Framework for the cost benefit analysis of the NSW Department of Community Services Brighter Futures Program. CHERE Working Paper 2009/4.

Brighter Futures is the NSW DOCS early intervention program targeting children aged 0 to 8. The program is designed to ?support pregnant women and families with young children aged 0-8 years who require long-term support (up to two years) by a range of services. The program gives particular priority to those families with children under three years.? (Department of Community Services, 2007). To be able to access the Brighter Futures program, parents must also have a vulnerability that is likely to worsen if not addressed with the services and support available to the parents and children which include home visits, quality children?s services and a parenting program (Department of Community Services, 2007). A Consortium led by the Social Policy Research Centre, and including the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE) at UTS and Pamela Meadows from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, has been commissioned to undertake the evaluation of all aspects of the program. An important component of the evaluation process is economic evaluation. This paper is set out as follows; Section 2 provides a brief introduction to economic appraisal in relation to the Brighter Futures program and sets out the links between the envisaged cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and cost benefit analysis (CBA). It also outlines the broad challenges faced when undertaking economic appraisals in the field of program such as Brighter Futures. Section 3 sets out a methodological framework for undertaking the CBA of the Brighter Futures program, including methods for addressing key evaluation challenges and Section 4 outlines the main tasks for the CBA work.ealry intervention, Brighter Futures, economic evaluation

Parent indicators of quality care in out of school hours care in Western Australia

An Investigation into the identification of indicators of quality care for outside school hours was undertaken. Data was derived from a survey of 252 parents with children currently attending after school care in W.A., and compared with the indicators of quality developed by the Joint Review of the Commonwealth Department of Community Services and Commonwealth Public Service Board on Outside School Hours Care, Vacation Care and Adventure Playgrounds. Although parents identified specific indicators of quality care, the findings were consistent with those of the Review. Comparing these findings with the extensive current research on pre-school care indicators of quality, suggested that the identification of indicators of quality care in outside school hours care need not take the long road to recognition and implementation as was taken for pre-school care, as much of the research has already been undertaken

Normalisation training project: an evaluation study

The Normalisation Training Project was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Community Services and Health for a period of twelve months during 1987. Under the auspices of the Centre for the Development of Human Resources of the Western Australian College of Advanced Education the Project provided eight training workshops for human service workers on the principles of Normalisation. There were two types of workshops. A two-day programme was offered on An Introduction to Normalisation (Social Role Valorisation) . These workshops were introductory and designed for people who had only limited exposure to the principles of Normalisation. Participants examined many of the key value questions that play a role in the quality of life of persons who are socially devalued. This involved exposure to Normalisation principles (or Social Role Valorisation Theory) and their potential contribution to improving the quality of personal and community life

Distribution of coronal and root caries experience among persons aged 60+ in South Australia

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.This report provides epidemiological data describing caries experience among the population of non-institutionalized older adults in Adelaide and Mt Gambier. Subjects were selected in a stratified random sample of persons aged 60+ who were listed on the South Australian Electoral Database. Oral examinations were conducted by four calibrated dentists among 853 dentate persons aged 60 years and over. There was an average of 14.7 missing teeth, 8.3 filled teeth and 0.3 decayed teeth, and a further 0.2 teeth were present as retained roots. The mean number of missing teeth was higher (p < 0.05) in older compared with younger age groups, and in Mt Gambier compared with Adelaide. The mean DFS of 22.1 was significantly higher (p < 0.05) among younger persons, females and in Adelaide. Root surface caries affected an average of 3.1 surfaces, and was greater (p < 0.05) among persons aged 70-79 years, males and Adelaide residents. However, when root caries was expressed as an attack rate per 100 exposed surfaces, differences were statistically significant only among age groups. Analysis of specific teeth revealed that no more than 40 per cent of molars were retained, and between 30 and 58 per cent of retained molars had coronal fillings.Gary D. Slade, A. John Spence

