early intervention services
Brighter Futures
Early intervention services provide targeted support to vulnerable children and families. Brighter Futures is an early intervention program designed to build the resilience of families and children that are at risk.
Delivered by 14 lead agencies across NSW and DoCS caseworkers, the Brighter Futures program helps connect families to the services they need.
By providing early support, these services aim to help prevent problems from escalating to crisis point.
To be eligible for Brighter Futures, families must require long-term support and be experiencing at least one of the Brighter Futures program vulnerabilities.
Services for families are delivered over a period of up to two years in order to produce lasting effects for children.
resources for Brighter Futures workers
A range of resources has been developed to help support Brighter Futures workers. There are program guidelines and a caseworker manual, as well as practice resources and information sheets to hand out to clients.
See the Brighter Future resources page.
evaluation
DoCS has appointed the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at the University of NSW to undertake a four year independent evaluation of the program.
Rigorous evaluation will allow DoCS to build upon current knowledge about early intervention services and refine the program over time to improve its effectiveness and efficiency.
SPRC have produced an interim report on the Brighter Futures program:
Aboriginal families study
An Aboriginal families study is being set up to help build an understanding of how families access, participate and stay in Brighter Futures, and what they get out of being in the program.
The study will interview 100 Aboriginal families and will run between July 2009 and September 2010. See the project brief for more information.
early intervention research
See the latest research in prevention and early intervention.
