Family And Community Services Research Articles

Psychosocial stratification of antenatal indicators to guide population-based programs in perinatal depression

BackgroundThere is increasing awareness that perinatal psychosocial adversity experienced by mothers, children, and their families, may influence health and well-being across the life course. To maximise the impact of population-based interventions for optimising perinatal wellbeing, health services can utilise empirical methods to identify subgroups at highest risk of poor outcomes relative to the overall population.MethodsThis study sought to identify sub-groups using latent class analysis within a population of mothers in Sydney, Australia, based on their differing experience of self-reported indicators of psychosocial adversity. This study sought to identify sub-groups using latent class analysis within a population of mothers in Sydney, Australia, based on their differing experience of self-reported indicators of psychosocial adversity. Subgroup differences in antenatal and postnatal depressive symptoms were assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.ResultsLatent class analysis identified four distinct subgroups within the cohort, who were distinguished empirically on the basis of their native language, current smoking status, previous involvement with Family-and-Community Services (FaCS), history of child abuse, presence of a supportive partner, and a history of intimate partner psychological violence. One group consisted of socially supported ‘local’ women who speak English as their primary language (Group L), another of socially supported ‘migrant’ women who speak a language other than English as their primary language (Group M), another of socially stressed ‘local’ women who speak English as their primary language (Group Ls), and socially stressed ‘migrant’ women who speak a language other than English as their primary language (Group Ms.). Compared to local and not socially stressed residents (L group), the odds of antenatal depression were nearly three times higher for the socially stressed groups (Ls OR: 2.87 95%CI 2.10–3.94) and nearly nine times more in the Ms. group (Ms OR: 8.78, 95%CI 5.13–15.03). Antenatal symptoms of depression were also higher in the not socially stressed migrant group (M OR: 1.70 95%CI 1.47–1.97) compared to non-migrants. In the postnatal period, Group M was 1.5 times more likely, while the Ms. group was over five times more likely to experience suboptimal mental health compared to Group L (OR 1.50, 95%CI 1.22–1.84; and OR 5.28, 95%CI 2.63–10.63, for M and Ms. respectively).ConclusionsThe application of empirical subgrouping analysis permits an informed approach to targeted interventions and resource allocation for optimising perinatal maternal wellbeing.

Access to legal records by children leaving State care: The experience of young people in NSW

For those who have been in the care of the State as children, access to records can be critical to securing justice and redress for past wrongs. This article outlines the arguments made in recent litigation undertaken by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) on behalf of young people who requested access to legal audits conducted on their files by the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Family and Community Services (FACS). It documents the policy change that was achieved as a result of the litigation and makes recommendations for further reform to better realise the rights of children in care to access their records.

Coaching Parents About Children's Needs and Navigating the Child Protection and Other Systems

This article reviews developments in the NSW child protection system which aim to reduce the number of children in state care. The first development was changes to the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1988 made in 2016 that created a permanency hierarchy for children who have been removed and not restored to parental or extended family care. Under Section 10A of the Act, guardianship and adoption becomes the priority if restoration is not possible, although Aboriginal children are exempt from adoption to some extent. The more recent development, during 2017, is the purchase by the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) of a license for two US models, namely Multi-Systemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST-CAN®) and Functional Family Therapy through Child Welfare (FFT-CW®). US studies have shown that these models reduce the number of children being taken into care. Related to this effort is the recognition by FaCS that the cost of out-of-home care (OOHC) is increasingly unmanageable given the 16,843 children in care in NSW. Added to this is the knowledge, confirmed by the Minister, that for many children in OOHC the outcomes are dismal. Finally, the article turns to the issue of poverty and seeks to address the established correlation (not causality) between poverty and child abuse and neglect. This remains the key issue that underscores child abuse and neglect that has to be addressed if a significant reduction in the number of children taken into state care is to be achieved.

