Family Life Performance and Impact Report 2017-18

Thriving Children Strong Families Capable Communities

Performance and Impact Report 2017/18

Performance and Impact Report 2017/18 | 1

Transforming Lives

Family Life has been working with vulnerable children, families and communities since 1970.

At the core of our organisation is our vision to build capable communities, strong families and thriving children.

The Family Life vision is for a future where capable communities, enable strong families for all children to thrive. We believe that children thrive best in caring, safe families and hence we work to strengthen nurturing, respectful relationships.

Our early intervention and community outreach programs are designed to engage with families and help heal fractured relationships and trauma. Our services are tailored to needs including to prevent the risk and harm, which requires Child Protection and Statutory Family Violence and Family Law interventions. Our evidence informed and therapeutic services are integrated to promote connection to community, with volunteers and participants helping to develop the friends and supports all people need.

Family Life aims to ensure the voices of children are heard and that their best interests are always served with ethical, safe and effective translation of evidence into practice to meet the diverse needs of children and their families.

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At Family Life we take an all of family, whole of community approach to build resiliency and healthy relationships. We are committed to improving responses to child vulnerability and family violence by strengthening the conditions which prevent problems and achieving better outcomes for families and communities seeking help.

The 2017/2018 financial year was a year of progress and transition.

We continued to strengthen and develop core areas of service delivery and enterprise. We launched new and exciting initiatives and secured a 33 percent growth in government funding for expanded and innovative programs.

This Performance and Impact Report reflects different performance tracking and measurement for impact methods comprising of our databases, CSnet, IRIS and VEGA, outcome measurement tools completed with clients and their practitioners and paper based and electronic client/participant feedback forms.

The report includes numerical data and qualitative data analysis.

It is with great pleasure that we provide this report and in doing so invite your continued support for our work.

Jo Cavanagh OAM, CEO

Strong Families

Thriving Children We celebrate the hard work and value of over 380 volunteers, who contributed the equivalent amount of work of 41 full time staff . The effort of our 140 employed staff whose efforts lead to better outcomes for those we serve.

Capable Communities

All Family Life clients/participants are invited to provide feedback. The data shared in this report is a summary of this information collected across the organisation using information from those clients/participants who chose to provide feedback. It represents our ongoing journey to understand our impact and grow the capacity, processes and tools we need to assess and report our contribution to transforming lives for stronger communities.

Performance and Impact Report 2017/18 | 3

Growth and Progress – A Trauma Informed Organisation Our programs provide services for clients who have experienced traumatic events during key developmental periods.

Often the trauma has occurred in the context of relationships that were supposed to provide safety, care and protection.

The Neurosequential Model:

‘Strength to Strength’ Program:

Through Family Life’s partnership with the Child Trauma Academy we are implementing the Neurosequential Model (NM). The NM is a clinical approach that enables our staff to determine a client’s developmental risk and current functioning across the domains of sensory integration, regulation and relational and cognitive capacity. It also measures the extent to which a client has healthy connections with family, community and other relevant supports (relational health) and informs the timing and selection of therapeutic interventions.

This insight gives the opportunity to measure progress over time and helps to gain a deeper understanding of a client’s trauma history and how this impacts their day to day life. Our services have the capability to provide an individually tailored support plan to assist individuals and families to engage with life, family members and communities more effectively and therefore assisting to improve their well-being and outcomes.

As part of a service partnership Family Life secured funding to provide one of 26 Therapeutic Demonstration Pilots commissioned by the VIctorian Government following the Royal Commission into Family Violence (2016) .

Named Strength to Strength our program is a client centred, trauma informed therapeutic response for children and their mothers who are victims of family violence. The team consists of clinicians from different therapeutic backgrounds and commences with a “readiness” phase where a practitioner prepares the individual family members for their respective therapeutic intervention.

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‘Orange Door’ Program: Family Life has a key role in the leadership of the Bayside Peninsula Orange Door service. A new way for women, children and young people experiencing family violence to access coordinated support from social, health and justice services.