Youth Participation in a Government Program: Challenges in E-Democracy

Declining youth participation in civic affairs has raised the issue of youth disengagement. This paper explores the use of web-based and social networking technologies for the purpose of engaging young people in civic affairs to better inform government decision making. It is based on a field study in two regions of NSW where young people (aged 9-18) participated in an experimental online consultation about youth projects to be funded by the Department of Community Services (DoCS). Several strategies for youth engagement and consultation were implemented and tested including an online interactive game, social networking technologies, local radio and TV, and school newsletters announcements. The findings question the youth disengagement thesis and demonstrate that purposefully-designed and carefully targeted engagement strategies – in both electronic and physical spaces – do attract and engage young people in Government decision making. The paper discusses the challenges of youth online participation and concludes with suggestions for future research

Evaluation of the Green Valley Domestic Violence Service (GVDVS)

The GVDVS is an innovative approach aimed at improving the response to women and children experiencing domestic violence, through a partnership between NSW Health, the Department of Community Services, Police, Housing and a range of non-government agencies. Health is the lead agency. Because of the developmental and evolving nature of the GVDVS, a ‘formative’ or ‘process’ evaluation was conducted. Data was collected from a range of sources including clients and staff of the service; frontline and management representatives of agencies in the area served by the service; and the client, training and community development records of the service. Analysis of this data indicated that the presence of a specialist domestic violence service has been the catalyst for improved interagency responses to domestic violence in Green Valley. GVDVS has developed a model of service delivery to women and children that provides a model of good practice in domestic violence service delivery within the health system.South Western Sydney Area Health Servic

2012 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

This report updates Metropolitan Housing Coalition's nine annual measures of fair and affordable housing for the Louisville, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area: Concentration of Subsidized Housing; Housing Segregation; Renters with Excessive Cost Burden; Production and Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing; Homeownership Rate; Access to Homeownership; Foreclosures; Homelessness; and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and HOME Funds.The 2012 State of Metropolitan Housing Report clearly demonstrates Metropolitan Louisville's growing need for safe, fair, and affordable housing. For the first time, the tenth annual State of Metropoltian Housing Report includes data on the number of children experiencing homelessness in the MSA's public school systems; before MHC reported only on Jefferson County Public Schools.The 2012 report also includes a focus topic: vacant properties and their impact on the community as well as current efforts and best practices that to address this issue. Additionally, the report also drills down into the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a federal program designed to address the issue of vacant properties, and how it was used in Louisville

Foster carers in New South Wales: profile and projections based on ABS Census data

Administrative data on foster carers in New South Wales (NSW) are sadly lacking. Based on research commissioned by the NSW Department of Community Services, this paper uses the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population and Housing and other data to provide up to date information on the characteristics of foster carers and the demographic trends that are influencing their numbers. Census data indicate that foster carer families are most likely to contain women aged 35-54 years, not in the labour force. Couples account for two thirds of all foster carers, with the majority of those couples also caring for birth children. While single parents account for less than one-fifth of all foster carers, they are more likely to foster than couples, either with or without birth children. Higher rates of fostering were found in relatively disadvantaged areas. Projected increases in female labour force participation are expected to contribute to a decline (or to slower growth) in the number of foster carers over the next decade. However, projected increases in sole parent families and couples without children are expected to have the opposite effect. The relative magnitude of these effects was not ascertained

The Ethics of International Bureaucracies: Abortion and the Human Reproduction Programme: An interview with Australian Senator Brian Harradine Canberra, Australia, April, 1990

The World Health Organization (WHO) is involved in many laudable activities, supported by thousands of loyal and active workers, both in the field and in educational, scientific, health, and medical establishments. To many of these dedicated workers, it will be a source of much disappointment and shame, therefore, to learn that WHO has become involved in activities in which its motto healthfor all is being interpreted in such a way as to discriminate against the health and well-being of particular unborn children. In this interview, Senator Harradine seeks to answer matters of serious concern which have arisen concerning the direction of the Human Reproduction Programme (HRP) of which WHO is co-sponsor and executing agency

Punishing welfare : genealogies of child abuse

Official statistics on child protection in Australia suggest that child abuse is at crisis levels, providing a context for the most recent legislative and regulatory changes in child protection in Victoria; these promote community-managed services, voluntary care agreements, informal legal processes and fast-tracking of child intervention. This article sets out the rudiments of a genealogical account of the category of child abuse, placing the present events in the context of historical shifts in how the problem of child abuse is conceived and acted upon. It draws attention to new forms of power in relation to the policing of children and families, and their corresponding modes of subjectification that seek to fabricate individual responsibility for the underlying social arrangements surrounding children and families