Promising Practice Profiles

Creating Capable Communities – Keith Street Community House

The full Promising Practice Profile is available for download in PDF format (521 KB)

Project practice

As part of a holistic response to families experiencing stress and are at risk of family breakdown, the “Keith Street” Community House incorporates a range of programs for parent support, volunteering and social connections. A critical centrepiece is developing informal networks and community connections to facilitate sustainable change for families and improved outcomes for children.

Project undertaken by

Family Life

Start date

Creating Capable Communities – 2000
Keith Street – April 2003

Focal areas

Issue

Family Life’s mission is to achieve lasting and sustainable change for vulnerable families, children and young people. The program’s experience is that shorter-term programs, however intensive, are not as successful in creating longer-term change, particularly for the most isolated and vulnerable families. An example of this is the partnership with the Queen Elizabeth Centre in the late 1990s to provide a home-based service to parents with infants assessed “high risk”. This program provided intensive support for parents for 15 weeks; however, sustainable and longer-term change in families was often not achieved, with some children being returned to statutory care. Reflection on this practice and experience from the Creating Capable Communities program (which commenced in 1998) confirmed that community connections were critical for promoting change and sustaining wellbeing. This learning was applied to designing and launching a new community program specifically focussed on families with infants where identified risk factors could compromise the child’s development and wellbeing. The Community Bubs home-visiting program was nested in the context of the broader Creating Capable Communities program. By 2003, this included the development of a community house in Keith Street (in South-East metropolitan Melbourne), which became a key focus for the subsequent success of Community Bubs. These programs sought to improve longer-term outcomes by providing a targeted program for families for a longer time (12 months) and linking these families to their local community, providing Keith Street as the gateway.

Keith Street has a primary focus for families living in public housing, while also including all families living in the community who are isolated and vulnerable. Public housing residents expressed a need to have a space that is off the estate and a safe space for their children to play. Their experiences with those living on the estate were not always positive due to the complexity of issues of some individuals and families living there, such as violence, substance abuse and other criminal behaviour. They were understandably reluctant to build relationships with some of these people and wanted an environment that was conducive to their children’s healthy development and wellbeing, as well as their own. In the environment of Keith Street Community House, the informal networks that are created by families themselves become the families’ ongoing resource for support, rather than the service system acting as an intervention when things go wrong. Families build a wider net of resources and support to draw on, they are less isolated, and have friends and neighbours to support them in caring for their children.

Program context

Family Life is a community-owned and managed family and youth service agency established in 1970 to provide services for the community, facilitate community connectedness and respond to the needs of people who are experiencing stress and at risk of family breakdown. Family Life has been able to enhance work with the community through local supporters and the Local Answers funding from the Federal Government. The particular focus for this program, Creating Capable Communities (CCC) has been working with families who live in the public housing neighbourhoods of Bayside, Melbourne, Victoria. Across all programs, Family Life seeks to build a healthy, caring and capable community that provides a safe and nurturing environment for children and families.

Keith Street Community House was achieved in August 2003 as part of the Creating Capable Communities program (CCC). Parents expressed a need for somewhere off the estates where they and their children could safely come together. Office of Housing released one of their stand-alone houses for this purpose. At around the same time, Family Life also launched a new program Community Bubs offering intensive support to vulnerable parents with infants 0–6 months. This program has been funded by a private benefactor in the community.


Practice description

This promising practice profile seeks to demonstrate that providing a community context, such as Keith Street, as part of a holistic response to working with families, creates positive and sustainable change. Specifically, it seeks to demonstrate this by focusing on the outcomes achieved with families involved in the Community Bubs program who consistently reported on the significance of the Keith Street Community House for achieving personal and family change.

The following are considered to be the critical ingredients of the Creating Capable Communities development of the Keith Street Community House which have contributed to positive outcomes for Community Bubs parents:

Participation of the wider community

Family Life partnered with other services in both establishing and continuing the Keith Street neighbourhood facility and its programs. Other local services working with public housing residents joined with Family Life to approach the Office of Housing for a facility for residents to commune. The building of ongoing networks to enhance the Keith Street program (and other Family Life programs including CCC) is supported by a team of dedicated workers from Family Life’s Community Relations team. Although the potential for all workers to network and develop relationships is there, the Community Relations team has the portfolio of making sure these relationships are strategic and tap into how they can best assist the desired outcomes. Everyone has an opportunity to contribute, from the agency’s Board in raising new funds and marketing the agency, to the local bakery that contributes bread to one of the programs every week. Across the programs, there is involvement of Family Life trained volunteers, local police, service clubs assisting with functions and barbeques, and local neighbourhood houses facilitating educational opportunities. A network was established at the start and continues to run every quarter involving public housing residents, participants of programs, local services and partners, all able to have a say in how and what is provided.