‘Unite’ Program: We developed the Unite Program for Corrections Victoria. It is a Family Engagement Program run over five prisons in Victoria to support prisoners and their family/partners build and reconnect with their relationships. This program commenced full service delivery on 2 July 2018.

Outcome Measurement Tools: The Family Life Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) team participated in a nationwide trial of a purpose built outcome measurement tool to be used across all FDR services in the country. We have also trialled our own Family Life outcome measurement tool which yielded learning and reflection for continuous improvement.

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What are outcomes?

Why measure them?

Family Life are privileged that the individuals and families we work with allow us into their personal lives to support them and assist them to make changes. We get the front row seat to experiencing some of the most special moments in a person’s life when they first experience feelings of hope and potential in their life. The challenge is how to share these moments of change and demonstrate the work we do whilst protecting the privacy of those with whom we work.

Both effectiveness and accountability have become ‘central concerns’ (Frumkin 2004, p 52 as cited in Barman 2007) to demonstrate that resources allocated to helping people achieve more than good intentions. Moving from reporting our outputs ‘how much did we do?’ and ‘how well did we do it?’ to ‘what difference did we make?’ requires investment in people, expertise and increasingly new technologies. This supports data gathering and analysis to be translated back into better practice and outcomes for our beneficiaries. Family Life has been a pioneer in this area, however, as we grow we realise the need for additional support to track performance and assess impact. University partners and philanthropy are critical partners for this journey.

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Paton (2003, as cited in Barman 2007) asks ‘how good are we at doing good?’, ‘how do we know that what we are doing on a daily basis is actually working?’ Outcome measures are primarily client self-report tools that enable practitioners and clients to track change over time and give us an objective measurement of what changes may have occurred (Johnson, 2008). Outcome measures provide a piece of the puzzle when coupled with the other outputs and figures gathered across the process of a service.

Family Life continues to seek the resources and investments to realise our aspirations, to find the best way to capture the voices and understand the experiences and outcomes of those we serve.

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Capable Communities

Strong Families

Thriving Children

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What outcomes do we seek to measure?

Family Life Outcomes Framework

Adults, young people and children learn and participate within supportive communities

• i ndividuals are connected to their culture and community and feel a sense of belonging • individuals are participating through employment, training, education and volunteering • children and young people are achieving educational milestones • individuals actively contribute to strengthening their community

• i ndividuals are connected through a mutual support network of friends, family and neighbours and by participating in community activities • individuals recognise when they need help and know how to find and access support services • individuals are work-ready and motivated to engage in employment and training opportunities • children and young people are engaged in school and learning with support from their parents • individuals have the skills and support needed to volunteer in their community

Families experience positive wellbeing and strong and respectful relationships

• i ndividuals experience optimal individual functioning • individuals have healthy relationships • individuals and families experience reduced conflict and violence • individuals utilise their personal strengths in times of adversity

• i ndividuals recognise their health and wellbeing needs and make positive choices and decisions to address them • individuals develop healthy relationships with family, friends, peers and intimate partners • individuals understand the dynamics and effects of conflict and violence • individuals develop their ability to manage individual and family challenges

Children and young people experience optimal development and are safe from harm

• p arents provide care that optimises their children’s physical, mental, emotional and social development • children and young people have a secure and positive attachment to their parent • children and young people live, learn and play in an environment that is free from violence and conflict • children and young people have a positive sense of self

• p arents understand how to manage their children’s behaviours and meet their developmental needs • parents have the ability to create a safe, stable and nurturing environment for their children • children and young people use prosocial strategies and behaviours to express themselves and have their needs met • children and young people develop self-awareness and self-esteem

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How do we seek to measure outcomes?

FAMILY LIFE MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING FRAMEWORK Process, Outcome, Impact PROGRAM AND EVALUATION

PERFORMANCE MONITORING

Outcome Measurement

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Agency Wide Short Term

Short Term and Intermediate

Longer Term Program Specific

Client Satisfaction

Program Outputs

CAPACITY BUILDING

Outcome Measurement

KNOWLEDGE TRANSLATION

Outcome Measurement

EVALUATION

“To accurately measure and report value creation and the social and economic return of our whole of community effort is, like the problems we seek to solve, a complex, multifaceted issue1.”

