Multicultural Respite Service Program

CONTENTS

• 
  A Message from the Chairperson
  

• 
  Members of the Board of Directors
  

REPORTS

• 
  Executive Director
  

• 
  Programs Manager
  

• 
  Bicultural Support Pool
  

• 
  Registered Training Organisation (RTO)
  

• 
  Multicultural Respite Services
  

• 
  Ethnic People with Disabilities Program
  

• 
  Inner West Multicultural Access Project
  

• 
  Eastern Sydney Multicultural Access Program
  

• 
  Financial and Audit Report
  

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON

It has been another successful year for Ethnic Child Care, Family and Community Services Co-operative Limited (ECCFCSC) and I am extremely proud of the overall achievements during 2010/11.

The ECCFCSC has been represented very well at various levels of government and non- government committees to advocate on behalf of the Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities so that the policy makers at all levels take into consideration the appropriate access to all service provisions by the CALD communities.
Although the multifaceted role of a community based organisation has become more and more complex due to lack of appropriate and adequate funding, the ECCFCSC continued its services at a high standard to its target groups through various projects. This was achieved through the provision of resource, advice, community development work, information, advocacy, referral and training. This has been made possible due to the hard work and dedication of the staff members.
Firstly and most importantly, I would like to thank management and everyone at ECCFCSC including the MRS Respite Workers and BSP workers, consultants, trainers who have contributed to the success of this organisation.
Thanks to all the board members for their time, commitment and professionalism.
I look forward to another successful year in 2012!

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2011
Lyn Maher has been on the Board of Directors of Ethnic Child Care, Family and Community Services Co-operative Ltd (ECCFCSC) for the past 13 years. She has been living locally for the past 39 years. After 20 years working in Children’s Services, Lyn changed her career and now works in Retail Industry.
Abdul Zahra has been a member of the Board of Directors of ECCFCSC since 1981. He is a founding member of Tripoli and Mena Association and also has been working in the Association as Manager for over twelve years. Abdul Zahra received the Order of Australia Medal in 1998.
Mirella de Genua (Joined October, 2009) is a stakeholder engagement, facilitation, change management and communications’ specialist with over 19 years experience across a number of industries, including utilities, infrastructure development, workers compensation, manufacturing, health, children’s services and disabilities sectors. She has extensive experience in the non-government and the federal, state and local government sectors. Mirella brings to the Board a wealth of experience from different industries and roles as well as an openness to explore new ways of working in the non-government sector. Mirella is passionate about her role on the Board given that she worked at ECCFCSC at the start of her career.
Jon Soemarjono has a Master of Arts (Hons) and graduate Diploma in Teaching English as a foreign language and had been a teacher of English for many years in Indonesia and a Senior lecturer of Indonesian Studies University of Sydney (1963-1995) and University of Western Sydney (1962-2002). Currently he is the President of Indonesian Association of NSW and Chairperson of Metro Migrant Resource Centre and Vice Chairperson of Ethnic Communities Council, NSW.
Jane Corpuz-Brock has a Master Degree in Development Studies from Graduate Institute for Development Studies, University of Geneva, Switzerland. She currently holds the position of Executive Officer at Immigrant Women’s Speakout Association, NSW since 2002. She’s an active member of Migrante Philippines – Australia dealing with housing, health, and general concern about migrant and refugee rights.
Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis is the Executive Director of ECCFCSC. She has a BA with major in Psychology and a post graduate Diploma in Psychology. In 1983, she received the Order of Australia Medal and in 1998 was awarded the Human Rights Medal in 1999 and in 2003 the UNSW Alumni Award. She is the founding member of the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW, the ECCFCSC and has served as president of the Addison Road Community Centre for 9 years and was president of Greek Orthodox Community of NSW. She participates in various advisory, reference groups and Forums in child care, disability and aged care in the government and community sectors advocating and providing input on the needs of CALD children, families and communities
Bronwyn Hadife has 18 years of experience in Retail Marketing and Promotions. Currently she holds the position of Family Support Project Officer for the Metro Migrant Resource Centre, Marrickville, working particularly with CALD communities and disadvantage backgrounds. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for Pacific Island Women Advisory Support Service (PIWASS), Management Committee for Connect Marrickville (SACC) and is also a member of the: Aboriginal Network Reference Group, Aboriginal Child and Family Network, Marrickville Multicultural Interagency (MMIA), Marrickville Child and Family Interagency (MCFIA) and Marrickville Drug Action Team (MCDAT).