In addition, the Community Bubs program has been funded by a private benefactor in the community who was convinced of the value of such a program being embedded in the community model of CCC. This benefactor has visited Keith Street, met families and listened to their stories of change. They have now assisted Family Life to purchase a property in a new geographical area where the program model of families connecting to a local community context will be replicated.

Trained volunteers

Both community programs—Keith Street and Community Bubs—utilise volunteers. Family Life has a Volunteer Co-ordinator who initially screens suitability of volunteers through an interview and then directs to appropriate areas of volunteering, including our family and community volunteers. Overall, there are over 280 volunteers supporting Family Life in different roles including fundraising, administration, family and community support. Service delivery has over 40 volunteers enrolled to support the family and community programs. Their suitability is based on an interview with the Family Support worker who is responsible for screening, training and ongoing support of volunteers. Suitability is dependent on the applicant’s experience, training, aptitude and motivation for wanting to volunteer. Volunteers must complete a 2-day training program before working with families that includes topics such as communication, dealing with conflict, relevant policies and procedures, worker/volunteer boundaries, family and community sensitive practice, duty of care, confidentiality and setting goals. For volunteers wishing to work with Community Bubs families specifically they must attend an additional day’s training looking at topics such as infant and child development, bonding and attachment, relevant service and support networks, and using strength-based tools.

Volunteers for the Community Bubs program are matched with families after the professional worker had provided 3–4 months of intensive support (with the worker continuing to support the family for up to 12 months). In the pilot period, the Community Bubs worker and/or volunteer would link the family into Keith Street Community House, and also visit the family regularly when they were attending Keith Street as a way of establishing the link and continuing the relationship in a less formal way. In addition, there have been 3–4 volunteers who have consistently had a presence at Keith Street and are available to families in an informal supportive way to provide advice on parenting, talk through issues the parent may identify, console and nurture the children, and run structured activities for the children with parents. A few of these volunteers have been there since some of the families have started to come and watched the children grow from babies to pre-schoolers.

Volunteers provide that step away from the more structured professional role, and some families were able to develop more friendship-type relationships with volunteers than they were with professionals, adding to their informal support network base.

As well as the initial training, volunteers have regular supervision through the family support volunteer worker or another staff member, and are asked to participate in the core training modules covering topics such as child protection, child safety, family violence and community development. Volunteers are also invited to attend Family Life’s monthly peer supervision sessions and professional development along with staff. These opportunities not only further skill volunteers to a competent level but also support their sense of belonging to the agency and identification with the agency’s core philosophies and way of working.

Widening the target group focus

Public housing residents expressed a need to have a space away from the estate and a safe space for their children to play. Given this, and our work with Community Bubs families who not all lived on the public housing estates, it made sense to provide a space for all families in the community who needed a similar environment and who were isolated or marginalised from other families in their community. This integration assists to build bridges across all sectors of the community, rather than focus on one micro-sector. Residents in public housing have indicated that activities which focus totally on a micro-community such as public housing estates can further stigmatise such communities, and that these communities benefit more greatly from opportunities to build networks into the wider community and vice-versa.

Safe spaces

Parents indicated they wanted to be able to spend time with their children in a space that felt safe. The physical environment also provided a range of elements that were not always available in the confines of a small flat or public park, such as a range of indoor and outdoor play equipment, educational toys and books and interaction with other families. A safe, physical environment encourages a higher level of social and emotional domains to operate such as play, conversation and sharing of tasks.

