Reading through the e-bulletin this week I am sure you will be astounded by the vibrancy and innovation of the network across a range of activities and my thanks to my team for bringing those stories to you.

For my contribution this week, I wanted to acknowledge one of Canberra’s most respected Traditional Owners and Ngunnawal Elders, Aunty Agnes Shea OAM who died on Saturday at the age of 91.  Her family has given explicit permission for her name and image to be used.

If you have attended an event in Canberra – and indeed an FRSA event – you too would have experienced her warm and generous Welcome to Country.  Aunty Agnes would always take the time to explain the importance of this tradition of welcoming people as a cultural practice as it was handed down by her Elders since the beginning of time.  As she had shared with us:  A welcome to country means that before entering another person’s country you would always announce your arrival and not enter until a traditional owner of that country welcomes you.  The reason for this practice was to protect your spirit while you were in another person’s country – here in her country – Ngunnawal country.  We were always grateful when she extended this protection to us.

As a Ngunnawal Elder she was a trailblazer and a passionate advocate for reconciliation, equality and recognition.  Her legacy lives on in her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. Our thoughts are with them and the Ngunnawal community at this time.

Kind regards,
Jackie Brady
FRSA Executive Director

We have extended the close date for Early Bird registration for the FRSA National Conference 2023 until Tuesday, 21 March 2023!

Early Bird Registration Fee* Until 21 March 2023

* To be entitled to the early bird registration fee you must have registered and paid by 22 March 2023.

Standard Registration Fee From 22 March 2023

Pre-Conference Workshops – FRSA MEMBERS ONLY

We’re thrilled to welcome Relationships Australia as this year’s Ochre Conference Sponsor.

Thanks to their generous support FRSA is pleased to announce that four bursaries are available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are registered for or would like to attend the 2023 Family & Relationship Services Australia (FRSA) National Conference, Services within everyone’s reach: choice, connection, collaboration.

Bursaries are provided to assist with covering the cost of conference registration, and travel & accommodation to an amount of $500 per recipient. To be eligible you must be an employee of a fully financial FRSA member organisation.

To apply click here to download the application form and submit the form to Robyn Clough at policy@frsa.org.au or you can complete the form online here. The application deadline is Wednesday, 5 April 2022. Recipients will be notified by Tuesday 11 April 2023.

Please note, this Bursary Program is open to people who are yet to register and those who are already registered.

SNAICC – National Voice for our Children has received $6.2 million to spearhead the development of a cultural awareness and trauma responsive skills and capabilities program for the child and family sector workforce, and to oversee its delivery to 500 family and children service providers.

The program aims to ensure organisations and workers are better able to deliver prevention and early intervention services that are culturally safe, and trauma and healing informed.

The Government has also committed $44 million in funding to the major Improving Multidisciplinary Responses program. The initiative will provide grants of up to $5 million to deliver innovative community-led ideas from First Nations communities to design service models that better support families with multiple and complex needs.

This program will focus on embedding the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle and its five elements of prevention, placement, participation, partnership and connection. This grant opportunity is currently open and closes on 5 April 2023.

The funding aims to address Target 12 under the Commonwealth Implementation Plan as part of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, to reduce the rate of over-representation of First Nations children in out of home care by 45 per cent by 2031.

Almost half of all Australians (46%) are now reporting elevated distress from cost-of-living pressures – a significant increase (+5 points) on the December Quarter (41%). There were calls for yesterday’s Reserve Bank Australia board meeting to factor in the impact of rate rises on the nation’s “human, not just economic, wellbeing”.

Suicide Prevention Australia’s latest quarterly Community Tracker for the March Quarter 2023 also shows increases in distress in housing affordability and unemployment.

Australians also ranked the top three risks to suicide rates increasing in the next 12 months as:

• cost-of-living and personal debt (69%, +4 points);
• housing access and affordability (53%, +4 points);
• and unemployment and job security (51%, +5 points), overtaking social isolation (51%) and relationship breakdown (51%). 

Lifeline has also recently revealed that they are seeing record activity through their website for help and support. Data from the organisation’s search engine shows there were over 26,000 searches for assistance and support in January 2023 across Australia, the highest on record.

In addition, referral searches by Lifeline’s helpline counsellors specifically relating to financial issues and homelessness went up 49 percent between August 2022 and January 2023.

