Jimboomba Times, October 18, 2017
Struggling families in the Jimboomba area will have access to more support following a $700,000 boost by the state government.
The money will enable recipient YFS to open an office at Jimboomba and trial an approach that has been successful overseas.
YFS chief executive officer Cath Bartolo said they would extend their intensive family support program, which helped children at risk.
She said staff travelled to Jimboomba to see people in their homes, but funding would enable them to dedicate more resources and help more families.
“Our waiting list is enormous,” she said.
“The current services we provide can’t meet the demand.”
Ms Bartolo said there was a need for more support services to help parents who were not coping.
“The focus is families where children are at risk of entering the orbit of child safety.”
She said YFS would explore new ways to keep more children safe and support more parents by trialing a new approach.
“It’s an opportunity to learn from evidence-based approaches overseas and apply them in our context.”
Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman said she was excited the money would be used to test a model for the first time in Logan.
“Our aim is to assist families to cope with stress, family pressures and learn about being the best parents they can be so they can avoid situations that might lead to them becoming involved in the child protection system,” she said.
“We hope to use this site as a trial and, if successful, we will look at ways in which it could be rolled out in other parts of Queensland.”
Logan MP Linus Power welcomed the new approach.
“The YFS service will trial a model that has been very effective in the United States and has been specifically developed for families with children aged zero to 17 who are at risk of being removed or put into out-of-home care,” he said.
Mr Power said the money would give YFS capacity to keep pace with growing demand in the area.
“Jimboomba is growing at a rate of 4.7 per cent each year and is expected to have grown by an incredible 140 per cent between 2011 and 2036,” he said.
“Logan Reserve, Greenbank and Browns Plains are growing at similarly high rates.”
Jimboomba Times- Funding boost supports struggling families