LINKING EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS TO TRAINING AND ...

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Paper Presented at the Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, 'Steps ... crime and violence, and on building capacity in communities through social ...
LINKING EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS TO TRAINING AND WORK PATHWAYS Lois Kelly JET Program

Maria Vnuk Stronger Families and Communities Strategy Network SA / Department of Family and Community Services

Paper Presented at the Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, ‘Steps Forward for Families: Research, Practice and Policy’, Melbourne, February 2003. Session 5g, Thursday 12 Feb, 3.30pm.

Introduction This paper covers an approach of collaboration between two program areas in the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) to jointly fund and support community based early intervention programs, and to integrate these with initiatives that focus on pathways to education and employment. Achievement of FaCS’ outcomes of Stronger Families, Stronger Communities and Social and Economic Participation relies on the development of partnerships between the Department and other Commonwealth / State bodies and human service organisations; and on fostering partnerships between funded service providers. An integral part of this is for FaCS itself to forge and develop internal cross-program responses. The approach is also about working - and supporting our funded projects and service providers to work – more holistically and flexibly with communities. By combining program funding we combine the resources, connections and links that can be developed within a project ‘on the ground’. This enables practical application of the principle of ‘synergy’, where the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts Although the paper primarily makes reference to a specific community project, it will focus on the approach taken rather than on project outcomes. The ‘Family Worker in Hackham West Project’ itself is at an early stage and yet to be formally evaluated.

The Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) Two of the areas of major focus in FaCS’ are The Stronger Families and Community Strategy (SFCS) and the Australians Working Together Initiative (AWT). The Stronger Families and Community Strategy funds projects which have a focus on early intervention and prevention in the areas of family relationships, early childhood and crime and violence, and on building capacity in communities through social participation, leadership and volunteering. SFCS projects are community identified and driven emphasizing ‘local solutions to local problems’. Australians Working Together encompasses a range of Initiatives supporting peoples’ transition to study and work or ‘welfare to work’ programs. The JET Program was established before AWT but is a part of AWT.

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the approach acknowledges the relationship between the initiatives. These are also recognised in the McClure Report (McClure 2000)

SFCS funded projects assist people to get the basics of their lives together – they mainly focus on Social Participation – on people engaging with their families and communities. The focus of the JET Program is pathways to Economic Participation – engaging with the world of work and study. The Stronger Families and Communities Strategy aims to:





Strengthen families by investing in prevention and early intervention in three priority areas:

• • •

Early childhood and the needs of families with young children Strengthening marriage and family relationships, and

Balancing work and family Strengthen communities by investing in community capacity to solve problems and grasp opportunities.

The SFCS adopts a strengths based approach, focusing on empowerment and identifying and addressing issues at a local level. It is well known that interventions that have the greatest likelihood of success are those that are identified by the community - which have community ‘ownership’ - and are designed to support and empower individuals and families to better manage their own well being.

Background to the ‘Family Worker in Hackham West Community Centre Project’ The Hackham West Community Centre is a neighbourhood house for the communities of Hackham West, Huntfield Heights and Noarlunga Downs, outer southern suburbs of Adelaide. They take a holistic approach using a model of ‘lifelong pathways’; linking children into their programs from preschool to youth and working with families. The Centre has a culture of welcoming, and of innovative and informal ways of connecting people. The area is one of high socio-economic disadvantage, characterised by a high number of families with young children – 39 percent of the population are below 25 years – and by families on low incomes – 16.6 percent are sole parent families, 46 percent of these living below the poverty line. Opportunities for economic and social participation are limited by low educational attainment – only 13.8 percent of men and 18.5 percent of women have higher education qualifications – and by limited resources and infrastructure – only 27 percent of sole parent families have access to a car and only 22 percent own their home; 31 percent of families rely on public housing often of a temporary tenure (ABS Census, 1996). Local health and welfare agencies had identified high incidence of domestic violence and high numbers of children at risk of abuse and neglect in the area. A series of local community consultations in 2000 identified support for parenting especially preschool age group as a commonly expressed need. These consultations led to the development of a project proposal by Hackham West Community Centre to employ a Family Worker for 3 years. The Worker would act as a mediator, providing family counselling and referrals to relevant service providers and community support groups, linking into existing groups and programs and developing new programs according to needs identified by the community and parents. The project proposal also had a strong focus on developing the leadership of participants. The Project aims to assist up to 200 families.

