new south wales evidence for the social impact of targeted support services meaningful community...

NEW SOUTH WALES

Evidence for the social impact of targeted support

servicesMeaningful community

collaboration at the Cullunghutti Aboriginal Child and Family

Centre, Nowra, NSW

NEW SOUTH WALESOverview

• Cullunghutti Aboriginal Child and Family Centre

• Who we are• What we know about effective ACFCs• Research aims• What works• Challenges• Recommendations

NEW SOUTH WALESCullunghutti

NEW SOUTH WALESWho we are

• Cindy Holmes (Centre Manager)• Jim Golden-Brown (Senior Manager)

• Rebecca Gray (Research Manager)• Lorraine Murphy (Clinical Director)

NEW SOUTH WALES

Published Reports

• Social problems for Indigenous communities are often deeply entrenched.

• Ongoing influence of:– historical events, – the relevance of culture – the importance of adopting a “bottom up”

approach • These communities have high levels of “poverty,

unemployment, violence and abuse”

(Price-Robertson & McDonald 2011; Neckoway, Brownlee & Castellan 2007; AIoHa

Welfare Report 2009; HREOC Commission 1997)

NEW SOUTH WALES

Published Reports

• Finally, the concept of adopting an “action research” approach encompasses a dynamic and cyclical process of planning, observing and reflecting.

(Price-Robertson & McDonald 2011)

NEW SOUTH WALESInternal Reports

• Internal report (AIRS):– High engagement (high client numbers)– Client retention (low dropout and repeat trade)– Snowball engagement (word of mouth

recruitment)

• What works:– Holistic, friendly, one-stop-shop– Trustworthy and confidential service provision

NEW SOUTH WALESInternal Reports

• Evaluators (CIRCA):– Challenges:

• Tender process led to competitive culture at interagency;

• Lack of transport options to centre;• Delayed opening of centre building;

– Client outcomes:• Clients accessing services for the first time;• Early diagnosis and support;• Coordination of care (integrated service delivery);• Healthcare adherence;• Early learning outcomes for children.

NEW SOUTH WALESResearch Aims

• To complement stats and CIRCA report• To collect more nuanced narrative accounts • SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, threats)• Capture good practice • Understand barriers and risks• Inform workforce development and

supervision• Report to funding body

NEW SOUTH WALESSample

• 20 interviews with diverse professionals• Based in urban and regional settings• Respondents experience with Aboriginal

programs ranged from medium to high

• The focus here is on the interviews conducted with professionals working at/with the ACFCs managed by RANSW

NEW SOUTH WALESFindings

• What works?– Communication: simple, respectful,

confidential– Meaningful interagency– Responding to community needs

• Challenges– Managing community expectations– Insecure funding and competitive tendering– Conflict within the Aboriginal community

NEW SOUTH WALESCommunication

There is a single telephone number into the place. One single registration form that people have to fill in. You don’t want to over-complicate. You don’t want to over-complicate their lives. You don’t want people to have to tell their story three or four times over and over again.

(Respondent 3)


I think a lot of organisations, and governments especially, don’t fully understand and appreciate that the information that’s given by Aboriginal community people is a form of intellectual property. It’s their story. It’s their connection and it’s their beliefs. We need to be able to be respectful in recognising that. Be respectful in how we use that information. And be mindful that not everybody talks for everybody else. So there’s not really one key person that has the voice of the community.

(Respondent 4)


Well a lot of the feedback was that they don’t feel comfortable going to other services because of the confidentiality issues and stuff, especially with like local Aboriginal communities. They’re worried that people are gonna talk to people and then all their info gets out but they feel like they trust our centre.

(Respondent 2)

NEW SOUTH WALESInteragency

Integrated service provision is forming partnerships with existing service providers to enhance or increase their service provision access. By working in partnerships and providing a range of services within the one centre it enables families to come in...a central point of access.

(Respondent 1)


It’s not like you’re dealing with an organisation where you go in, you meet once or twice, you know, establish a professional relationship which then you share information. Community, you’ve gotta build trust. To build trust, you’ve gotta develop the rapport. Once you build that trust and rapport then they may test you and see how you’re gonna use any information that’s given to you. And that could take anywhere from a couple of meetings over a couple of weeks to months and months, and years.

(Respondent 4)


Our role is to ensure that the centres provide a culturally appropriate network of information and of support

(Respondent 1)

[The centre provides a space where people can] share knowledge, you know, whether it be knowledge of sites, whether it be knowledge of culture, whether it be knowledge of language, and whether it be knowledge of just everyday living, growing the wealth of our community here is about building the capacity of the families.

(Respondent 3)

NEW SOUTH WALESResponsive

I think, you gotta recognise and accept that the community values in which you engage in and are consulting with. Respect and understand that what you see as what is good for them may not necessarily be seen as good for them, or is their priorities. I also think it’s around ensuring that you engage from the beginning of the development phrase of the project and not at the delivery stage. And that they are involved in any review and evaluation.

(Respondent 4)


That’s the thing, you should never refer to Aboriginal families or community members as “clients”. They’re a community member or a family member, that have come to the service seeking either some advice or to have a cup of tea, which is provided, and they’re so happy to sit down and talk to people in that environment because they feel a lot more comfortable around that and …we can talk about the future.

(Respondent 3)


The delivery of the consultation can take many, many forms. Could be sitting down on the riverbank having a yarn to someone under a tree. Sitting in a meeting room, doing a formal survey, doing a formal interview. Having a cuppa with somebody. Attending a community function and just having a yarn. The most beneficial way of securing any form of [feedback is] establishing a rapport first: you need to establish that before you can extract the information that you require around the consultation.

(Respondent 4)

NEW SOUTH WALESChallenges

My greatest fear…as selfish as it sounds, is that we’ve committed to the community and promised them that we would transition in to a community organisation. At the moment we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to close the doors on June 30 and still be able to live in our community if we don’t have funding…. there’s very high expectations from the elders in this community, they’ve put a lot of trust in us…

(Respondents 1)


Gaining their trust and respecting their trust, and earning their trust is absolutely crucial to the heart of all of that, and maintaining that trust is everything. If you say you’re gonna do something, go and do it. If you can’t do it, be honest with those people and say: “Look, we may not be able to do this but let’s, let’s look at a way that we can probably find someone to help you.” And still participate in that process with them.

(Respondent 3)


At the end of the day, service providers have got to make money to be able to provide these services but there's ways that they can do that in a respectful culturally sensitive manner and they’ve been able to establish that in the centres

(Respondent 1)


The conflict between Aboriginal services has been going on for as long as I’ve been working in this field. […] So then that creates suspicion and, and mistrust, and it’s just awful. […] I think, unfortunately, the conflict between all Aboriginal agencies is so severe that the people in running the agencies are under such attack from other Aboriginal services, so badly that it’s very difficult for them to do their job and for them not to feel under attack.

(Respondent 5)

NEW SOUTH WALES

Recommendations

• Adopt a holistic model of service• Embrace cultural events and artefacts• Prioritise honest communication with locals• Develop feedback loop with clients• Integrate evaluations within centre functioning• Work to secure permanent funding streams• Provide high levels of staff supervision• Provide leadership training to managers

NEW SOUTH WALESContacts

Holmes, C., Gray, R., Golden-Brown, J. & Murphy, L. (2014) “Evidence for the social impact of targeted support services: meaningful community collaboration in the Cullunghutti Aboriginal Child and Family Centre, Nowra, New South Wales”. Oral presentation at the annual FRSA conference, Adelaide, Australia.

[email protected] or [email protected]

new south wales evidence for the social impact of targeted support services meaningful community...

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