Family Focus Australia
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Family Focus Australia Limited (Family Focus Australia or FFA) is a community based charity, endorsed as a Public Benevolent Institution by the Australian Taxation Office. With its Head Office in Brisbane, Queensland the organisation operates throughout Australia and is committed to overcoming the disadvantage of poverty in the lives of Australian children.
Family Focus Australia Limited is a non-profit, income tax exempt, Australian public company limited by guarantee. Family Focus Australia is endorsed by the Australian Tax Office as a Deductible Gift Recipient Charitable Institution and as such all donations to Family Focus Australia over $2 are fully tax deductible.
Family Focus Australia is totally independent and is not, in any way, associated with any political, religious, or sectarian philosophy or institution.
The year of 2007 marks the twentieth anniversary since an Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, declared that "by 1990 no Australian child would be living in poverty". In fact more than 800,000 Australian children live in situations of more than 20% below the Australian poverty line. Nearly 100,000 Australian children exist in situations of homelessness. More than 1.5 million Australian families live below the poverty line (Source: ABS).
Family Focus Australia Limited is using this dubious milestone to launch major projects for real change and throughout 2006 is undertaking extensive fundraising initiatives to provide the resources and finances necessary to provide Australian children and their families with the ‘hand-up’ needed to overcome the attitudinal and behavioural barriers that keep people in poverty.
Working with communities in regional and urban Australia, three (3) projects will harness the action of volunteers and professional staff to bring about change and create a positive and different future for Australian children currently living in poverty.
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[edit] Mission
To release Australian children from the physical, intellectual, and emotional entrapments of poverty and impoverished conditions by providing direct services and support to disadvantaged children and by challenging, partnering and equipping the Australian community and Australian families to fully enable all Australian children to access opportunities in our society.
[edit] Core values
Central to the development of the organization’s responses to children in need has been the core belief that the most effective means of changing a person’s life direction is by providing them with the skills and abilities that enable them to create their own strategies and solutions for life success. Accordingly, Family Focus Australia, its members and supporters, see themselves in the business of giving people a “hand-up” and not a “hand out”. In response to the needs of Australian children, this philosophy often requires intensive support of the child’s family as a whole. In order to alleviate the impoverished conditions which impact on the child it is often necessary to provide the child’s parents with the skills and abilities that enable the family as a whole to escape the bondages of impoverishment. In this way a positive focus is provided for all family members and creates a family foundation upon which the children are more appropriately able to access the many opportunities provided by Australian society.
Throughout the early stages of Family Focus Australia’s development several fundamental and key elements emerged as being absolutely necessary in the development of a meaningful and practical response to the needs of Australian children in our contemporary society. These have formed the core values of the Organisation, which means that they consider them to be non-negotiable and they must be present in the formulation of any activity of Family Focus Australia. These fundamental or core beliefs are espoused in the publications and public website and state:
Intrinsic value of the individual
Family Focus Australia holds, as absolute, that every individual in Australian society has intrinsic value, dignity and self worth. Every individual has a contribution to make in advancing Australian society and the “Australian way of life” and each individual should be nurtured, encouraged, and supported in attaining their full potential for the advancement of society as a whole.
Such intrinsic value requires an holistic response to the needs of each individual which affirm the value of individual diversity and promote self awareness rather than, as is often the case in existing traditional responses, seek to establish a common sameness of equality.
Manumission from Poverty
Family Focus Australia holds, as absolute, that no Australian child should live in poverty or conditions of impoverishment.
Such emancipation requires a recognition of poverty as being much more than merely a measurement of economic indicators, as is often the case in existing traditional responses, and that the root causes of poverty, and therefore the true indicators for measurement, are in fact those which harm and erode the intrinsic value of the individual. Namely:
- Physical – such as, but not limited to, safe housing; health services; adequate food; adequate clothing; financial resources; etc.
- Intellectual – such as, but not limited to, education; recreation; socialization; etc.
