Family Support Organizations: Overview, Mission, Programs and Importance of Early Childhood Services

This report provides an overview of family support organizations in Canterbury NSW area, their mission, aims, outcomes, programs, and importance of early childhood services. It also discusses the geographical coverage, target groups, and risk factors associated with these organizations.

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 0
Working with Family and Community Partnerships
Student’s Details
8/17/2019

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 1
Executive Summary
Family support provides services or special care to the people who are in need. It can include the
child, adult or even parent in the families who have some sort of disability. Family support
services are given by providing support to communities such as physical, mental, emotional
assistance and providing the communities with necessary education and career coaches and food
assistance to lower income communities. These services are availed by family support
organizations who constantly make efforts for the improvement of mental health of the children
and protecting them from physical or mental abuse. The purpose of these organizations is to
promote mental health and making overall development of the people suffering from mental and
physical illness.

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 2
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the organizations.........................................................................................................3
Mission, Aims and Outcomes..........................................................................................................4
Geographical Coverage and Target Groups....................................................................................5
Disadvantages and Risk Factors relating to Family Support Organizations...................................6
Programs or Projects Provided........................................................................................................6
Importance of early childhood services in Family Support Organizations.....................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 3
Introduction
Family Support Organizations are country based organizations that provide emotional
and behavioral support to family members. The purpose of this organization to provide family to
family peer support, education, advocate services and other services to children, adult or parent
in the family (Demirtas, Arslan, & Karaca, 2019). Here, the report is prepared on the family
support organizations of Canterbury NSW area. These organizations provide support to early
childhood (birth 8 years) and have major contribution towards the mental wellbeing of the
children and the protecting them from emotional, physical and sexual abuse (Saul & Simon,
2016). The organizations highly focus on children to maintain a healthy relationship with the
family members. For this report, five family support organizations are taken which are Catholic
Care Family Support, Koorana Child and Family Services, Linking Hearts Multicultural Family
Services, Creating Links (NSW) Ltd and Canterbury and Arabic Family Support Service.
However, the report discusses the overview of all the organizations and also the mission, aims
and objectives of all the five organizations. Further, the geographical coverage and target groups
are discussed along with disadvantage and risk factors associated with these organizations.
Lastly, the projects of these organizations and importance of early childhood services in family
support organizations are analyzed.
Overview of the organizations
The overviews of five family support organizations are discussed as below:
Catholic Care Family Support – This organization provides support to the children of
age 0 to 12 years who are experiencing stress and also act as domestic violence specialist for the
people in need. The organization majorly focuses on providing support to not only children, but
also young people and their family members (Guerra, Farkas, & Moncada, 2018).
Koorana – Koorana Child and Family Services Ltd is a non-profit organization
established over 40 years ago engaged with providing early education to the children and also
satisfy the family needs of the children to live happily and make new friends and gain their
potential (Koorana, 2015).

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 4
Linking Hearts Multicultural Family Services – This organization mainly works for
families and women who have culturally diverse backgrounds by providing them
accommodation and supporting them from the risk of homelessness.
Creating Links (NSW) Ltd. – Creating links is a non-profit organization that provides
services to children, family and community services for making partnerships with the schools.
The organization provides financial support to the disabled people.
Canterbury and Arabic Family Support Service– Supporting Families is a family
support organization that supports the family members from mental distress and promote mental
wellbeing. The organization provides life and recovery options through facilitating free support,
education and information related to wellness and also promotes the rights of the individuals to
ensure their mental wellbeing (Tarren-Sweeney & Vetere, 2013).
Mission, Aims and Outcomes
Mission, aims and outcomes of each family support organization are discussed below:
Catholic Care Family Support – The mission of this organization is to promote
wellbeing and mental health support to the people in need. The main aim of Catholic Care
Family Support is to provide assistance and support to children and youth.
Koorana – The organization’s mission is to provide better learning opportunities for the
children through education. The organization’s main aim is to build supporting connections with
the parents and providing families with the caring environment.
Linking Hearts Multicultural Family Services – The mission of this organization is to
accommodate and provide safe houses to the children, parents and refugees. The aim is to
facilitate wrap around support to the people suffering from risk of being homeless (Hornby,
2010).
Creating Links (NSW) Ltd. – This organization has mission of providing charity
dedicated help to teens, adults and children with the financial services and fostering the
communities. Their aim is to provide continuous assistance to youth and children.