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Another successful and productive year, the 32^nd of the ECCFCSC has gone quickly and looking at the reports of the various projects by the dedicated and committed staff, there are many instances where the advocacy, intervention, information, counselling, training, mentoring provided to consumers and service providers in the children, disability and aged care fields made a difference in the lives of CALD children, families and communities in our multicultural, multilingual and multi-faith community which is the reality of Australia today.

This year there were many changes in policies, planning, principles and standards in the child care, disability and aged care sectors with the introduction of common standards on disability and aged care, the splitting of the HACC program where aged care is now handled by the Federal government and disability by the states. The Disability, Advocacy and Information Services review and consultation with services on the development of the SDS with outcomes for consumers were finalised with the services and the funding extended for another three years. In Child Care, the National Quality Framework and Early Years Learning Framework were introduced and several consultations, training workshops were provided to the children’s services sector to become familiar with these changes and try to implement them in their services. In NSW the review of the children’s services regulations 2004 and the Child Care and Protection Act 2009 were implemented in children’s services to streamline the process. These changes are important for us to improve our structural, cultural, human resources, innovation in our delivery of service to meet the individual needs of consumers.
The ECCFCSC continued to collaborate and form partnerships with various stakeholders in the child care, disability and aged care and other sectors to provide advice, strategies, resources, training and information on cultural competence, access to the various CALD communities to consult with them about their needs, identify gaps in services to ensure that these are incorporated in policies and planning and allocate resources for their implementation.
During the year there were many reviews, consultations, discussion papers released by the state and federal government on different issues and the ECCFCSC made responses, participated in Roundtables, consultations, made written submissions ensuring that the interests and views of CALD communities were considered and included in recommendations, deliberations and resulting policies and planning of services and service delivery.
The Management continued to implement the Plan of Action of the ECCFCSC and has improved the Information Technology, OH&S for a safe environment for all, governance structures, implementation of the modern award and more recently the equal pay ruling by the Court and it is hoped that the Federal and state governments will provide the funding to the funded bodies to implement in their workplaces and pay a decent salary to the community non-government sector staff most of whom are women.

The Federal Government is to be commended on their decision to institute a policy of Multiculturalism for Australia, the establishment of the Australian Multicultural Council to advise them on the development of the agenda and the consultations and submissions for input from the community in the development of the policy.

The ECCFCSC sits on various bodies to represent and advocate for the interests of CALD children, families and communities. Some of these are ADHC Expert Advisory Group, Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Community Services Ethnic Affairs Advisory Group, the Governance of Children’s Services Central, Inner West Disability Forum, HACC Forums in various geographic areas, National Quality Framework Reference Group, National Disability Advocacy Network, Addison Road Centre Management, MAPS Network, and NAMECS.
Our appreciation to the funding bodies, the Department of Health and Ageing, Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Sports and Recreation , Ageing Disability and Home Care, Department of Family and Community Services, NSW, NSW Human Services, Community Services, Community Child Care Cooperative and Children’s Services Central, Marrickville, Randwick, Strathfield, Canterbury and Burwood Councils, to the members of the Board of Directors for their support, advice and commitment, to our Auditor Mr. Ted Conrick, to the staff of the various department and other organisations for their support to the work of the ECCFCS. Thank you to the consumers, families, carers, and volunteers who participate in the various programs. My appreciation to Shikha Chowdhary, the staff of the accounts section, our Secretary Abella, to the staff of the BSP, ESMAP, IWMAP, EPDP, MRS and BSP workers, and MRS respite workers for your commitment, contribution, teamwork and dedication to your work during the year.

ISSUES AND AREAS OF CONCERN ENCOUNTERED BY THE COOPERATIVE IN 2011

1. 
   The Department of Education and Communities which now has the responsibility for Early Childhood services funding including the pre-school funding is conducting a Review of the NSW government funding for Early Childhood Education. There are four elements which the review will be conducted and formulate its advice, Element 2 (c) 3.2 recommend funding principles that are needs based, universal and provide extra assistance to six categories of children who have special needs and CALD children who have linguistic, cultural needs to be able to access relevant equitable services, are not included in the six categories. We urge the government to include them.
   

2. 
   CALD children have low utilisation of pre-school services because CALD parents, especially refugees and newly arrived, are not aware of the services as there is little translated information available and services do not outreach to the CALD communities to inform and encourage them to enrol their children in pre-school to prepare them for transition to school.
   

3. 
   CALD children enter the children’s services speaking another language than English but because of lack of home language maintenance programs and bilingual education they lose their home language as there is no Early Childhood bilingual education policy to promote and develop home languages in early childhood services.
   

