Child Care and Family Service Hubs Impact Study in Rural and Regional Communities. Integration of childcare, health, education and family support services is claimed to be an effective strategy for enhancing outcomes and building community social capital. Despite international activity around integrating services, particularly in rural/regional locations, there exist no well-validated models of service integration and no clear means of measuring the impact on local communities. In collaboratio ....Child Care and Family Service Hubs Impact Study in Rural and Regional Communities. Integration of childcare, health, education and family support services is claimed to be an effective strategy for enhancing outcomes and building community social capital. Despite international activity around integrating services, particularly in rural/regional locations, there exist no well-validated models of service integration and no clear means of measuring the impact on local communities. In collaboration with five government and community agencies we will trace the development of rural multi-services hubs in Queensland, validate 'best-practice' models and produce a multi-dimensional measure to assess community impact. Potential benefits include a 'toolkit' for facilitating service, tracking interventions and building community social capital.Read moreRead less
Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside' ....Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside's experience in and commitment to delivery of high quality services with the CIs' interdisciplinary expertise in evaluation of caring work. Anticipated outcomes include development of a conceptual framework for performance assessment which will be used by the industry partner in managing and delivering services.Read moreRead less
Restorative justice and re-offending. Restorative justice conferences are meetings between young offenders and their victims to discuss crimes and negotiate ways of responding to conflict. Restorative justice advocates claim that because young offenders leave conferences with a better understanding of how their behaviour has affected others, they are less likely to re-offend. This research project will directly test this claim. It will show, for the first time, what young offenders know and u ....Restorative justice and re-offending. Restorative justice conferences are meetings between young offenders and their victims to discuss crimes and negotiate ways of responding to conflict. Restorative justice advocates claim that because young offenders leave conferences with a better understanding of how their behaviour has affected others, they are less likely to re-offend. This research project will directly test this claim. It will show, for the first time, what young offenders know and understand about conference events and how this relates to future offending. This project is the first scholarly analysis of restorative justice conferencing that examines how and why conferencing works to reduce crime.Read moreRead less
Families on the Fringe: Promoting the Social Inclusion of Young Families who have Relocated to Non-Metropolitan Areas. We aim to promote the social inclusion of young families who relocate to non-metropolitan communities by developing policy and infrastructure options based on an understanding of their characteristics and needs. The project's significance lies in capturing these characteristics to provide models upon which policy initiatives can be developed and policy outcomes monitored. Th ....Families on the Fringe: Promoting the Social Inclusion of Young Families who have Relocated to Non-Metropolitan Areas. We aim to promote the social inclusion of young families who relocate to non-metropolitan communities by developing policy and infrastructure options based on an understanding of their characteristics and needs. The project's significance lies in capturing these characteristics to provide models upon which policy initiatives can be developed and policy outcomes monitored. The project combines the Office of Economic and Statistic Research's expertise in socio-demographic research and policy development, The Benevolent Society and Mission Australia's experience in community service delivery in geographically diverse communities, with the CI's research skills, towards strengthening the social and economic fabric of Australian communities Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354736
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$30,000.00
Summary
Families, Law and Social Policy Research Network. The Federal Government's Family Law Pathways Advisory Group recommended that a national research agenda be developed for family law and social policy that focuses on the separation and divorce transition. For many families Commonwealth private family law and the public law of child protection and domestic violence, provides the setting in which this transition takes place. The proposed multidisciplinary network brings together researchers, policy ....Families, Law and Social Policy Research Network. The Federal Government's Family Law Pathways Advisory Group recommended that a national research agenda be developed for family law and social policy that focuses on the separation and divorce transition. For many families Commonwealth private family law and the public law of child protection and domestic violence, provides the setting in which this transition takes place. The proposed multidisciplinary network brings together researchers, policy makers and service providers in this area. Benefits include research better targeted to the needs of end-users, a stronger evidence base for complex practice, decreased fragmentation of research effort, and a base for research training.Read moreRead less
