Anglicare Victoria provides a wide range of services to vulnerable children, youth and families across the State. The Eastern Region has a range of services including Home Based Care (including Kinship), Youth Services, Residential Services, Youth Refuge and youth support, Family Violence (including Men’s Behaviour Change programs), Drug and Alcohol Services, Financial Counselling, Parentzone and a range of Family Services programs.
In the Outer-East, Anglicare delivers the Integrated Family Services program across the whole catchment. Family Services aims to increase the safety and wellbeing of children and young people and prevent them from entering the child protection system. Family Services aims to support parents to ensure the social, emotional, educational, health and developmental needs for their children. Family Services has specific portfolio positions such as Specialist Disability practitioners, Adolescent specific practitioners and Family Violence Specialist Practitioners. The Specialist Disability Practitioners assist vulnerable children and parents with disability to access disability supports and participate effectively in the NDIS. The role is also designed to build both disability and NDIS expertise across the Family Services system. The Adolescent Family Services Practitioner has a focus of young people and their parents/carers and requires a youth focused approach to family services.
The Family Violence Specialists provide case management for families where there is current family violence concerns (including work with perpetrators) and also consultation (primary and secondary) for case managers.
Within the suite of Family Services programs, Anglicare also delivers the Family Preservation and Reunification (FPR) Response and SafeCare. The FPR Response is a combination of approaches informed by a strong empirical evidence base. These include practice elements and evidence based models which demonstrated success in family preservation and reunification for vulnerable children, young people and families. Tailored FPR responses will consider each new potential connection and respond to the children, young person and parents or caregivers in the most appropriate and timely way depending on assessments of safety, risk and family functioning. SafeCare is an 18-20 week parenting skill developed evidence-based, modulated program, focussed on developing parent-child/infant interactions, health and safety.
Boorndawan Willam Aboriginal Healing Service (BWAHS) was established to provide a culturally safe service that assists Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the Eastern Metropolitan Region in their healing journey, to address the impacts of family violence by providing opportunities to become strong individuals and families; live in safe communities and have healthy lives where pathways to recovery for our people can be achieved.
Accompanying the IFS program, BWAHS also offers a range of programs including cultural, therapeutic healing programs for adults, young women and children. Most programs run throughout school term. BWAHS also offer Children’s Cultural Activities during school holidays in partnership with Australian Childhood Foundation.
The Eastern Metropolitan Child Protection program located at Box Hill is delivered in two catchment areas – Child Protection Inner East Area (covering Whitehorse, Manningham, Monash and Boroondara LGAs) and Child Protection Outer East Area (covering Knox, Maroondah and Yarra Ranges LGAs).
Child Protection responds to reports of alleged child abuse, maltreatment and neglect from mandated reporters, non-mandated professionals and other members of the public. Reported concerns include emotional or psychological harm, ill treatment or neglect, physical harm, sexual harm including sexual exploitation and where a child’s immediate safety is compromised.
The Outer East Child Protection Area has two Senior Child Protection Practitioners- Community Based (SCPP-CB) who provide consultation, support and advice on specific cases to The Orange Door and Integrated Family Services, including risk assessment, safety planning to enable ongoing case management, joint outreach visits, attending care team meetings with the agency or making reports where appropriate.
The community-based staff are involved in the Outer East Alliance, as is the Outer East Practice Leader and Outer East Child Protection Deputy Area Operations Manager.
DFFH Agency Performance and Systems Support is responsible for facilitating the development and maintenance of effective partnerships with local government, non-government organisations and the community. APSS provides resources, advice about local contacts, links to other programs and provision of data. Promotion and advocacy for Integrated Family Services is included in their role, as is facilitating communication with other service systems such as Family Violence, Sexual Assault Support Services, Disability and Homelessness services
APSS includes the Manager and Senior Advisor who liaise with organisations that deliver DFFH funded programs. The Manager of APSS regularly meets with the Child Protection Executive to lead discussions and update information about new initiatives developed by Central Office. The latter role is one of influence and information sharing. A pivotal role for this manager is to ensure communication pathways to and from both the SMG and DFFH.
A further role for the Manager of Agency Performance and Systems Support outside the SMG is to meet with funded partnership groups on a regular basis and with individual organisations on a needs basis. The Manager is also responsible for working with individual organisations regarding their performance against their service agreement and monitoring framework. Although the monitoring aspect of the manager’s role is an important one, it will be undertaken outside the SMG, unless there is expressed written permission from the SMG to hold these discussions.
EACH’s Family Services position is unique due to its location within a Community Health setting.
EACH provides early intervention in children’s lives inclusive of paediatric health services such as oral health, dietetics, podiatry, physiotherapy, speech pathology, occupational therapy, multidisciplinary early childhood intervention when a child has a disability, refugee health services, Early Start Kinder, Access To Early Learning, a kindergarten integrated in long day care.
A whole of health and family inclusive approach is applied which enables a child-focused approach inclusive of all of importance in the child’s life. Adult services include; counselling, specialised family violence counselling for women, women’s health clinic, alcohol and drug services, youth and adult mental health services, physical health services, a Family Relationship Centre with particular expertise in assisting people affected by family breakdown and ongoing conflict about children. Indigenous health advisors are available.
