BUSHkids 2016-17 Annual Report

DSS

The three satellite services which were funded by the Department of Social Services from 2015 are now well established in Agnes Water and Miriam Vale, Kingaroy, Kingaroy North and Nanango and Stanthorpe. Children and Parenting Support Services

Overview BUSHkids provides parenting skills and support, supported play groups, school readiness programs and home visiting support for families. The strengths- based, empowerment model focuses on building the capacity of children, parents and the community to improve outcomes for children and their families. BUSHkids provides the following early intervention group programs in each of the communities:

In action The Children and Parenting services have also worked in childcare centres, schools and kindies to ‘role model’ the early intervention programs as play-based activities that promote age-appropriate development. Visiting these centres and sending home information about the work the Early Intervention Facilitator does with the children has also generated referrals to the service. Childcare workers have integrated the activities into the routines of their rooms. Across the Kingaroy, Agnes Water and Miriam Vale sites all kindy and prep children have had access to PALS and Fingergym TM programs; in the Stanthorpe area, more than half of the childcare centres and kindies have been similarly provided with access. As well, BUSHkids provides supported playgroups in the Kingaroy and Stanthorpe regions. There are now 35 playgroup plans using the Read and Grow format available for staff across the organisation to use. These use the format of songs, finger games, gross motor activity, story reading and extension activity. (The latter is usually an activity that helps develop fine motor skills.) Play groups have been evaluated using SCORE at the end of each school semester. The SCORE indicates that parents have a high level of satisfaction with BUSHkids playgroups and that they help the parents develop skills and knowledge about early childhood and parenting. Agnes Water and Miriam Vale have well-established community playgroups with BUSHkids providing parental support and knowledge and play-based activities with an oral language focus. Our Children and Parenting Support Services have established a ‘hub and spoke’ model whereby staff are based in the main town and deliver outreach to surrounding areas. A significant amount of time in each site is spent on outreach due to the geographical distance from the main office, the low socioeconomic background of families in the area, and the lack of affordable transport available to clients in regional Queensland.

BUSHkids Children and Parenting Support Services Funder Department of Social Services

Term

2015 to June 2020

Service area Services are

provided in Agnes Water and Miriam Vale, Kingaroy, Kingaroy North and Nanango and Stanthorpe and Stanthorpe region Local Government areas • Social Worker Team Leader • Early Intervention Facilitators – 3.0 FTE • Administration Officer – 0.6 FTE Early intervention to improve children’s development and to support those in parenting roles to build their capacity.

Playing and Learning to Socialise (PALS) for social skills development Fun FRIENDS for emotional resilience Read and Grow for emergent literacy Fingergym TM for fine and gross motor skill development.

Staffing

Parenting groups are also offered in all sites and these include 1-2-3 Magic, Triple P, Read and Grow Parent Education and A Steady Start to School. BUSHkids prioritises soft entry opportunities for vulnerable families and each of the sites participates in local Under-8 Days, NAIDOC, big story time in the park and Book Week activities to provide those opportunities. We are also aware that vulnerable families are less likely to attend groups and services in the Children and Parenting Program until they have established a safe and secure relationship with their Early Intervention Facilitator. Families are provided with individual home-based programs with the aim of gradually connecting the family into the community.

Service purpose

By service locations Stanthorpe • 47.19% outreach services provided in Wallangarra, Severnlea, Glen Aplin and Applethorpe. AgnesWater • 18.1% outreach services provided in Miriam Vale, Rosedale, Lowmead and Baffle Creek. Kingaroy • 34.7% outreach services provided in Crawford, Proston, Murgon, Wondai and Nanango.

In outreach locations, the majority of individual or family work is completed within the family home and group programs are held in a variety of community venues or at small local schools. Outreach represents 27.7% of total clinical time across the service.

18 18