4. 
   Although the federal government has brought some of the children from offshore detention facilities to Australia, there are still a large number of children in detention centres in Australia and offshore. The facilities in which they are being held are detrimental to their welfare and wellbeing and contravene many of the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
   

5. 
   The state government has introduced the person centred approach to allocation of funding for people with disabilities and their carers however, there are concerns that CALD people who have limited understanding of the system, linguistic and cultural barriers would have more difficulties in accessing relevant services to meet their special needs.
   

6. 
   The CALD communities are concerned with the provision of multicultural education in NSW TAFE colleges and changes to the roles of Institute Multicultural Education Coordinators (IMECS) from developing and teaching courses, liaising and outreaching CALD communities to one of brokerage and linking in CALD people to other faculties.
   

PROGRAMS MANAGER’S REPORT

The extent to which Ethnic Child Care, Family and Community Services Co-operative Ltd (ECCFCSC) has undertaken social support, community development, training, information, advocacy and referral is well beyond its funding agreements. Every year the ECCFCSC looks at various opportunities to respond to the ongoing and ever changing needs of its client groups through strategic planning.

During 2010 – 2011, the ECCFCSC continued its focus on providing a high quality professional support and services to people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds and the service providers. This was successfully achieved through collaboration, knowledge sharing, a strong focus on community development, capacity building, advocacy, training on Inclusive practices, consultation and liaison with various services providers.

As can be seen from various reports of the individual projects, it confirms the basic facts about what the project activities entail or what their impacts are in general. I would like to highlight some of the achievements of the individual projects of the ECCFCSC:

This year has seen the first group of 21 Bicultural Support Program (BSP) workers graduating from the Certificate III in Children’s Services - CHC30708 provided by ECCFCSC in partnership with another RTO. Out of 21 graduates, 2 found full time and 8 found part time permanent positions in children’s services. This has confirmed ECCFCSC’s position on empowering CALD women in their career pathways. A second group of 15 BSP workers commenced the course on Certificate III in Children’s Services - CHC30708, this year in September.
The support to children’s services in addition to BSP workers was further extended through the Bicultural Support Consultants’ Program. This invaluable program continued assisting children’s services in enhancing their capacity to better understand CALD children and their families in order to provide culturally appropriate care.

The Multicultural Respite Services (MRS) managed to continue the dance workshop and give opportunity to some of the MRS participants (those who chose to participate) to realise their potential in developing and enhancing their skills, including self -confidence, social interaction skills, appreciation for music/ dance and many more.

CALD Carers Arts Group has been successfully established by Ethnic People with Disabilities Program (EPDP) during the year. The carers from diverse cultural backgrounds attend art classes once a month. This has given an opportunity to the carers to have a break from their caring role as well as participating in an art class that they are enjoying. We hope to continue with the group after one off funding is finished.

In line with NSW Government’s move towards more person centred ways of delivering disability services by placing the person with a disability at the centre of decision making, the ECCFCSC conducted consultations with 7 CALD communities. The feedback from the various consultations across NSW will assist the NSW Government in creating a service system that respects the views of people with disabilities and their carers in meeting their needs.

The Inner West and Eastern Sydney Multicultural Access Projects have made a significant difference in the lives of many frail aged people, people with disabilities and their carers from CALD backgrounds by facilitating access to Home And Community Care (HACC) services in those Local Government Areas. Various resources were produced to support the service providers in providing culturally appropriate services.

The professional development training on inclusive practices, including, ‘Supporting Inclusive Practices in Children’s Services’, ‘Bilingualism and Languages Learning’ and ‘Working with Refugee Children’ were provided to children’s services professionals in 13 metro, rural and regional areas of NSW. The feedback received from the training sessions reflect a positive response to our suggestions and ideas of making their practices conducive to the learning environment in a cultural context. In addition, various training sessions on cultural competence were also provided on request by Children’s, disability and aged care service providers.

Policy review, policy development, monitoring and reviewing program outcomes, supporting all staff members, reporting to various departments, consultation with client groups, developing and facilitating training for various target groups across NSW continue to be a significant part of my role.
Needless to say that as a community based organisation, we face many challenges every year. However, each staff member’s commitment to achieve a collective purpose has made it possible for the ECCFCSC to continue delivering its services at a high standard.
I would like to extend a warm welcome to the new staff members, Luciana Campello Rebeiro de Almeida, Yvonne Wu, Alfiya Iskhakova, Joanne Andreolas and Claire Cooper who have joined recently with various projects of ECCFCSC.
My heartfelt thanks to all the MRS Respite Workers, BSP workers, consultants, trainers and each staff member of ECCFCSC for their ongoing commitment and hard work in achieving the overall goals successfully.
I would also like to thank the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Director for their continuing support and assistance to implement my role.

