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.
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