Participatory Decision Making and Policy Production in Child Welfare. Our research focuses on one of the most sensitive and complex areas of citizen participation - the participation of families in child welfare decision making and policy production. The project will build practical models for participatory practices with families with young children who are engaged with child welfare services. By enhancing family members' participation in decision making and policy production this project wil ....Participatory Decision Making and Policy Production in Child Welfare. Our research focuses on one of the most sensitive and complex areas of citizen participation - the participation of families in child welfare decision making and policy production. The project will build practical models for participatory practices with families with young children who are engaged with child welfare services. By enhancing family members' participation in decision making and policy production this project will contribute to strengthening the family safety net for young vulnerable children and to the creation of policies that better recognise the diverse concerns of young families engaged in child welfare systems. Read moreRead less
Attracting and Retaining Practitioners in Child and Family Services in Rural Queensland: Generating a Model for Improved Practice. This study examines the problem of recruitment and retention of practitioners working in child and family welfare in rural Queensland. The study has two phases: first to determine the views and experiences of final year social work and human services students about rural practice and second to explore issues for existing child and family practitioners in rural commun ....Attracting and Retaining Practitioners in Child and Family Services in Rural Queensland: Generating a Model for Improved Practice. This study examines the problem of recruitment and retention of practitioners working in child and family welfare in rural Queensland. The study has two phases: first to determine the views and experiences of final year social work and human services students about rural practice and second to explore issues for existing child and family practitioners in rural communities. The study seeks to generate strategies to increase recruitment and retention rates to these positions and to develop a theory of child and family rural practice.Read moreRead less
Young Carers: Investigation of the Psychosocial Impact of Caregiving on Youth Who Have a Parent with an Illness or Disability. This project addresses a growing national public health concern; the welfare of youth affected by parental illness/disability. There is a projected increase in reliance on unpaid care, and young carers are an important but hidden and neglected carer group. Although young carers have recently emerged on the political agenda, the research in this field is at an early descr ....Young Carers: Investigation of the Psychosocial Impact of Caregiving on Youth Who Have a Parent with an Illness or Disability. This project addresses a growing national public health concern; the welfare of youth affected by parental illness/disability. There is a projected increase in reliance on unpaid care, and young carers are an important but hidden and neglected carer group. Although young carers have recently emerged on the political agenda, the research in this field is at an early descriptive stage resulting in a lack of empirical data to inform policy and service development. There is a critical need for data that elucidates young caregiving in Australia. This project will establish new methodologies and frameworks and provide data that will inform policy and services that promote the healthy development of youth affected by parental illness/disability.Read moreRead less
A study of best practice in workplace support and development of newly qualified community services workers. Community service systems are under strain, leaving many vulnerable Australians at risk. Between 2001 and 2006, the Australian community services workforce increased by 35.6%, making it one of the fastest growing sectors of employment in the country. The combination of workforce growth, ageing and turnover in this sector hampers its capacity to respond to the growing demand for, and co ....A study of best practice in workplace support and development of newly qualified community services workers. Community service systems are under strain, leaving many vulnerable Australians at risk. Between 2001 and 2006, the Australian community services workforce increased by 35.6%, making it one of the fastest growing sectors of employment in the country. The combination of workforce growth, ageing and turnover in this sector hampers its capacity to respond to the growing demand for, and complexity of, service delivery. Our project will contribute to the sustainability of the Australian community services workforce by building a practical knowledge base for workplace support and development of newly qualified workers entering the sector.Read moreRead less
The impact of illicit drug users on family members and non-using siblings. This research is a continuation and expansion of the pilot study conducted in 2001 that focussed on the effect on siblings of illicit drug use by a family member from the Vietnamese community. This research will include other ethnic groups and seek to discover the availability of and demand for drug and family support services for non-using family members. Additionally, the research will draw on the knowledge of drug an ....The impact of illicit drug users on family members and non-using siblings. This research is a continuation and expansion of the pilot study conducted in 2001 that focussed on the effect on siblings of illicit drug use by a family member from the Vietnamese community. This research will include other ethnic groups and seek to discover the availability of and demand for drug and family support services for non-using family members. Additionally, the research will draw on the knowledge of drug and family workers, in order to develop guidelines on how they can improve services for young people who have a sibling with an illicit drug addiction.Read moreRead less