- Emotional – such as, but not limited to, security; love; encouragement; creativity; spirituality; etc.
Family Focus Australia holds that it is these indicators which more appropriately identify poverty and that it is the absence of or restriction of access to all or any of these opportunities which define poverty and impoverishment of the human condition in Australian society.
Primacy of the familial unit
Family Focus Australia Limited holds the primacy of the family unit as the core of social structure and cohesion in Australian society and represents the absolute social continuity for all children in society. Therefore:
- the family unit must be nurtured, supported and encouraged in attaining its full potential as the foundation of society and, therefore, the “Australian way of life”;
o in order to encourage the intrinsic value of children and liberate family structures from the conditions of impoverishment it is necessary to identify the concept of the family unit on the basis of the quality of the relationships that bind a group of people together;
- the definition of the family unit may include, but is not necessarily limited to, such physical family structures as are commonly referred to as: traditional; intact; extended; nuclear; blended; adoptive; same-sex parents; sole parents; divorced; foster; etc.
- it is the nurture, encouragement and support of the quality of the relationships within the family unit by all institutions in society which will abolish the conditions of poverty in which Australian children currently live.
[edit] Vision
An Australian society in which all children are supported and encouraged to realise their full potential for the advancement of the whole community.
[edit] Organisational history
Family Focus Australia Limited was originally formed in 2001 as an unincorporated group of parents and business people living in Brisbane who were increasingly dissatisfied with the traditional responses to poverty and need in the lives of Australian children by mainstream services and Government. The actual basis for forming the original group arose out of some “lively” debate over the statement of former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke that, ‘no Australian child would be living in poverty by 1990.’ From this the decision was taken that child poverty in a first world nation is not only unacceptable but can be overcome, not as a function of Government but only as a result of community decision and action.
“Giving a hand-up and not a hand-out” became the catch cry of our early band of volunteers. Based on observation, well supported by a plethora of research from Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, Family Focus Australia proceeded on the basis that poverty is not a matter of economics but, rather, one of attitude and behaviour. While the reasons for a family falling into poverty may be many and varied the fact that they remain in poverty is, largely, a process of attitude and behaviour – both in respect of those living in poverty and that of the communities in which they live.
The function of Government is to create opportunities for its citizens through sound fiscal and associated policies. The function of community is to create a supportive environment for all of its members so that access to those opportunities can be taken.
During these formative years Family Focus Australia developed and tested a variety of systemic approaches aimed at changing the attitudes and behaviours of families living in poverty and those of the community in which they lived. The extent of such projects was small as the fiscal and physical resources were entirely dependent upon the membership of the unincorporated group. Nonetheless the findings of such projects were valid and enabled the refinement of approach and the measurement of outcomes.
In 2005, as the result of an external review of the options available for the future of Family Focus Australia the decision was taken to incorporate as an Australian Public Company Limited by Guarantee.
[edit] Governance
Family Focus Australia is governed by a Board of Directors whose wealth of business, service and community knowledge ensures the ongoing success of the Organisation's strategic direction, financial viability, and positive outcomes for the Australian families served through its programs. The Board is elected by the financial members of the organisation for designated terms in accordance with Family Focus Australia's constitution.
The relevancy of the direction and activities of Family Focus Australia is further ensured by the existence of Community Advisory Committees, established by the Board, in each of the geographic regions of service. These committees are usually made up of associate members of the Organisation or interested members of the public and service recipients. The role of the Community Advisory Committee is to assist the Board of Directors in targeting the efforts of the organisation in the most effective manner; maintaining financial accountability and transparency; and ensuring a wider democratic process in developing community responses to individual need.
Family Focus Australia is committed to maintaining open and accountable processes that provide the public with the assurance of transparent and responsible fiscal and social activity. To this end the organisation has developed Quality Assurance policies and guidelines to ISO standards. The operations of the Board of Directors, its Executive Officers and committees are further defined by a transparent and openly accountable set of processes defined in the Organisation's Governance Manual. These documents are freely available to the public by download from their Website.