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 5
Canterbury and Arabic Family Support Service – Canterbury and Arabic Family
Support Service is a family support organization that has mission to get a growth in the
wellbeing of the people who are affected by mental illness. The aim of the organization is
facilitate support through wide range of confidential services using training and workshops.
Geographical Coverage and Target Groups
Catholic Care Family Support provides assistance to the people who reside in Canterbury
Bankstown and Inner-West and the target group are families with dependent children. Further,
Koorana Child and Family Services Ltd provide services to the areas of Inner-West and South
West areas of Sydney. The target groups are mainly the children who are disabled to get the early
education in the childhood.
Linking Hearts Multicultural Family Services has facilitation coverage in the Canterbury-
Bankstown LGA and the target groups are men, women or couple having children who face
domestic violence and risk of homelessness.
Further, Creating links (NSW) Ltd. has geographical coverage in the Canterbury-
Bankstown LGA and serves the local communities of that area. Their main target is on the local
communities including the children and youth. Also, Canterbury and Arabic Family Support
Service has services for the people who ride in Lakemba NSW and it focuses on the young
people and families and children
Disadvantages and Risk Factors relating to Family Support
Organizations
Family support organizations provide huge support to the family members, communities
and children but it has some disadvantages as well as it has various risk factors associated with
these organizations (Cavaleri, Olin, Kim, Hoagwood, & Burns, 2011). The support organization
like Catholic Care Family Support and Koorana are undoubtedly good organization to be utilized
by the communities but at the same time it has risk factors associated with it. It can be noted that
if these organizations have poor mechanism for the safety of children then the children may face
safety issues with these organizations.

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 6
Further, Linking Hearts Multicultural Family Services and Creating Links are that
support organizations that promote mental wellbeing of children. However, a minor mistake in
the medication of the children can have serious impact on the mental health of the children.
Further, communities may have risk factors from the support organization like Canterbury and
Arabic Family Support Service due to inefficiency of the staff members of the organizations.
Additionally, it can be seen that if the organization is having unskilled members who are unable
to treat the diagnosis of the child or other community, then it may have impact on the health of
the child. This can be a major risk factor associated with this family support organization.
Programs or Projects Provided
Various programs are initiated by family support organizations that provide help to
children, family and communities. The programs or projects that are provided by the five family
support organizations are discussed below:
Catholic Care Family Support – This organization is engaged with providing support to
children and has initiated many programs that could promote the mental wellbeing. Their
services include disability services, mental health services and case management.
Koorana Child and Family Services Ltd – This organization has introduced a free
program called Early Education Parenting Workshop to explain the importance of early
childhood education for the continuous development of the children. Kids kicking goals is also a
program that was launched in order to connect with the families who were told to share their
experiences and stories.
Linking Hearts Multicultural Family Services – Linking Hearts has launched
inaugural group of linking hearts Ambassadors which included active and professional men who
altogether bring the change and influence. Also, Linking Hearts is the innovative program of the
organization that builds strong relationship with homeless people.
Heart Kids Canterbury – This organization has undertaken various programs that
benefit the children and provide practical, emotional and financial support to the children
suffering from heart diseases.

