---

Strengthening and supporting families

There are many players who can make a real difference to Australian families and to the strength of communities. The aim of this page is to provide access to online resources which may contribute to an information base for all those interested in the welfare of families today.

A review of the early childhood literature by Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital (Melbourne, Vic)
Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, 2000 (PDF 194K)
Commissioned review of the literature on major risk and protective factors that may influence children's developmental outcomes in the preschool years, and on the preventive and early interventions that may impact on these outcomes.

Commonwealth initiatives: early investment. by J. Hargrave
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2001 (PDF 11K)
A conference paper presented at the Children, Young People and Communities: the Future is in Our Hands Conference, discussing the role of government in the field of early intervention and strengthening families.

Community Interventions to Promote Healthy Social Environments: Early Childhood Development and Family Housing
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA, Feb 2002
A report on recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, reviewing early childhood development and family housing interventions. It recommends publicly funded, center-based, comprehensive early childhood development programs for low-income children aged 3-5 years, and housing subsidy programs for low-income families which provide rental vouchers for use in the private housing market and allow families choice in residential location.

Developmental Assets: An Overview
Search Institute
A framework of 40 developmental assets, which are positive experiences, relationships, opportunities, and personal qualities that young people need to grow up healthy, caring, and responsible. The framework is grounded in research on child and adolescent development, risk prevention, and resiliency. The assets clearly show important roles that families, schools, congregations, neighborhoods, youth organizations, and others in communities play in shaping young people's lives.

Family Strengths: Everybody's Business, Everybody's Gain - The Second Australian Conference on Building Family Strengths, University of Newcastle, December 2001
The following papers from this conference are available Online in full text: (archived copies - select 'Title archived 28 Feb 2002')

• Connections: a group to assist in building relationships between mothers and children in overcoming the effects of domestic violence by Robards, F. and Partridge, S.
• Developing the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children by Dickenson, J. and Grant, M.
• Engaging fathers in group work - creating cooperative environments by King, A.
• Families and communities connect@public libraries by Robinson, L.
• Getting it right on both fronts: an integrated strengths based approach to practice and organisational management by Barnardos Australia
• In the eyes of the beholders - visionaries and advocates by Dowling, L. (Families and disability)
• Social capital: linking family and community by Stone, W. and Hughes, J.
• The ACT Schools as Communities program by Collins, K. and Winkworth, G.
• Two hands, three baskets and hope: parents rebuilding after child sexual abuse by Whittington, H.
• Unlocking the essence of professional home visiting: a strengths approach to improved parenting by Bryce, H. and Ellison, L.
• Working with fathers where they are: learnings from the workplace by Russell, G. and Llewellyn-Smith, P.

Family support services in Australia 2000: a project sponsored by the Community Services Ministers' Advisory Council by B. Wilkins and D. James
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2001
A report that describes family support services funded and/ or delivered by each Australian jurisdiction, outlines the various philosophies and approaches to family support and gives a broad description of the current or planned data collections.

Prevention and early intervention for children and families by R. Fisher
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2001 (PDF 31K)
A conference paper presented at the Children, Young People and Communities: the Future is in Our Hands Conference, describing early intervention and prevention initiatives.

Primary prevention and early intervention: evaluation of the National Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy by Penny Mitchell
Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2000
Five different types of projects are covered: parenting programs; school based programs; early intervention; participation of young people in mental health promotion; and access to means.

Reconnect data report
Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, 2001 (PDF 251K)
The Reconnect program provides community focused early intervention services aimed at family reconciliation for young people and their families. This report provides a summary of the data from the Reconnect temporary database.

Searching for family resilience by Simone Silberberg
Family Matters no.58 Autumn 2001, Australian Institute of Family Studies (PDF 596K)
This article provides information about the University of Newcastle Family Action Centre's Family Strengths Research Project and the Australian Family Strengths Template, which aims to offer a framework from which community resources can be developed and other research projects can be initiated.

Strengthening families through early intervention: a solution focussed approach by D. O'Neil
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2001 (PDF 15K)
A conference paper presented at the Children, Young People and Communities: the Future is in Our Hands Conference, describing a solution focused approach to supporting families and children from St Luke's Anglicare.

Strong families around the world by John DeFrain
Family Matters no.53 Winter 1999, Australian Institute of Family Studies (PDF 468K)
The author briefly describes research projects on strong families at the University of Newcastle, Family Action Centre and Department of Social Work and then describes and discusses two models of strong families: the Family Circumplex Model developed by David Olson and colleagues and the The Family Strengths Model from the work of Nick Stinnett and the author.

Supporting Fathers in Families
Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, 2002 (PDF 762)
Fathers have an invaluable role to take in the development of their children. They have the capacity to make a difference to the quality and happiness of their children's lives. This resource outlines many of the ways the Commonwealth Government is supporting the roles of fathers in families and in their children's lives.

Walking the path with new parents by J. Williams, M. Comrie and F. Sligo
National Social Policy Conference 2001 paper, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales
A New Zealand program delivering early intervention in families at risk - Parents As First Teachers (PAFT) - is described.

Youth homelessness: case studies of the Reconnect Program: final report by C. Evans and S. Shaver
Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, 2001 (PDF 417K)
The final report on a study of the support provided under the Reconnect program to young people and the families of young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.