Raising Children in Australia - A resource kit for early childhood services working with parents from African backgrounds and a DVD for parents

The resources are packaged in 2 sets and comprise:

• The DVD for parents from African backgrounds who arrived under the Refugee and Humanitarian Program packaged in a conventional DVD plastic case.
  The DVD is in English, Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, Somali, Dinka, Nuer, Kirundi, Kiswahili, Liberian English and Krio.
  A booklet on key services for parents and their young children accompanies the DVD.
• The complete resource kit for service providers comprises a Guide, a copy of the DVD with the accompanying booklet on services and a promotional flier/poster.

The DVD explores opportunities and challenges of raising children in a different culture and provides information on:

• child development
• discipline
• child protection and
• services for parents and their young children.

It aims to enhance parenting knowledge, capacity and confidence of raising children in Australia. All language versions are recorded in the spoken word.  
Duration of the DVD is 15 to 20 minutes depending on language.

The Guide explores ways for service providers to enhance their capacity in the provision of culturally responsive services and:

• provides information on cultural and country background of refugee source countries in Africa
• explores the refugee experience as well as the challenges and opportunities of settlement
• examines key issues identified by parents and service providers regarding raising children in the Australian context and
• provides information on Australian services to support families and children as well as links to relevant national and international resources.

Accessing the resources:
Free hard copies of the resource kit and additional DVDs for parents can be obtained from the FaCSIA Publications Hotline on 1800 050 009.
Please note: DVDs for parents were produced in generous numbers to allow service providers to order in bulk in support of parenting programs and subsequent dissemination to participants.

To download an electronic version of the Guide click here

To download an electronic copy of the promotional poster/flyer click here

For a high resolution poster only click here

Suggestions for use of DVD and poster

• Place the poster in reception are to promote the DVD to families from African backgrounds;
• Screen the DVD in reception area for waiting parents to watch;
• Use DVD as a starter to encourage discussion on child rearing with individual parents or in group settings. Then provide a copy of the DVD for participants to keep (obtain extra copies by contacting 1800 050 009);
• Use DVD as a basis for more detailed parenting training; view and discuss per topic over five sessions;
• Use DVD as a professional development tool for staff, to enhance understanding of community concerns in regard to parenting in Australia.

Please note: During the initial consultation parents/guardians stressed their preference to receive and discuss parenting information in a group setting. It is therefore suggested that opportunities are created where parents/guardians can view and discuss the DVD in a group setting prior to receiving their personal copy.

The resources resulting from the project have been developed using a consumer participation model, and are based on the insight gained in the context of an extensive community consultation. Many people from the target communities contributed to the project by way of conducting interviews with parents and community leaders, providing cultural advice to the project, featuring in the DVD, translating the DVD script into the selected community languages, providing their voices for the recording of the DVD community language versions and – last but not least – composing the background music.

The resources were produced by the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (VFST) in partnership with the Horn of Africa Communities Network (HACN) in the context of the Parenting Information Project for African Communities in Australia.

The project was funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) under the Early Childhood – Invest to Grow Initiative, Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. For more information please visit the FaCSIA website http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/family/early_childhood_pip.htm

For more information about this project contact families@foundationhouse.org.au