Innovation Landscape within Family Services Integration: Evidence from Australia

The aim of this research is to explore the utility of collaborative innovation landscape within the government Family and Community Services (FACS) organisation in Australia. Exploring the presence or absence of the collaborative innovation landscape within public sector organisations is important, as the organisation’s objectives combined with the effective management of people working within the organisation define the productivity and efficiency measures of an organisation. The collaborative innovation landscape in FACS is investigated in line with the identified gaps in the existing literature by exploring the structure and function of the organisation, working relationships, team-based interactions and respondents’ perceptions of the prevailing working environment. Qualitative in-depth interviews and Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques were used in the present study to analyse the data obtained from the respondents. Respondents were employed within the divisions of FACS government organisation operating in Tamworth in regional Australia. The results obtained indicated that the respondents’ lack of interdivision familiarity poses additional challenges in terms of understanding the nature of work, clarity of role and subsequent engagement with clients and personnel across divisions identified within FACS government organisation. The results obtained from the SNA indicated the presence of reciprocal relationships of the respondents with the other respondents working within their divisions. The findings suggest that collaborative type of innovation landscape is at a nascent stage within the FACS government organisation, and efforts need to be directed to strengthen the public sector innovations in Australia. Keywords: Collaborative Landscape, FACS, Vision, Participative Safety, Task Orientation, Support for Innovation, Regional Australia To cite this document: Philip Thomas, Sujana Adapa, and Barbara King Joyce, Innovation Landscape within Family Services Integration: Evidence from Australia, Contemporary Management Research, Vol.11, No.3, pp. 249-276, 2015. Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.7903/cmr.13631

Recommendations for Improving Cultural Competency When Working with Ethnic Minority Families in Child Protection Systems in Australia

Australia’s research and knowledge base on cultural competency has been slow to develop. To help address this gap, the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) funded a large scale study in this area, which included a detailed literature review. The paper reports on key findings from that review including that collectivist values are at odds with ‘child-centred’ philosophies of child protection; there is an inherent tension between the right to equal protection from harm and the right for respect in cultural differences in parenting and family functioning (‘cultural absolutism’ versus ‘cultural relativism’); there are factors that uniquely characterise ‘the migrant context’ (especially lack of awareness of child protection laws and systems, economic disadvantage, and fear of authority); and that cultural competency is separable from cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity, and also different from addressing language barriers. However, in reviewing the literature it became apparent that the specific roles and responsibilities of workers, agencies, and systems were not clearly delineated. Thus this paper also aimed to address this unmet need. Identifying their unique roles and responsibilities can help ensure that the delivery of child protection services are efficiently and effectively mobilised from both the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ to benefit all ethnic minority families. Moreover, any implementation of cultural competency needs to move beyond the emphasis on culture and acknowledge the dimensions of inferiority and oppression to truly promote value for diversity and protect ethnic minority children from the dangers of systematic disadvantage that institutional racism represents.

Think-Value-Communicate-Lead (TVCL): A Framework For Developing Family Professionals

The increasing emphasis on assessing the quality of educational programs and ensuring a positive job outlook for graduates, coupled with the persistent identity issues of family science programs, points to the need for a flexible yet comprehensive tool for framing and advancing family science curricula. The purpose of this paper is to describe THINK, VALUE, COMMUNICATE, LEAD (TVCL), a curricular revision process used to define student learning objectives and tie program level assessments with course level assessments within undergraduate family and community services (FCS) programs. The process, driven by the question What do we want an FCS graduate to look like?, addresses the progression of course material, redundancy and gaps in the curriculum, consistency across course sections, and the empowerment of students in their own learning. This TVCL process is described along with practical implementation strategies that can assist other family science programs in their own curricular revision efforts.

Lessons Learnt about Strengthening Indigenous Families and Communities

The Stronger Families and Communities Strategy (the Strategy) 2000–2004 was an Australian Government initiative funded by the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) to help build family and community capacity to deal with challenges and take advantage of opportunities. In 2002, a consortium led by CIRCLE (the Collaborative Institute for Research Consulting and Learning in Evaluation) at RMIT University was commissioned by FaCS to undertake a national evaluation of the Strategy.This report discusses what has been learned from the Strategy 2000–2004 about how to strengthen Indigenous families and communities. These lessons have implications for future interventions funded through the Strategy 2004–2009, and through other funding initiatives and programs. The report provides insights into critical factors that explain the success of some projects and some of the frustrations.