Longer-term support

Families involved in the Community Bubs program are offered support for up to 12 months for reasons indicated earlier, where shorter-term intervention has limitations in terms of sustainable change. In addition to individual support, families who link into Keith Street can go there twice a week for as long as they wish. Many families who started going there when they had babies continued to attend until their child was of school or kindergarten age. If they had subsequent children, they would then bring them along. Even if families were no longer accessing individual support, there was an ongoing accessibility to informal support through parents and the presence of staff and volunteers. On a number of occasions, families will move in and out of individual support. For example, a parent will have ceased involvement with the Community Bubs program but is still attending Keith Street. The parent will have a subsequent child and again feel the need for more intense support and reconnect back with the program. This process is fairly seamless for parents as the staff are still accessible and can be approached for specific support. In the pilot program of Community Bubs, the program support workers would also attend at regular intervals to Keith Street and so were accessible to families.

An advantage in accessibility for families has been the continuity of staff both of the Community Bubs worker in the first 3-year pilot, and the same staff and volunteers supporting families at Keith Street. This continuity allowed many families to build the trust and relationships enough to seek help when needed. The rich context of observation of interaction of parents and children, also gave workers opportunities to be alert to specific needs which arose and respond to them individually, at times suggesting to parents that they may benefit from support of a particular program, be it Community Bubs or another more suitable program which Family Life or another service in the community may have offered.

Role-modelling and informal networks

In the same way, staff and volunteers are building relationships with families, there are also valuable interactions and friendships occurring between families. In this environment, parents have an opportunity to observe how a parent might interact with their own child or another’s. They can observe how their child interacts with others and vice-versa. Many conversations occur between parents about handling different situations with their children such as discipline, routines, and behaviour. At various times, formal parenting programs have been interspersed with the informal ways of learning, but it is in the richness of exchanges that many parents provide feedback about change.

Parents’ feedback indicates that Keith Street has enabled them to feel less isolated, safer and more connected to others and to form valued friendships. Many parents are the recipient of a government benefit and cannot afford the fees for childcare or pre-school/kindergarten. In addition, there is greater demand than allocated places available in this community. This effectively shuts out the majority of these parents from accessing the formal system. Keith Street has become an alternative place for their children to experience the play and social stimulation that their child needs prior to commencing school. As parents can’t leave their children at Keith Street, it provides them with the opportunity to form new friendships while they are there. These friendships begin at Keith Street, and continue outside of the program’s time. Many parents are now planning activities to meet at other times such as attending each other’s children’s birthdays, going on outings, walking to the local park and babysitting. It is the less structured environment that has contributed to the building of these vital and ongoing friendships.

In the building of trust and friendship between parents, parents rather than the service system, are also able to identify when others are struggling or need professional intervention. Within the first few months of Community Bubs parents linking with Keith Street became the ones recommending that other parents who were struggling might find Community Bubs useful as well as other programs which Family Life were offering. In this sense, it was the community of families recognising needs and supporting families to utilise the services available to them, rather than the services themselves. It is more about what is happening between people rather than what is happening for people.

At present, Keith Street is opened twice a week by Family Life staff for four hours each time. Some parents would come more often, but the agency’s resources are limited. As the community facility belongs to the parents, they are able to use it for themselves and in their own time. This has occurred on a number of occasions (this is encouraged particularly through the Creating Capable Leaders program). Parents have opened up the facility on school holidays and run their own activities, and have also booked the facility for their children’s birthday parties.

Parent and child activities

A number of parents attending see this time as an opportunity to take “time out” from their child, and with limited support networks and some with no extended family, this is understandable. However, it is also noted that some parents have not developed the capacity to interact positively with their child and some structured activities as well as the informal role-modelling has assisted parents to improve their relationships with their children through interactive activities. Such activities have been craft, painting, play-dough, planting of vegetables, water play, music and movement.

Participation and leadership

Parents have been encouraged to participate as much as they are able in the planning, facilitation and leadership of activities. This encouragement supports both the personal and individual skills and development of participants, as well as participants feeling they have ownership of the facility and what happens there. There are both formal and informal ways in which this occurs:

Training for “Creating Capable Leadership” in 2006 for Creating Capable Communities participants was facilitated by staff as a pilot program. This delivered eight core modules aligned with Certificate IV Community Development. Topics included communication, dealing with conflict, building partnerships, how to access funding, resources in the community, and using the media. The objective of the training was to support residents to initiate and manage local community projects. Participants were hand-picked as people who were already demonstrating leadership ability and showing initiative in assisting with planning and running of activities. The training also had a practical application whereby participants were asked to work on a project of their choosing that they would like to implement in their community. Five of the graduates were parents who attended Keith Street. They went on to deliver a music program for the children the following term.

