Practice Profile
Families of Offenders Resource Kit (FORK)
Contact details
Agency: The Victorian Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (VACRO)
Address:
PO Box 14093, Melbourne, VIC 8001
Level 1, 116 Hardware St
Melbourne, VIC 3001
Contact: Melanie Field-Pimm
Family & Children’s Project & Development Coordinator
Phone: 03 9605 1900 Fax: 03 9602 2355
Email: mfpimm@vacro.org.au
Website: www.vacro.org.au/fork
Funding source
The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs provided funding under Local Answers to community agencies to implement small local projects that help disadvantaged communities to build skills and capacity to identify opportunities. FORK was funded by Local Answers for 3 years.
Program duration and frequency
Program commenced July 2006 and was completed in May 2009. The program operated in eight local government areas providing at least 10 2-hour training sessions in each area.
Program description
In 2000, VACRO conducted a study into the needs of Children and Families of Prisoners in Victoria titled ‘Doing it Hard’. This study identified that families face a number of problems when dealing with the criminal justice system based on the social effects, the institutional effects and the personal effects. The response from families was that they believed access to increased service support particularly from workers who have an understanding of the prison system would be helpful. Following this, in 2006, an external evaluation of the Children’s Counselling Services at VACRO was completed. Recommendations from this evaluation suggested that a more effective way of reaching the families of offenders was to link and create partnerships with direct service agencies at a local level. This stems from the understanding that many of these families do not receive support or information from the prison sites themselves and remain hidden within their local communities because of the stigma and their unwillingness to identify themselves.
FORK focused on early intervention for "at risk" children of prisoners and their families. It strengthened service response to these families by including the local service providers in identifying the families’ specific needs within their local community and participating in the development of a practical tool that will provide information for community agencies, government agencies, schools and early learning professionals about:
- The correctional system and the impact of imprisonment on prisoners’ families;
- Identifying "at risk" behaviours among prisoners’ children;
- Strategies for working with these children & their families; and
- Resources available to assist these children & their families.
Training was provided for local services who may encounter prisoners’ families and their children. Long term outcomes aimed to reduce the incidence of intergenerational crime by enabling communities to support children to develop their own personal resources and increasing the capability of the family’s coping resources.
Geographical Area
- Local community
- State/Territory wide
- Regional centre or town
Target Group
- Women
- Men
- Children
- Young people
- Families
- Elderly people
- Indigenous communities
- CALD communities
- Regional, Rural, Remote communities
- Service providers
- Teachers/educators
Is the program based on an existing program or training model?
No
Is the program/practice based on the findings from empirical research, theory and/or a particular framework/model?
Yes
Briefly explain the research and/or framework model and the way this influences or informs the intended outcomes and objectives of the program/practice.
In 2000, VACRO conducted a study into the needs of Children and Families of Prisoners in Victoria titled ‘Doing it Hard’. by Nola Tudball. A total of 221 prisoners and caregivers of prisoners’ children participated through individual interviews based on questionnaires, and 2 prison-based focus groups. This study identified that families face a number of problems when dealing with the criminal justice system based on the social effects, the institutional effects and the personal effects. The response from families was that they believed access to increased service support particularly from workers who have an understanding of the prison system would be helpful. Copies of this research are available through VACRO.
Following this, in 2006, an external evaluation of the Children’s Counselling Services at VACRO was completed. Recommendations from this evaluation suggested that a more effective way of reaching the families of offenders was to link and create partnerships with direct service agencies at a local level. This stems from the understanding that many of these families do not receive support or information from the prison sites themselves and remain hidden within their local communities because of the stigma and their unwillingness to identify themselves.
The concept of the FORK project was developed based on this notion that the families of offenders are invisible within their local communities and that community education and skill development was required to enable local service agencies to identify and provide appropriate support.
Has the program/practice generated any publications, reports, videos, presentations or unpublished papers?
Yes.
The ‘Families of Offenders Resource Kit’ is a locally developed toolkit, individualised for eight local government areas; Darebin, Whittlesea, Port Phillip, Geelong, Moonee Valley, Monash, Casey and Wellington.
Each kit is available for download on the FORK website and a generic kit is also available for workers in other areas.
A range of supporting information is also available on the website such as information on the impact of imprisonment on specific cultures.
Has the program/practice been the subject of evaluation?
Yes - external/independent evaluation
What instruments were relied on to evaluate the program/practice?
An action research approach was utilised to enable a process of continuous reflection and review, allowing the FORK model to extend the reach of its core business to be integrated with the broader needs of each community. Feedback sheets were used to evaluate outcomes of training and working groups.
Briefly describe the outcomes of the evaluation.
- The resource was distributed widely across the 8 Local government Areas with almost 80 training sessions run across the three years.
- There was solid participation in the project at a range of levels from direct areas of participation such as the working group and training to in-house information sessions or reception of newsletters.
- The bulk of participants in training (64%) reported good improvement in their skills at understanding and responding to the needs of families of offenders.
- A range of methods for continued access to the information were achieved.
What gaps in research and practice models/frameworks did you find in developing your program/practice?
The most prevailing issue in developing programs for the families of offenders is the lack of formal data collected about the families. If uniform collection of this information was supported by Government, there would be quantitative data available to highlight who the families are, where they reside, how many are affected and thus assist in the development of relevant services / programs. At present, service provision both in Victoria and nationally is provided in gap measures that are generally sourced in an ad hoc way through a range of philanthropic and government grants. There is minimal funding specifically targeting the families of offenders, regardless of the fact that research clearly shows that intervention to this group greatly assists in reducing re-offending and intergenerational crime.