Family Services at EACH offer a flexible response to families of diverse cultures and abilities across the catchment area.
Mackillop Family Services are an original provider of the Victorian Family Preservation and Reunification Response (FPRR or The Response) in the Outer East.
The Response provides evidence-based intensive support in order to support parents to keep their children living safely at home or to reunify them when children have been in Care Services.
The Response works with vulnerable families who experience complex issues such as family violence, substance abuse and/or mental health illness, parenting, relationship difficulties and disability. Mackillop provides the service to families with children aged from pregnancy to 17 years living in Melbourne’s Outer East region. Mackillop provide the Response via two streams- Early Years, supporting families from pregnancy to age 9, and the Adolescent support via the MST- Psychiatric program.
The MST-Psych program is an evidence-based program that empowers young people (aged 10-17) and their families to function responsibly over the long term. Therapists work in the home, school and community and are on call 24/7 to provide caregivers with the tools they need to transform the lives of troubled young people. The average length of treatment is between 4 and 6 months and therapists and provider agencies are held accountable for achieving change and positive outcomes. The goal of MST-Psych is to improve behavioural problems, mental health symptoms, suicidal behaviours and family relations while increasing the amount of time young people spend going to school and living in home-based placements.
The Orange Door was only recently opened in Inner East in 2021 and Outer East this year, and was established to help women, children and young people experiencing family violence and for families who need support with the wellbeing and development of their children. The Orange Door helps connect people directly to services and provides a coordinated response to a range of different needs, and where required a whole-of-family response, including holding perpetrators to account.
The Orange Door provides short term intake and assessment, and if deemed appropriate for Family Services, the family will be presented at a weekly Allocations meeting where all Alliance Agencies attend to discuss capacity and the most appropriate allocation to an individual agency.
Uniting works alongside people of all ages in local communities in Victoria and Tasmania. Our services reach to Albury-Wodonga in the north, Mallacoota in East Gippsland, the Wimmera region in the west, and across Tasmania.
Uniting is the community services organisation of the Uniting Church, who been supporting people and families for over 100 years. We are 7000 skilled, passionate and creative people providing over 770 programs and services.
We empower children, young people and families to learn and thrive. We are there for people experiencing homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction or mental illness. We support people with disability to live the life they choose. We assist older people to maintain their independence and enjoy life. We provide opportunities to access training and meaningful employment. We are proud to welcome and support asylum seekers to our community. We work to empower people with the information, skills and tools they need to live a healthy, happy life.
As an organisation, we celebrate our diversity and welcome all people regardless of ethnicity, faith, age, disability, culture, language, gender identity or sexual orientation. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as Australia’s First Peoples and as the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we work. We welcome lesbian, gay, Trans, gender diverse and intersex (LGBTIQ) people at our services. We pledge to provide inclusive and non-discriminatory services.
Uniting Outer East Integrated Family Services supports children, young people and families across the Outer East Catchment (some services are region-wide offered across both Inner and Outer East) and operates from its Croydon site, other outer east community based facilities including the Upper Yarra Family Centre
As well as case management, Uniting also offer group work, counselling and the Starting Out program, which offers a service to young parents under the age of 25, providing access to midwives, housing and specialist groupwork. Additionally, other specialist time limited programs offered by Uniting include Parenting and Assessment Skill Development (PASD) and the Navigator Program.
VACCA is a state wide Aboriginal community controlled organisation that aims for total self-management for Aboriginal communities in Victoria and advocates for changes in government policy that reinforce Aboriginal culture and self-determination, and improve the cultural competence of those who work with Aboriginal people. VACCA ensures that Aboriginal culture is at the centre of all programs and services it provides and promotes strong connections to culture and community, and Aboriginal child rearing in a context of child and family safety and wellbeing. VACCA provides information, referral, advice, training and support for parents and carers of Aboriginal children, Aboriginal children and youth, and those that work with them.
VACCA protects the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and was established in the Eastern metropolitan in 2012. VACCA as an Alliance member, supports the Alliance to develop Aboriginal best practices for improved engagement of Aboriginal families and awareness of cultural knowledge for vulnerable Aboriginal families in the EMR.
In addition to IFS program, Eastern VACCA employs the Aboriginal Liaison Worker (ALW). The ALW provides consultation to Integrated Family Services (IFS) for referrals of Aboriginal families and supports families into culturally appropriate services, provides linkages to Aboriginal services in the region, and supports and works to ensure Aboriginal families cultural needs are met if they choose to receive a service from a mainstream organisation.
Programs delivered at VACCA include:
We would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, on which we work on in the Eastern region. We recognise their continued connection to the land, the water and the community.
We would like to pay our respects to both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and their respective cultures.
We would like to pay our respects to all Elders who have past, and those that may be present here today.
The Land we are all meeting on- has never been ceded-
It Always Was & Always Will Be Aboriginal Land.
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