Research base

Local community context and social networks

An extensive review of Australian and international literature was conducted by Jackson et al. (1999) to assist in understanding and responding to high-risk families. Part of this review highlights the influence of environmental stressors, particularly poverty, lack of community support, and lack of social networks as compounding the indicative factors of risk, and in some situations, being the causative factors for risk.

Tomison (1998) commented on the interplay of factors such as lack of social supports, appropriate information about child development and child rearing skills and the subsequent increased risk of child abuse. Ayoub and Jacewitz (1982, cited in Jackson et al., 1999) highlight that providing services for high risk families with infants from existing and known agencies reduces alienation and the mistrust of families. Models that address multiple needs such as parent education, home visiting and support, and connecting families to services are found to be more successful (James, 1994).

Campbell et al. (2002) emphasised the need to encompass client’s informal support network, and to recognise and assess the contribution this social network makes to parenting. This was seen to be one of the biggest gaps in the dominant service system where the perception is that parenting is a “discrete entity outside of the bio-psychosocial assessment of the parent” (Campbell et al., 2002, p. 45). This same gap was highlighted in a review of 24 US parenting programs (Bowes, 2000).

The need to work with the community to facilitate a supportive context for families and children is seen to be as important as individual intervention in enabling long-term healthy outcomes for children (Cavanagh, 2003). Michaleski (1999, cited in Cavanagh, 2003) suggested that “working with clients or consumers to engage in repairing the damage in their lives and build upon existing strengths and assets should be accompanied by a parallel process of stimulating their thinking about what changes in their broader environments might enhance their wellbeing”. Bowes (2000) highlighted that facilitating families’ knowledge and use of community resources encourages “parents to take an active role in mobilising resources for their families”.

Earlier intervention and prevention

The Child Protection Outcomes Project (2003; cited in Department of Human Services Victoria, 2004) recommends a greater focus in service delivery on early intervention and prevention, and greater levels of service coordination. The new Victorian Families, Youth & Children’s Act (2005) also adds further to these reforms as part of the Best Interests Framework, highlighting the needs for greater responsibility from the community sector to respond to concerns of children at risk, and a more rigorous collaborative approach in addressing those concerns and reducing risk. A review of the literature and service responses by Littlefield et al. (1999, p. 45) revealed that there were “relatively few formalised programs designed to meet the needs of high risk infants and their families”.

Barnard (1993; cited in Jackson et al., 1999) suggests the need for longer-term intervention to enable the development of effective working relationships between clients and workers. Evaluation of the Parenting Assessment & Skill Development program (Campbell et al., 2002) suggested that their findings were similar and were endorsed by “very experienced child welfare researchers in the U.S.” (McCartt et al. 2000; cited in Campbell et al., 2002). Holzer et al. (2006) argued that one of the factors enhancing success of a home support program is intense and lengthy involvement with families.

The Penn Prevention Program for Preventing Child Abuse (Daro et al., 1993) and Hawaii Healthy Start evaluations (Duggan et al., 1999) informed the vision for Creating Capable Communities as the context for Community Bubs. Workers from Hawaii Healthy Start were involved with families until the child was 5 years of age and sought to improve parent and child outcomes in “at risk” families by providing services directly and promoting family use of preventative and early intervention services and supports (Duggan et al., 1999, p. 67). The Penn Prevention Program evaluation recommends intensity of support combined with a focus on the individual as well as their parenting skills, activities that promote role modelling, a mix of home-based and centre- based services, an assessment which incorporates the families environment, opportunities for parents to develop consumer skills to learn to use available services, and the essential requirement of staff with the personal attributes for empathy and non-judgemental approaches (Daro et al., 1993, pp. 40–41).

Volunteer and community participation

A number of international parenting program models highlight the value of using volunteers as part of service delivery and ongoing support. Home Start in Britain highlighted the key strengths of intervention to be the use of volunteers as home visitors (Commonwealth Department of Health & Family Services, 1996). Good Beginnings also uses trained volunteers with emphasis on role- modelling, parenting skills and linkages to the community. Volunteers were seen as helpful in normalising support and in improving community support networks for families (Ewins et al., 1999).