While the cost of living continues to rise, the Parliament is continuing its inquiry into the extent and nature of poverty in Australia. The Committee is due to report by 31 October this year.

An estimated eight million Australians (41 per cent) aged 18 years and over have experienced physical or sexual violence since the age of 15, according to new results from the Personal Safety Survey released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The survey canvassed 12,000 Australian women and men throughout 2021 and the beginning of 2022 on their experiences of violence. For the first time, the survey also measured rates of economic abuse by cohabiting partners and found one in six women — or 16 per cent — had experienced it.

The survey found that 31% of women and 42% of men have experienced physical violence while 22% of women and 6.1% of men who have experienced sexual violence.

This latest release provides valuable insight into experiences of violence and abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 12-month prevalence rates of violence experienced in the 2021-22 reference period were compared with 12-month prevalence rates from 2016.

Read the full results from the survey here.

An estimated eight million Australians (41 per cent) aged 18 years and over have experienced physical or sexual violence since the age of 15, according to new results from the Personal Safety Survey released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The survey canvassed 12,000 Australian women and men throughout 2021 and the beginning of 2022 on their experiences of violence. For the first time, the survey also measured rates of economic abuse by cohabiting partners and found one in six women — or 16 per cent — had experienced it.

The survey found that 31% of women and 42% of men have experienced physical violence while 22% of women and 6.1% of men who have experienced sexual violence.

This latest release provides valuable insight into experiences of violence and abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 12-month prevalence rates of violence experienced in the 2021-22 reference period were compared with 12-month prevalence rates from 2016.

Read the full results from the survey here.

The latest report on the wellbeing of Australia’s children has been released.

The Australian Children’s Wellbeing Index by UNICEF Australia and ARACY helps us to understand and improve the lives of children and young people in Australia.

Report highlights

What Australia is doing well:

• More than 4 in every 5 children attend preschool
• About 4 in every 5 young people report feeling able to have a say among family and friends on important issues
• 91% of children are fully immunised at age 2.

What Australia needs to improve:

• About 1 in 6 children live below the national poverty line
• 7 in 125 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are in out of home care
• 95% of children do not consume the daily recommended intake of vegetables.

For more information on the Australian Children’s Wellbeing Index click on the link.

A number of FRSA Member Organisations have opened new Children’s Contact Service (CCS) centres in their local areas in the last few months. Congratulations on the new sites!

Lutheran Care opened a CCS centre on 21 February in Nuriootpa catering for families in the Barossa, Mid North and Yorke Peninsula. The open day attracted about 60 people and was an opportunity for the community to find out about the new service, meet the team, and have a tour of the refurbished Gersch House, from which the service will run.

CatholicCare-Wilcannia Forbes (CCWF) has opened their first far west NSW CCS, based in Broken Hill. Until now, the nearest CCS to Broken Hill was at Mildura, a three-hour drive away.

“The opening of the Children’s Contact Service reflects our commitment to responding to need, and is the realisation of a long campaign by the city’s social and legal services,” said CCWF Chief Executive Officer Anne-Marie Mioche.

Better Place Australia opened a CCS centre in Sale on January 9. This is its second children’s contact centre, in addition to wider family services offered in Gippsland through the Traralgon Family Relationship Centre.

The centre, co-located at the Sale Neighbourhood House, expands on CCS services currently being delivered by Better Place Australia at the Narre Warren location, and complements existing services offered in Morwell and Bairnsdale.

“Better Place Australia is really excited to have opened this centre in Sale. We think it’s going to be a valuable service  to families in the area,” said Sale Children’s Contact Service Manager, Helen Skinner.

Interrelate has opened five new CCS centres in NSW and QLD in Coolangatta, Muswellbrook, Fairfield, Griffith, and Hornsby.

These new centres will service families in areas where they would have previously had to travel long distances to access services and will help meet high demand from families seeking support, some of which have been waiting 6 months for supervised visits at private centres in their areas.

Relationships Australia WA opened a new CCS in Midland in January. This is Relationship Australia WA’s fourth Child Contact Service location, joining Fremantle, Gosnells and Mandurah.

FRSA’s Manager of Policy and Research, Robyn Clough is looking forward to catching up with CCS professionals at the Australian Children’s Conact Services Association (ACCSA) Forum at the end of this month.

