HIGHLIGHTS
- Queensland’s Indigenous Family Wellbeing Services (FWS) are responsible for child protection.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care are over-represented in the system.
- FWS help reduce the number of Aboriginal and TSI children entering child protection.
PROJECT
Evaluation of 33 Indigenous Family Wellbeing Services Aacross Queensland
The Challenge
The Indigenous Family Wellbeing Services (FWS) are a response to the 2013 Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry, Taking Responsibility: A Roadmap for Queensland Child Protection. Its task was to review the entire child protection system to find out whether it was still failing children and, if so, why.
Over the previous decade, the number of child protection intakes had tripled, and the number of children in out-of-home care had doubled. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were over-represented at all stages of the child protection system: five times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be the subject of a child safety notification, six times more likely to be substantiated for harm, and nine times more likely to be in out-of-home care.
The Approach
The Department of Children, Youth Justic and Multicultural Affaires engaged Abt to evaluate FWS initiatives between December 2016 and February 2018.
The evaluation involved a mixed method study, including over 239 consultations at 31 FWS sites. This included 131 program staff, four CEOs, four domestic and family violence workers, and 25 managers/team leaders (a total of 164 staff consultations).
We visited 10 FWS locations for in-depth case studies and more comprehensive interviewing for 51 family-centred case studies, which included families who had exited the service. In addition to these families, associated stakeholders consulted included 14 elders and 10 external stakeholders and referral partners.
The evaluation team reviewed three years of program data from September 2018 to March 2021 to substantiate Abt’s qualitative findings and economic analysis. To the extent possible, the evaluation sought to provide insights into the longer-term outcomes for FWS and the department’s system-wide outcomes.
The Results
Despite the significant contextual issues facing individuals, families, and communities, some of which are the residual effects of intergenerational trauma, Abt found that FWS are contributing to their aim of reducing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children moving into the child protection system.
Through these new culturally appropriate and safe services, families have the opportunity to address a range of issues that harm their children.
The existing services continue to receive funding, and the Queensland Government is considering opportunities to expand this initiative.