THE BICULTURAL SUPPORT PROGRAM (BSP)

The Bicultural Support Program continues to provide time limited, linguistic, cultural & consultant support to Children’s Services in building their capacity to include children from culturally and linguistically diverse, refugee and Indigenous backgrounds. Bicultural Support Workers and Consultants aim to educate, inform and empower Children’s Services staff to become better informed about supporting CALD and Indigenous children & families in their care, by providing hands on language support, supporting staff in planning, implementing and modelling appropriate cultural activities and programs, providing children’s services staff with relevant resources and information (eg Child Care Survival words, information about the culture and child rearing practices).

There are approximately 380 Bicultural Support Workers (BSWs) in the Program, representing 110 different cultural and linguistic backgrounds (including African countries/dialects (Sierra Leone, Mende, Liberian, Dinka, Shona Sudanese, Barri, Moro, Creole), Arabic (Lebanese), Egyptian, Persian, Iraqi, Iranian, Assyrian, Afghanistan, Dari, Farsi, Kurdish , Israel/Hebrew

Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese/Hakka/Hokkien/Shangainese/Triechau/Fookien/Taishan/Chi Chow, Tianin), Burmese, Indonesian, Bahasa, Bangladesh/Bengali/Bangla, Pakistani, Russian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Khmer, Cambodian, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Polish, German, French, Swiss, Dutch, Portuguese, Turkish Indian(Urdu/Punjabi/Hindi/Assamese/Gujurati/Telugu/Kanada/ Marathi), Mauritian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Malay, Bahasa, Fijian, Samoan, Tongan, Pidgin Police, Motu, Hula, Papua New Guinea, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Bosnian, Filipino (Tagalog/Visaya/Hilongo).
There are 16 statewide Bicultural Support Consultants (BSCs) in the Sydney Metropolitan area, NSW South East, NSW South West, Richmond Tweed, NSW Mid North Coast and Hunter.
In addition, the BSP has 13 Indigenous Workers to provide support to and assist with the needs of Indigenous communities in Children’s Services. (3 Sydney Metropolitan, 1 Wagga Wagga, 4 Ballina/Tweed Heads, 3 NSW Mid North Coast, 1 Gosford-Wyong, 1 Tamworth/Armidale). BSP is working towards ensuring Aboriginal BSP representation in each ISA region.

Ongoing support mechanisms are effectively in place for Bicultural Support Workers including: Orientation & Induction Training (Metropolitan Orientation Training Session was held in May 2011), Inservice training sessions on topics pertaining to their role (including: Getting to Know The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) The Basics for Bicultural Support Workers, Supporting Culturally Inclusive Practices In Children’s Services, Bilingualism & Home Language Maintenance, Child Protection – Identifying & Responding To Risk Of Harm, Aboriginal Perspectives In Children’s Services and Aboriginal Programming, Occupational Health & Safety for Bicultural Support Workers, Working Effectively With Refugee Children & Families, Bicultural Support Workers & the Service Support Plan, Behaviour Management, An Introduction To Programming & Documentation For Bicultural Support Workers, Panel – Role Of Bicultural Support Workers, access to ECCF&CSC Multicultural Resource Library, telephone support, Centre support visits to new recruits, BSP Newsletter (The Bicultural Supporter ), 4 quarterly Sydney Metropolitan Bicultural Support Worker Meetings (with Guest Speakers covering a wide range of topics) and rural based Bicultural Support Worker Meetings/Training in Hunter, Richmond Tweed, Illawarra, NSW North, NSW Mid North Coast and NSW South West).

Some Interesting Facts & Figures:

In the last 9 months (January - September 2011):

• 
  967 requests for Bicultural Support have been received, of which 839 (87%) of these requests have resulted in Bicultural Support Workers being placed. Where the BSP is unable to meet requests due to unavailability of Bicultural Support Worker who speak the language, services are offered other means of interim support via the Consultant aspect of the BSP Program including: (Survival Words, programming ideas, telephone support, training, resources etc.), whilst BSP aims to recruit relevant Bicultural Workers..
  

This equates to 839 requests receiving the support of the BSP, 839 CALD/Aboriginal children included & supported in care, 839 employment opportunities for Bicultural Support Workers…making a difference on various levels….