Family Life is trialling a new ‘Tier One’ (organisation wide) outcome measurement tool for consistent measures of client outcomes. This tool supports ‘Tier Two’ (program specific) validated tools such as the suite of Outcomes Star tools currently used by Integrated Family Services, Family Violence Services and SHINE teams.

We have more to do to reach our goals for transparent and meaningful reporting of our performance, outcomes and impact.

2015-2016 Annual Report - Family Life

1

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Responding to issues identified through academic analysis, government strategy and global and community trends, Family Life has grown exponentially since its beginning. Our ability to respond to the needs of the communities we support, has seen us deliver programs across a broad range of areas in the sector.

All our work is delivered with a trauma informed focus and prioritises the identification of vulnerable children, young people and families as early as possible.

What activities did we provide for When people come to us for help, we offer to work with their whole family in an integrated approach across organisation. In this way, we support long term sustainable changes and build resilience for families children, familiesthe and communities? through strengthening connection with community supports.

Below is a snapshot of some of the areas that Family Life works within: Transition to Employment Collective Impact

Sharing Our Expertise Through Training

Strong Families

Governance

Creating Capable Communities Social Enterprise Op Shops

Incubating New Ideas

Advocacy for Social Change Trauma Informed Practice

Unlocking Community Capacity

Mediation and Dispute Resolution

Parenting Support Services

At-Risk Student Support Specialist Infant Support

Individual/ Couples/Family Counselling Women and Children Family Violence Recovery Services

Therapeutic Support for Children

Post Separation Parenting

Family Engagement Program

Community Volunteering

Adolescent Violence Support

Thriving Children

Partnerships for Innovation

Innovation, Best Practice & Leadership

Men’s Behaviour Change Program

Young Leaders for Change School & Community Programs

Evidence Based Response

Family Life Foundation

Supervised Child Visits

Capable Communities

Mens Support Services

Children's Wellbeing

3 Family Life 2017-2018 Annual Report

Performance and Impact Report 2017/18 | 11

How much did we do for children Highlights: Delivering Better Social Outcomes and families?

380

600

participants in trauma informed school communities

volunteers created 14 jobs through social enterprises

979

client cases were family violence focused

522

police L17 cases received for an innovative specialist family violence response service

83,304

15,047

volunteer community service hours

people we’ve supported this year

30% UP

28,461

hours of integrated family support work

413

UNITE referrals for interim service delivery

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66

PeopleWorx participants provided with work experience and job pathways

1,161

family members engaged in Family Dispute Resolution

5,254

client cases were provided with a focused intervention

727

children and their families helped by SHINE children’s mental health program

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How far did our services and enterprises reach?

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Our clients and participants have accessed our services and enterprises from 328 different suburbs across Victoria.

292 individuals

What feedback did we get about our services?

provided written feedback about their experience

All Family Life clients are provided with opportunity to provide feedback regarding their experience.

176 clients completed the Tier 1 client questionnaire between November 2017, and June 2018. The client questionnaire seeks feedback in relation to the key aims of Family Life’s service delivery.

The most common words in client feedback

A word frequency query report on this qualitative feedback identified the most consistent message was about the topic of “help”.

The top recurring themes generated were: • participants/clients felt they were helped • participants/clients felt supported • participants/clients felt understood • children remained the focus of support • p articipants/clients identified that their feelings were heard and supported • p articipants/clients felt they were supported with their issues

Strong Families

Thriving Children

After engaging with Family Life, clients reported:

After engagement with Family Life, clients reported:

After engagement with Family Life, clients reported:

• s trongly positive and supportive attitudes towards the importance of children’s engagement in learning, social activities, and need to live in a safe and nurturing environment2

• r ecognition of the importance of ageappropriate parenting, addressing underlying causes of behaviour and maintaining healthy boundaries in supporting children’s wellbeing

