller groups on a more frequent basis. Overall, it is far more cost effective and goes a long way toward 'keeping a finger on the pulse'.

In our case, our service delivery area is defined by a body of ocean. However, for other areas, I believe that the catchment area should be the same as schools. That way, organisations are able to be involved with the whole family, and as the majority of children attend school (or kindy). This would enable service providers to work better with education providers (who play a big part in our project.) I believe this would be probably the best way to ensure that fewer families are missed.

• BALANCE SECURITY/PERFORMANCE/NEED:
• Accountabiity is important, but needs to be time efficient.
• Good project management at FAHCSIA will provide programmes with support, accountability, and provide direction and guidance.
• No easy answer, but maybe: past performance could be used to as a reference - if it has been good in the past, give that organisation longer funding,
  • put new organisations on a 'trial basis' and give organisations with a good track record longer funding terms, perhaps 5yr terms..
  • families in isolated regions need to have access to services, even if the number of families is not high, These families often need more support. Smaller areas are often less likely to attract funding, while small amounts of funding will make a huge difference to isolated families.
• PERFORMANCE: Attendance and satisfaction figures, new contacts/clients.
• OUTCOMES: Regular reporting on attendance of courses, etc, and parent contact (not all family support is provided in a formal situation, often making it harder to report on, eg: project coordinator may speak with a parent 2-3 times a week for 10 minutes, and during that time, provide valuable support, but not have much to report in the current reporting requirements Sometimes, what a parent needs is someone to just ask how things are going and then to listen to their response)
• The current reporting system, while effective, is time consuming, and focuses primarily on attendance figures. Gaining feedback from parents is also not always the most accurate way of gauging performance, etc, as not all parents wish to complete feedback forms, some prefer to try out what they have learnt on their family before they comment. Insight into what parents thought of programs offered often comes later, once they have gone away and had a chance to think about it, try it out.

• Communities in isolation
• Organisations with a proven track record of providing quality services to families.
• Communities with identified needs
• Consultation with individual organisations to ascertain their community's individual needs.