• 
  Access to Bicultural Support Program by Children’s Service Type:
  

Long Day Care: 92.5% Out Of School Hours Care: 2.5%

Family Day Care: 2.5 % Occasional Care: 2.5%

Other BSP Achievements of 2011

• 
  The Consultant BSP Program – 2011 saw the Bicultural Support Consultant Program take off! Consultant requests received in 2011 ranged from BSP representation on Regional ISA RAG Committees, CALD & Aboriginal representation at Director’s & Children’s Services Forums, Cultural Competence Training for Children’s Services staff, supporting Services to conduct Cultural Audits, supporting CALD & Aboriginal children & families in Children’s Services through programming, training and the development of Resources (eg. Cultural Information Kits, translated Bilingualism brochures, 2011 Multicultural Reference Guide, Survival words etc). It was great to work in partnership with ISA regions across the state, meeting diverse BSP Consultant requests and developing Regional BSP/ISA Plans Of Actions.
  

• 
  In early 2011, 21 Bicultural Support Workers graduated from Certificate III Children’s Services Training, and a second round of training commenced for a further 15 Bicultural Support Workers, as part of their professional development (through funding provided by Children’s Services Central and DEEWR);
  
• 
  Intensive Inservice Training/Meetings for BSP Workers & Consultants across the state;
  
• 
  Development of more practical resources & more professional development opportunities for all Bicultural Support Workers in the field.
  

REGISTERED TRAINING ORGANISATION (RTO)

During the year the ECCFCSC’s renewal of registration as an RTO for five years was achieved.

The nationally recognized training on CHC30708 Certificate III in Children’s Services was successfully delivered by ECCFCSC, RTO in partnership with Academy of Training, during 2010/2011.
A group of 21 BSP workers were recruited to undertake the course and were supported with individual support where necessary to enable them to complete the course and obtain the qualification.
The 21 student successfully completed the CHC30708 Certificate III in Children’s Services in 2011 and the graduation ceremony was held at ECCFCSC with Carmel Tebbutt, then Deputy Premier, NSW and Member for Marrickville as the Guest of Honour she presented the Certificates.
We would like to highlight that 2 of the graduates found full time work and 8 found part time permanent positions in children’s services. The rest are continuing to work with the BSP.
In September, 2011, the second group of 13 BSP workers have commenced the Certificate III in Children’s Services - CHC30708 along with 2 other participants from a child care centre. We would like to thank Children’s Service Central for providing funding to continue with the course.




Multicultural Respite Services (MRS)

Incorporating: Partners Program, Multicultural Respite Options

and Vacation Care

The Multicultural Respite Services (MRS) is a respite and social support service that caters to individuals with mild to severe disabilities, providing a variety of respite options for families from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds who live in the Marrickville and Canterbury Local Government Areas (LGAs). The MRS promotes social interaction and personal development by providing children, adolescent and adult participants with opportunities to engage in social and recreational activities.

The MRS used surplus funding from last year from the NSW Sport and Recreation to continue the dance workshops, which have been quite successful. The number of participants taking part in the workshop increased from 7 last year to 9 this year, and once again, the MRS Dance Group will perform a choreographed dance for the International Day of People with Disabilities celebration.
The MRS provided respite and social support to a total of 43 participants, which include 25 participants in the Adults Program and 18 participants in the Children’s Program during 2010/11
The Partners Program offers recreational respite and support to children, adolescents and adults who have mild to moderate intellectual and/or physical disabilities. The Saturday Program alternates between the Children’s participants on one week and the Adult’s participants the next, while Adult Thursday Night Social program is held weekly. During 2011, the MRS provided 15 adults and 7 children with respite, totalling to 22 families supported by the MRS through the Partners Program.
The Multicultural Respite Options (MRO) offers one to one support to people with intellectual and/or physical disabilities who have high support needs. Although the recreational activities are planned to suit all MRS participants, the MRO participants are offered flexible respite options depending on their needs. These include,

• 
  participating in the Partners recreational programs
  
• 
  individual community access outings which are of interest and of benefit to participants
  

During 2010/11, the MRS provided 10 adult participants and 10 children/adolescent participants with respite, totalling to 20 families supported by the MRS through the Multicultural Respite Options.

Vacation Care was provided to 17 children who have intellectual and/or physical disability. The program activities were designed to meet the different needs of the children as 8 of them had high support needs while others have mild to moderate support needs. The children with high support needs were provided one-on-one care, while the others who have mild to moderate support needs were provided services by a team of 3 respite workers.
The Vacation Care offered a range of outdoor and indoor activities which focussed on enhancing various skills of the participants. Some of these activities included excursions to community places such as farms and the Powerhouse Museum, swimming, bowling, ball games, arts & crafts

workshops, biking, music & dance workshops and seeing Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium.