• increased capacity to maintain healthy relationships3

• awareness that individuals can make positive changes to manage stress and that managing stress can have positive impacts on wellbeing5

• c lients agreed that children should be supported to express themselves openly by voicing their thoughts, feelings and opinions and that it is important children are aware of their individual strengths

• e xperiencing a strong and valued connection with their community4

• participants/clients felt like they were listened to

• parenting support and advice was provided

Capable Communities

N = 48

2

N = 88 as opposed to 72 at commencement of service

3

N = 87

4

N = 85 as opposed to 75 at commencement of service

5

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Capable Communities

Unless otherwise acknowledged the data presented here reflects that captured through our Tier 2 evaluation and is generated through data collected through the suite of Outcomes Star Tools.

Outcomes Measurement Report Adults, young people and children learn and participate within supportive communities Individuals are connected through a mutual support network of friends, family and neighbours and by participating in community activities.

Children and young people are engaged with school and learning with support from their parents.

380+ volunteers contributing 87,978 hrs to Family Life and our communities 71% of parents left our Family Support

support their child’s educational needs and attendance.

25% increase in parents feeling able to

83% of young people participating well in

education and training at service conclusion compared to 58% at service commencement.

program connected to a mutual support network compared to 59% prior to service commencement.

Family Star Plus - Families feel less isolated

Through Social Enterprise programs;

19 Participants have since secured employment.

8 participants have gone onto further study.

57% parents entered our Family Support service feeling work ready; 73% of parents left work ready

Individuals have the skills and support needed to volunteer in their community.

As a result of participating in one of our Creating Capable Leaders courses, a graduate has developed a community project called ‘Uniforms 4 U’, gathering second hand uniform donations from local schools, washing and preparing uniform packs for families struggling to do so on their own.

62% of young people engaged in our

Youth and Family Services identified at the commencement of their service that they were making a difference in their community, this increased to 93% at the closure of their service with Family Life.

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Individuals are work-ready and motivated to engage in employment and training opportunities.

Individuals recognise when they need help and know where to find and access support services.

82% of individuals reported at the end of

service that they were more confident to ask for help if they needed it in the future.

Strong Families

Outcomes Measurement Report Families experience positive well-being and strong and respectful relationships Individuals recognise their health and wellbeing needs and make positive choices and decisions to address them.

Individuals develop healthy relationships with family, friends, peers and intimate partners.

30% increase in the number of parents

51% of children commencing our SHINE

74% of children commencing our SHINE

Parenting Orders Program: parents reported feeling more amicable towards their former spouse at the end of their involvement with the program.

receiving family support services reporting capacity to recognise and manage their own health and wellbeing needs at service conclusion. program identified that their physical health was looked after by their parents/caregiver; this increased to 92% at service conclusion.

Family Star Plus - Families report greater wellbeing

program identified that their relationships with their family/carers were ok/good; this increased to 81% at the closure of their service with the SHINE program.

“Getting the family together for a few sessions was really helpful - it reminded us how important it is to tell each other what we like about each other and what we like doing together.

Individuals understand the dynamics and effects of conflict and violence.

Volunteers who attended our ‘Here4U’ Community Advocate Program reported that their understanding of Family Violence moved from an average of 2.75 to 5 out of 5 after attending the training sessions.

“She showed me different angles/a different perspective to look at my situation and relationship issues.

The most helpful thing was that she showed me that it wasn’t all my fault - that my partner did wrong things, and I would not have been able to see that and only blamed myself” (Family and Relationship services participant)

When times are tough we focus on the negatives - this helped address that and make us aware” (Family and Relationship services participant)

Individuals develop their ability to manage individual and family challenges.

56% of parents entered our Family Support Services indicating that they were able to manage their home and money; this figure increased to 75% at the closure of their service with Family Life.

“Gave me the tools and taught me the skills to have ‘business type’ relationships with the other parent and other extended family members. Reminded me of my self-worth and that I am above all others to my children - I am their mum, no-one can replace me. It’s important I remain emotionally healthy.”

