Creating a Culturally Competent Service System for Prevention and Early Intervention: The SNAICC Per

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Creating a Culturally Competent Service System
for Prevention and Early Intervention  The
SNAICC Perspective and The Victorian Experiment

• Muriel Bamblett
• Chair SNAICC
• CEO - VACCA

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Outline of talk

• Colonised Australia as a toxic environment
• The Secretariat for National Aboriginal and
  Islander Child Care encourages an approach to
  Aboriginal children and families which is
• culturally respectful,
• culturally appropriate and
• framed according to the need to respect
  self-determination and human rights  
• Victorias Children, Youth and Families Act
• Developing capacity
• A culturally competent service system to ensure
  better outcomes for Aboriginal children

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A Toxic Environment Colonisation as an ongoing
reality

• Loss of self-determination
• Loss of economic and social capacity
• Pervasiveness of racism and cultural abuse

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Culture Abuse

• When the culture of a people is ignored,
  denigrated, or worse, intentionally attacked, it
  is cultural abuse. It is abuse because it
  strikes at the very identity and soul of the
  people it is aimed at it attacks their sense of
  self-esteem, it attacks their connectedness to
  their family and community.

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Service Continuum
Aboriginal Services
Good enough Parenting
Early Intervention
At risk
Support
Aboriginal Services

• Significant
• problem
• identified
• Therapeutic
• responses

• Problem
• identified
• Family Support
• Family Pres

• Prevention
• Playgroups
• MACs

• Early warning
• signs
• Innovations
• Family Support
• Home visiting

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Rights and Cultural Respect

• Enabling self-determination for Aboriginal
  communities.
• Respect for Aboriginal cultures and embedding
  culture into all aspects of service delivery
  both in organisational structure and practice.
• Positive and mutually respectful engagement
  between Aboriginal agencies and services and
  mainstream services
• Holistic and strengths based approach

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Cultural Identity

• Cultural identity is not just an add-on to
  approaches which focus on the best interests of
  the child.
• Denying cultural identity is detrimental to their
  attachment needs, their emotional development,
  their education and their health. Every area of
  human development which defines the childs best
  interests has a cultural component. Your culture
  helps define HOW you attach, HOW you express
  emotion, HOW you learn and HOW you stay healthy.

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A culturally competent service system

• Focuses on underlying socio-economic issues
  that lead to child neglect
• Focus on Indigenous childrens right to culture
• Views culture as a source of resilience
• Responds holistically to child abuse and
  neglect recognising
• Focuses on child well being and development,
  including cultural well being and
• Expands community based Aboriginal and Torres
  Strait Islander Child and
• Family Welfare Agencies and Services

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Culturally Embedded Playgroups

• Provide activities which promote healthy
  development and enrich the lives of Koorie
  children.
• - Strengthen identity and cultural awareness.
• - Strengthen families by
• - connecting them to community
• - strengthening inter-generational links.
• - providing parenting advice and support
  and
• - linking children and families to
  universal services where required.

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The Koorie FACES program

• Builds confidence in parents and families of
  Aboriginal children, with an emphasis
• on an increased understanding and knowledge of
  self,
• Aboriginal culture and parenting practices and
• building resilience against drug and alcohol
  misuse in children.
• Koorie FACES focuses on
• the value and importance of Aboriginal culture
  and Indigenous families
• using a range of activities to ensure
  participants are involved in a fun and
  interactive learning environment
• Aboriginal leaning styles have guided the
  methodologies used throughout the program

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Reforms Promises, Promises

• Self-determination
• Best interests of the child
• Acknowledgement of importance of Aboriginal
  culture and connection for the child
• Aboriginal Child Placement Principle
• Transfer of authority to Aboriginal agencies
• Cultural plans
• Cultural competence

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A new culturally competent service system

• Ensuring self-determination by
• Strengthening Indigenous governance and
  management
• Developing the workforce through recruitment and
  training
• Regionalisation
• Resourcing the Indigenous services sector to
  deliver universal and preventative services as
  well as enhancing tertiary services
• Ensuring generalist (Govt. and CSOs) compliance
  to cultural competence by
• Developing protocols and partnerships
• Cross-cultural training

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Swimming against the mainstream

• To be able to provide culturally appropriate and
  responsive services, workers need to be aware of
  how the dominant culture
• Provides privileges and power
• Affects values and cultural understandings
  dangers of culture abuse and racism
• Affects how practice is conducted and affects
  what is seen as the central concern of practice
• Impacts on service recipients who are not of the
  dominant culture.

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Cultural Competence Continuum
Cultural Destructiveness
Cultural Incapacity
Cultural Pre competence
Cultural Blindness
Cultural Competence
Cultural Proficiency
Towards cultural competence
Characterised by Intentional
attitudes policies practices that are
destructive to cultures and consequently to
individuals within the Culture
Characterised by Lack of capacity to help
minority clients or Communities due to extremely
biased beliefs and a paternal attitude toward
those not of a mainstream culture
Characterised by The belief that service or
helping approaches traditionally used by the
dominant culture are universally applicable
regardless of race or culture. These services
ignore cultural strengths and encourage
assimilation
Characterised by The desire to deliver quality
services and a commitment to diversity indicated
by hiring minority staff, initiating training
and recruiting minority members for agency
leadership, but lacking information on how to
maximise these capacities. This level of
competence can lead to tokenism
Characterised by Acceptance and respect for
difference continuing self assessment,
careful attention to the dynamics of difference,
continuous expansion of knowledge and resources,
and adaptation of services to better meet the
needs of diverse populations
Characterised by Holding culture in high
esteem seeking to add to the knowledge base of
culturally competent practice by conducting
research, influencing approaches to care, and
improving relations between cultures Promotes
self determination
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Creating Trust

• Understanding why Aboriginal organisations are
  different
• Recognising cultural issues and issues of
  capacity building for Aboriginal organisations
• Importance of developing culturally respectful
  partnerships
• Becoming culturally competent that is, capacity
  building mainstream

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Communities of Embrace

• Focus on family and community
• Building on strengths
• Building on culture
• Restoring the circles of care
• Eg. Moondani vision

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