The MRS currently employs 27 casual respite care workers from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, being able to speak 19 languages and dialects other than English. The MRS staff underwent two training courses in 2011, the first being the Inclusion Sports for People with a Disability to help staff generate more ideas in planning activities and games to better engage participants. The second session was on the topic of Privacy and Confidentiality to revise and refresh important concepts that all staff working in such an information-sensitive field should know.
Regular meetings for respite care workers were held every second month to discuss any important or concerning issues within the program, and provide input and feedback and brainstorm ideas to better develop the program and the services we provide.
We are thankful to the NSW Department of Family and Community Services, Ageing, Disability and Home Care, NSW Human Services, Community Services, Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, Inner West SCAN and NSW Sport and Recreation for providing funding and their continuing support in meeting the needs of the target groups.



ETHNIC PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES PROGRAM (EPDP)

The Ethic People with Disabilities program aims to increase awareness and understanding of disability and access and equity within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities, government departments, mainstream and ethnic disability services providers. The project endeavours to facilitate access to culturally/linguistically appropriate services for CALD people with disabilities and their carers through information dissemination, consultation, advocacy and training for service providers and CALD consumers.

Focus Group Discussions/Consultations:

During 2011, consultations and discussions on disability services were held with various CALD communities. Events were conducted in partnership with Ageing Disability and Home Care, Local Governments in the Inner West, SSWAH , Special Needs Schools, non-government organisations and Centrelink to name a few.

The National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA) was successful in gaining a human rights education grant from the Attorney General’s Department to run consumer workshops across all states and territories. EPDP partnered with NEDA to run the workshop in Sydney. The aim of the workshop was for people from CALD background with disability to be empowered through information on and articulation of their human rights by applying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to everyday life.

In October, this year EPDP in conjunction with IWMAP and ESMAP, organised consultations with 7 CALD communities on the best way to implement person centred supports and individualised funding in NSW for people with disability, their families and carers Mandarin, Vietnamese, Bangla, Arabic, Greek, Spanish and Russian were the 7 communities. The consultations were very successful and the feedback will be invaluable in guiding the direction of the person centred funding.

One of the most recurring theme from these consultations was the lack of knowledge of services and disability assistance and the importance of culturally/linguistically appropriate services. Listed below are some of the comments and issues that were raised and identified by participants from the above consultations:

“Services should be available to all people with disabilities and not stop once they reach 21”

• 
  “I have been very happy with the service providers assisting my daughter they persevered and never gave up on her”
  
• 
  “Us older carers need information in our language or interpreters or Greek social workers to help us understand”
  
• 
  My English is good, but I am confused how services operate and who is providing what, so I would rather have someone from the same system who can help me.
  
• 
  I am not sure about a planner, if I don’t know this person how can I trust him?
  
• 
  Will you have enough planners to sit down with every person with disability and plan for them?
  

Information Sessions: 19 Information Sessions were held with various CALD communities on access to Disability Services, Centrelink payments, Employment services, Respite, Health, Carers NSW, Legal issues, Disability Standards, Post School Options, Carer Self Advocacy, Referral and Intake at ADHC, Immigration issues, Community support and Respite Options, Sexuality Sex Safety and Fun and Overview of Services and changes in the disability sector.
From January to October 2011, over 800 participants from 15 CALD backgrounds attended Information Session, Consultations and Focus Group discussions to express their needs whilst caring for their loved ones.
Disability Expo: EPDP initiated and partnered with Lucas Garden School in Concord and other organisations to organise a Disability Expo in the school grounds. There were 19 service provider stalls with parents and carers receiving information on respite, HACC, accommodation, continence, sports, employment and many more.
In April, EPDP, as part of its role to continually promote and provide information about its services to other service providers and the general community including those from the CALD community partnered ‘Joining the Dots’ program. In conjunction with the National Disability Coordination Officer (NDCO) for the Inner West, EPDP and Join the Dots organised a Speed Networking event whereby Disability Service Providers within the Inner West Sydney get together to promote their programs and network with one another. There was another component to the event which was the afternoon session where the community was invited to attend the expo.

Mental Health Awareness Day: In partnership with Canterbury Council, CRCC, Carer Assist and Metro MRC, EPDP held a workshop on CALD Mental Health issues. There were a good mix of participants from varied age groups mainly from Bangladesh, Lebanon and African background. Participants were of the opinion that mental health issues were on the rise but because of the stigma associated with the disorder and lack of knowledge precluded members of the community to access service.
Advocacy: Advocacy was provided to 60 CALD clients this year. A stream of requests is still coming in as a result of the consultations held earlier in the year. Some of the clients presented complex needs which and are quite involved in nature whilst others were for carers visa applications, applications for housing, employment, intervention programs, respite programs, access to OT, Speech therapy etc.
The most common requests received were for Respite services, but unfortunately, there seems to be a huge gap in the system and respite is rare and far between. More funds need to be injected into this area of service provision as a matter of urgency
CALD Carer Support Groups: EPDP continues to support the Multicultural Carers group, Korean Cockatoo Carer Support group and the Turkish group. We are in communication with service providers to start up a Vietnamese group early next year.
Arts Group: EPDP was successful in acquiring funding to start up an Arts class for CALD Carers. The project has been running extremely well and the Carers have expressed a lo t of joy in attending these classes. This is a multicultural group where some of the carers do not speak any English but have grown to form a bond with each other in the last few months. Participants have conveyed keen interest in sustaining the group so that they can meet and interact and form a support group. As funding is limited we have no choice other than to end the group at the end of the month. We are endeavouring to secure some more funding next year to continue this project.