(Parenting Orders Program Participant)

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Outcomes Measurement Report

Thriving Children

Children and young people experience optimal development and are safe from harm Parents understand how to manage their child’s behaviours and meet their developmental needs.

Parents have the ability to create a safe, stable and nurturing environment for their children.

93% of young people engaged in our youth

Services indicating that they were able to manage their family routine; this figure increased to 71% at the closure of their service with Family Life.

and family services identified that they made good choices and behaved well at the conclusion of service, compared with 43% at commencement.

36% of parents entered our Family Support

Services indicating that they were able to recognise and manage their child’s behaviour and put in place appropriate boundaries, this figure increased to 63% at the closure of their service with Family Life.

Youth Star - Young people report better choices and behaviour

60% of parents entered our Family Support

60% of children commencing our SHINE

program identified that they felt accepted at home; this increased to 87% at the closure of their service with the SHINE program.

62% of children commencing our SHINE

program identified that they felt safe at home and in their community; this increased to 83% at the closure of their service with the SHINE program.

My Star - Children report being better able to deal with difficult feelings

Children and young people develop self-awareness and self-esteem.

56% of young people engaged in our

Youth and Family Services identified at the commencement of their service that they were able to be themselves, make choices and feel good about themselves; this increased to 80% at the closure of their service with Family Life.

32% of children commencing our SHINE

program identified that they had confidence and optimism; this increased to 73% at the closure of their service with the SHINE program.

Children and young people use prosocial strategies to express themselves and have their needs met.

32% of children commencing our SHINE

program identified that they were able to manage their feelings and express what they felt; this increased to 79% at the closure of their service with the SHINE program.

54% of young people engaged in our

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Youth and Family Services identified at the commencement of their service that they were able to express themselves, understand others and manage conflict; this increased to 73% at the closure of their service with Family Life.

Strong Families

At the same time, as a service provider, we are working with the people and communities who are experiencing problems and life circumstances of vulnerability. Our services operate in a continuous improvement loop as we continue to learn, embrace new knowledge, evaluate our efforts and strive to provide the best we can for those we serve.

Capable Communities

To achieve social change and long term sustainable impact, Family Life must work collectively with partners towards systems change. Systems change is about shifting the conditions that are holding a problem in place (Kania,Kramer, & Senge, 2018) such as structures which reinforce disadvantage or cultural attitudes and norms which prevent equality and access to opportunities for a healthy, resilient life.

Thriving Children

Innovation and continuous improvement

Performance and Impact Report 2017/18 | 19

Program Snapshots

Strength to Strength (S2S) is a Family Violence and Trauma Repair program for women and children.

The model has continued to reflect strong partnership between Family Life, South East Centre Against Sexual Assault (SECASA), Peninsula Health, Salvation Army and Good Shepherd.

Problem Due to experiences of family violence and other issues: •

72% of adults and 64% of 9-17 year olds are presenting with possible Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• 5 3% of 2-4 year olds and 56% of 5-8 year olds are presenting with emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity and peer problems

Performance S2S takes an attachment focussed, multi-disciplinary therapeutic approach to service delivery and provides services, usually offered in a clinical office based environment, in the homes of families who have experienced trauma.

• e arly data for 0-2 year olds is demonstrating delays in the developmental areas of gross motor and problem solving with highlighted concerns around speech

Time 1=beginning of service | Time 2=End of Readiness phase, commencement of therapeutic service | Time 3=End of Therapy

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Impact (early indications) • F unded to support 100-150 individuals for the 2017/18 financial year, the program provided a service to 232 individuals in this time period.

• T he Impact of Events Scale indicates a reduction in avoidance, intrusive thoughts and hyperarousal which are all key indicators of PTSD for clients during the episode of support.

Together We Can (TWC) is a Collective Impact project led by Family Life, with Cardinia Shire Council, Victoria Police and The University of Melbourne which addressed high levels of family violence within the municipality.

Problem High rates of violence against women and children in the Cardinia Shire.

