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
FORK Project Coordinator
Phone: 03 9602 1366 Fax: 03
9602 2355
Email: mfpimm@vacro.org.au
Website: www.vacro.org.au/fork
Funding source
The Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs provides 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 has been funded by Local Answers for 3 years.
Program duration and frequency
Program commenced July 2006 and is due to finish May 2009. The program will operate 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 focuses on early intervention for "at risk" children of prisoners and their families. It strengthens 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,
- Resources available to assist these children & their families.
Training is provided for local services who may encounter prisoners’ families and their children. Long term outcomes will aim to reduce the incidence of intergenerational crime by supporting 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
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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 will be available for download on the FORK website as it is completed and a generic kit will be available for workers in other areas in 2008.
As the project progresses, a range of supporting information will be included 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?
Written evaluations following attendance and other.Briefly describe the outcomes of the evaluation:
- Data will be compiled on local involvement in the project, including written evaluation of working groups, training attendance and number of kits distributed. Follow up interviews will also be conducted with workers and families who participated in the development of the project.
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.