Family by Family is the first 'solution' to come out of TACSI's Radical Redesign Team. TACSI supported the initial scoping, design, and prototyping, and will now incubate and help spread the model throughout Australia.
In May 2010, we got to work on the brief: How could we reduce the number of families coming into contact with crisis services, and enable more families to thrive? We convened key players from state government (Families SA), local government (the City of Marion), NGOs (UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide), and academics (Prof. Dorothy Scott).
Eleven months later, in April 2011, we officially launched Family by Family. Family by Family is a new model of family-to-family support, developed with 100 South Australian families. You can watch the film of Family by Family below.
Family by Family responds to the problem of too many families stressed and in crisis, and too few families with the supports to thrive.
When we ran a stall in front of supermarkets, shopping centres, and on street corners to ask South Australian Families about stress, hundreds stopped to talk. Statistics tell us that 91% of families are stressed by at least one area of their life. We quickly learnt that whilst all families could name everyday stressors, what differentiated families were the types of stressors experienced and the resources available to act. You can read our first project report here.
Without strong support from friends, family and neighbours, stress can overwhelm a family. Family breakdown, domestic violence, substance misuse, child abuse and neglect are all too common consequences. Across Australia, there has been a 51% increase in the number of children removed from their families and placed in out-of-home care since 2005.
There are big economic and social costs of intervening at crisis point. Alternative care can cost up to 150K per child per year. The long term cost of child abuse and neglect to Australia is close to 1,944 million a year. For the cost of three children in alternative care each year, Family by Family can operate in a local community and work with close to 100 families.
Whilst Family by Family has been designed to prevent families from coming into contact with crisis services, our aim is to help families to thrive and not just survive. All the families we've met don't just want to get by - they want to move towards a different future.
Family by Family is a new network of families helping families. It finds and trains families who have been though tough times, pairs them with families who want things to change, and coaches family pairs to grow and change together. You can read and watch more about how the model works on the Family by Family website.
Here's some distinctive features of the model:
Our unit of focus is the family - not just parents or children. We have yet to find another family support service that keeps the whole family as the focal point.
Whole families are the primary deliverer - not professionals. Even peer-based programs, like volunteer home visiting programs, are parent to parent led, not whole family to family led.
Families are supported by a professional coach. Professionals serve in a behind-the-scene role, rather than a direct deliverer role. The coach brainstorms ideas and troubleshoots challenges.
The more families we can enable to thrive, the more resource we have to help other families.
Visit the Family by Family website
Outlining the Radical Redesign approach and the solution it developed: Family by Family
We're looking for partners to spread Family by Family to local communities across South Australia, and Australia. Get in touch with Carolyn, Director of Family by Family, if you'd like to explore Family by Family in your area.
We're looking for sponsors of family experiences and activities. Let us know if you'd like to support families going out and about in the local community.
Website design by JM: Freelance web design Adelaide
