Family Foundations: an evaluation

Investigators

Dr Justin Barker, Dr Debbie Noble-Carr, Dr Sebastian Trew (Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University)

Funding

ACT Community Services Directorate

Aims

Evaluate the extent to which the program has been evaluated as intended, and the extent to which it has made a positive difference to families

Background

The Family Foundations Program was established in 2016 by Belconnen Community Services in in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to promote strong, secure and healthy relationships between parents and carers and their children aged 0-5 years. It provides evidence-based early intervention services to vulnerable families. It is offered across the ACT and delivers strengths-based parenting interventions and supports tailored to individual families.

Project details

The ACT Community Services Directorate commissioned the Institute of Child Protection Studies to conduct an evaluation of the process and outcomes of the program.

At the time of the evaluation the program mainly served families in the Gungahlin and North Canberra area who were self-referred or referred by community service organisations. Most of the families already had case management or other type of support in place before being referred to the program.

Family Foundations practitioners identified an array of needs including:

• parenting knowledge (i.e., facts and information that can be gained from experience or education about parenting)
• emotional regulation
• attachment relationship
• routine and boundaries.

Findings

Interviews with parents, practitioners and other stakeholders revealed positive changes to parenting capacity including: parenting knowledge, helping seeking behaviours, emotional regulation, increased confidence in role as parent and increased community connectedness.

Using a master narrative that has a child's individual developmental needs at the core can help parents feel less judged about their parenting skills and become more receptive to new skills and information about how to respond to their child. It is likely that these new skills translate to better outcomes for children, as was evident in this evaluation.

Projected community impact

Programs such as Family Foundations that focus on child development (rather than parent effectiveness) can be applied more widely in government and community-based parenting programs. Applying effective strategies before the family reaches the threshold of needing child protective services is also consistent with the 4th Action Plan under the National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children 2009-2020.

Publications

Moore, T., & McArthur, M. (2014). If only I, they, we had done things differently: Young people talk about school difficulties and crime. Children and youth services review, 44, 249-255.

Moore, T., McArthur, M., & Saunders, V. (2013). Young People Talk about Transitioning from Youth Detention to the Community: Making Good. Australian Social Work, 66(3), 328-343.

Moore, T., Saunders, V., & McArthur, M. (2008). Lost in transition: Young people's transitions from custody to the community. Canberra: Institute of Child Protection Studies, ACU.

Project timeline

Completed 2019

Contact

For more information contact: icps@acu.edu.au