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The Project is funded under the Early Intervention – Parenting and Relationship Support Initiative of the Strategy. Projects under this Initiative provide practical skills and support for families facing difficulties before they become unmanageable, help to meet those needs not met by existing approaches and services, and help prevent the negative consequences of family breakdown.

Expected outcomes of the project include

• • •

Early identification of problems and solutions for children and families Skill development – leading to volunteering/employment/further study Pathways out of poverty

Australians Working Together (AWT) The Commonwealth Government’s Australians Working Together Initiative, which encompasses the JET Program, was implemented in response to the findings of the McClure Report - ‘Participation Support for a More Equitable Society’ - (McClure, 2000). The Report identified that “insufficient attention is paid to prevention and early intervention that can build capacities for participation and self-reliance” and that:

The goal of social partnerships is to help build the capacity of communities, especially those that are disadvantaged, to provide greater opportunities for social and economic participation”. (McClure, 2000, p46)

partnership of Govt, Community agencies & Business

Recommendations of the Report include:

Provision of a continuum of assistance through further development of the network of economic and social participation services and breaking down the barriers between service delivery markets to ensure people can move easily between services as their circumstances change (McClure, 2000, p17)

recognises obligation of Government and partner agencies in the equation

McClure also identified “building on the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy” as a way of promoting social capital and developing the type of social partnerships that would lead to greater opportunities for social and economic participation in disadvantaged communities (McClure, 2000, p58). In its overall theme, the McClure Report identified many of the same issues and needs, in relation to AWT and welfare reform, as are encompassed by the principles of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. It is interesting to note the congruence of both early intervention principles which form a basis of the SFCS and the approach of the McClure Report with Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, certain ‘stages’ of development, starting with the basic bodily requirements for survival, form important prerequisites for progression to successive stages (Maslow, 1968).

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Related to the approach outlined by this paper, it is proposed that the first 3 rungs of Maslow’s Hierarchy can be seen as the areas where early intervention initiatives focused on supporting people with personal and family issues (basic needs, safety, belonging) form the basis of development toward actualising a person’s potential in terms of creative development and full participation in society - that is, social, and in capitalist culture, economic participation.

Self-actualisation needs: Freedom for the fullest development of one’s talents and capacities Esteem needs: Respect, approval, dignity, self-respect. Belonging needs: Being part of a family, community, clan - friendship, affection, love. Security needs: Protection, safety, security Bodily needs: Food, sleep, warmth, sex, etc

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

(Maslow, 1968)

The Jobs, Education and Training Program (JET) The JET Program provides support and assistance for sole parents and partnered parents on Centrelink benefits to access training and study that will enable them to move into the workforce. The Program has been in existence since 1989. It has been recognised by successive governments and generally in the community as being highly successful. The Program has assisted large numbers of participants to progress through the education system and to take up employment. JET Advisers see between 50,000 and 60,000 new clients each year. During the year ending June 2000, some 40,700 JET clients took up education and training places and 28,500 engaged in some form of employment (FaCS Annual Report, 2000). Data shows similar outcomes for previous years, The JET Program’s success lies in the way that it works with clients - its approach is individualised support and assistance - a one to one, ongoing relationship with a JET Adviser in Centrelink and a flexible continuum of learning that may begin with short courses or workshops to build self-confidence and progress on to tertiary education through TAFE or University. JET supports its clients for the entire time that they are studying and also for an initial period when they gain employment. Very importantly, JET also provides assistance to parents to find and afford child care. The cost of child care is recognised as one of the major barriers to accessing education for parents on low incomes.

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JET has a child care ‘arm’ based in the Department of Family and Community Services. In FaCS’ state offices a specialised team of workers liaises with Centrelink JET Advisers, clients and the child care sector to arrange financial assistance with child care fees while parents undertake study and commence employment. JET also has the capacity to fund creche-based child care for small groups of JET participants in situations where access to mainstream child care poses a problem. In South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia, for instance, a number of JET crèches have been established in Aboriginal communities rural and remote areas where Indigenous parents are participating in training 1

or employment enterprise Programs such as CDEP . In South Australia a crèche operates from the Community-based Migrant Resource Centre to care for children of newly arrived migrant groups where parents are taking part in JET-eligible activities.

