Family Support Services

Family support services from Abercare

The Family Services team provides the following programs:

Families First Program

An intensive, short term, crisis intervention program which aims to strengthen the ability of families to protect and care for their children where a child is at risk.

All children (aged below 17 years) referred to the Families First Program are statutory clients of the Department of Human Services. These children have either been assessed as being at imminent risk of out of home placement or are currently subject to a reunification case plan.

To be eligible for a service, families must be willing to participate in Families First intervention on a voluntary basis. The service covers the western region of Melbourne. All referrals come through the Department of Human Services. The placement prevention service is a four week intervention and the reunification program provides six weeks of intervention with families.

Postnatal Depression Program (PND)

This program provides an outreach support service encompassing counselling, case work, education, information and advocacy for women and their families who are experiencing Postnatal Depression. The program assists these women to develop their knowledge and skills and strengthen their support networks.

The program operates in Brimbank and women with children up to two years of age are eligible for the service. Abercare is currently also running support groups for Postnatal Depression in Werribee and Melton. Download the PND Programme brochure (PDF, 240kb).

Integrated Family Services

This program provides in-home support to families with children 0 to 18 years of age. The target groups for the service are vulnerable children, youth and families. Family workers provide a range of activities that may include outreach, advocacy, casework, skill development, counselling and group work, as well as other support and information activities. The service covers the local government areas of Brimbank and Moonee Valley.

Abercare works with the other family service agencies in both Brimbank and Moonee Valley to plan local family services at the catchment level and to manage and prioritise referrals to family services across both local government areas.

Parenting Assessment and Skills Development (PASDS) Program

This program provides an in-home parenting assessment and skill development service for families with children aged 0 to three years who have been identified by the Department of Human Services Protective Workers as being at high risk. The service is operated in the Western region, and all referrals come through the Department of Human Services. The duration of the service is eight weeks. Download the PASDS Programme brochure (PDF, 240kb).

Parenting Groups

The Family Services team runs Positive Parenting Groups on a regular basis in Moonee Ponds. The aim of the groups is to prevent emotional and behavioural problems in children by reducing family risk factors and increasing family protective factors using education and active parent skills training.

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