Our Approach
How We Work With Families
Our practice framework guides the way we work with families, children, and community.
Partnerships and Collaboration: We develop and maintain strong, respectful and collaborative relationships with individuals, families, and communities.
Empowerment: We promote choice, self-advocacy and autonomy, and value lived experience.
Child-Safe: We prioritise children’s safety and wellbeing in everything we do. We create safe, nurturing environments where children are valued and respected.
Equity: We strive to remove barriers and provide fair and equitable access to resources and opportunities for all.
Our services are:
Evidence-based: We are guided by best-available evidence, practitioner expertise, and family values and preferences.
Person-Centred: Every family’s goals, skills, and knowledge are unique and central to everything we do.
Trauma-Informed: We recognise the impact of trauma on individuals and aim to create a safe, supportive environments that promote healing and recovery. View our Trauma PDF.
Strength-Based: We work in a way that emphasises the inherent strengths, skills, knowledge, connections, and potential of individuals and communities.
Reconciliation
RAP
Family Support Network is currently working on a comprehensive model in collaboration with leading Indigenous ontological design company, Agency in Design, to guide our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) journey. We are embarking on this journey with a commitment to taking meaningful action that will positively impact First Nations peoples. We see this as a genuine opportunity for our organisation to respectfully engage with and embed Indigenous Knowledge informed practices in all that we do.
This journey will be guided by an Aboriginal Cultural Strengths framework, across three distinct phases: Grounding, Connecting and Positioning. This phased approach will incorporate:
– Cultural Audit
– Cultural Capability Training
– Establishing a RAP working group
– Visual Dialogue Process
– Development of RAP vision, artwork and content
Family Support Network is committed to strengthening and formalising our commitment to reconciliation through this deep work.
Uluru Statement from the Heart
The Uluru Statement from the Heart is a generous and powerful invitation from First Nations Australians to walk together towards a better future. It calls for Voice, Treaty, and Truth as the foundation for meaningful
reconciliation. It reminds us that reconciliation requires listening, recognition, and practical action.
As an organisation focused on supporting children, families, and caregivers, we hold values of equity, inclusion, and respect at the heart of our work. Family Support Network supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart, as it affirms these values and connects us with broader efforts to create a fairer, more inclusive Australia.
Closing the Gap
The National Agreement on Closing the Gap acknowledges the ongoing strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in sustaining the world’s oldest living cultures. Acknowledging that only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can be experts in their own lives, we strive to partner with the whole family and contribute to these targets through our work:
Target 4- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children thrive in their early years.
The target associated with this outcome is increasing the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children assessed as developmentally on track in all 5 domains of the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) to 55% by 2031.
Target 13 – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and households are safe.
By 2031, the rate of all forms of family violence and abuse against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children is reduced at least by 50%, as progress towards zero.
Inclusion
Family Support Network Inc. embraces the vibrant diversity of our community. We value and respect the unique views, experiences and abilities of all individuals.
We are committed to creating inclusive and equitable environments and services, ensuring that everyone feels welcome and is treated with dignity and respect.
“Family Support Network Inc. is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in everything we do. We work to ensure everyone is respected, valued, and appreciated, no matter their race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, abilities, disabilities, or any other factor. Our goal is to create safe, fair, and welcoming environments where everyone can be themselves and thrive.”
Privacy
Family Support Network is committed to protecting the privacy, dignity, and rights of all individuals whose personal information we collect, use, or store. This includes children, young people, families, staff, and stakeholders. We recognise privacy as a fundamental human right and a legal obligation under Australian and NSW law.
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