Research was undertaken to measure the effectiveness of community participation contribution to better health outcomes of more isolated populations (Bandesha & Litva, 2005). It highlighted that individuals more actively engaged in their communities had an increase in confidence and self- esteem through the gaining of knowledge and skills, and making of new friends. Some had moved on to further training and employment as a result of their participation.

The Community Mothers program in Dublin, Ireland uses experienced volunteers who are also parents to provide support to first-time parents:

Working relationships in the program are based on partnership and participation … and can only be effective... if all the people involved are empowered: the professionals, the volunteers, the parents and ultimately, the community themselves. (Johnson et al., 2000)

Research highlighted that this program was successful in increased maternal self-esteem and attitudes towards parenting. These improvements were still measurable after seven years.

Outcomes

Each program (CCC & Community Bubs) had their own separate measures for evidencing outcomes, but which overlap and have similar themes. The core outcomes which are themed across both programs are:

Evidence of outcomes

Outcomes for Community Bubs families measured by external research link significantly to parents’ feedback of their experience of Keith Street. In the pilot program of Community Bubs’ (June 2003–June 2006), 80% of these families participated in the Keith Street programs. Although our CCC programs target families with children 0–10 years, all children attending Keith Street neighbourhood facility are of pre-school age. Common outcome themes suggest there is a critical link of outcome measures for Community Bubs families who also participated in programs provided by the Keith Street facility.

The outcomes from Creating Capable Communities were measured against program objectives. Both these and the evaluation strategy including tools for collection were discussed and agreed upon with FaHCSIA and in consultation with an AIFS project consultant. The Community Bubs pilot was externally researched by the Social Work department of Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria (2003–06), which has culminated in a final evaluation report (June 2007). Family Life staff and members of a program Advisory Committee set up by Family Life were consulted, and agreed on the desired outcome measures. The evaluation design was also shaped by a Results Accountability Framework (Friedman, 2001) to answer the questions of how much service was provided, how well was it was provided, and was anyone better off.

Establishment of informal networks

Parents provided feedback through the CCC Participant Questionnaire, which was conducted quarterly and via intermittent focus groups. “Making Friends” and “Being able to better utilise services and supports in the community” rated highly for participants. In particular, comments from parents indicated that Keith Street provided a safe and supportive space where they could build their friendship networks. Questionnaires indicated that over the three years, 80% of parents reported an increase in informal support networks.

I would find it harder to parent without the help of Keith Street. There’s people to talk to, you can sit down and have a break and I have made some good friends. When I first brought my daughter she wouldn’t even leave my lap. Now she loves spending time playing with other children. It’s vital for me and my daughter to come here. (Parent)

Life has changed since coming to Keith Street. I have somewhere to come and chat to other parents and learn new things. I have no family in Australia. Keith Street has saved me from isolation. (Parent)

Informal feedback and observation from staff and volunteers indicated that parents were also meeting outside of the normal program times to go on outings, attend each other’s children’s parties, etc. This feedback was also recorded through the worker journals. Individual participants have also had opportunity through personal testimonials and stories to share their experiences which have been recorded in the Creating Capable Communities: Celebrating a Journey book and the Community Bubs DVD.

This program (CCC) has offered me the chance to try out a range of opportunities that I may not otherwise have had. I’m now more positive in my outlook and have a wider circle of friends and contacts. I feel more connected to my community. (Celebrating a Journey, 2008)

In the Community Bubs program, separate interviews with clients were conducted by the Monash researcher at commencement, exit and six months later. Eighty-seven percent (87%) of parents indicated that they had developed and maintained their community connections. Of those who were followed up six months after exiting the program, sustaining these informal links was one of the most significant outcomes for families. Interviews were also conducted with the Community Bubs Parent Support worker and volunteers. Themes from these interviews showed similarly that families were improving and extending their informal networks. One of the key issues that families identified at the start of their involvement in the program was isolation and lack of supports, many of whom were estranged from extended family because of difficult relationships or because they had moved away from family networks. Few identified a strong friendship/support network at the beginning of their involvement.