The value of this impact can be articulated in costs of policing saved and health benefits delivered through increased safety. No dollar value however is as meaningful as the lives saved and children protected from the lifetime effects of trauma. Those are the ultimate impacts we value.

Performance The project established collaborations across various sectors of the community and supported communityled action to prevent family violence.

Important work was done in the areas of peer support for elder abuse, youth inclusion and respect at schools and in sport, bullying, gender equity in sport, food security and social connection, bystander action, and celebrating diversity, trauma-informed practice and various other areas. Diverse sectors collaborated through training and events and included business, education, media, legal, faith-based, cultural groups, health, community organisations, and sport and recreation.

Impact (early indications) • I t is estimated that Together We Can reached 5000 people in the community.

• C ardinia Shire can report a 23.7% reduction in police family violence reports over the past three years. The only local government able to report such a change.

• 5 0 articles were published by a local news group, 10 groups formed to design and deliver their own community solutions, and a survivors advocate committee provided expertise and guidance for project development.

Our Family violence reduction project, Together We Can, received a gold award in the community-led category of the 2018 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPA). The ACVPAs recognise best practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia.

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Catch Up

Catch Up seeks to identify better strategies for raising awareness and educating women about what they need to know, and be prepared for, in order to age well, in control of their circumstances.

Problem A growing number of Australian women aged 65 and over, are at risk of experiencing financial stress.

We wanted to learn more about the impacts of financial stress on women’s wellbeing, and identify the key socio-economic factors influencing risk.

Performance We worked with over 100 women in our community to co-design ways to protect their financial security and wellbeing and established the ‘Catch Up For Women’ program model.

A National Advisory Board provides oversight and guidance of the initiative.

Impact (early indications) • S ocial connections are important for health and wellbeing and appear to reduce the risk of long-term disadvantage, following serious life stressors.

• H ome ownership, planning ahead for financial security and retaining control over finances are protective of financial security.

• R elationship dissolution, unexpected changes in circumstance and limited access to transport or services were amongst the factors leading to disadvantage.

• T hese learnings are being shared as we strongly advocate for innovative services and interconnected social networks for Australian women aged 65 and over.

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Here4U is a program that educates people about Family Violence.

It gives participants the knowledge they need to recognise when it may be occurring and how to appropriately intervene.

Problem HERE4U aims to understand community attitudes and needs to build knowledge and skills to support the community to respond confidently and safely to family violence.

Performance 30 community members shared their perspectives about family violence and how communities can help during three focus groups. Consultation informed the development of a training program for roll out across the communities in which we operate.

Impact (early indications) • T raining was developed and is localized and active; promotes ‘equal rights’; increases positive messaging about what is acceptable; provides education about violence; supports choice and respect, supports a sense of belonging and social connection.

• T raining is interactive and delivers information about the types of family violence, the impacts (especially on children), how to identify signs, cultural and legal aspects of family violence.

• P articipants learn more about staying safe, how to refer to services, and when and how to safely intervene in an incident.

• S upport continues as long as is needed. Volunteers who attended our ‘Here 4 U’ Community Advocate Program reported that their understanding of Family Violence moved from an average of 2.75 to 5 out of 5 after attending the training sessions.

• M ore community members are able to identify and bridge gender inequality, advocate for equality and against violence.

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Knowledge Production and Sharing We continued to learn through our work and from those we serve.

We aim to share these learnings for greater social cohesion and outcomes.

Unite Program Book and supporting manual collateral

Publications

Presentations

Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).

Together We Can: Stop Family Violence in Cardinia. In: Building Safe Communities for Women and their Children: A compendium of stories from the field.

2018: pp 95-96. Retrieved from http://anrowsnationalconference.org.au/reportbuilding-safe-communities-for-women-and-their-children-compendium/

Smith & Little. What role does Occupational Therapy play in community-based family services? Reflections on an integrated therapy approach for children who have experienced trauma. Poster presentation to the Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, July 2018; Melbourne

Cavanagh (2018). What Can Professionals and Families Do? Missed Opportunities to Protect— Sharing Knowledge to Inform Practice Change for Identifying Risks and Enabling Safety. In Brown, Tyson and Fernandez Arias (Eds), Why Parents Kills Children: Understanding Filicide. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Family Life developed a practice manual for the new Unite building relationships prisoner support program. This is accompanied by a children’s book.