FRSA’s pilot Community of Practice (CoP) project, which is being supported by the Australian Institute of Family Studies and funded by the Department of Social Services (DSS), is full steam ahead with close to 40 online discussions held to-date and a further 20 scheduled to 30 June this year, when the 12-month pilot concludes.

Eleven CoP groups across five program areas under the DSS Families and Children (FaC) Activity have been established, as well as one cross-cutting programs group. The five program areas include: Communities for Children Facilitating Partner, Child and Parenting Support / Budget-Based Funding, Family Mental Health Support Services, Family and Relationship Services and Specialised Family Violence Services.

The CoP pilot has been an interesting and rewarding learning journey of testing and exploration so far and we hope that our CoP participants have enjoyed and learnt from the rich discussions as much as we have. While the CoP Groups are at capacity, we are hopeful that further funding will be provided to continue the CoPs in 2023-24. If this happens, we hope to be able to open up the groups to further participants.

The Attorney-General’s Department has advised that the Family Relationships Services Program (FRSP), under which FRSA Members are funded to deliver family law services, will be reviewed to ensure the program can continue to meet current and emerging needs. To enable time to undertake the review and consider the findings, the Attorney-General has agreed to extend existing FRSP grants for a further two years, taking them to 30 June 2026.

Family law services play a critical role in the family law system, providing educative and therapeutic supports to separating families and a non-adversarial pathway for the early resolution of family disputes. FRSA welcomes this review and looks forward to the opportunity to be involved. It is important that family law services remain fit for purpose, are sufficiently funded to meet changes in demand and are accessible to the people that need them.

It is expected that the Terms of Reference for the review will be finalised shortly.

The Productivity Commission is undertaking a public inquiry into Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The Commission has issued a call for submissions with submissions due Friday 19 May 2023.

The Commission has been asked to make recommendations that will support affordable, accessible, equitable and high-quality ECEC that reduces barriers to workforce participation and supports children’s learning and development, including considering a universal 90 per cent child care subsidy rate.

The Commission will consider option that improve or support:

• affordability of, and access to, quality ECEC services that meet the needs of families and children
• developmental and educational outcomes for Australian children, including preparation for school
• economic growth, including through enabling workforce participation, particularly for women, and contributing to productivity
• outcomes for children and families experiencing vulnerability and/or disadvantage, First Nations children and families, and children and families experiencing disability
• the efficiency and effectiveness of government investment in the sector.

For more information visit the Productivity Commission inquiry webpage.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Work and Care tabled its final report on 9 March 2023.

The Committee concluded that it is “time for a new 21^st century work and care social contract” that embraces ‘a new right to care alongside the right to work’.

The contract should include the following:

• ensure that workers with caring responsibilities do not suffer large lifetime losses in pay
• provide paid leave (sick, parental, holiday, carers) to care for others
• ensure that job insecurity is not the price paid for being a working carer
• provide flexible jobs that enable care
• provide critical support at the arrival of children through a strong interlocking system of universal, quality early childhood education and care (ECEC); and a pathway to reach a year of paid parental leave (PPL) at minimum wage for new parents, a portion of it shared
• ensure poverty in retirement is not the reward for a lifetime of work and care
• provide liveable income support, above the poverty line, for carers when they cannot work
• facilitate transitions into and out of work over the course of people’s lives
• enable both men and women to care, ensuring that gendered patterns of hours (men long, women short) do not entrench gender inequality and make it hard for men to care while loading up women with unpaid labour.

See the inquiry webpage for more information.

The Australian Government is developing an Early Years Strategy to shape its vision for the future of Australia’s children and their families.

The Strategy will help the Commonwealth create a more integrated, holistic approach to the early years and better support the education, wellbeing and development of Australia’s children. It will seek to support improving coordination between Commonwealth programs, funding and frameworks impacting early childhood development.

Public submissions are now open and a Discussion Paper has been released. Submissions close on 30 April 2023

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services has tabled its interim report on the ParentsNext program – Your Future Planning.

The ParentsNext program has attracted considerable controversy since its national rollout in 2018. Some participants have had poor – in some cases, traumatising – experiences under the program and these experiences have

greatly impacted their wellbeing (and that of their children), their sense of agency and, through payment suspensions, their capacity to provide the basics for their families. For others, the program has been hugely beneficial providing them with much-needed practical and social supports, and with learning opportunities.