I have no extended family in Australia so having the chance to join the Creating Capable Communities program and Keith Street Community House has broken the sense of isolation and loneliness for me. When I first got involved with Creating Capable Communities my 10-month old son was having sleeping difficulties … Thanks to a suggestion from Family Life staff I got help from the Queen Elizabeth Centre. Things got better for us after that. I realised how good it was to have people around who could give practical ideas, or tell me about services such as this, that I never knew about. The Keith Street Community house is a place where we can share ideas. We come for a chat and to learn together. We have a feeling of belonging and community. (Parent, Celebrating a Journey)

Improvement of children’s health and wellbeing

Information was gathered from quarterly questionnaires and intermittent focus groups of participants, worker journals, and worker and volunteer observations. Participants were asked to report if any improvements had been in made in the social, emotional, language and communication domains of their child’s development. Eighty-four percent (84%) reported improvement in their children’s social and emotional wellbeing and 76% reported improvement in their children’s language and communication skills.

Personal testimonies are also provided through the questionnaires and in the Celebrating a Journey booklet, which indicate that their child’s exposure to social interaction with other children has been particularly significant in encouraging children’s spontaneity in play and comfortableness in a social setting. For many children where parents’ isolation has been an issue, this has been a new experience and an important learning opportunity, and is likely to impact significantly on school readiness. (This is particularly salient, given the lack of access to mainstream playgroups or childcare options in the community by families who do not have enough money for this.)

Community Bubs worked very closely with Maternal & Child Nurses, as they are a common source of referrals. The family’s Maternal & Child Health assessment was viewed at the final interview. Eighty-eight percent (88%) of infants were assessed within the normal range of development during their time of involvement in the program. It is well understood that child development is disrupted where risk and instability factors are present and where these are reduced, the child’s development will improve. Other data collected through pre- and post-interviews add to this probability of related factors given that 80% of families risk factors were reduced (based on Risk Factors Assessment Guide), and 87% reported stability in maintaining housing, finances and family relationships (p. 8 Community Bubs report).

Coming to Keith Street twice a week gives me so much joy—I have watched my daughter grow up there: from being just a tiny baby lying on the floor to a confident toddler playing with her friends. (Parent, Celebrating a Journey)

Increased confidence including parenting

The CCC participant questionnaire sought to elicit information about whether participants felt an increased confidence generally, and more specifically if this confidence had translated into other areas such as being able to set family and community goals. Sixty percent (60%) of parents through this questionnaire reported improvement in their parenting skills whilst a greater proportion reported an increase in confidence generally which enabled them to set family or employment goals (71%). In addition, 59% of parents reported improved relationships with their children.

Other feedback from parents has also emphasised their increased confidence and ability in parenting. Of those Community Bubs families who were interviewed six months after exit, the parenting strategies that parents had put into place during their involvement with the program were continuing to be sustained:

Now with help from the Community Bubs program, I have become much more confident. Now I feel that am a more positive and self- assured parent. Going to Keith Street has opened up so many doors for me and my family. (Community Bubs report, p. 9)

Separate questionnaires for parenting groups and for the leadership training also indicated that parents felt more competent in their role as a result and a sense of value of their role, given that the leadership training went back to basics of how participants demonstrate leadership in their everyday lives, for example, as a parent.

As part of the assessment of the Community Bubs program, a worker observation sheet was filled out which highlighted indicators of the degree of bonding and positive attachment between parent and infant. Eighty-seven percent (87%) of parents were seen to be bonding well to their infant during the course of the program (p. 8, Community Bubs report). Worker observation at Keith Street also indicated that they had seen a growth in many parents’ ability to relate positively to their child and to create appropriate boundaries and discipline, which was less evident at the beginning of their involvement. Although not measured in isolation, it is believed that the opportunity for role- modelling in the Keith Street community setting reinforces parents’ learning and skill-building. A proportion of the community connections (total 87% of parents reporting this outcome) which Community Bubs parents maintained also support and assist them in their ongoing role as parents (e.g., maternal and child health, playgroups, mothers groups).