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Byrnes & Rose 2018, ‘Evaluation of a Collective Impact family violence prevention initiative: learnings from the first two years’. Paper presented to the Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, July 2018; Melbourne Byrnes, Rose & Connolly 2018. ‘Evaluation of a Collective Impact initiative; Collective Impact and intersectional approaches session’. ANROWS Building Safer Communities for Women, Evidence to Action and Local Action as Evidence Forum, Feb 2018, Sydney Rose & Byrnes 2018, ‘A community Collective Impact initiative to address family violence’. Paper presented to the World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development, July 2018; Ireland Cavanagh & Byrnes (presenter) 2018. A Collective Impact and community effort for shared social outcomes. Presented to the Measuring Social Outcomes Conference, August 2018; Sydney

Performance and Impact Report 2017/18 | 25

Capable Communities

Strong Families

Thriving Children

Conclusion This Performance and Impact Report reflects the passion and hard work of an amazing group of professionals and volunteers who share the same desire to make a difference in the lives of those who come into contact with Family Life. We have more data about what we do and for whom and some insights into the experiences of clients/ participants through standard feedback approaches.

These must expand to embrace new technologies and online and social media feedback opportunities. As resources permit, these developments are underway.

Family Life was a pioneer in trialing methods for calculating the return on investment to report the financial value of our work. We have progressed beyond this approach as we now understand better the challenges of working with increasingly complex social problems where we make a contribution as part of the collective efforts for change.

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No one organisation can claim responsibility for change. It is a collaboration with the people involved and others in their lives, including other services.

Importantly, we have placed additional focus on Collective Impact which is reflected in the reports on Together We Can, reducing family violence in the Shire of Cardinia. More about this national award winning innovation is available online.

Moving forward ‌..

As our Research, Outcomes Measurement and Evaluation team continue to support our translation, and extraction of learnings from practice of evidence, we become better at what we do to achieve better outcomes with others. Our partners at various Universities and Institutes are wonderful colleagues focused on learning together and sharing to increase the public value derived from research and program evaluations.

In 2019 our reporting will be enhanced by new ways of collecting and reporting data with ongoing snapshot reports and data dashboards available online. We will continue to progress measuring the value of social enterprises through our project with the Swinburne Centre for Social Impact.

Family Life invests internally in our capacity to track, assess and report our impact through training for practitioners, development of systems and processes for data collection and in our Research Outcomes Measurement and Evaluation team. Relationships with external Universities and Institutes are essential to keep learning and to develop more effective ways to translate evidence into practice. This is a continuous improvement process with the ultimate goal being to know that children, young people, families and communities are better off following their involvement with Family Life.

This report reflects the impact of the services we are privileged to provide. We acknowledge the amazing strengths of those we serve, to create and sustain change in their lives. We remain grateful to the communities in which we operate for the web of support they build with us around our people.

We welcome feedback and interest to assist us to improve and do better for those we serve.

Please contact jcavanagh@familylife.com.au

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References Barman, E. (2007). What is the bottom line for nonprofit organizations? A history of measurement in the british voluntary sector. Voluntas. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-007-9039-3 Johnson, C. (2008). Outcome Measures for Research and CLinical Practice. https://doi.org/10.10I6/j.jmpt.2008.05.001 Kania, J., Kramer, M., and Senge, P. (2018).

The Water of Systems Change. FSG. Accessed: http://efc.issuelab org/resources/30855/30855.pdf

Family Life is an independent, entrepreneurial community agency, working with vulnerable families, children and young people.

info@familylife.com.au

www.familylife.com.au Family Life Limited ABN: 37 712 782 209 ACN: 606 542 590 Copyright Š Family Life 2019