1. What are family support services?

History

In Australia the need for family support services was identified and publicly debated in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Pilot Services were established in the late 1970s by the Commonwealth government.

By 1980 there were slightly more than 30 services operating in New South Wales.

In 1989 the Family Support Program based on Commonwealth/State agreements in each state was established. Shortly afterwards, in 1989/90 the funding of the Program became entirely the responsibility of State Governments.

There are currently more than 150 family support service outlets operating in New South Wales most of which receive some funding from the Department of Community Services through the Community Services Grants Program.

Family support services provide a range of support to families with dependent children whose capacity to function is limited by internal or external stresses of life.

They are preventative services with a focus on strengthening and supporting families, building on family members’ existing skills.

Family support services are mainly concerned with encouraging and developing positive relationships within families and promoting environments which value, nurture and protect children.

They also seek to develop a network of support, referral and self-help services with a preventative and educative emphasis.

They all share a common understanding and commitment to the same core principles and values.

What are their principles & values?

• Acknowledgement that all families need support, and that while some get it through their own informal networks, others need to access services for it.
• Affirming and strengthening families’ social, cultural, racial and linguistic identities.
• Staff and families work together in relationships based on respect and trust.
• Providing a confidential and professional service.
• Assisting families to take control of factors that will enhance their independence and self-reliance.
• Being flexible and responsive to emerging family and community issues.
• Being part of the local community and contributing to community- building.

How can they assist families?

Family Support Services provide support to families across a continuum of three preventative stages.

1 Prevention

These are activities that are offered universally to all families. They provide the encouragement and information that all parents need to carry out their parenting role to the best of their abilities.

2 Early Intervention

These are activities which target families in stress or living in “high risk” settings eg. economically disadvantaged. Families often need help at particular stages, eg with babies or toddlers or teenagers. Children with additional needs may need help at any time.

3 “In a crisis”

This may be where highly vulnerable families face long term difficulties, eg where there is an imminent risk that a child may be removed from a family’s care.

Family support services provide a flexible, integrated and comprehensive approach to service delivery, so that they can provide services to families, whatever their needs, across this continuum, whether it be a short-term crisis or long term issues.

What sort of programs do they offer to families?

There is a wide diversity in the way family support services operate and deliver their services. Each service has grown out of the needs in its own local community. Some have specialist workers such as Aboriginal workers or staff who speak languages other than English. Similarly, some programs available at one family support service may be different from those offered at others. This is because they are united by a common philosophy rather than by the same specific set of activities.

Any members of a family can contact their local family support service when they have concerns about issues in their family or how they are managing. Family support services also take referrals from other service providers.

Depending on the family and its needs, family support services may be able to offer:

• Counselling, with individuals or in family sessions.
• Advocacy and referral, where families may be having problems dealing with other agencies.
• Group activities. These may be courses to develop skills - in parenting, self-esteem, communication, relationships, play skills for parents and children, money management and household management, among others.
• Activities for children, including special programs for children affected by issues such as domestic violence.
• Self-help groups where people share experiences with others in similar situations. This may be helpful where people are experiencing the effects of, for instance, grief, sexual assault or domestic violence.
• Activities that help family members to get to know other people, to decrease social isolation and to build supportive networks within communities.
• Information about resources available for families, particularly those struggling with financial hardship or poverty.

Services in New South Wales

In New South Wales there are over 150 family support service outlets working with more than 3,500 families in their homes at any one time and more than 14,000 families in a full year. The services run more than 11,000 group sessions per year and working with more than 3,500 children at any one time who have been reported to the Department of Community Services as being at risk of abuse or neglect.