Engaging, supporting and working Engaging, supporting and working with children and families in Tasmania’s Child and Family Centres Report on the impact of Centres on parents’ use and with children and families in Tasmania’s experiences of services and supports in the Early Years Child and Family Centres August 2015 Report prepared by Professor Cate Taylor Principal Research Fellow, Telethon Kids Institute & The University of Western Australia Dr Kim Jose Research Officer, Telethon Kids Institute & Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania Mr Daniel Christensen Senior Analyst, ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, Telethon Kids Institute Dr Wietse van de Lageweg Project Officer, Child and Family Centres, Telethon Kids Institute & Department of Education Tasmania Citation The following citation should be used when reproducing or quoting any part of this publication: Taylor, C.T., Jose, K., Christensen, D., & Van de Lageweg, W.I. (2015). Engaging, supporting and working with children and families in Tasmania’s Child and Family Centres. Report on the impact of Centres on parents’ use and experiences of services and supports in the Early Years. Perth, [ WA: Telethon Kids Institute. ] Funding This project was funded through a research grant from the Tasmanian Early Years Foundation (2013-2015) and conducted in partnership with the Tasmanian Department of Education, which is the lead agency for Tasmania’s Child and Family Centres. We greatly appreciate the Foundation’s and the Department’s generous support for this project. This report is available electronically as a portable document format (PDF) file on the Telethon Kids Institute website: http://telethonkids.org.au/cfcreport For more information about this report please contact: Telethon Kids Institute | 100 Roberts Road, Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia 6008 Acknowledgements The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of The Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, The Tasmanian Department of Education or the Tasmanian Early Years Foundation. The authors wish to express their utmost gratitude to the parents and caregivers who took part in the survey, focus groups and interviews. We value what you have taught us about engaging, supporting and working with children and families in your communities. We owe the successful completion of this project to the generosity of the following people. You worked with us to bring an idea to fruition and have given parents an important voice in their communities. East Devonport Child and Family Centre Derwent Valley ptunarra Child and Jenny Mountney, Centre Leader Family Centre Suzanne Horton, Community Inclusion Worker Suzanne Purdon, Centre Leader Parents who took part in the study Katie Beamish, Community Inclusion Worker East Devonport Primary School Rebecca Lazenby, Community Brett Youd, Principal Inclusion Worker Andrea Spinks, Teacher Parents and children who took part in the photo shoot Ravenswood Child and Family Centre Lynne Wyllie-Watson, Centre Leader Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Deborah Bannon, Community Inclusion Worker Martin O’Byrne Parents who took part in the study Paul Prichard Ravenswood Heights Primary School Britany Roestenburg, Principal Sally Fisher, Teacher Chigwell Child and Family Centre M’Lynda Stubbs, Centre Leader Chris Mason, Community Inclusion Worker Parents who took part in the pilot study Clarence Plains Child and Family Centre Ian Brown, Centre Leader Carolyn George, Community Inclusion Worker Parents who took part in the pilot study Bridgewater tagari lia Child and Family Centre Margie Nolan, Centre Leader Jodie Dickinson, Community Inclusion Worker Phillip Harris, Community Inclusion Worker Parents and children who took part in the photo shoot 4 | CHILD AND FAMILY CENTRE EVALUATION Project Team We thank our colleagues who so willingly agreed to be part of the project team that shaped, developed and supported the project from beginning to end. Chair: Prof Cate Taylor Telethon Kids Institute and The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia. Louise Newbery Manager Performance and Evaluation, Children and Co-Chair: Andrew Oakley Youth Services, Department of Health and Human Principal Education Review Officer, Educational Services, Hobart, Tasmania. Performance Services, Department of Education, Hobart, Tasmania. Brian Stokes Manager, Tasmanian Data Linkage Unit, Menzies Institute Dr Wietse van de Lageweg for Medical Research, Hobart, Tasmania. Project Officer Child and Family Centres, Telethon Kids Institute and the Department of Education, Hobart, Dr Theresa Doherty Tasmania. Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of Tasmania. Dr Kim Jose Research Officer, Telethon Kids Institute and Prof Richard Eccleston Postdoctoral Fellow, Menzies Institute for Medical Director, Institute for the Study of Social Change, Research, Hobart, Tasmania. University of Tasmania. Prof Alison Venn Dr Sue Jenkins Deputy Director, Menzies Institute for Medical Consumer Representative, Hobart, Tasmania. Research, Hobart, Tasmania. Sam Luddy Daniel Christensen Manager, Strategic Data Development, Department LCC Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for for Education and Child Development, Adelaide, South Children and Families over the Life Course, Telethon Australia. Kids Institute, Perth, Western Australia. Dr Yasmin Harman-Smith Jenny Burgess Co-Director, Fraser Mustard Centre, Telethon Kids Institute Director Equity Services, Early Years and Schools and Department for Education and Child Development, Division, Department of Education, Hobart, Tasmania. Adelaide, South Australia. Jenny Mountney A/Prof Sally Brinkman Centre Leader, East Devonport Child and Family Co-Director, Fraser Mustard Centre, Telethon Kids Institute Centre, East Devonport, Tasmania. and Department for Education and Child Development, Adelaide, South Australia. Lynne Wyllie-Watson Centre Leader, Ravenswood Child and Family Centre, Special thanks to Tammy Gibbs, Ravenswood, Tasmania. Communication Manager and Caroline Wise, Graphic Designer Martin O’Byrne at the Telethon Kids Institute for the Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria. design and production of all the communications materials for the Paul Prichard project, including media relations. Training and Development Manager, Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria. CHILD AND FAMILY CENTRE EVALUATION | 5 Governance of the Child and Family Centres There is a whole-of-government approach to governance, funding and planning for Tasmania’s Child and Family Centres with the Department of Education nominated as the lead agency. This coordinated approach recognises that children’s health and wellbeing, learning and care is not the province of any one discipline or government department. The highest level of governance is the the Child and Family Centre Steering Committee. This Committee consists of Deputy Secretaries of the Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Police and Emergency Management, Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Director, Equity, Early Years and Schools, Department of Education. For this project, specific governance arrangements were put in place. These included: Project Sponsors Deputy Secretary, Early Years and Schools, a Department of Education Chair of the Tasmanian Early Years Foundation Business owner b Deputy Secretary, Early Years and Schools, Department of Education Project manager c Director Equity, Early Years and Schools Department of Education Early Years Reference Group and Evaluation Oversight Group d Director Educational Performance Services Director Equity, Early Years and Schools Principal Educational Review Officer Department of Education Project Team Director Equity, Early Years and Schools e Principal Educational Review Officer Project Officer Telethon Kids Institute Chief Investigator f Project Officer Research Officer g Project Team 6 | CHILD AND FAMILY CENTRE EVALUATION CHILD AND FAMILY CENTRE EVALUATION | 7 CONTENTS 10 FOREWORD 10 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 12 12 GLOSSARY 18 INTRODUCTION 20 Tasmania’s Child and Family Centres 23 Working together 24 Location and start dates of Child and Family Centres 25 Services available at Child and Family Centres 27 Project aim 28 East Devonport and Ravenswood 29 Demographic characteristics 29 Child and Family Centre participation and programs 30 32 METHODS Survey 34 Survey aims and design 34 Survey questions 34 Sample frame for the survey 36 Survey distribution and follow up 37 Focus groups and interviews 38 Recruitment of participants for focus groups and interviews 38 Protocol for focus groups and interviews 39 Data analysis 40 Survey 40 Focus groups and interviews 40 8 | CHILD AND FAMILY CENTRE EVALUATION RESULTS 42 Demographic characteristics 44 Survey 44 Focus group and interview participants 45 Patterns of service use for Centre users and non-users 45 Reasons for using a Child and Family Centre 46 Reasons for not using a Child and Family Centre 46 Parents’ experiences of services and supports 46 Access to and convenience of services and supports 48 Collaboration between services and responsiveness of services 48 Parental knowledge about services and supports 51 Parenting 52 Me as a Parent Scale 52 The impact of services and supports on parenting skills 53 Children 53 Training and learning 54