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Media Release

July 11 2008

Supporting Aboriginal families from the very beginning

Mother and childA UniSA review of the Children, Youth and Women’s Health Service Family Home Visiting program, for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families with a new baby in South Australia, has confirmed the value of the service to the families it supports.

The program was evaluated by the Australian Centre for Child Protection at UniSA and offers two years of ongoing support to families likely to benefit from additional assistance after the birth of a new baby. The program is available to all children identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, who are born in the South Australia program areas.

Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Child Protection, Dr Fiona Arney, says that the Family Home Visiting program aims to provide children with the best possible start in life, and to assist families in providing the best support for their children.

“Families in the program receive regular visits from qualified child and maternal health nurses for the first couple of years after the birth of a baby,” she said.

“The visits focus on the child’s health and development and maternal-child attachment.”

Dr Arney says that the majority of the Aboriginal families who participated in the focus groups and interviews gave the program extremely positive feedback.

“Family Home Visiting was seen as a convenient, responsive and positive approach to child health and development,” she said.

“Many specific benefits including practical assistance, information and referrals for health and other issues were identified.

“In many cases, mothers felt more socially involved, more supported in their parenting decisions and generally more confident in themselves and their parenting, with an increased awareness of infant health and development.”

“Importantly, the families also felt the program was delivered in an empowering and culturally respectful way,” she said.

“The passion and dedication of staff was especially valued and for many families, staff were seen as much more than professionals, often as family and friends of the families they were working with.”

Dr Arney says that another major strength of the program is the multidisciplinary team supporting the nurse home visitors and families.

“Psychologists, social workers, Indigenous Cultural Consultants and family support coordinators all provide further resources, helping with the additional needs that many Aboriginal families have,” she said.

The evaluation was conducted by the Australian Centre for Child Protection in partnership with the Children, Youth and Women’s Health Service, the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia, the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Nunkuwarrin Yunti.

Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia’s Alwin Chong says the research has shown that the multidisciplinary support provided to Aboriginal mothers after childbirth is increasing their confidence and knowledge as new mothers, giving much needed help to Aboriginal families.

“The increased confidence of mothers will also help after the birth of any future children, helping to strengthen the bonds within Aboriginal families with young children,” he said.

Aboriginal Health Director at the Children, Youth and Women’s Health Service, Karen Glover, also says that the partnership has been important in confirming the value of an important service to Aboriginal families.

“We are confident that the program is likely to provide long term health benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities,” she said.

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