Networking:

During the year, partnerships and networks were continued and strengthened with more than 50 organisations and new ones formed with different organisations and Special Needs Schools.

Carers Week: EPDP in partnership with Inner West Disability Forum organised a successful trip to Blue Mountain to celebrate Carers Week this year to take the opportunity to thank the carers for their untiring commitment and dedication to their caring roles.

International Day of People with Disability 2010 (IDPWD): Last year EPDP in partnership with Burwood Council, Strathfield Council, Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centre, Inner West HACC Development Officer, Wesley Mission and NDCO celebrated IDPWD at Woodstock Community Centre. There were a number of activities and workshops for the 250 participants at the event - zumba, roving magician, origami, drumming, face painting and many more. The purpose of the event was to celebrate IDPWD as a special day of fun and frivolity showcasing the ability of the people and engage them with various creative activities, music and dance.



INNER WEST MULTICULTURAL ACCESS PROJECT (IWMAP)

The aims of the IWMAP is to strengthen the capacity of the Home And Community Care (HACC) Service system to respond to the specific needs of the Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD) HACC target population; identify the HACC needs of CALD communities in order to be integrated within the HACC planning process; increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of the HACC programme among CALD HACC target population and other relevant stakeholders; and to provide Information, Support, Advocacy and Counselling services to frail aged people, people with disabilities and their carers from CALD background.

The IWMAP continued to provide strategic advice, information and assistance to HACC and HACC like services to achieve higher quality outcomes for the CALD HACC populations in the Inner West Local Government Areas of Ashfield, Burwood, Canada Bay, Canterbury, Leichhardt, Marrickville and Strathfield. The project also assisted frail aged people, people with disabilities and their carers from CALD background to access HACC services.
The major activities, achievements and updates are listed below:

Support to HACC and HACC like services: During 2011, the IWMAP collaborated with 31 Service Providers by:

• 
  helping Service Providers to outreach CALD HACC target population
  
• 
  assisting HACC services in developing culturally and linguistically appropriate materials
  
• 
  conducting Cultural Awareness Training for staff/volunteers of HACC service providers
  
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  providing statistics on CALD HACC target population to HACC service providers
  
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  compiling a list of senior CALD Groups in the Inner West Sydney region and distributing to service providers
  
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  informing service providers about the emerging issues faced by CALD HACC target population in regards to access to HACC services
  

Cultural Awareness/ Inclusive Practices Training: Three training sessions were attended by 41

(in total) staff and volunteers of HACC and HACC like services. The purpose of the training was to orient them on significance of culture and to equip them with tips on working with service users from CALD backgrounds. The sessions were well received.

Information Sessions: A total of 18 information sessions were conducted to impart information on HACC and HACC like services to various CALD groups. More than 700 participants benefited from these sessions. The topics of the sessions included HACC Services, Eye Care, Community Transport, Home Care, Centrelink payment, Dementia, Services for Carers, and Quality Use of Medicines.
Promotion of HACC Services: As a part of disseminating information to wider community, IWMAP promoted HACC services including Multicultural Access Project (MAP) and Translating and Interpreting Services (TIS) via Radio and Newspapers. Information was disseminated via SBS Radio Nepali Program targeting Nepali listeners from Nepalese, Bhutanese and Indian backgrounds. Similarly, articles titled “Disability related services for migrants’ communities” and “Ageing in Australia: Government Assistance and Possibilities for Portuguese” were prepared and published in Nepalipatra (May 2011 issue) and Jornal Portugues (November 2011 issue).

Research Work: The project is trying to identify the understanding and utilisation of HACC services by CALD HACC target population by researching their needs through survey questionnaire which has been translated in few community languages. The research work is expected to be completed in 2012.
Consultations: The IWMAP was involved in Person Centred Approach consultations with service users from Arabic, Bangladeshi, Greek, Mandarin speaking and Vietnamese background.

