Skip to content

Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER)
Monitoring Report

3. Supporting Families

Families and communities are the building blocks of our society. For a community to thrive, the family unit must feel safe and protected from harm. Children need to be supported in functional and resilient families that are healthy, free of violence and culturally vibrant.

Strengthening parenting skills in families and communities can help build their resilience and their support networks. Child care facilities and services support early childhood development and growth and promoting early school engagement.

Positive youth diversionary activities have the potential to contribute, either directly or indirectly, to broader social goals by reducing substance abuse, increasing school attendance and creating social cohesion. They can assist in building youth leadership, confidence and self-esteem.

3.1 Safe Houses

Family Support Package

The Family Support Package allocated $12.3m in 2007-08 to supporting families and children in the NT via:

From the 2008-09 Budget, FaHCSIA has $9.5m in administered funds to contribute to the project. Negotiations are continuing with the NTG to determine specific usage, but it is intended to support the operation of the safe houses, mobile child protection team and the RAFCWs.

Between 1 July and 31 December 2008, 17 communities, including Alice Springs and Darwin had new or refurbished safe house facilities.  Angurugu women’s Safe House is awaiting refurbishment, however their men’s Cooling Off Place has been constructed.  As at 20 May 2009, 17 out of 22 Safe Houses were operational.

Sea containers were chosen as the preferred option to deliver the safe house model as they represented the most efficient and effective way of addressing an immediate need in communities to protect women and children and help break the cycle of violence. Containers were considered to offer a higher level of building security than demountables, are cyclone coded, quick to construct and are less expensive to retrofit.

These are not the same containers originally found to have harmful fumes. Safe houses will not be occupied until comprehensive testing shows them to be safe.


[ top ]

3.2  Child Protection

Mobile Child Protection Team (MCPT)

Fifty communities have been visited by the Mobile Child Protection Team and 459 cases investigated.

The NTG has established a team of Child Protection Practitioners to deliver a mobile child protection service. The team works closely with local support services, the Remote Aboriginal Family and Community Workers (RAFCWs) and police, etc, to support families and communities and investigates reports of child maltreatment and neglect.

At 31 December 2008, two child protection workers and one administration assistant had been recruited. The levels of staffing on this team have been fluctuating and there has been a high turnover of staff.  The positions have been difficult to keep filled due to the high level of qualification sought, the remoteness of the work and the short-term nature of the contracts.  A recruitment round occurred recently with four new workers employed and two to be contracted shortly.

3.3  Supporting Families

Remote Aboriginal Family and Community Workers (RAFCWs)

Remote Aboriginal Family and Community Workers (RAFCWs) provide a link and liaison between families, local services and regional services, particularly the child protection system.

Initial recruitment and development of training packages was undertaken between August 2007 and 31 January 2008.
Between September 2008 and 31 January 2009, the NTG recruited 8 RAFCWs. One team leader, one project officer and one acting manager have been recruited.


[ top ]

3.4  Parenting

Children’s Services and Family Support

The NTER includes funding for five new facilitated playgroups and an expansion of Indigenous Children Program (ICP) and Invest to Grow (ItG) services in the Northern Territory.

The playgroup funding is for two mobile Intensive Support Playgroups (ISPs) based in Tennant Creek and Katherine and for three Locational Supported Playgroups (LSPs) in Numbulwar, Milingimbi and Yuendumu. 

Funding for ICP allowed the Council for Aboriginal Alcohol Program Services Inc (CAAPS) to expand their existing ICP services to support more families in Northern Territory communities.

Under the ICP, CAAPS provides substance misuse-related services to families including education programs on the effects of substance misuse on family and community and family activities to improve relationships). CAAPS used NTER funding to purchase the Jubudah Program which teaches children about their feelings and how to deal with them. 

NTER funding was also provided for the expansion of three ‘Invest to Grow’ projects:

Progress

Between February and June 2008, site selection and approval was progressed and funding agreements were signed with service providers for the Tennant Creek and Katherine playgroups.

In the six months to 31 December 2008, 264 children and 92 parents and caregivers from nine community outstations in the Tennant Creek and Katherine regions have participated in these playgroups. The children are participating in a range of activities designed to strengthen their social, emotional, cognitive, behavioural and physical development. Parents and carers are also participating in playgroup activities; helping prepare morning tea, washing hands with their children and involving themselves in their children’s play-based activities.

As at 20 May 2009, three of the five new facilitated playgroups are operational and delivering playgroup services to 264 children and 92 parents and caregivers in 11 locations.  Twenty three families from the two playgroups have been supported by playgroup staff to access assistance and services such as crisis accommodation, legal support, financial management advice, Centrelink payments and housing.