Connection between the SFCS Strategy and JET There is a crossover of client group between JET and a number of SFCS funded Projects. The disadvantaged communities in which SFCS Early Intervention Parenting Projects are most often established also tend to have a high population of single or partnered JET-eligible parents, and this group frequently access SFCS programs. It is recognised that many of this group will need to address basic life issues related to self esteem; family relationships, etc - before they can think in terms of entering study or the workforce. This has suggested the need to adopt a ‘Whole of Person’ or ‘Whole of Life’ approach to supporting parents in their efforts to build their personal and social capacity before attempting to engage them in the mainstream JET Program. It is on this basis that workers in both Programs have taken the approach of forging links between SFCS Projects and JET. The practical application of JET in the current project is the funding of an on-site creche at Hackham West Community Centre to care for children while their parents participate in courses and workshops that are part of both the SFCS project and the centre’s mainstream program. These include activities such as parenting courses and peer support groups as well as a number of more pre-vocationally focused literacy and numeracy, computer skills and other courses. In the near future, a Centrelink JET Adviser and FaCS JET Child Care Resource Worker will become more closely involved in the project by working with the SFCS Project Coordinator to run ‘in-house’ sessions for parents to encourage their participation in the mainstream JET Program, supporting them to make the transition to more formal avenues of training and study. It should be noted that while this will be presented as an opportunity, participation in JET is voluntary and no pressure would be put on parents to make this choice. The involvement of JET opens a pathway for parents participating in the Centre’s activities to learn about options for study and work, and to do this in an environment where they feel safe. Many of 1

The Community Development Employment Program

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these parents would not otherwise have the confidence to take the first step in venturing outside of their community to participate in TAFE or other formal education courses. It is also a group which would not normally be accessing the JET Program because of the personal issues affecting their lives. The linking of early intervention programs and JET is an innovative approach that provides a continuum of support for parents to build first their personal and then their social and economic capacity.

The project’s relationship to AWT initiatives Progression from social to economic participation, particularly in client groups such as those involved in this project, is by gradual steps. Early intervention projects have the following expected outcomes. Families/Parents that: •

are linked into social and other kinds of supports in their communities;



have access to larger networks of people to talk to about their problems and their plans;



raise children who are better placed to take advantage of opportunities in life (eg education, employment and training);



are able to identify and begin to solve their own problems;



are able to teach their children to be independent and contributing members of society;



are able to cope with life transitions like partnering, unemployment, bereavements, having children;



can develop community links/networks as a basis for opportunities for economic and social participation;



can build new skills and improve their self confidence and self esteem;



are confident enough in their families that they feel able to be involved in other areas of life; and



commence / increase their volunteer activities

(ADAPTED FROM: FaCS NSW SFCS, 2002)

Outcomes to this stage A combination of funding through both programs provides the opportunity for the HWCC to work more holistically with the community to establish a vibrant model of best-practice. Through the very positive work of the SFCS Project Coordinator, strong links have been forged between various program areas and also with the local primary school and health and welfare agencies. The initiative is at too early a stage of its development to assess overall outcomes, and it is a given that with this type of project, a longitudinal focus will be needed in terms of evaluating outcomes for the participant group, both in relation to changes in their personal and family circumstances and related to whether or not pathways to study and employment are taken up. It is interesting to note that in a similar SFCS Project in the Enfield area of Adelaide, participating parents are already beginning to self-identify their interest in pathways to employment, and are embarking on activities which have an enterprise focus. This project is also about to incorporate a JET-funded creche and to link with JET workers in a similar approach to that of Hackham West. Early Intervention projects have the potential to contribute to a national development across this field. This includes knowledge about effectiveness of programs – what works for whom and why. It is

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anticipated that the action research focus will enable flexibility and responsiveness in the ongoing development and direction of the project. The potential also exists to set up links and sharing of best practice ‘what is working what is not’ between the Coordinators of the Hackham West SFCS Project and the Enfield Project. Learnings can also be shared more broadly via the Stronger Families Learning Exchange ‘Good Practice Projects’ database and as a case study on FaCS SFCS Web-page. Lois Kelly Maria Vnuk

References: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Census of Population and Housing, 1996

McClure, P.

Participation Support for a More Equitable Society – Final Report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform, July 2000, Australian Government Publishers.

Maslow, A.H.

Toward a Psychology of Being, D. Van Nostrand Company, 1968.

Department of Family & Community Service

Annual Report, 2000

Department of Family & Community Service

FaCS Website: www.facs.gov.au

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