Community perspectives on the Family Support Package

This paper presents the views and experiences of
local Aboriginal community members and program
staff and some non-Indigenous community-based
service providers of ‘Family Support Package’
programs in five remote Aboriginal communities
in the Northern Territory (NT). It summarises the
findings of a detailed evaluation undertaken
for the Department of Children and Families
by the authors in 2011 (see Holmes, Fasoli and
Stephenson, 2011) and builds on various earlier
evaluative work which had largely omitted
Aboriginal community perspectives. In gaining
a community perspective on various aspects
of the Family Support Package, this evaluation
has elicited information ‘from the field’. It has
identified strengths of existing Family Support
Package elements and pointed to opportunities
for enhancing their effectiveness in protecting
Aboriginal children and families from abuse and
violence.
Three program elements make up the Family
Support Package in the NT: Safe Places for men
and women (22 services); Mobile Child Protection
Teams (MCPT) (2 teams); and Remote Aboriginal
Family and Community Workers (RAFCWs) servicing
several communities. The Family Support Package
aims to provide a coordinated response to
Indigenous family violence and protect Indigenous
children and families from abuse and violence