FRSA was pleased to see how thoughtfully the Committee considered all the evidence before it, and to read the Committee’s nuanced and measured response. In our submission to the inquiry we noted that significant changes to the program were required including removal of a punitive compliance regime and re-embracing an engagement and support lens, and the need for a cultural shift in how we think about ParentsNext participants.

The Committee has recommended that ParentsNext be abolished at the end of its current contract and, importantly, that it be replaced with a supportive pre-vocational service developed through a co-design process. The Committee has further recommended that, in the interim, changes be made to the program that deal with the most serious concerns raised during the inquiry. We support the Committee’s proposed approach and look forward to the Government’s response.

International Women’s Day was on 8 March. This year’s theme was ‘Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender equal future’.

See how FRSA members all around the country celebrated the day:

• City of Greater Geelong celebrated with the presentation of theirWomen in Community Life Awards.
• Mallee Family Care made a video with Mildura Senior College, asking students what does equity means to them.
• Centacare FNQ celebrated staff from their Multicultural team, Ambika and Andrea’s nomination for Woman of the Year 2023 with Cairns Regional Council at the Cairns International Women’s Day Breakfast.
• Centacare NENW hosted a candle and soap making workshop with 2Rivers.
• CatholicCare’s Advisory Council Chair, Franca Facci shared her thoughts on this year’s IWD theme and staff wore purple on the day to support the day.
• Amity Health’s dietitian Hannah, wrote a blog post on Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, in an effort to highlight how it can affect day-to-day life and what can be done to help those who suffer from this condition.
• Zoe Support Australia celebrated by getting together with mums for a catch up and a walk during their Intro to Wellbeing program.
• Anglicare Southern Queensland made a video on another IWD theme, Embrace Equity, celebrating how they have stood alongside women ever since their five female founders started a women’s refuge in Brisbane more than 150 years ago.
• Communicare Inc‘s Alira Kelly and Leah Piper attended International Women’s Day Yarning Circle hosted by Senator Dorinda Cox.
• Livable shared a photo of staff and clients doing the Embrace Equity pose.
• Anglicare WA shared a video highlighting their Albany Women’s Centre.
• Interrelate staff attended the Australian HR Institute’s International Women’s Day breakfast event.
• Centacare Catholic Family Services shared a video celebrating their female staff and carrying on the legacy of their founding female executive, Hannah Buckley.
• YFS’s R4Respect Program Coordinator Nadia participated in a IWD panel with other young women at Woodridge State High School.
• PRONIA held a celebration of IWD with 200 participants at the Ajani Center in Lower Templestowe.
• Community First Step held a morning tea to celebrate the day.
• Uniting Communities hosted a gathering with staff who shared their experiences and thoughts in a candid and empowering panel discussion.
• Kyabra Community Association celebrated with staff.
• Relationships Australia WA shared a photo of their staff doing the Embrace Equity pose.
• OzChild shared some of their staff’s thoughts on embracing equity.
• Capital Region Community Services showed the world their big embrace and commitment to achieving women’s equality in their community by doing the Embrace Equity pose.
• BaptistCare made a video asking their leaders what does embracing equity mean to them.
• UnitingCare shared a video recognising the work of diverse workforce of their approximately 80% female staff.
• Lutheran Care’s Executive Manager Community Services Susan Richards and Head of PR Katrina Ranford attended the Property Council of SA’s International Women’s Day event.

The FRSA Board approved the following orgnisations as new members at the recent Board Meeting on 28 February 2023. Welcome to:

• Parkerville Children and Youth Care

For more than a century, Parkerville Children and Youth Care has been supporting vulnerable children, young people and their families with specialist advocacy, therapeutic services, education and employment training, and out of home care.

Parkerville Children and Youth Care exists to provide advocacy, services and supports to children, young people and families to reduce the impacts of child abuse and in doing so help WA to become the safest place in the world to bring up children.

Every year, Parkerville Children and Youth Care support more than 10,000 people across Western Australia through their child advocacy services, integrated family services, early intervention and prevention, youth homelessness and supports, therapeutic foster and residential care program.