Over time these parents who had once not wanted to go outside their home became more social, their self-esteem and confidence improved. Everyone’s parenting skills developed through the role modelling and learning from each other, workers and volunteers. Since 2003 and the beginning of Community Bubs, I have seen growth in parents celebrating each other and their children’s birthday parties. Families now meet up on weekends and go on outings together … Parents have run craft and cooking sessions at Keith Street with encouragement from staff and volunteers who see parent’s skills and strengths, capacity to learn and share with each other. (Community Bubs worker, and then Team Leader for CCC programs, Celebrating a Journey)

Policy analysis

The Creating Capable Communities – Keith Street Community House project is a positive example of project that builds community networks across a range of groups rather than focusing on discrete community locales such as public housing estates.

Evaluation

Aspects of the Creating Capable Communities – Keith Street Community House project has been evaluated by the School of Social Work, Monash University, Victoria.

Project related publications

Quarterly reports and conference papers have documented along the way the evidence collected. Papers can be accessed on Family Life’s website at www.familylife.com.au. The following relevant documents are available:

References

Bandesha, G., & Litva, A. (2005). Perceptions of community participation and health gain in a community project for the South Asian population: A qualitative study. Journal of Public Health, 27(3), 241–245.

Bowes, J. (2000). Response of parents to parent education and support programs: A review of evaluation research on some key USA programs. Paper presented at the 7th Australian Institute of Family Studies conference July 2000, Sydney.

Campbell, L., Jackson A. C., Smith, S., & Cameron, N. (2002). High risk infants service quality initiative evaluation: Implementation of the Parent Assessment and Skill Development Program. Melbourne, Victorian Department of Human Services.

Cavanagh, J. (2003). Community-centred family support: Think differently to work differently. Paper presented at Australasian Child Abuse Conference, October 2003, Melbourne.

Commonwealth Department of Health & Family Services. (1996). An audit of home visitor programs and the development of an evaluation framework. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

Daro, D., Jones E., & McCurdy, K. (1993). Preventing child abuse: An evaluation of services to high-risk families. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: William Penn Foundation.

Department of Human Services. (2005) Children, Youth and Families Act. Melbourne, Victoria.

Department of Human Services. (2004). Protecting children: Ten priorities for children’s well-being and safety in Victoria. Melbourne: Community Care Division, DHS.

Duggan, A. K., McFarlane, E. C., Windham, A. M., Rohde, C. A., Salkever, D. S., Fuddy, L. Rosenberg, L. A., et al. (1999). Evaluation of Hawaii’s Healthy Start Program. The Future of Children Home Visiting: Recent Program Evaluations, 9(1).

Ewins, J., Sinclair, R., Wellesley, B., & Cant, R. (1999). Creating a new form of extended family: Good Beginnings Volunteer Home Visiting Program. Child Abuse Prevention: National Child Protection Clearinghouse Newsletter, 7(1), 7–12.

Friedman, M. (2001). The results accountability implementation guide.

Holzer, P. J., Higgins, J. R., Bromfield, L. M., Richardson, N. & Higgins, D. J. (2006). The effectiveness of parent education and home visiting child maltreatment prevention programs (Child Abuse Prevention Issues, No. 24). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies, National Child Protection Clearinghouse.

Jackson, A. C., Johnson, B., Miller, J., & Cameron, N. (1999). High risk infants known to child protection services. Literature review, annotation and analysis. Melbourne: Department of Human Services.

James, M. (1994). Child abuse prevention: A pespective on parent enhancement programs from the United States. Issues in Child Abuse Prevention, 3.

Johnson, Z. et al. (2000). Community Mothers Programme: Seven year follow- up of a randomised controlled trial of non-professional intervention in parenting. Journal of Public Health Medicine, 22(3), 337–342.

Littlefield, L., Cann, W., Ruff, N., Connell, R., Jackson, A.C., Reynolds, A., & Reid, K. (1999). High risk infants parenting assessment skill development research project. Phase 1: Research and analysis, Melbourne: Department of Human Services.

Tomison, A. M. (1998). Valuing parent education: A cornerstone of child abuse prevention (Child Abuse Prevention Issues, No. 10). Melbourne: National Child Protection Clearinghouse, Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Contact

Alison Normanton
Program Manager

Family Life Chelsea
Suite 2/450 Nepean Highway
Chelsea VIC 3196

Phone: (03) 9782 7800 or (03) 9773 4624

Website

www.familylife.com.au

More information

More information on the Promising Practice Profiles can be found on the Communities and Families Clearinghouse Australia website.