Strong, well functioning families has been clearly identified as the key to improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students. The NT Christian Schools Association chose Families and Schools Together (FAST) as a family strengthening program to trial in primary schools in the region around its new bush secondary school, Woolaning Homeland Christian College. The Australian Government's Stronger Families Fund funded the implementation of this project in four communities in 2003-2004, and the Australian Institute of Family Studies assisted with the action research and evaluation.

FAST was chosen as it used a strengths-based approach with whole families, focused on relationship building in a community, was research-based, and demonstrated consistent outcomes in a range of communities including Indigenous communities in America and Canada, and with urban Indigenous families in Western Australia. Through the training of a local team, it also had the potential to develop local community capacity.

This paper will examine the use of a highly structured family strengthening program as a tool in community building within two remote Aboriginal communities, Nauiyu in the Daly region, and Kunbarllanjnja in Arnhem Land. It will look at the place of an outsider, the means of identifying key participants and the strengths and limitations of using the FAST program in this context.