• New England Family Support Services

The New England Family Support Service (NFSS) provides programs and support to all families with dependent children in the Armidale area. Outreach services are available at Guyra, Uralla and Walcha. NEFSS assists families with building their parenting and living skills, emotional
support, accessing other services and advocacy.

• Global Training and Professional Development

As international leaders in mediation training and development; and corporate training and development, Global Professional Development enhances and transforms the skills and abilities of professionals in a variety of industries. Their tailored approach to each professional, client and organisation assists in meeting their individual needs and goals.

Global Training and Professional Development provide expert practical training in all areas of dispute resolution, communication, negotiation and conflict management.

• Lucy Cook

Lucy holds a Masters in Education, and has teaching experience at a number of South-East Queensland schools. She was formerly the General Manager – Marketing and Operations at Amaze Education – an early education centre she started with her sister in 2008, which has since grown and includes centres in Gold Coast, Logan, Ipswich, Beaudesert and Brisbane. She now works as a Childcare and Education Business Consultant.

For many members of our community, these past few months have been some of the toughest they’ve ever experienced.

Six months ago, the Raise the Rate for Good campaign – an initiative of ACOSS – released an explosive report that showed that two thirds of people on income support were regularly skipping meals or eating less because their incomes are inadequate, and almost all in private rental were experiencing rental stress. 

Since the research was completed, the cost-of-living has increased.  While the government has taken some steps towards relieving the pressure of some costs, it won’t stop people on the lowest incomes from losing their homes, going without essential medical care, and experiencing malnutrition. 

People on the lowest incomes need substantial real increases to their incomes to cover living costs.  

The Raise the Rate for Good campaign is updating the research on how people on the lowest incomes are managing (or not) with the cost of essentials in order to shine a spotlight on this issue.

Share the survey here: surveymonkey.com/r/raisetherate_costofliving2023

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has three projects underway that are inviting stakeholder participation:

Evaluation of the National Plan to Respond to the Abuse of Older Australians
The Attorney-General’s Department has commissioned AIFS to evaluate the National Plan to Respond to the Abuse of Older Australians (Elder Abuse) 2019–2023, and to guide future action to address elder abuse.

As part of this work, we are inviting anyone over the age of 18 to contribute to this evaluation via survey to help us better understand:

• What people in the Australian community know about elder abuse
• What people in Australia know about services and information to help people experiencing elder abuse
• How awareness of and responses to elder abuse can be improved.

The survey will be open until 7 April 2023. Complete the survey here.

Click here to find out more or for further information about this project, please call 1800 720 142 or email eanr@aifs.gov.au.

Evaluation of the Children’s Contact Service Activity

Reminder AIFS are undertaking an Evaluation of the Children’s Contact Service (CCS) Activity which closes 29 March 2023.

If you work in the management, operation or provision of Children’s Contact Services (CCSs) or are a professional who refers clients to these services, AIFS invites you to share your views and experiences on the operation of CCSs.

Click here to complete the survey.

Strengthening and Protecting Veteran Family Relationships Study
AIFS is conducting a new research study with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Department of Defence. We are calling on current and ex-serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) members, and/or their current or former partners, to help us understand what types of relationship services or programs best suit their needs.

As a thank you, eligible focus group participants will be offered a $50 shopping voucher. Find out more.

The Regional Child, Youth and Families Conference 2023 is on 22-23 March 2023 in Armidale, NSW. Run by New England Family Support Service,  the conference theme is Working with young people: Supporting their families and communities through change. The conference aims to provide frontline staff and their managers with tools, programs and ideas to better improve the outcomes of the young people they work with. This also includes providing additional supports to the families they live with and the communities they live in.

There are online and face to face options available, ticket options include online* only, single day and group tickets.
*Not all workshops will be available via the online stream.

Click here to find out more.

If you have any events you’d like listed on the FRSA Events and Training Calendar or job vacancies you’d like listed on the FRSA Jobs Board, email Communications Officer, Vanessa Lam at communications@frsa.org.au. Please note that posting onto the FRSA website is reserved for FRSA Members only.

If you have an news item or event that you would like to be featured in a future eBulletin please submit your announcement via the form below or email communications@frsa.org.au with the subject “FRSA eBulletin submission”.

Please note FRSA members receive priority for items posted in the eBulletin. And to keep information current, relevant and useful, submissions will not be repeated from week to week.