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 7
Canterbury and Arabic Family Support Service – This organization has tailored multi
language support programs for the young children and teenagers. Their initiatives include
individual casework, group-based activities for the children for promoting mental wellbeing and
advocate services.
Importance of early childhood services in Family Support Organizations
There is huge importance of early childhood services and also teachers building authentic
relationship with family support organizations. There is great importance of family support to the
children who are at risk and have special needs (Brady, Holt, & Whelan, 2018). These
organizations provide income support to these children and also promoting their mental
wellbeing through providing them supportive environment in order to make them learn social
and emotional skills so that they can manage their own behavior (Roksa & Kinsley, 2019).
Additionally, it is important for the teachers to create and maintain authentic relationship with
family support organizations as it has many features such as it generates trust and empathy in
order to promote shared decision making. These kinds of partnerships provide a clarity of roles
and responsibilities and also gives due importance to each other’s knowledge and experience.
Formation of partnership is not easy as it has risk associated with it but it is always worth the
effort as it will lead to best to the child.
Early childhood services are important for the development of the child. If a child is
treated properly in its early stage, then there are better chances of getting the child into proper
growth and development stage (Koegel, Koegel, Ashbaugh, & Bradshaw, 2014). These family
support organizations work for the emotional and mental wellness of the child so that they are
healthy and maintain a healthy relationship with their parents as well. The organizations
precisely provide the learning and supportive environment to the children in order to make them
feel happy about life and providing them an opportunity to make improvements in their behavior
(Martinez, Papich, & Drusano, 2012). The organizations also provide early assistance to various
diseases and providing them protection from various physical and emotional impairments that
may have serious impact on their health. It also works for managing the diet of the children so
that they can get sufficient nutrition in order to get strength for fighting with the later diseases
through increase in the immunity level (Soderback, Coyne, & Harder, 2011).

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 8
Conclusion
Family Support Organizations provide support to the family and the communities of the
local area of these organizations. They provide services to early childhood, teens as well their
families to provide them an opportunity to enhance their relationships and also ensure wellness
in their life. These organizations are helpful in providing support to children experiencing mental
illness. Here, the report is prepared on the five family support organizations namely, Catholic
Care Family Support, Koorana Child and Family Services, Linking Hearts Multicultural Family
Services, Creating Links (NSW) Ltd and Canterbury and Arabic Family Support Service. All
these organizations are engaged in facilitating care to the child and their family and also
enhancing their mutual relationships. Further, overviews, mission, aim and outcomes of the
organization are discussed along with the geographical coverage and target groups. Additionally
the risk factors relating to these organizations are also discussed. Lastly, the importance of early
childhood services in Family Support Organizations is also analyzed.

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 9
References
Brady, E., Holt, S., & Whelan, S. (2018). Measuring success in family support services. Child
Care in Practice, 24(4), 351-368.
Cavaleri, M. A., Olin, S. S., Kim, A., Hoagwood, K. E., & Burns, B. J. (2011). Family Support
in Prevention Programs for Children at Risk for Emotional/Behavioral Problems. Clin
Child Fam Psychol Rev, 14(4), 399-412.
Demirtas, O., Arslan, A., & Karaca, M. (2019). Why perceived organizational and supervisory
family support is important for organizations? Evidence from the field. Review of
Managerial Science, 13(4), 841-869.
Family Works. (2019, January 1). About Family Works. Retrieved August 17, 2019, from Family
Works: https://familyworks.org.nz/
Guerra, C., Farkas, C., & Moncada, L. (2018). Depression, anxiety and PTSD in sexually abused
adolescents: Association with self-efficacy, coping and family support. Child Abuse &
Neglect, 76, 310.
Heart Kids. (2017, May 23). HeartKids. Retrieved August 18, 2019, from heartcanterbury:
http://www.heartcanterbury.org.nz/
Hornby, G. (2010). Supporting parents and families in the development of inclusive practice. In
Confronting Obstacles to Inclusion (pp. 93-106). Routledge.
Roksa, J., & Kinsley, P. (2019). The Role of Family Support in Facilitating Academic Success of
Low-Income Students. Research in Higher Education, 60(4), 415-436.
Saul, J., & Simon, W. (2016). Building resilience in families, communities, and organizations: A
training program in global mental health and psychosocial support. Family process,
55(4), 689-699.
Supporting Families. (2019, March 18). Supporting Families. Retrieved August 18, 2019, from
Supporting Families: https://supportingfamilies.org.nz/

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 10
Tarren-Sweeney, M., & Vetere, A. (2013). Mental health services for vulnerable children and
young people: Supporting children who are, or have been, in foster care. . Royutledge.

FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS 11