Using technology in service delivery to families, children and young people

This paper provides an overview of how the innovative use of technology can add value to service delivery in organisations working with families, children and young people.Key messages:Most Australians have access to the Internet and use mobile devices to connect from anywhere, at any time. Research suggests that even isolated and marginalised groups are using technology in their everyday lives.For some groups (e.g., young people), technology may be their preferred method of communication.There appears to be a difference between how people are using the Internet (regularly, from anywhere, connecting with social networks, investigating services) and how some organisations are engaging with it (infrequently, in one direction).Technology works best when used to augment or improve existing services for clients, or to offer innovative approaches to existing services.Technology can be used in diverse ways for organisational improvement (e.g., remote access, staff training, professional development) or client services (e.g., online counselling, SMS appointment reminders, access to resources).Using technology does not necessarily involve large monetary investments or reinventing the wheel in terms of policy and procedures. Often it is a matter of adapting and refining existing services and policies to better suit the online world.Incorporating technology into services takes time, and will need continued assessment and refinement to be successful

Effective Approaches With Young Adults: A Guide for Probation Services

The aim of this guide is to give probation practitioners, whether in the National Probation Service or Community Rehabilitation Companies, the tools to deliver a more effective approach to young adults. It provides practical suggestions for effective ways to engage young adults and support their desistance from crime. It also includes suggestions for managers on what they can do to enable practitioners to improve outcomes within probation services

Working Report #2: Client and Community Relations (Service Provider Perspectives)

This report addresses two important questions: how much emphasis is placed on building positive relationships with families and communities across agency based, integrated service, and community and school based models of service delivery? And, how successful is each model at building relationships, minimizing stigma for families, and improving the image of child welfare in the community? Educating clients and the community about child welfare services was identified as an important role for workers in some sites and not in others. While families’ fears of child protection services were a concern, some workers also expressed a fear of their clients and feared for their own personal safety in their work. Service providers within each model seemed to be oriented to different aspects of relationship building and also had different advantages and disadvantages. For example, community based and school based models provided unique forums for engaging with clients and other service providers. Heightened awareness and concern about stigma in many agency based settings was noted; while, in community based and school based settings workers saw themselves on the front-line of improving the agency’s image and building relationships with the community

Moving TANF Recipients with Disabilities to Work: Examples of State Strategies

The brief examines activities in place to help move receipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) who have a disability to employment. It looks at the opportunities and challenges to state governments in crafting supports and services, as well as offers a glimpse of some strategies and approaches being used by state TANF agencies to help recipients with a disability secure and maintain employment

Recommendations for Chicago's Local Plan, Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998

This report provides a series of policy recommendations for local implementation of Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) aimed at providing an integrated workforce development system that effectively serves both disadvantaged job-seekers and employers

Strategic Philanthropy: Creating Opportunity, Building Wealth, and Driving Community Change

For decades, foundations have invested in a range of approaches that enable families to move forward -- to live in safe homes and communities, start their own businesses, pursue education, secure jobs and advance careers, access health care, and save for the future.Despite these investments, the gap continues to widen between the haves and have-nots, driven by barriers that are increasingly complex, intertwined, and exacerbated by dwindling public and private resources.In this context, new and more collaborative solutions are needed for advancing and sustaining greater economic security, opportunities for growth, and upward mobility. A mounting body of evidence demonstrates that when sector-based investments in education, housing, microenterprise, job training, health care, or community development are connected through a framework of asset building, the impacts are stronger and more sustainable.Through this strategic approach, foundations increase the scale and scope of their work, and more effectively shift the trajectory from vulnerability to opportunity for many of the nation's families. Whether new to the asset building conversation or a proven pioneer, funders will find in this paper compelling evidence about the increased importance and relevance of connecting asset building to existing grant making strategies. This paper illuminates why assets matter and how foundations across sectors are investing in asset building for greater collective impact. It also provides guidance for foundations looking for ways to leverage the asset building framework to advance the impact of their work

Federal Funding for Integrated Service Delivery: A Toolkit

Outlines the integrated approach to career advancement, income enhancements and work supports, and financial and asset-building services of Casey's Center for Working Families. Examines federal funding streams available, eligibility, and potential issues

Evaluation of the role of the Oasis Family Resilience Worker

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Working Report #3: Use of Legal Measures and Formal Authority (Service Provider Perspectives)

The focus of this report is, across service delivery models, how front-line protection workers viewed their formal authority role and the extent to which they relied on legal measures in order to achieve protection goals. The analysis is guided by several overarching questions including (1) how does each model view the use of legal measures and formal authority? (2) How does each model impact service providers’ actual use of legal measures? (3) What value do workers place on the authority figure role? And (4) how effective is the use of formal authority in reaching child protection goals? Type of program model and setting can impact the use of legal measures in a number of ways including fundamental beliefs about the effectiveness of cooperative vs. legal measures, supervisory guidance, the presence or absence of legal apparatus, and the access, time and 4 support to seek creative alternatives to legal measures. Across all community based and school based models there seemed to be an expressed desire to avoid legal and authoritative measures and authoritarian approaches. Agency based sites did not have the same homogeneity and in some sites there was strong support for use of legal and authoritative measures. There also appeared to be a stronger identification with the authoritarian role in the discourse of workers. One cannot conclusively say that authoritative and legal approaches are more prevalent in one type of model than in another but one can surmise from the data that community based and school based programs are strongly in favour of alternatives to these measures