The governance and macro-management of Family Focus Australia Limited is entirely undertaken by volunteers. The organisation is very mindful of its reliance upon the goodwill of the general community and corporate sponsors for its ongoing financial viability. Accordingly, the organisation’s governance policies limit the amount of micro-administrative costs for service co-ordination staff, offices, supply etc. to a maximum of 20% of total income. Wherever possible Family Focus Australia Limited avails itself of the generosity of its members by utilising free office space in member’s businesses and or homes.
[edit] Programs
“First Steps Program” has been developed to assist single, teenage Australian mothers and their children to escape the poverty cycle and develop the necessary motivations and skills for self sufficiency and full community participation. Since 2000 the rate of teenage births (13yrs – 19 yrs) has plateaued in Australia remaining at around 11,000 teenage births each year. Research conducted in various States, but especially Queensland and Victoria, by a variety of Government and Health organisations has shown that of this number approximately 60% (6,600) will remain dependent upon welfare support for the whole of their lives as the sole source of family income. Research in Australia, and certainly supported by research in the United States and United Kingdom, further suggests that at least 40% (2,600+)of the children of teenage mothers will, as a consequence of intergenerational attitude and learning, themselves become dependent upon welfare support as their sole source of family income. The First Steps program is designed to work with and for the single teenage mother and her child/ren over a three (3) year period. First addressing the physical needs associated with poverty, such as safe housing, food, clothing and health, the program then continues by addressing the emotional and psychological issues associated with the antecedents of teenage pregnancy such as, social disenfranchisement; self esteem; abuse; familial learning; etc. The program then addresses the needs associated with teenage parenting, the early development needs of the child/ren, and the ongoing development of healthy social responses for the teenage mother. Building on these changes the program then provides the motivation and support for the teenage mother to acquire inter-personal skills, vocational skills and ultimately employment. All aspects of the program are specifically tailored to the individual needs of the presenting teenage mother and her child/ren and very much involve their ongoing commitment to the process. But the aim, in every instance, is the same for all, the motivation and support to live free of welfare dependency and actively participate in the many opportunities of the wider Australian community.
“Learning to Play” is a project designed to assist Australian families with young children living in poverty. While the program is available to children aged birth to 12 years it specifically targets children in the formative years (birth to 5yrs) and is intended to provide the resources and supports to parents to enable their children to participate in developmental and recreational programs in the wider community. In working with parents to develop strategies to increase the motivation and development of their young children the project also enables the parents to increase the motivation and development of their own lives and thereby create the strategies that enable the family to move out of poverty and into self sufficiency. The program provides the fiscal resources necessary for young children to access social and developmental activities that the current circumstances of poverty would otherwise deny them.
“Learning to Grow” is a project developed to assist teenage children (13yrs-18yrs) living in poverty to access and develop leadership and motivational skills to enable them to create the foundations for a life free of poverty. The project is based on a mentoring system whereby the teenager is supported by a mentor to develop life goals and the strategies whereby those goals can be achieved. Fiscal resources are provided to assist the teenage in this regard such as, funding to attend camps, workshops etc; computers and internet access to assist with education; activity specific clothing and equipment, etc. While the mentor does consult with the teenager’s parents on all activities, and indeed their active participation is encouraged, their primary focus is on enabling the teenager to dream and then develop the attitudes and behaviours by which those dreams can be realised.
Family Focus Australia Limited relies heavily upon the efforts of volunteers to enable these projects to work. We very much believe that our success to date in these activities is because of the reliance on a volunteer, who is seen as a member of the local community, rather than on a staff member, who is often seen as being paid to care. The launch of a project in any region is preceded by the recruitment and training of volunteers from the communities in that region. These volunteers are then supported by a professionally trained staff member who provides the necessary counselling and ongoing development of volunteers and any direct client professional support that a volunteer or client might identify.
