Achieving outcomes for children and families from CaLD backgrounds

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Achieving outcomes for children and families from
CaLD backgrounds

• Centre for Social Research
• Associate Professor Margaret Sims,
• Drs Andrew Guilfoyle, Judy Kulisa and
• Anna Targowska and Ms Susan Teather

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Purpose of Webinar

• To share with you some of the ideas we have
  around successful inclusion of CaLD children and
  families
• For us all to hear your experiences of successful
  inclusion
• To discuss the key points you think MUST be in
  the paper and the best examples to illustrate
  these

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Structure of the paper

• INTRODUCTION
• The impact of migration and trauma on
  individuals, families and parenting
• Existing barriers to social inclusion for CaLD
  children and families
• Desired outcomes for CaLD children and families

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Connecting to and engaging with community

• CULTURALLY SPECIFIC SERVICES
• MULTICULTURAL SERVICES
• MAINSTREAM SERVICES / AGENCIES
• Within each we discuss
• The role of the service type
• Strategies used by the service type
• Examples

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Lessons about successful inclusion

• A DIFFERENT TYPE OF COLLABORATION CULTURALLY
  SPECIFIC, MULTICULTURAL AND MAINSTREAM AGENCIES
  WORKING TOGETHER
• Partnerships / joined up services / whole of
  government services
• The importance of maintaining culturally
  specific, multicultural and mainstream service
  types
• Extensive knowledge of the community through
  employing local community members, encouraging
  community involvement by workers, engaging
  community leaders in the agency

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• A DIFFERENT THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
• Core community work principles ecological
  perspective, empowerment, working from strengths
• Specific CaLD requirements cultural competency
• Features of effective programme delivery time,
  contracts, no one right way
• i.e. A WAY OF WORKING

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Recommendations

• Culturally specific, multicultural and mainstream
  agencies
• Receive adequate funding for cultural competency
  and community work training and the physical
  resources to both develop close links with
  communities and to employ well qualified and
  experienced staff
• Work to acquire an understanding of the WAY OF
  WORKING required through staff training and
  development at ALL levels from Management to
  community-based workers

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• Focus on ensuring that all staff are culturally
  competent through staff training and development
  at ALL levels from Management to community-based
  workers
• Work in partnership with community members,
  including recognising and strengthening the
  relational style of informal community leaders,
  especially women
• Work in true partnership - culturally specific,
  multicultural and mainstream services working
  with government agencies to develop social
  networks within local communities as well as
  links and bridges between the communities and
  outside resources.

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• Develop models of clustering services which both
  suit the needs of individual communities and
  allow for community members to easily access the
  necessary services due to their close physical
  proximity and/or availability of organised
  transport.

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The dream

• These recommendations offer a pathway from where
  we are now towards a new future. In our future we
  dream of a model of service delivery where
  communities are funded based on the needs of each
  community. Each community then would develop
  services relevant to their needs. The network of
  programs operating within each community centre
  would reflect the cultural composition of each
  community and its own unique needs.

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• A multi-functional community centre would act as
  the hub for each community and link members to
  other services. To do this it would need to
  develop partnerships with other services of
  similar types, thus extending and sharing
  professional expertise and skill development.
  The network of services operating within each
  community would be different in order to reflect
  the different needs of each community. In our
  dream the primary responsibility of services is
  to their communities.

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Culturally specific services

• Ethno-specific i.e. for one particular cultural
  or ethnic group
• An important role in providing unique services
  through culturally specific staff who understand
  the issues
• Strategies staff, interpreters, specific
  facilities and practices, management, networking,
  identify and support community leaders
• What examples have you to share?

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Multicultural services

• Target the range of CaLD families living in the
  particular geographical area
• Cross-culturally trained staff (cultural
  competence) language support, culturally
  specific staff where necessary, flexibility in
  programme delivery, identify and support
  community leaders
• What examples have you to share?

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Mainstream services

• Addressing attitudes and values in the mainstream
• Developing cultural competency in the mainstream
• Linking mainstream with community leaders
• Developing appropriate mainstream funding and
  contracts
• Focusing on partnerships and co-location
• What examples have you to share?

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Key principles

• Out of these discussions what do YOU think are
  the fundamental principles that services should
  know about and follow to successfully include
  children and families from CaLD backgrounds?

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Further discussion

• For further information or discussion please
  contact Margaret Sims via email
• m.sims_at_ecu.edu.au
• and /or
• Join the ARACY Discussion forum via the ARACY
  Website (Home Page). The forum will be open from
  03 April to 17 April.
• Please contact Nikki Abercrombie to request your
  logon and password details.
• nikki.abercrombie_at_aracy.org.au