Funding agreements have now been signed with service providers for all three LSPs. Yuendumu LSP commenced operations in May 2009. The service provider for the Milingimbi and Numbulwar LSPs is currently engaged in preparatory consultations.
Between June and December 2008, service providers were selected for Numbulwar, Milingimbi and Yuendumu playgroups and funding agreement negotiations were finalised.

The Indigenous Children Program was formed in 2006 by a merger of previously funded Aboriginal Islander Child Care Agencies (AICCA) and Indigenous Parent and Family Wellbeing (IPFW) programs. ICP aims to strengthen Indigenous children, families and communities and build their resilience and support networks.  Currently there are three ICP providers in the NT, one of which - the Council for Aboriginal Alcohol Program Services Inc (CAAPS) – receives additional funding under the NTER.

Under the ICP, CAAPS provides substance misuse-related services to families including education programs on the effects of substance misuse on family and community and family activities to improve relationships). CAAPS used NTER funding to purchase the Jubudah Program which teaches children about their feelings and how to deal with them.

Training of staff to deliver the Jubudah program was completed in February and the program has been incorporated into the CAAPS Indigenous Children’s Program. Between February and 30 June 2008, 21 children 0-8 yrs and 15 parents/caregivers were assisted by the program. Between July and December 2008, 19 children 0-8 yrs, 3 children 9-12, and 11 parents/caregivers were assisted by the program.

NTER funding for the CAAPS Indigenous Children Program has enabled the service to employ a permanent children’s worker which has resulted in the children settling better and developing a daily routine.  The service has also been trialling a Child Psychologist visiting once a week giving support to the children’s worker and resulting in identifying problems and being able to refer children onto further help.  The young children are able to attend children’s programs while their parents are dealing with their substance misuse issues.  While the parents have a break from the children, the worker is able to support them in the Parenting program.

Progress under the three expanded Invest to Grow projects includes:  

Challenges

A key barrier to the implementation of effective children and family services under the NTER is the difficulty in attracting experienced and qualified workers. Funding models for children and family services that include provision for competitive wages, high quality professional support and formal training, mentoring and professional development for local workers would go some way to addressing this issue. However, the related issues of recruiting external expertise and building a trained, local workforce cut across the breadth of NTER operations. Coordinated efforts at higher levels - including a focused effort to build the capacity of NT registered training organisations – might achieve economies of scale and the longer term sustainability of communities and services.

Next Steps

In recognition of the effectiveness of the NTER playgroup and early childhood measures, additional funding of $3.6m over 2009 – 10 to 2011 – 12 was announced as part of the 2009 – 10 SIBS Budget.  This provides funding for a total of twelve services delivering to almost 2,000 Indigenous families and their children by 2010/11 as part of Supporting Families.

3.5  Youth Diversion

Petrol sniffing and alcohol use are related substance use behaviours that damage the physical, mental and social health of young people.  The NTER Youth Alcohol Diversion (YAD) measure is aimed at young people, primarily 12-18 years old, who engage in or are at risk of alcohol and other substance abuse.

In 2007-08 a total of $8.5 million was allocated to:

In 2008-09 a total of $8.8 million was allocated to one youth diversion program, comprising two components:

Component one – $2.1 million for the continuation of the Northern Territory Youth Development Network

Component one aims to improve the quantity, quality and cohesion of youth activities in the West Arnhem and Daly River regions to develop young leaders and sustainable youth services.

Funding for the Northern Territory Youth Development Network was released to Red Cross Australia on 29 October 2008.  
Red Cross Australia had consulted with a wide range of stakeholders and communities to develop a network of youth services that play an important role in improving conditions and outcomes for young people.  The service providers were invited to apply via a tender process with letters to successful service providers sent out in mid February 2009.

Red Cross Australia employs local coordinators in 13 communities who work part time to assist service providers with the implementation of their programs.  These coordinators will also liaise with the local people to assist in the evaluation of the programs.
Delays in implementation were impacted by recruitment of key Red Cross Australia project staff, the close down over Christmas and selection negotiations with providers. 

Component two – $6.7 million for infrastructure and youth programs in Central Australia
Component two is used to fund diversion projects and infrastructure in Central Australia.  Payments began in November 2008 after funding agreements were negotiated in the first part of the 2008-09 financial year.

Tailored to each community’s needs, these projects target youth 12 to 18 years of age to build the youth services infrastructure, offer culturally appropriate social and recreational activities and provide local employment and training opportunities for Indigenous people.  A key priority for this year is to work in partnership with the Northern Territory Department of Education and Training to support the involvement and ongoing attendance of youth at school.

 

[ top ]