The purpose of the consultations was to establish the communities’ views about NSW government’s initiative to provide a person centred approach in delivering disability services and place the person with a disability at the centre of decision making. The findings of the consultations were forwarded to Department of Family and community Services: Ageing, Disability and Home Care.

Counselling/Support, Information and Advocacy: From January to September 2011, a total of 176 service users were provided counselling/support, Information and Advocacy through IWMAP. A total of 717 hours were provided to assist with various issues to service users from more than 20 CALD backgrounds.
Special Project 1: IWMAP in partnership with Indonesian Association of NSW implemented and completed Positive Ageing Project “Increasing community participation through Indonesian traditional music and dances”. 75 people participated in learning traditional music and dances and performed in different functions including International Day for People with Disabilities 2010, Senior Week Celebration 2011 and Harmony Day 2011. The project was successful in establishing social support network and encouraged greater inter-generational engagement by involving younger generations in the activities.
Special Project 2: Wellness for Happiness - A health and wellbeing event for the people from Indian subcontinent was organised in partnership with 11 HACC and HACC like services in Strathfield Town Hall. Information on aged care services, allied health, mental health, disability services were provided to 60 participants. Barriers to access services were highlighted during the event.



THE EASTERN SYDNEY MULTICULTURAL ACCESS PROJECT (ESMAP)

ESMAP aims to assist and support Home And Community Care (HACC) and HACC like services to provide culturally appropriate services to frail aged people, people with disabilities and their carers from Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds and outreach existing and potential HACC CALD groups to provide information on access to HACC services.

The following activities highlight the project work during 2011:
Information/Counselling/Support/Advocacy: New emerging communities were identified and the first consultations and information sessions were conducted with Bangladeshi, Indonesian and South Asian communities with great success. A total of 56 information sessions on access to HACC services were delivered to various CALD communities in partnership with HACC and HACC like services in Eastern Sydney Local Government Areas and linked CALD HACC target groups into relevant service providers and resources. Nearly 2000 people benefited from the sessions.

A total of 4223 hours were spent in providing information, counselling, referrals and social support to CALD HACC target groups.

The ESMAP team networked with 74 services including HACC and HACC like service providers, councils and other organisations in Eastern Sydney Local Government areas during 2011.

Carers Day: Carers’ day was celebrated with 71 Italian carers and 48 older carers from Russian speaking background who attended a half day program with live entertainment and multicultural food. The project was sponsored and supported by NSW Health service.
Harmony day celebration “Flavours from around the world”: The event was organized for 178 people from 16 CALD backgrounds in partnership with Care Connect. Multicultural Meals were prepared by Waverly Meal on Wheels and were successfully introduced to CALD communities. HACC and HACC like services had an opportunity to discuss their services with participants at information stalls. The multicultural concert was received very well by the audience which reflected Australia’s cultural diversity positively.
Celebration of 150 years of Italian Unity was organized in partnership with the Marconi Club for more than 300 Italian seniors and people with disabilities.
Special Projects:

Healthy Living workshops for older people, people with disabilities and their carers from CALD background: Information sessions on health related issues were delivered to 501 seniors, people with disabilities and their Carers from 17 communities from CALD backgrounds.
ESMAP worked in partnership with UNSW Community Development Project to identify the needs of the Russian and Spanish speaking senior residing in South Coogee

New Multicultural Group

ESMAP supported the establishment of a Multicultural Group that meets monthly; the group is represented by people born in Egypt and are of Assyrian, Greek, Maltese and Italian backgrounds.

Throughout the year the ESMAP actively participated in conferences, HACC consultations, Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC) Metro South Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Strategic Planning, MAPs meetings and other relevant meetings in order to ensure that access issues for CALD HACC clients are taken into consideration in planning and service provision.
Promotion: ESMAP has successfully worked with ethnic newspapers and SBS radio during 2011

promoting and increasing awareness of ECCFCSC and HACC services.

Training: Training sessions on Cultural Competency was conducted to various HACC services.
ESMAP worked closely with HACC and HACC like services and provided assistance, relevant information to HACC and HACC like services. ESMAP also linked HACC and HACC like services with each other, assisting in the development of Community Care network in the Eastern Sydney area.
HACC brochures were translated in 6 community languages.
Consultations: The ESMAP conducted consultations on Person Centred Approach in conjunction with other projects of ECCFCSC to HACC service users from Spanish and Russian backgrounds.
The purpose of the consultations was to establish the communities’ views about NSW government’s initiative to provide a person centred approach in delivering disability services and place the person with a disability at the centre of decision making. The findings of the consultations were forwarded to Department of Family and community Services, Ageing, Disability and Home Care, NSW.