Child and Family Community Development for Mainstream and Vulnerable Communities – A How to Guide

This report was produced by the Illawarra Child and Family Community Development project with practice contributions over the years from a number of community development officers.

The Illawarra Child and Family Community Development project operated from March 2002 to December 2004.The goal of the project was to develop models of practice for child and family community development with communities that we would call “mainstream” as well as vulnerable or disadvantaged communities.

The Project had three partners, Albion Park Neighbourhood Association, Barnardos Australia and Shellharbour City Council.

This report is intended to provide the reader with a complete overview of the project from the initial identification of issues through the community development practice project evolution and development of a model of practice.

The Report’s eight chapters are:

• The Projects and Partnerships
• The Research
• The Work
• The Nuts and Bolts of what Child and Family Community Development Look Like
• The data
• Organisational Influences on the Practice
• The Groups: examples of programs of the work
• Case Studies

The evolution of three differing practices for three distinct communities provides a unique insight into the work of a community developer.  It’s hoped the insight and experience from this project will help shape future practice in this field.

The report also contains useful and practical assistance for other agencies by providing a sample of the groups and programs that were conducted during the three year project and several key case studies on the successes and challenges of this work. People are welcome to use the programs with due acknowledgement to the Illawarra Child and Family Community Development Project.

The workers and managers stories in this book are particularly insightful. The wealth and depth of practice experience as it is expressed through the focus groups with workers is particularly exciting.

These sections put a human face on the practice and eloquently demonstrate the challenges and rewards of the work as well as the complexity of practice issues involved in Child and Family Community Development.

This report is not a scientific tome based upon quantitative validated research! It is a book about practice, about the struggles practice presents and about practice wisdom and reflection.

We too often negate and underestimate the real expertise of workers in the field and the value of real life practice itself.

The Project workers hope that by sharing their practice, warts and all, other practitioners in the field and people who want to enter this area of work will benefit from the detail contained in the report.

Follow this link to download free 'Acrobat Reader from Adobe'. You will need it to open PDF files.

For further information

Contact

:

Illawarra Child and Family Community Development Project