WORKING FOR THE DOLE: PATTERNS OF PAID AND VOLUNTEER WORK AMONG INCOME SUPPORT RECIPIENTS

1 Introduction The nature and extent of economic and social participation have received increased attention in recent discussion of welfare reform. Active encouragement of participation is a key theme addressed by the Reference Group on Welfare Reform (RGWR, 2000) and the social participation support system developed in its Final Report derives from the belief that: `Participation in paid employment is a major source of self-esteem. Without it, people can fail to develop, or become disengaged from, employment, family and community networks. This can lead to physical and psychological ill health and reduced life opportunities for parents and their children.... Social participation, valuable in itself, can also enable people to develop skills that may be transferable to paid work. For some people, therefore, involvement in voluntary work of various kinds might be an appropriate component of an agreed, strategy to develop their capacity for economic participation.' (RGWR, 2000, pp. 3-4) Economic participation in the form of paid work is thus seen as a major source of income, but also of self-esteem. Social participation (including participation in volunteer work and caring for children and adults) helps to strengthen community networks in ways that may enable people to develop the skills required to participate economically, and is valued both directly and indirectly. The welfare reform debate has been conducted against the backdrop of a changing labour market structure that is producing a more diverse range of labour market opportunities and outcomes. This is resulting in a gradual blurring of the boundary between employment and unemployment. Many of those in employment are experiencing a degree of under-employment and are thus, in part at least, also unemployed. According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in September 2000, more than 485,000 employed people (5.3 per cent of the employed labour force) were working fewer hours than they would like and were thus partially involuntarily unemployed. (2) At the same time, there has been growing pressure for those of working age who are unemployed and in receipt of income support to actively seek and, where possible, participate in paid work. The Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) reports that, in 1999-2000, 12.6 per cent of customers receiving income support in the form of labour market assistance also received earnings, with the average amount equal to $300 a fortnight (FaCS, 2001a, Table 30, p. 135). (3) Furthermore, as Pech and Landt (2001, p. 27) have observed, the proportion of working-age recipients combining employment with income support more than doubled between the early-1980s and mid-1990s. With the past trend towards growing diversity of labour market attachment expected to continue, the income support system will play an increasingly important role in supporting those seeking to participate in the labour market. Encouraging participation among income support recipients is thus both a response to emerging labour market trends and a goal for policy. This paper examines the extent to which income support recipients are participating in two forms of participation--paid work and volunteer activity. While these specific activities do not cover all possible forms of participation, they are central to the broader policy debate, with the former (paid work) seen by many as the endpoint of attempts' to encourage participation and the latter (volunteering) part of the on-going debate over the role of social capital in the evolution of civil society (Warburton and Oppenheimer, 2000; Wilkinson and Bittman, 2002). The analysis is restricted to those in receipt of Newstart Allowance (NSA), Parenting Payment (PP) and Disability Support Pension (DSP) and draws on data from the Customer Participation Survey (CPS) undertaken on behalf of FaCS by Roy Morgan Ltd. …

Simulating the Behavioural Effects of Welfare Reforms Among Sole Parents in Australia

This paper derives and estimates an econometric model of labour supply among sole parents in Australia, using modelling techniques which treat the labour supply decision as a utility maximising choice between a given number of discrete states. The model is then used to look at the likely effects of actual and hypothetical welfare policy reforms. Model estimates are based upon net incomes generated by the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator (MITTS), developed at the Melbourne Institute in collaboration with the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS).

Competitive tendering and out-of-home care for children: The South Australian experience

Out-of-home care was the first children's service in South Australia to be restructured along purchaser-provider lines. This paper reports on the forces behind the change and the process of contracting out the service. It is argued that the model of contestability adopted by Family and Community Services (FACS), while potentially a worthy idea, is flawed in at least two important respects: (a) it promotes monopolies by contracting out an entire service to one (or a few) providers, and (b) it restricts competition to the not-for-profit sector.